Conversation with cyntoia brownlong i want to thank molly who just heard from its her suggestion we bring cyntoia to campus. She was also instrumental in developing the program for cyntoia visit and tonights event, so thank you molly. [applause] i also want to thank jess burns and all of my colleagues for their work on this form and so many other events throughout the year. Id like to acknowledge more than a dozen cosponsors of tonights event. There are really too many to name individually but i hope you sell them recognize on the screen before we started. It is gratifying that so Many Organizations acrossga the universe will be joining us to support this event. Head demonstrates the concern and commitment of so many students, faculty, staff with the issues we will discuss with tonights guests. We understand these are challenging topics that touch on difficult personal experiences. I want to encourage you to support each other, to seek support from offices like careli and others at tufts who are well prepared and ready to deal these issues. As you solemnly introductory video we are celebrating to us college anniversary. It was founded in 2000 with the purpose of advancing commitment to civic life. Our mission, then and now is to ensure all tufts students across all schools and academic disciplines acquire the knowledge, skills, valleys become leaders and problem solvers and their communities in near and far. The college began with this dingle Student Program now knownut as tish scholars. Give them a shout out. We offer in support dozens of initiatives for students inandout of the classroom on campus and around the world. We are also home to a nationally recognized Research Center that studies voting, Civic Education and other civic and at and life. The Community Partnerships always essential element of our work have evolved and expanded to encompass more communities and broader impacts. The distinguished Speakers Series began sevener years ago with a visit by senator elizabeth warren. Bit of irony today. [laughter] today, other Tisch College events have grown it was did not mean that in any way we as a treat to have her here and host there. Today other Tisch College events have grown to match the scope of our work. We are excited about this years lineup of visitors and guest speakers. Yesterday we hosted a lunch about the black Power Movement with professor Rhonda Williams and laterck this year we hope will host fungus on joe kennedy, congressman eric swallow to talk about impeachment, veteran journalist Scott Jennings and many other scholarss and leaders whose work will inform ourrs views, challenge some of our beliefs, and encourage our participation in civic life. With this diversity of speakers and went to highlight different ways by which people can impact issues they care about and help build a more just and equitable world. Tonights guest personifies that idea and reminds us that from humble beginnings, far outside the halls of h power, all of us can learn from our lived experiences and use them to become a force for change. Sent toya brown long as an advocate for criminal Justice Reform and Human Trafficking she was born to aum young mother who struggles with alcohol abuse and who was a victim of trafficking as a teenager cyntoia became a victim of trafficking herself and at 16, she was arrested for killing a man who solicited her for. Cyntoia was tried as an adult incense a life in prison without parole. Her trafficker was never arrested. In prison, cyntoia experience a profound spiritual transformation. The documentary called me facing life, cyntoias story chronicles her experiences and as a result many celebrities clergy and other influential people began advocating on her behalf. The free cyntoia went viral. Eventually her sentence was commuted by the governor of tennessee. On august of last year, after 15in years behind bars, cyntoia was released from prison. Since then, cyntoia, has become a powerful advocate for Justice Reform, especially for women and children in american prisons. She published a memoir, free cyntoia my search for redemption in the american prison system. She wrote while she was incarcerated. She and herer husband jamie opened an Institute Justice recognized cyntoia for an honorary. She was also 2020 nominee forr the naacp literary image award. Joining our guests on stagege tonight is professor e hilary benda. She is the founding director of the Tufts University present initiative at Tisch College for it i mentioned earlier Tisch College has expanded its scope and type it is one of the newerha initiatives we are especially proud of. Hillary manages the College Degree program at the massachusetts correctional instituteon desmet institution in concorde which is an partnership between Tisch University and Bunker Hill College show awarded associate degree to a group of incarcerated men in the program. As part of the present initiative hilary also runs an insight outside course at the maximumsecurity prison and surelylyet massachusetts through which tufts students and incarcerated individuals take a course together. Hilarys Current Research is in the field of Higher Education and incarceration. She is a senior lecturer at tufts and directs the program in womens and gender and sexuality studies. Hilary is a strong advocate for the importance of bringing Higher Education into prison and we are grateful she joins us tonight. Please join meue in welcoming professorom hilary benda in our speaker cyntoia brownlong. [applause] [applause] i want to start by thanking you again. Such an honor to be here with you said honor to have you at tufts i hope its the first of many visits. I also want to thank you for your beautiful book for sharing your journey with us, and educating us on issues of the criminal Justice System, your particular journey and on your face. So, i think for people who havent may be read cyntoias book, i want to start by acknowledging how recently you are free. August, right . 