Dennis D. Parker is the Director of the ACLU National Office's Racial Justice Program (RJP). Concentrating on issues of the school-to-prison pipeline which funnels children of color from the educational system into the criminal justice system, racial profiling, affirmative action, indigent representation and felon enfranchisement and predatory lending, the RJP seeks to remove barriers to equal opportunity for communities of color through litigation, public education, community organizing and legislation. Prior to joining the ACLU, he was the Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney. Mr. Parker also worked for fourteen years at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund litigating and supervising the litigation of scores of cases involving elementary and secondary education, affirmative action in higher education and equal educational opportunity. Other positions included work at the employment firm of Vladeck, Waldman, Elias and Engelhardt and the New York Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Division in Brooklyn, New York. He has published a book and numerous chapters and articles on a range of civil rights issues including housing discrimination, educational equity, affirmative action and testing. Mr. Parker lectures extensively on civil rights issues and is an adjunct professor at New York Law School. He is a graduate of Middlebury College and Harvard Law School.

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