Community Justice Project records

The Miami-based organization, Community Justice Project (CJP), was co-founded in 2015 by lawyers Ameena Jaganath, Alana Greer, and Chuck Elsesser. Originally working together as part of Florida Legal Services, the three identified that they shared similar visions for their individual legal practices, which they deemed to be a hole in legal services around South Florida, and decided to unite under a shared banner. In part, their decision to unite was prompted the by nation-wide incidences of police brutality that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, the phenomenon of the #MeToo movement, as well as protests against Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Jaganath, Greer, and Elsesser decided, as their organization’s title suggests, that because of the nature of the protests waged by people affected by social injustices the brand of their project had to be centered around community-led, grassroots activism combined with the practice of law that reflected such activist impulses. It soon became apparent to them that they were a much-needed resource, practicing law very differently to other legal services entities in the city. In particular, they provide legal support to individuals and groups fighting for racial and gender equality, fair wages, and affordable housing, as well as a variety of other issues relevant to social justice.

In a city such as Miami, where there is not only a huge wealth disparity between rich and poor and subsequent issues such as a lack of affordable housing, but also the fact that the land itself is under threat due to rising sea levels, the CJP are an invaluable resource for communities facing unique forms of displacement. Distinguishable from standard gentrification whereby poor communities are displaced from their homes or districts because of external developers or an influx of affluent residents, climate gentrification occurs when this process is specifically triggered by climate change. Black neighborhoods in Miami, such as Little Haiti -built by Haitian immigrants- are particularly under threat because Little Haiti rests on elevated ground in a city that is sinking, therefore, the area’s real estate has started to become attractive to developers. This phenomenon was theorized using Miami as a case study -it is an uncommon problem in comparison to other U.S. cities- however, the CJP positions their practice toward specific local community concerns such as climate gentrification, as well as more widespread issues that affect vulnerable peoples(1). In context of the threats faced by the Little Haiti community, Jagganath, whose previous experience includes working with rural farmers and micro-loan recipients in India, Mayan victims of massacres in Guatemala, feuding factions in Lebanon, and victims of sexual violence in Haiti, poignantly stated, “There isn’t a sum of money that can really replace 20 years of a lifetime in a house, where you have a tree that you planted when you first got there” (Snitzer). The CJP’s ability to center the variety of physical, emotional, and psychological impacts faced by the marginalized populations they represent in relation to social injustices is no doubt emblematic of their disposition as an organization. However, also key for the CJP is the idea that marginalized populations are supported in order to be able to represent themselves.

One of the ways that the Community Justice Project sets itself apart from other legal organizations is their investment in sustainable change for the future by teaching vulnerable communities their rights and how to fight for them. As reported by Miami New Times, co-founder Meena Jagannath stated, "Our model is based on a deep belief that social change comes about when people who are directly impacted by different types of injustice are the ones leading the initiative … For the people we work with, we are trying to give a platform for them to be able to advocate for themselves to make their mark on this city and make it a more just and beautiful and equitable place" (Lipscomb). During a podcast for Innovation City, Jagannath furthered that the organization wanted to be a bridge -a term deeply resonant with women of color feminisms(2)- for activist organizations and marginalized individuals whose voices do not typically get heard, while simultaneously demystifying the frequently intentionally obtuse law to those groups so that they understand their rights(3).

In addition, the CJP’s methodology is malleable to the client; they use a variety of legal tools that are entirely tailored toward the goal of achieving the best outcome for the client, rather than a standard practice of litigation. This practice exemplifies the centrality of “community” in what otherwise could be reduced to a legal enterprise. Alana Greer writes:

"But if we reset our view of the law from the solution to one of many tools of the movement, the courts can be transformed into sites of resistance … We should celebrate the victories in court, but then get out in the street and demand more. Use the momentum that legal strategies can create to strengthen organizing. Hold us as lawyers accountable to community. Question our strategies when they don’t center the voices of directly impacted people and those being targeted by white supremacy and patriarchy."

The centrality of the voices of the marginalized is self-evident even in the legal reports produced by the CJP, such as “The Feminization of Poverty in Miami: Building a Femme Agenda for Women & Femmes of Color” (2017) and “The Cost of Complicity” (2018). The former was published in conjunction with Advocacy Partners Team: A Women’s Law Group, and examines how women and femme identifying people have less access to income, wealth, health care, housing, education, and political representation and, therefore, disproportionately carry the burden of poverty because they are more likely to be systematically denied resources and opportunities (4). The latter report, which was published together with Florida Immigrant Coalition and WeCount!, was written in response to the immigration policies adopted by Mayor Carlos Gimenez following a January 2017 Executive Order issued by Donald Trump. Essentially, Gimenez made Miami-Dade the first city to voluntarily submit to the anti-immigrant agenda embedded within the Executive Order which threatened to cut federal funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions”; that is, places that willfully refuse to communicate with federal authorities regarding immigration status. Importantly, however, the law that describes this communication (8 U.S.C. 1373) does not require that immigration detainers are honored, therefore, the resolution passed on February 7th, 2017 by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners affirming that all immigration detainers would be honored was a choice rather than a legal responsibility. In addition to inducing a constant atmosphere of fear in immigrant communities especially, the report estimates that assisting ICE could end up costing Miami-Dade County 13.6 million dollars annually, which would be paid by taxpayers(5). Though the report obviously discusses a large amount of legal data and policy, anonymous quotations from undocumented people and other closely affected people are interspersed throughout the prose, visibly enacting CJP’s vision regarding the voices of their clients. These reports also suggest that in terms of future projects, the CJP will inevitably adapt to the changing needs and desires of Miami’s most vulnerable as ever-evolving threats loom large.

Laura Bass
UGrow Fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

(1) See: Jesse M. Keenan, Thomas Hill, and Anurag Gumber. “Climate gentrification: from theory to empiricism in Miami-Dade County, Florida.” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 13, no. 5, 2018.
(2) See: This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, edited by Cherrís Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Persephone Press, 1981.
(3) See: “Building Inclusive, Prosperous Cities.” Meena Jagganath, Innovation City,16 Oct. 2016.
(4) See: “The Feminization of Poverty in Miami: Building a Femme Agenda for Women & Femmes of Color.” Submitted by Advocacy Partners Team: A Women’s Law Group and Community Justice Project, Oct. 2017.
(5) A PDF download of the report is available at: https://communityjusticeproject.com/detainers.

Works Cited

Greer, Alana. “The law is not going to save us.” The New Tropic, Feb. 2 2017.

Lipscomb, Jessica. “Community Justice Project Cofounder Meena Jagganath Battles Bigotry.” Miami New Times, Nov. 20 2017.

Snitzer, Adam. “Meena Jagannath believes lawyers should do no harm.” Miami Activists, Feb. 18.