{"id":15718,"date":"2019-04-22T18:58:37","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T18:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/?p=15718"},"modified":"2019-04-22T18:58:37","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T18:58:37","slug":"law-alumnus-desmond-meade-recognized-among-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2019\/04\/22\/law-alumnus-desmond-meade-recognized-among-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Law alumnus Desmond Meade recognized among TIME magazine\u2019s \u201c100 Most Influential People\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

For\u00a0College of Law\u00a0<\/a>alumnus Desmond Meade JD \u201914, life is all about compassion, love and giving people a shot at redemption.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what guides him as an advocate and president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC). For his work, Meade has been named one of\u00a0TIME<\/em>\u00a0magazine\u2019s 2019 \u201c100 Most Influential People.\u201d He is counted among the world\u2019s top thought leaders, artists and pioneers, including Pope Francis, President Donald Trump, Michelle Obama, Lebron James and Lady Gaga.<\/p>\n

Meade said he was \u201cblown away, humbled and honored\u201d to make the list, especially after seeing who else is on it. \u201cYou\u2019re talking about some very powerful and influential people, and so to be in that company was definitely surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meade led the FRRC in an effort that rallied Florida voters in favor of Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to 1.4 million formerly incarcerated Floridians. The amendment passed in November 2018 with 5.1 million votes and allows Floridians convicted of felonies (except for murder and sexual offenses) to vote again once they have completed all terms of their sentence, including parole and probation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing feeling, because we were able to expand democracy significantly,\u201d Meade said. But what moved him the most, he added, was to know that \u201cthose votes were not based on hate and fear, but rather based on love, forgiveness and redemption.\u201d<\/p>\n

His motivation? Meade himself was once homeless, addicted to drugs and suicidal, with a felony record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at the lowest of lows. I thought I was a nobody and I didn\u2019t have any positive impact in this world. But in the process of turning my life around, I rediscovered love and its power.\u201d Meade said. He was inspired by the people who worked for his addiction treatment center and the homeless shelter, because they had a \u201cdedication to their fellow man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust knowing that somebody does care for you really gives you hope,\u201d Meade said. It\u2019s how he knew he wanted to dedicate his life to public service. \u201cWhen it feels good to you, you know it will feel good to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 10 years\u2019 time, he\u2019d defied the odds and completed a bachelor\u2019s degree at Miami Dade College in public safety management with a concentration in criminal justice\u00a0and a law degree from FIU.<\/p>\n

But without the right to vote, Meade could not even vote for his own wife, Sheena Meade, when she was a candidate for the state legislature, said\u00a0his biography in\u00a0TIME<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In March 2014, the NAACP flew Meade to Geneva, Switzerland, to testify before the Human Rights Committee at the United Nations about his experience as a felon stripped of his civil rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo watch Desmond testify very openly and engage one on one with these incredible leaders from all over the world was just incredible,\u201d Hillary Shelton, director of the NAACP\u2019s Washington Bureau and its senior vice president for Advocacy and Policy, told\u00a0FIU Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

Read Meade\u2019s story in\u00a0FIU Magazine<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

In recognition of his successes, Meade has also recently been inducted into the Miami Dade College Hall of Fame and was named \u201cFloridian of the Year\u201d by the University of Florida\u2019s Bob Graham Center for Public Service.<\/p>\n

He said his achievements, despite his past, show that anybody has the opportunity to turn their life around and make a difference in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a regular guy like me could make that list, then there\u2019s so many of us that could. But I think what it\u2019s going to take is really a dedication to service, to giving back to communities and to being guided by love. What I hope is that people realize they, too, can overcome any obstacle in life, and they can get to a level of being in a publication with the Pope and the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antony Page, dean of the College of Law, said, \u201cMr. Meade is a stirring example of how access to an excellent and affordable legal education can change not only the trajectory of a person\u2019s life but of many people\u2019s lives. Law school offers its students an opportunity to catalyze positive change in the world. Mr. Meade grasped that opportunity, and, thanks to his resilience and commitment to justice, has applied his FIU education to deliver to the disenfranchised what is perhaps the most fundamental tenet of a democratic society: the right to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meade is proud of his FIU education. He knew it was the right place for him from the moment he met with a staff member at the College of Law to discuss applying for the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a family there,\u201d he said. \u201cI was welcomed with open arms. I was treated with dignity and that my past was not a hindrance to anyone. I was treated like every other student, loved and respected like every other student, and so it was an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Duane Wiles, executive director of the FIU Alumni Association, “FIU is very proud of Desmond and the tireless work he does on behalf of social justice. This FIU Panther is truly Worlds Ahead!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For\u00a0College of Law\u00a0alumnus Desmond Meade JD \u201914, life is all about compassion, love and giving people a shot at redemption. It\u2019s what guides him as an advocate and president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC). For his work, Meade has been named one of\u00a0TIME\u00a0magazine\u2019s 2019 \u201c100 Most Influential People.\u201d He is counted among the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[453,415,19,390,12,459],"class_list":["post-15718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-association","tag-black-alumni","tag-college-of-law","tag-fiu-alumni","tag-fiu-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15720,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions\/15720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}