It is time. It’s time to get to the heart of how we think about our societal problems and solutions differently. Thinking differently about public safety, education, health care--dealing with the actual issues and finding common ground, which may be messy and uncomfortable, but it can be done. L. Joy begins class with our new Vote Mama candidate spotlight on Nicole Horn, then brings Professor Alex Torpey to the front of the class to discuss thinking differently about governance.

Celebrating Black History should not just be regulated to one month. L. Joy always celebrates and uplifts Black History because we need history and context to enact effective change. We celebrate and uplift C. Virginia Fields, who is the epitome of living Black History, as she comes to the front of the class to discuss her remarkably civically active life and shares the important work the National Black Leadership Commission on Health is doing to improve Black health outcomes.

Public safety and policing. Does one need the other? Is having police manage matters of social disorder the way to best solve our social problems? L. Joy brings Professor Alex Vitale to the front of the class to give us more history and context we need to reimagine public safety.

L. Joy has discussed criminal justice reform and how as a society we can think through and get engaged around making change, and we are going to keep the conversation going. On this episode, L. Joy brings State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County Maryland, Aisha Braveboy to the front of the class to break down exactly what the school to prison pipeline is, how her office is approaching juvenile justice, and how she uses her office to protect the rights of everyone.

L. Joy gives us important actions to take today, and throughout the year on Voting Rights. She reviews our lesson “No Constitutional Right To Vote” with guest Barbara Arnwine at the front of the class, giving us the historical context, and recent history, as to why we continue to fight to secure voting rights. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated in 1957, "So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact — I can only submit to the edict of others," and until voting rights are secured, we must continue to take action.

Elected prosecutors are part of the community. They hold the power to determine who gets prosecuted and their sentences. What tools do prosecutors have that can ensure fairness and equity, as well as criminal justice reform? To continue the conversation L. Joy began with Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez on conviction and sentencing review units; she brought State’s Attorney for Baltimore, Maryland, Marilyn Mosby, to the front of the class to break down the barriers to, advantages of, and need for these important units in prosecutors’ offices.