Visit We Are All Criminals online.

Minnesota North is proud to partner with We Are All Criminals. We Are All Criminals is a small organization with fellows, interns, and advisors across the United States, advocating for reason and mercy in our criminal legal system and justice and restoration within our communities.

Beginning January 27th and thru January 31st, Join us for a powerful and thought-provoking event with Emily Baxter, as she explores the complex issue of mass incarceration in America. Through compelling photographs, first-person stories, and eye-opening statistics, Emily will help us understand how the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts communities of color and those from lower-income backgrounds.

In these sessions, you’ll learn about:

• The History of Mass Incarceration: What led to the explosion of incarceration in the U.S., and why it disproportionately affects Black, Latinx, and poor communities.
• Race and Class Disparities: How biases in policing, sentencing, and the overall legal process contribute to these inequalities. You’ll also see how the criminal justice system often targets people of color and those without the means to afford quality legal defense.
• The Power of Narrative and Visual Storytelling: Emily will demonstrate how photographs and personal stories can change the way we think about people who are incarcerated. By sharing these stories, we can develop deeper empathy and challenge stereotypes, helping us to see the humanity behind the statistics.
• The Role of Data: Emily will share important facts and figures to show the real scale of mass incarceration—highlighting how it affects families, communities, and society at large. You’ll also gain a better understanding of the long-term impacts of being incarcerated, even after someone is released.

Through these powerful tools—stories, images, and data—Emily will encourage us to think critically about how the justice system works, why it’s important to care about these issues, and what we can do to make a difference. This event is an opportunity to engage in a deeper conversation about justice, equality, and the future of the criminal justice system.

Emily Baxter is the executive director and developer of WAAC. Prior to this, Emily served as the director of advocacy and public policy at the Council on Crime and Justice in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she worked on successful Ban the Box and expungement expansion efforts, and as an assistant public defender at the Regional Native Public Defense Corporation representing indigent members of the Leech Lake and White Earth Bands of Ojibwe charged with crimes in Minnesota State Court. She is a former Fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School’s Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice.

The events are as follows:

Rainy River Campus: Monday, January 27 at 1:00PM in the Rainy River Theatre

Vermilion Campus: Tuesday, January 28 at 1:00PM in the Vermilion Theatre

Mesabi Range Virginia Campus: Wednesday, January 29 at 9:00AM in the Theatre

Mesabi Range Eveleth Campus: Wednesday, January 29 at 12:00PM in the Commons

Hibbing Campus: Thursday, January 30 9:00AM in room B212

Itasca Campus: Friday, January 31 11:00AM in the Chucker Theatre