New documentary Racially Charged features Professor Joe

Professor Irene Oritseweyinmi Joe was interviewed extensively for the new documentary Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem, which screened March 11 as part of a Harvard Law School event. The event was live-streamed, and a replay that includes the documentary is available on YouTube. (Caution: The documentary contains many scenes of police violence).

Directed by Robert Greenwald ("Outfoxed")  and narrated by Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali, Racially Charged explores the racial history and modern discrimination of the American misdemeanor system.

“You have to realize that these laws did not happen by chance,” Joe, a former New Orleans public defender, says in the documentary. “They were part of a system to continue to oppress Black bodies.”

Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler, who recently delivered UC Davis Law’s annual Barrett Lecture as part of the Racial Justice Speaker Series, also appears in the film.

Irene Oritseweyinmi Joe’s scholarship focuses on the ethics of criminal justice. She graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin, and earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School. She clerked for the Honorable Napoleon Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.