Tolu Lawal

Committed to Practicing Black Queer Feminism, Abolition Feminism, Radical Truth and Radical Love, Empathy, & Community | NYU Law '19 | She/her

[Tolu Lawal @Asabi93]

#TBT to when @NYPDShea basically argued that the NYPD has black friends and thus can't be racist....Who did he think would buy that? #NoMoreCops #CutNYPDBudget #NYCBudgetJustice

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

📢Today, the NYS Courts announced the removal of some of the illegal portions of the Character & Fitness. This is the result of years of advocacy from directly-impacted people and allies. We have a long way to go to eliminate the discriminatory impacts of Q26 and the whole C&F.

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

Unlock the Bar opposes @GovKathyHochul's nomination of Justice LaSalle for Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Read our statement here: https://t.co/bHilAJjrgf. #NoOnLaSalle

[RaceNYU @RaceNYU]

The Commission on Judicial Nomination has just announced the shortlist of candidates for Chief Judge. What happens now?

[RaceNYU @RaceNYU]

There's currently a vacancy for the position of Chief Judge on the NY Court of Appeals, and Governor Kathy Hochul has to fill it. Learn more:

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

This Wednesday, @RaceNYU, with co-sponsor @CCA_NY, will host a panel about the New York state Chief Judge vacancy. The Chief Judge has extraordinary power over the court system in NY, including the admissions process to become an attorney!

[Release Aging People in Prison Campaign @RAPPcampaign]

BREAKING: 50+ organizations are calling on @GovKathyHochul to fulfill her promise of fully staffing the NY State Parole Board. The Board's vacancies can't persist. Justice delayed is justice denied. #ParoleJusticeNY

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

BREAKING: @CUNYLaw admissions has officially voted to REMOVE the criminal history question from its law school application beginning next cycle.

They are the second law school in the nation to take this step, in a huge victory for @FILSAA_CUNY and UTB organizers!

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

BREAKING: We conducted a jurisdictional landscape survey analyzing all of the Character and Fitness questionnaires throughout all 58 US atty-licensing jurisdictions.

The results underscore how C&F supports an exclusionary legal regime.

Check it out:

https://t.co/JxDRsKsacH

[Jessica Younts @JessiChiappone]

It is time for ACCESS and INCLUSION in the field of law! #unlockthebar #breakthebarriers

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

Only 4.7% of lawyers in the US are Black. This is no accident. Character and Fitness was designed to exclude communities of color from the practice of law. Today, it asks about EVERY interaction with police. ALL unpaid debt. ANY school discipline. #WhoseCharacter #UnlocktheBar

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

NY Character and Fitness asks about all police interactions, unpaid debt, even juvenile discipline. This is WRONG. Living in an over-policed neighborhood is not "poor character". Debt oppression does not make one "unfit" to practice law. #WhoseCharacter @NYCourtsCOA

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

Character and Fitness works to exclude people who are systems-involved. It was initially designed to keep the legal field White. It continues to serve White supremacy. It is TIME to abolish Character and Fitness.
#AbolishCandF #UnlocktheBar @NYCourtsCOA @NYSCourtsNews

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

TAKE ACTION: I am joining the movement calling on @NYCourtsCOA to abolish Q26 of the Character and Fitness inquiry that ILLEGALLY asks about ALL encounters with police, regardless of outcome. This is blatant discrimination and it must end NOW. #BantheBoxJD #Q26isRacist

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

A few lawyers who passed the Character and Fitness with flying colors: Rudy Giuliani. Jeff Sessions. Richard Nixon. Ron DeSantis.

Whose "character", whose "fitness", whose "ethics" are we regulating?

#AbolishCharacterandFitness #UnlocktheBar @NYCourtsCOA @NYCCourtsNews

[Tolu Lawal @Asabi93]

Character and Fitness works to exclude those who are systems-involved. It was initially designed to keep the legal field White & continues to serve White supremacy. It's TIME to abolish Character and Fitness.
#AbolishCandF #UnlocktheBar @NYCourtsCOA @NYSCourtsNews @UnlocktheBarNY

[Tolu Lawal @Asabi93]

@UnlockTheBarNY People are demanding better @NYCourtsCOA and calling you to be accountable to your own laws. How will you respond?

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

So many BIG questions left unanswered: what will “revision” look like? Why haven’t advocates and organizers been invited to the table?

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

BREAKING: The New York State Bar Association issued a report recommending “revision” of Q26, calling it “illegal”.

This is a huge victory for advocates and organizers. And there is so much more to be done.

Read more: https://t.co/FsN694zYKK

[Tolu Lawal @Asabi93]

I live in Manhattan and today I'm joining the movement calling on @GovKathyHochul to bring our fellow New Yorkers home this holiday season and beyond. Reunite families. Save lives. End mass incarceration. Governor, please grant #ClemencyNOW! #HochulBringThemHome

[Unlock the Bar @UnlockTheBarNY]

We fervently believe that total abolition of the Character and Fitness is necessary to the creation of a truly just and equitable legal profession in New York State.