This year's panelists include:

Jean-Pierre Brutus 

Jean-Pierre Brutus is a senior counsel in the Economic Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Convener of the New Jersey Reparations Council. He leads and manages the Institute’s reparations advocacy. 

He is FirstRepair’s East & Mid-Atlantic Regional Leader. He is a member of the Strategic Identities Committee of the Why We Can’t Wait Network and of the Policy Subcommittee of New Yorkers for Reparations. He is an affiliate of the University of Michigan’s Slavery and its Aftermath Initiative. He is also the facilitator of FirstRepair’s Reparations Book Club. He is a co-author of “More than a Check: Building Narrative Power for Black Reparations” in Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st – Century Social Movements. He was a member of Liberations Ventures’ Reparations Narrative Lab and represented the Institute as a community fellow on the Rutgers- Newark Crafting Democratic Futures Project on community dialogues on reparations. 

Prior to joining the Institute, Jean-Pierre worked at Legal Services NYC, where he represented Bronx tenants facing eviction as part of New York City’s right to counsel program. Jean-Pierre is a graduate of Georgetown University. He earned his PhD in African American Studies and JD from Northwestern University. 

Robert Pallitto, Ph.D., J.D., Professor of Political Science, Seton Hall University, Department of Political Science and Public Affairs 

Robert Pallitto is a political theorist and former public interest trial lawyer who was sole or co-counsel in several precedent-setting NJ appellate cases. He has published books on presidential secrecy, torture and human rights, constitutional  law, and privacy. His latest book, a co-authored biography of jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham, was just published this month. 
From 2022-23, Pallitto served as Senior Associate Dean for Interdisciplinary Strategies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Tariq Raheem 

Tariq is a strategy-focused and impact-driven Educator and Program Administrator with more than 10 years of progressive leadership experience building curricular and co-curricular programs that utilize data to solve systemic issues for underrepresented, underachieving, and underserved low to moderate-income Learners. Tariq is a solutions-oriented professional with a proven ability to engage at the State level to mobilize funding and resources that improve access to education, student retention, and leadership development inside and outside the classroom. Tariq is a dedicated School Leader who has been consistently leveraged to tackle the District’s most pressing challenges, including innovation for classroom management, curriculum development, and programming to ensure ongoing student achievement. 

Tariq Raheem is an educator in Irvington, N.J., recognized for launching the AP African American Studies course. He is a proponent of teaching inclusive history. He is the author of Lessons From My Father, a resource guide for all educators, coaches, social workers and parents seeking to teach children pivotal life skills with real examples to support the discussion.