Chaumtoli Huq is a social justice innovator who operates at the intersections of “law, teaching, assisting non-profits and individuals with strategic direction and governance issues mainly in areas of labor, human rights both in the United States and South Asia.” She founded Law@theMargins in 2013 and serves as Editor-in-Chief and has been known to take students and alums for Bangladeshi food to discuss food, politics, and immigration.
What do you teach at CUNY Law?
I was very excited to teach Labor Law in my first year at CUNY Law! And I’m looking forward to the new year ahead.
Tell us a little bit about your activism and how you see yourself carrying that work forward here during your tenure at CUNY Law.
image via Law@theMargins
If I were to characterize the arc of my now twenty-year legal career, it would be using my legal skills and knowledge gained in services of social movements, particularly those focused on economic justice, both here in working-class communities in New York City as well as in Bangladesh/South Asia. Looking in the disaggregate, I have been involved in varied types of legal settings, but they all cohere around a commitment to movement lawyering. I hope to interest students in this global, economic justice work and to develop a pedagogy of movement lawyering that would provide support to a new cadre of movement lawyers.
There’s a striking image of you being arrested in Times Square that evokes a very visceral reaction from the viewer. You had just been appointed as top counsel to New York City’s public advocate, the first Bangladeshi-American to reach that level of city government. What was that moment like for you? And what was it like when, three months later, you filed a federal lawsuit against the NYPD?
That moment was frightening because the arresting officer, who was much larger than me, had put the full weight of his body on me, including pushing his pelvis into my body, and said, he could do whatever he wanted, and I realized he was right.
I wrote about my reflections in an Op-Ed piece called American Devotion to Order Over Justice Must End, in Al Jazeera.
The arrest occurred during the holy month of Ramadan, and I was fasting, so I had an internal introspective millisecond moment of wondering: what is this the divine purpose of, and what am I being called to do? Finally, I was arrested while I was waiting for my husband and children to return from the restaurant restroom, and I was worried about how they would react to this, and how it would inform their views of belonging in America as children of color.
What is the best/worst thing you can remember about your time at law school?
I met some of the most amazing, thoughtful, and politically conscious people at law school, in terms of faculty and classmates. My classmates are dear friends and are doing transformative social justice work. I am grateful to know them. Even though Northeastern was a progressive law school, legal education and the profession were still alienating for me as a first-generation, immigrant woman of color. I don’t know how many times I tried to drop out of law school, but, thanks to friends and organizers, I didn’t, and I am glad I didn’t. It has been a most fulfilling career, and I am excited about this next phase of my journey at CUNY.
If you could change one thing about legal education, what would that be?
I would love to see us being more open and accessible to the broader community, in terms of allowing individuals who do not want to obtain a J.D. to audit classes, interact with our students and faculty,
and break down the “walls” of law school and the surrounding community. Technology can help us expand what we mean by community. It would enhance the educational experiences for our students, andwe would be serving an important role in the community.
If you could recruit anyone to guest lecture in your class, who would it be – and what would they talk about?
I would invite bell hooks. She is such an amazing, integrated scholar-activist-spiritualist that whatever she speaks about would be dreamy. The nonprofit I started, Law@theMargins, is inspired by her book, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center.
Do you have a top study tip or trick you’ve picked up along the way?
I am an aural and visual learner. During the bar exam, I recorded some of the key bar lectures and listened to them on my train rides to bar prep. It helped me to remember core concepts.
Before teaching, did you have any other jobs or experiences that might surprise us?
I started working when I was around 15 or 16. I did a lot of odd jobs, including selling encyclopedias to bodegas in the Bronx (I quit because it felt predatory, and I was not paid) and as a salesperson at Bloomingdales. It was surprising because, by nature, I am an introvert, so being a salesperson seems odd, and I also feel I am the least fashionable person!
What non-assigned reading material would you recommend to students? What are you reading that you can’t put down?
If they have time, I actually would encourage them to cultivate their other senses: hearing, sight, and movement literacy, for example, and develop a habit of learning from non-textual sources. I am grateful to be a beneficiary of rich oral culture, and I search for values, meaning in my own traditions, as well as other rich, profound oral traditions, including spoken word and hip hop. What I can’t put down or rather turn off is my Spotify playlists (or mixed tapes, we would say in my time) based on my vibes like FierceNFly, Desi, and River to name a few. I am always open to getting recommendations. Got any? [send them on Twitter to @profhuq!]
What can’t you let go of? Is there anything that holds you enthralled, that you want to keep on people’s radar, or that is keeping you up at night?
I am enthralled by people in my life: my life-partner, children, family, friends, and other social justice innovators who, despite challenges and obstacles, keep hope, keep striving to make this world better. I hold on to the simple joys which fuel/sustain my social justice work. Even folks I do not agree with or get along with I can learn from, particularly what drives them to act or not.
When you encounter someone with fundamentally different views on justice or the law, how do you approach the relationship/communication/work?
My mantra is as Nina Simone sang:
“You’ve got to learn to leave the table
When love’s no longer being served
To show everybody that you’re able
To leave without saying a word”
If there were an opportunity for mutual understanding and learning, I would invest time in it. But, some views, as of recent, are fundamentally about denying my right to exist, live, and thrive as a human being, in terms of my varied identities as a woman, immigrant, and Muslim, and there, I would communicate clearly to them that conversations can’t take place where respect is not at the foundation. I move forward but remain open to receive that person, should they see me as a full being.
If you weren’t a law professor, what would you most likely be doing in life?
When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a Fly Girl in the show “In Living Color!” I guess I would want to be involved in something creative.