NAPD joins public defense training directors across the country in this commitment to diversity and inclusion:
Public Defender educators have the honor and the obligation to develop excellence in representation by criminal defenders, family defenders and other advocates for accused people. We believe unambiguously that black lives matter. Police brutality must end. Our voices must be used to amplify the stories of black and brown people targeted and terrorized by the legal system every day.
The role of trainers is to shape the culture of the community doing this vital work. As trainers, we are committed to diversity and inclusion. To that end, we are dedicated to recruiting, developing, and encouraging people of color to seek roles as training directors, faculty members, and leaders throughout the defender community. We are devoted to creating programs with diverse participants and trainers.
Our training efforts will consistently include education regarding anti-racism, implicit bias, and advocacy designed to dismantle white supremacy throughout the legal system. We commit to examine our own biases and blindspots and create opportunities for others to do the same. We will not stand in silence, exacerbating the profound inequities in the legal system. We will speak; we will train and support our advocates to speak as well with strong, intentional voices in an effort to change a system that has consistently failed communities of color. We cannot continue to ignore the foundations of racism and brutality which continue to plague our nation, but instead face them and declare that enough is enough. Change is long past due. We will no longer be satisfied by the status quo. We are dedicated to providing leadership in making change, not only in this moment, but going forward in establishing sustained and meaningful progress toward equality and humanity.
