BOSTON – Senator Ed Markey will host a livestream discussion today with Michael Curry, past president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP and member of the National Board of Directors for the NAACP; Rev. Willie Bodrick II, Associate Pastor of Twelfth Baptist Church of Roxbury; Ricky Grant, Chief of Community Engagement at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office; and Rev. Rahsaan Hall, Director of the Racial Justice Program for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (ACLU), to discuss systemic racism and how it enabled the recent murder of George Floyd in Minnesota at the hands of law enforcement officers.

WHO: Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA)

Michael Curry, Esq., Past President of the Boston Branch of the NAACP

Rev. Ricky Grant, Chief of Community Engagement at Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office

Rev. Rahsaan Hall, Esq., Director of the Racial Justice Program for ACLU Massachusetts

Rev. Willie Bodrick II, J.D., Associate Pastor of Twelfth Baptist Church, Roxbury, MA

WHAT: Livestream discussion on the murder of George Floyd and systemic racism.

WHEN: Sunday, May 31, 5:30 PM

WHERE: https://www.facebook.com/EdMarkeyforMA

Senator Ed Markey has spent his political career working to address the health, environmental, economic, criminal, and housing justice issues that disproportionately affect communities of color. Recognizing that the justice system disproportionately incarcerates black Americans and people of color, he co-sponsored Senator Cory Booker’s Next Step Act of 2019, the only senator to do so. Ed Markey has also co sponsored Senator Booker’s Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, the only reparations bill in the Senate, which establishes a commission to make recommendations for reparations proposals.Ed Markey has also co sponsored Senator Booker’s Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, the only reparations bill in the Senate, which establishes a commission to make recommendations for reparations proposals.Ed Markey has also co sponsored Senator Booker’s Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, the first Senate bill introduced in post-Reconstruction America to deal with reparations.

Michael Curry, Esq. is the immediate past president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP (2011-2016). Mr. Curry has over twenty years of dedicated service to the NAACP on the city, state-area conference and national levels. Elected to the National NAACP Board of Directors in 2014, Mr. Curry was recently re-appointed to the National NAACP’s Executive Committee, and appointed to Chair the National Board’s Advocacy & Policy Committee and Vice-Chair the Political Action and Legislation Committee. He also serves on the Legal, Image Award and Constitution Review committees, as well as on the Quality Education Task Force and Chairs the Image Awards Ticketing Task Force.

Ricky Grant is the Chief of Community Engagement and the former director of the Boston TenPoint Coalition. Grant most recently served as Deputy Director for Youth Options Unlimited, where he managed the development and implementation of programming for case management services, transitional employment and career services, alternative education and out-of-school youth programs in collaboration with the City of Boston, community groups, and law enforcement.

Rahsaan Hall is the Director of the Racial Justice Program for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. In this role, Rahsaan helps develop the ACLU of Massachusetts’ integrated advocacy approach to address racial justice issues. Rahsaan also manages the ACLU of Massachusetts’ What a Difference a DA Makes campaign to educate state residents about the power and influence of district attorneys. Prior to joining the ACLU of Massachusetts, Hall was the Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice. He also served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Willie Bodrick II is the Associate Pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr previously served on ministerial staff. He focuses his activism ministering to young people affected by gun violence, participating in peace walks alongside Boston Police as one of the youngest members of the Youth Violence Community Task Force. Bodrick’s community work led him to politics and Attorney General Maura Healy’s office. Bodrick joined faith leaders to address racial tension in the city and mobilized young people through programming, peaceful protest, and prayer. Bodrick also serves on the board of advisors of the Roxbury YMCA and as the chairperson of The Boston Network for Black Student Achievement.

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