Yusef Shakur

Co-Director of Programs | Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion

Yusef Shakur captures the essence of what life was like for a misguided and angry gang banging boy surviving the mean streets of Detroit. In his memoir, "The Window 2 My Soul", Shakur educates the reader on how he became a social predator and takes you inside the prison walls, where he met his father for the first time, who ultimately redeemed and transformed his own life and passed those lessons on to his misguided son. Shakur dedicates his life to community-based initiatives such as the annual Restoring The Neighbor Backpack Giveaway that is hosted in his neighborhood.

Presentations from Facing Race 2018

Pipes and Ladders: The Impact of Mass Incarceration on Youth and the Community

An interactive workshop simulating the school to prison pipeline through a favorite childhood game of "Chutes (Pipes) and Ladders". Participants will explore the impact of racial spatial segregation on schools and those impacts on black and brown students through experiencing first hand how an individual life is impacted by institutional and systemic policies. The workshop will also include dialogue exploring the disparity between public, private, and charter schools and how race, location, and financial opportunities can affect student success. Finally, workshop leaders will share their action driven solutions to these large issues in local communities.

Many conversations occur nationwide around the topic of mass incarceration but few are youth led. This workshop is planned, researched, and executed entirely by youth, for youth who want to explore deeper the issues facilitated by the school to prison pipeline. The Regional Youth Interns of the Michigan Roundtable will facilitate this workshop shaping a new narrative for mass incarceration work reaching to alumni of the program and youth activists on the ground in Michigan fighting against mass incarceration in a fish bowl style discussion to round out the session.

Speakers: Yusef Shakur, Regional Youth Interns