Advisory Committee
Justin Hansford (Civil Rights) – UN Delegate, Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) for the 2022-2024 term and Executive Director, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Howard University. Professor Hansford was previously a Democracy Project Fellow at Harvard University, a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and an Associate Professor of Law at Saint Louis University. He has a B.A. from Howard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a founder of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives. Professor Hansford also has received a Fulbright Scholar award to study the legal career of Nelson Mandela, and served as a clerk for Judge Damon J. Keith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Hansford has also worked to empower the Ferguson community through community based legal advocacy.
Linda Mann (Policy, local racial redress) – Adjunct Associate Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. Mann currently serves as Executive Director at the John Mitchell Jr. Project at George Mason’s Carter School for Peace and Reconciliation and is also an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Previously she served as the Executive Director for the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University’s School of Law and VP of Research for the Georgetown Memory Project. In 2019, she co-founded the African American Redress Network (AARN) at Columbia University alongside Prof. Justin Hansford, Howard University. Mann is a leading director and researcher on racial redress initiatives at the intersection of U.S. history, international human rights, and racial repair. She has written widely about local and state reparative justice, descendant engagement and maximizing justice potentials.
Elazar Barkan is Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, Director of SIPA’s Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Concentration, and Director of Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. Professor Barkan is also founding Director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR) in The Hague. Professor Barkan served on ISHR’s board of directors before becoming ISHR’s co-director in 2007 and director in 2008. Previously, Professor Barkan served as chair of the History Department and the Cultural Studies Department at the Claremont Graduate University, where he was the founding director of the Humanities Center. Professor Barkan is a historian by training and received his PhD from Brandeis University in Comparative European History and BA from Tel Aviv University. His research interests focus on human rights and on the role of history in contemporary society and politics and the response to gross historical crimes and injustices.
Mélisande Short-Colomb is completing her final year as a student at Georgetown College, and, a founding member of the GU272 Advocacy Team. She also serves on the Georgetown Memory Project’s Board of Advisors, as well as Council Elder of the GU@72 Descendants Association. Mélisande is a descendant of two families sold in 1838 by the Society of Jesus to keep Georgetown College afloat. She is a recipient of a 2019 Fr. Bunn Award for journalistic excellence for commentary in support of the “GU272 Referendum to Create a New Legacy.” The referendum was passed by overwhelming student support and vote on April 11, 2019. Under the direction of Derek Goldman, Meli wrote, developed, and performed her one person show Here I Am. The play interweaves her personal story of becoming a Georgetown student after discovering she was descended from slaves sold for the benefit of Georgetown, with archival excerpts that will bring in the voices of the slaves, the Jesuits, and others around the time of the sale. Additionally, Meli will serve as a Research and Community Engagement Associate, a position for which she is very well qualified given her high media profile.
Charkera Ervins (Black Audit Project). Ms. Ervins is a graduate of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. Ms. Ervins helped coordinate the Black Audit Project during the Spring of 2023. As a recent graduate of Howard University Law School where she served as Class President, Ms. Ervins was noted for her work during the Fall 21’ and 22’cohort of the Movement Lawyering Committee. This committed drafted an indictment and participated in the “We Still Charge Genocide” tribunal. She presented her research on Black Pittsburgh at “Acknowledging Black America in the Discussion for Sustainable Development Goals” United Nations side event in Geneva, Switzerland.
With a Bachelor of Science in Teacher Education, she has taught general education and deaf education in public schools. Charkera has worked as an activist and organizer in West Virginia. She lobbied the West Virginia and federal legislature for passage of the CROWN Act and successfully organized passages of similar ordinances in 5 municipalities. Charkera has also worked as Field Organizer to the West Virginia Democratic Party and campaign aid to several congressional campaigns.
STUDENT RESEARCHERS
Student researchers are the backbone of the AARN. They provide vital support to local redress efforts and sustain our technical assistance partnerships, lead ArcGIS mapping efforts, and maintain communications with AARN members.
What students say about working at the AARN:
“I really enjoy and am constantly inspired by the work and allyship we provide at AARN. As a non-Black POC in America, I believe that my time and labor should be used to support reparation efforts and amplify Black voices” (Cher Lau, Barnard College 2022)
“As a human rights major, I have always been passionate about addressing injustice. While I was historically more focused on international human rights, I was immediately enamoured with AARN’s mission and efforts, which I learned about through Columbia’s Global Research and Consulting Group. I believe that the work is AARN is absolutely necessary, and I’m incredibly honored to be a part of it” (Safia Southey, Columbia University School of General Studies 2021)
“I was passionate about joining the AARN team because of its important work in documenting and supporting local redress and reparations efforts throughout the country. Such efforts to address historical racial injustice in the United States are long overdue, and AARN helps to meaningfully facilitate this process through collaboration, education, and advocacy” (Ilana Hamer, Columbia University School of General Studies 2022)
“I joined the African American Redress Network because I empathize with the goals of the organization. This project is conducting important work that can fix some of the longstanding racial issues that have affected this country for generations. I felt compelled to be a part of such important work” (Avery Brown, Columbia College 2022)
“I joined the African American Redress Network because I was disturbed and angered by the continued inaction towards addressing the generations of enslavement, dispossession, lynching, and systemic discrimination perpetrated against Black communities in the United States. I was also particularly drawn to AARN’s human rights framework, as domestic racial justice issues are often excluded from international human rights discussions” (Claire Choi, Columbia College 2023)
“Racial and social justice are an important part of my professional and personal life. When I learned about the AARN project, I knew I had to be involved. In order to create an equitable society, we must acknowledge our past wrongs and make amends, that is what reparations means to me and the reason why the work of AARN is so important” (Kathy Santana, Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs 2022)