I Fear 4 My Life
February 17, 2025
Date/time: February 28, 2025 | 2:00PM
Location: UNM SUB THEATER
Address: 87106, Albuquerque, NM 87131, 1st Floor of the UNM SUB, RM 1098
Contact: 505-277-5644 or kjohnson174@unm.edu
Registration Link: https://forms.gle/Z3GtvRdv8T7j2Hrz9
THIS FREE EVENT aims to empower, educate, and engage our community in meaningful dialogue. In these challenging times, it’s crucial that we have the difficult conversations about our fears and the struggles we face—especially when it comes to building trust between communities and law enforcement, where the stakes are often life and death.
Be part of Phase 4 of the “I Fear for My Life: Building Trust and Reducing Fear” initiative. This event will feature three impactful speakers—Dr. Kideste Yusef, Chief Gary Hill, and Kemba Smith-Pradia—who will share their expertise and perspectives on overcoming fear, bridging divides, and working together to create safer, more trusting relationships between the community and law enforcement.
The I Fear For My Life Initiative, provided by the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ), the 400 Years of African American History Commission (400 YAAHC), and Lincoln University Law Enforcement Training Academy (LUETA), in coordination with the Department of Africana Studies at the University of New Mexico, is an opportunity to engage in a critical conversation that will shape our future. Your presence and participation are key to making lasting change. Let’s come together to learn, listen, and build the trust that is so desperately needed in our world today. Don't miss out on this chance to be part of the solution.
About our speakers:
Dr. Kideste Mariam Yusef is a tenured Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and the Department Chair of the undergraduate Criminal Justice and Master’s in Criminal Justice Administration programs at Bethune-Cookman University. She also serves as the Director of the B-CU Center for Law and Social Justice. Dr. Yusef has twenty years of collegiate teaching experience including undergraduate and graduate instruction in Criminal Justice, Sociology, and African American/African Studies. Her areas of expertise include community-police relations, police use of force, race and social justice, and performance management. Dr. Yusef currently serves as the National Coordinator of Student-Law Enforcement Engagement for the 400 Years of African American History Commission “I Fear for My Life” Federal Initiative, which establishes a national dialogue between African American college students and police based on the common theme of fear. She received a B.S. in Criminal Justice with a minor in African American Studies and M.A. in Applied Sociology from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, M.A. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Law, Policy, and Practice from The Graduate Center/John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University New York. She is the proud mother of three amazing children, Senait Wudasse, Melesse Selam, and Kebra Egziabher.
Kemba Smith is a mother, wife, criminal justice advocate, speaker, author, and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (since 2018). Her book, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story, chronicles her traumatic experience with domestic abuse, injustice, disenfranchisement, and re-entry. The film Kemba follows her journey from being targeted by the federal government’s “war on drugs”, enduring a prison sentence for her then-boyfriend’s actions, to partnering with LDF to fight for her release from prison. One of the many reasons Kemba was released from prison is due to the involvement and support of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, along with other advocates and organizations, helped bring attention to her case. They pushed for her to be granted clemency, citing the injustice of her lengthy sentence and her transformation while incarcerated. Their efforts, along with public support and a campaign led by her family, ultimately contributed to her receiving a commutation from then-President Bill Clinton in 2000, after serving six and a half years. She was recently pardoned by President Joe Biden on January 19th, 2025.
Chief Gary Hill has been with the Lincoln University Police Department since December 1, 2016. He was promoted to Vice President of Campus Culture in June of 2021. He still serves as Chief of Police and is also the Director of the Lincoln University Law Enforcement Training Academy. He started his Criminal Justice career as a Corrections Officer at the Jefferson City Correctional Center (The Walls) 1996. He joined the Cole County Sheriff's Office in 1998. He was promoted from Deputy to Sergeant in 2002 and sergeant to Lieutenant in 2005. He served as the Patrol Division Commander until November 2016. He served as the Patrol Division Commander for Cole County Sheriff's Office for the last 12 years of employment.
