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Joi Owens: A crusader for the disabled

Jackson Advocate - 4/16/2015

Joi Owens is a young female lawyer with a big heart, who is carrying out a massive policy changing agenda in the state of Mississippi.

Owens, Managing Attorney for Disability Rights Mississippi, is overseeing cases, complaints, and policy proposals which positively affect Mississippians with disabilities. Before joining Disability Rights Mississippi, Owens was an attorney, legislative director, and a lobbyist for the ACLU.

Owens was bom a member of a family of high achievers. Mediocrity was never discussed at their dinner table. Good work ethics, even-handedness, and achievement was their family norm. "My uncle Bob Owens was the first member of my immediate family to practice law," she said. Bob Owens was admitted to the bar in 1976. He has practiced law for nearly three decades, and his wife Denise Sweet Owens has served as a Chancery Court Judge in Hinds County since 1989. Joi Owens' older brother Jody E. Owens, II, a legal reformer, leads the Southern Poverty Law Center'sMississippi efforts to transform the state's juvenile justice system. Her older sisters Dr. Michelle Owens is an obstetrician-gynecologist and JoShaunda Purvis is an educator.

Joi Owens is determined and dedicated. She completed law school, one of the most intense academic disciplines on the face of the earth, while nurturing her infant son, Legend. "My grandmother taught be to be resilient and to never give up! Life is not about what happens to you, but how you deal with it," she proposed.

She draws strength from her parents Jody and Linda Owens, who encouraged her to think for herself. "I admire many of my college and law school professors and mentors, such as Professor Angela Kupenda, Attorney LaVeme Edney, Attorney Carlyn Hicks, and Attorney Torri Martin," she stated.

One of her mentors at Jackson State University, Dr. Hilliard Lackey, encouraged her to pursue a degree in law while she was studying speech communication. "My brother Jody advised me that being an attorney was a great way to use my ability to connect with people for the greater good of my community," she added.

Miss Owens has been wheeling and dealing two feet forward since she completed high school. During college she was at the top of her class, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, an executive committee member of the Black Law Student Association, an active member of Student Government Association, and a contributing writing for Mississippi College School of Law's Legal Eye. She is a former intern for County Youth Court Judge Thomas Broome, a law clerk for U.S. Court of Appeal Justice James Graves Jr., a volunteer for the Mississippi Center for Justice, and a civil litigation intern for Mississippi'sAttorney General's office.

All of her past experiences have made her into a hardworking, over the top, and driven individual. In her day to day role as managing attorney for Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) she oversees work teams who monitor the activities of unlicensed personal care homes, advocate for incarcerated people with disabilities, as well as the rights of social security beneficiaries. During the past election cycle, DRMS maintained a hotline and answered citizen inquiries concerning the voting process including the newly enacted Mississippi Voter ID provisions.

Joi Owens admitted being a mother and a lawyer is challenging. She adheres to a very strict schedule to balance her role as mother with her roles as lawyer, leader, and advocate. In spite of being very busy, she considered it very important to give back and previously served as a volunteer lawyer at the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project. She is also an active member of Little Bethel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church where she looks forward to hearing her pastor teach the truth each Sabbath.

In reference to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holden's evaluation of Ferguson, Missouri, Joi Owens said, "I think it's great we are having this conversation." Then she added, "These problems are deeply rooted in Mississippi." After a six month investigation of Ferguson, the attorney general's office found Ferguson's police department had engaged in overt racial bias police practices. The department was flagged for having used excessive force, made arrests without probable cause, and exploiting blacks as a revenue source for the city.

"It's going to take a lot of work to change long standing unjust police and judicial practices," Joi Owens concluded, but she and her brother are attacking many issues head on in Mississippi. Miss Owens, the mother of a five year African American male, is committed to channeling her energies toward the creation of a better quality of life for all Americans.

"I am still learning to navigate my path in life and in the legal field. As I grow in my profession and personally, I set daily goals to evolve as a person," Joi Owens noted. It's obvious she has evolved considerable since entering her profession. Giving her tenacious spirit her road ahead professionally is as high as the blue skyline.

One thing is for sure, this young attorney, mother of one, is also planning to put her two cents in as it related to closing the "school to the jail house pipe line," which has entrapped millions of black boys.

As it related to America, one of her societal ills is maintaining the highest incarceration rate in the universe. Of those incarcerated are males of color who start off sitting idle at desks confined to in-school suspension programs; from there, they are often repeatedly suspended, then eventually expelled; once they enter the juvenile justice system, too many end up going up the road to Parchman prison in Sunflower County. If Miss Owens and others can succeed, a new pipe line will reign which leads boys of color into jobs and roles of responsibility.

"Success is like beauty. 'It is in the eye of the beholder,' Joi Owens determined. "You define your success. There is no simple template for success. "Some people relate success to money, education, or possessions, but I relate success to being the best mother to Legend," she concluded.

While Miss Owens equates success with good parenting, she continues to strive to help forge a new world where boys of color will "soar on wings like eagles."

By Meredith C. McGee

Jackson Advocate Contributing Writer

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