3 18 a. M. . So im wondering doing to share with this kind of a first cover all of the firsts you get to experience a first meal or something . Everything is pretty much a first my first meal actually talks about in the book was a can of ravioli. Host how was that . Guest at 3 18 a. M. It was great. Host before we Start Talking about your story, i wanted to ask you if you could reflect on what it has been like telling your story . I can only imagine going over some of the really difficult details, can be hard. Or maybe also very helpful in ways . Guest its definitely been a blessing to sitit and talk about my story of what i went through. Coming from a background i find a lot of us dont have a voice, a voice is a way to share our experiences its like they dont count. So to have the opportunity to sit and talk about that is incredible, to tell everyone each and every time is a blessing. Host you talk at one point in the book about your various trials and being kind of of battle of narratives, not really aboutng whos telling the truth, but his telling the better story. I wonder if there is a way you are kind of getting the final word here in shaping your story . Guest will god definitely always has the last word. I found that out. A lot of times when you are in the court system you think well, if i just explain this and let them know it happens, this is whats going to take place. If i present this caselaw to this this court theyre going to rule in my fave your. Ne that is not what happens. What happens is whoever can spin the best narrative who can put on the best performance of the courtroom is who ends up winning. Nine times outni of ten its going to be the prosecution. That was a very, very, very hard hurdle to overcome. I always thank god who has the last say. Host one of the things you do so powerfully in the book y is convey this sense of your self as a child, particularly in the earlier part of the k. Book. As a teenager, as someone who was loved and loving and searching for love and independence just like all teenagers do, thats their job. You also talk about ways you repeatedly were victimized. And how long it took you, i think until 2017, ten years into your sentence, you still hadnt really identified what your experiences were ass victimization and a victim of trafficking rather the teen prostitute the media was presenting youus as. You can talk about why think it took so long for you, for so many women i imagine who experience that rumbled reality. Guest you always have a saying about people who other h childhood taken away from them. I dont think we really understand what that means. For me my experience was there several adults that i was around her putting me in the position of being an adult. And i was a child. I had grown women who were teaching me my body was a commodity, it was a means to get things from men and it was completely acceptable to expect things in return for my companionship for and things of that nature. I was told my entire existence revolves about pleasing a man some form. I was 13 when they started teaching me these things. That is really what started me on the trajectory of being more vulnerable to being exploited. I was told these things were normal. So my worldview had been reshaped to think this is how relationships work, this is how relationships between men and girls, which i was still a girl it was notl a woman, thats how this goes by the time i met a man who convinced me that we were in a relationship and part of this relationship meant i was allowed to have with men for money and bring it back to him i thought it was back to normal. T the society i was in at that point did not call me a Trafficking Victim i was called the teen prostitute i was made to believe these are my choices, they were more made of my own volition, there is never any conversation about the adults that it taught me these things, the worldview that had been skewed to convince me to it do these things not from the people i was around, not from the court system. It took a long time for that understanding to was sold a lot of work now. I cant tell you just how many times i was told i was fat. And i was just hot. Instead of the fact i was a child who is being misled. And a gun to held your head. The media portrayal of you through those early years, while into your cars duration was pretty horrific. You have a sense of how the media might handle the situation better, it sounds like you do, have things gotten better since then in thee last 15 years or so, ten years you think . Guest and my case it was deafening as pain is a horrible monster, the media referred to me as a teen prostitute. I was just painted as is filthy dangerous individual. Obviously, now things havee changed. I see some media referring to some cases of child prostitution is no such thing as child prostitution and sexual exploitation. Changing with their still work that needs to be done in terms of the criminal justice aspect of it, i dont see much that is change, me personally its cchange, they see a lot of times, especially with young kids, the pictures are posted up on the news, they are painted as this horrible individual, the not talked about the kids they are, maybe some of the circumstances they may have been involved in at the time theres always this rush to judgment, rushed to try people by the media. Think that is unfortunate just because we live in a country where you think youre just be innocent until provenn guilty. One of the things i expected not sure any of us expected at this point, but in theory, one is incarcerated or enters into the system and the rehabilitation begins. Guest sounds good. Host i want to figure talk about the reality and the re traumatizing effect of getting caught in the web of the system. There are specific ways that impacted your sense of yourself . Guest the reality that i had many of the women was incarcerated with experience was from the time we set foot into the facility we were treated as, we were there to be