Professor James is a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU Silver. Jae was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, during a period of political and social unrest. He would ultimately migrate to the United States at ten years old with his mother in search of a better life. Yet the “American Dream,” like it is to many immigrants of color, would be more mirage than reality — the nightmare that awaited Jae — that 1 in 3 black men between 16 and 24 would be victims of what many scholars (decades later) would rather euphemistically title: “Mass Incarceration.”As a professor at NYU, he utilizes his firsthand knowledge and research to educate, train, and work with governments, community-based organizations, social workers, and advocates with social justice agendas throughout America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Jae’s teaching philosophy is most influenced by Paulo Friere, bell hooks, and theories on critical pedagogy. Jae believes education is our greatest tool for liberation and social justice. But to use it effectively, he believes it is essential that we recognize the inherent bias within our current education paradigm. And thus create space(s) that allow for critical dialogue, co-created knowledge, and action aligned with our organizing value of social justice.
