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25 Berkeley J. Black L. & Pol'y 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/afamlpol25 and id is 1 raw text is: Editors' Note The Berkeley Journal of Black Law and Policy (BJBLP) was established in 1992, and we are honored to be part of its rich history and legacy. The past year has been unprecedented worldwide and challenging for law students. Our tight- knit community completed yet another year of community building, a symposium, and our twenty fifth publication. As our small but mighty journal completes another successful year, we are thrilled to share the scholarship we have worked on alongside incredible and brilliant Black authors. Some of our proudest moments include creating a journal-wide mentorship program, securing funding to sustain the journal, and continuing our annual events, including Journalween, Meet the Black Faculty, the Black History Month Alumni Panel, and the Spring Symposium. As a journal dedicated to the platforming and promoting cutting-edge Black research and thought, it was especially important for us to celebrate the life of Assata Olugbala Shakur, the incredible Black liberation activist who passed in September while still in exile in Cuba. We began the year hoping to elevate the voices of Black women through our publication, as evidenced by our two amazing articles: Dismantling White Supremacy With Radical Truth: A Novel Legal Approach to a Modernized Foe and Public Housing Reimagined: Confronting the Racial Wealth Gap Through Section 8 Housing Subsidy Reform. In the wake of Assata's death, we were able to have our faculty advisor, Cameron Clark, and their colleague, TJ Grayson, share reflections on her life and organizing, which felt like a meaningful addition to the publication. Our symposium this year, Sanctuary and Surviving Eras of Racial Terror, allowed us to continue centering Black voices, while simultaneously responding to the incredible violence being perpetrated against immigrant communities across the country. Immigration is an issue that affects us all, no matter your race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or nationality. As of writing this in April seventeen people1 this year were reported to have died in ICE custody, and 33 deaths in custody were reported in 2025, the highest death toll in two decades.2 As a legal journal whose primary vocation is to uplift Black scholarship, we felt an immense responsibility to provide a forum where our community can learn more about the current state of immigration, collectivize, organize, and share experiences. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38BK16S3P 1https://www.aclu~org/news itnmi~rants-rights deaths-in-detention-ice-is-apidlmepandin - detention-camps-into-warehouses-despite-record-deaths 2hrps:/www.theguardian.com/us-news/n-interactive/2026/ian/04/ice-2025-deaths-timeiine 1