warehouse, we are to be warehouse, put under some strict control, rules changed every single day, the only time our rehabilitation was an issue was when there is a federal grants at stake when there is some sort of funding there is going to commend a part of the receiving that funding there had to be certain programs in place. Even then, was however much was necessary to get by to comply with whatever standards that set for that grant. Would definitely need to work more on treating people from the time they walk into that door as we need to be focused on how to be get them to the other side . How could we help them to become their best selves to make sure this person has successful reentry intofu society. going through the multiple trials in preparation for various trials, you also described you are working with light red to was really on been trying to help but even in that case didnt want you to tell your story and was essentially silencing you. That really struck me that its not personal and theres something systemic about entering the system and being of liberated. The entire nature of the Court Proceedings and trial proceedings is adversarial and all about strategy and taking, this is what they had and howells spin it. Yes i understand this is what your truth is and it does not sound visible go with this. It does not only happen with the defendant happens a lot with the victims, your victims to go through the process and they think they will get some sort of closure in there just as lost as the defendants in the case. There is no real restoration, no real rebuilding of what has been broken. Years is so much a story of incredible survival really thriving against all odds and im wondering if we can turn to the more positive things that happen once you were in the system. Specifically thinking about your college experience. I was telling you earlier it was very moving for m me and many of us involved in network to hear you talk about the University Program in your life. Can you share some of that and the students in meeting the students would like. Absolutely. That was an inside out programm generally. So you were working with a lot of university students. They call it part of their salt curriculum which is serving and learning together. Its a life program of gravitation. I was four years into serving my sense when it mean to be part of the program, i jump through a lot of hurdles. I was expecting, i was going too further my education and i go before the court and go before the governor and its going to look good oner paper, once i got into the class i realized i had been welcome to the community. All through my early life in Public School and made to feel like i was an outcast and made to feel because of things that had gone through or because of things i had done i was just written off, i was no good, the Court Process that amplifies them. And for me too be welcomed in the community of people who do not see any of that. They just saw me and they love me. That was redeeming beyond anything i had ever experienced. They saw something in me that washa worth salvaging. They saw something in me that was worthin investing in and hep me too believe in myself. And i started excelling in everything that i put my mind to. I ended up getting a 4. 0 in every single class. [applause] wow. In prior to being in the program the highest education i had in school was seventh grade. What do you think the students, you talk about being accepted what were those interactions like, i dont know if theres a specific example of a moment where he treated you as certainly. The university itself into university where theres a lot of affluent people who send their children there. [laughter] , a lot of these kids come from very privileged backgrounds, although they were the same age as me in the early stages, completely different from my own and you go into thinking youre going to expect one thing but what i found is we had moreg in common than i had ever thought. And it was really cool to be able listen have these conversations and you can see they were interested in learning what life was to my perspective and interested in seeing how can they be more respectful of that of my experiences, how can they be more helpful of change in the prisonon system and the Justice System and i left knowing this could happen to me too. So they were that much more invested to try to change things. Theo you see as a result of experience and for education in your future goal. I thought about law school, and just a matter when i would have time for, i like coming out and speaking to people. And just setting aside time to do that, absolutelyy love education and is very, very rewarding. Will talk in a few minutes about everything that you are doing and you are educating e already. I wanted to ask you also about the really powerful role that you created in the book that your adoptive mom played in your life and in your journey. I wondered if you could talk about that. How is she part of it with you. My mother adopted me when i was a mental, she was only one my dad had ever known and always want to really give me the life that anyone would want to give a child, even when i struggled she was always there tried to figure out how can i help when the school would call her up, she would be like what can i do. Obviously they give her know answer, but she tried very hard and sheer was there and when i s arrested i saw all the people that i was hanging around in teaching me all these things that no 13yearold girl should ever learn, they were nowhere to be found, the only person left standing was my mother and she had been my best friend from that moment, she came to visit me every other week in prison, the social club, her in my husband. In fact she got to know your husband before you are out. Yes they be youro best frie friends. I was very struck by how you never its just a teenagers job to blame her mother first, i tell you with expert experience. In at least at this point and as