Naomi Klein, Gloria Steinem Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University, moderated a discussion with Maxine Burkett, Saket Soni, Maria Rodriguez, and Patrice Lawrence – four leaders whose work sits at the crucial intersection of migrant justice and climate justice.

Maxine Burkett is a Professor of Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai‘i and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  She is also Co-Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Institute for Climate and Peace. Maxine is an expert in the law and policy of climate change, with a specific focus on climate justice, climate-induced migration, and climate change, peace, and conflict.

Saket Soni is founder and director of Resilience Force, a national initiative to transform America’s response to natural disasters by strengthening and securing America’s resilience workforce. Saket previously co-founded and led the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, fighting for both U.S.-born and immigrant workers engaged in the reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, as well as the National Guestworker Alliance, an organization focused on defending the human rights and dignity of guestworkers in America.

Maria Rodriguez is the first Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, a bold and dynamic social movement organization that seeks the fair and equal treatment of all people, including immigrants. It builds and aggregates the connection, consciousness and capacity of its diverse membership across 10 counties in Florida.

Patrice Lawrence is the recently appointed Co-Director for the UndocuBlack Network. She served prior as the network’s National Policy & Advocacy Director, leading the network’s advocacy efforts on immigrants’ rights and racial justice. Patrice works with the goal of transforming the realities of Black undocumented people so they live their fullest lives.

This event was sponsored by Institute for Women's Leadership, Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, School of Communication and Information, and The Leap.