Ekow Nyansah Yankah is an American

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

who is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Law at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. His research considers

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

election law Election law is a branch of public law that relates to the democratic processes, election of representatives and office holders, and referendums, through the regulation of the electoral system, voting rights, ballot access, election management ...

and

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

Early life and education

Yankah, born to Ghanaian parents, earned his bachelor's degree at the

. He obtained his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

in 2000. Yankah was awarded a

Marshall Scholarship The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is considered among the most prestigious scholarsh ...

to study at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, earning a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

at Lincoln College. He held visiting positions at the

Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya Reichman University () is Israel's only private university, located in Herzliya, Tel Aviv District. It was founded in 1994 as the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC Herzliya, ) private college, before being rebranded in 2021. It receives no ...

and the

University of Toronto Faculty of Law The University of Toronto Faculty of Law (U of T Law, UToronto Law) is the law school of the University of Toronto, located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. It is the top ranked common law facu ...

. His first faculty position was at the

University of Illinois College of Law The University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public land-grant research university in Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers th ...

Research and career

His research considers the intersection of law and society. In particular, Yankah focusses on election reform, criminal justice and policing. He believes that the American legal system fails Black communities, with a particular focus on opioid addiction,

mass incarceration Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated ...

and

. Yankah has investigated voting rights and election law. He is co-chair of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council (NYDLC), a coalition of attorneys who look to protect a citizen's right to vote. The NYDLC are involved with election monitoring, pro-voting advocacy and educational empowerment. In 2021, state leaders in New York appointed Yankah chair of the state’s newly established Public Campaign Finance Board. He is committed to

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform is the reform of criminal justice systems. Stated reasons for criminal justice reform include reducing crime statistics, racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, under-reporting, and ...

, and serves on the Board of Directors of the

Innocence Project Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that works to exonerate the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and other forms of post-conviction relief, as well as advocates for criminal justice reform to prevent futur ...

. In 2017 Yankah was awarded the Innocence Project Advocate of Justice award. In particular, he believes that the vague language of the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

leaves too much scope for dangerous interpretation; systematically supporting

. Yankah has studied the legal landscape of accountability for police officers. During the

Ferguson unrest The Ferguson unrest (sometimes called the Ferguson uprising, Ferguson protests, or the Ferguson riots) was a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal Killing of Michael Brown, ...

Yankah attended a rally at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He said, "If I hear one more commentator on public TV say, 'Let's start a conversation about race,' I will lose my mind ... We've been having a conversation for 80 years,". In the aftermath of the

murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...

, Yankah said, “We can no longer have an America where white problems are social problems and black problems are policing problems,”. In 2019 Yankah taught a course on

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

, race and policing at the

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

Controversial works

In 2017, Yankah penned an opinion editorial for the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

questioning whether he could allow his children to befriend white people in the era of Donald Trump's presidency. The article was criticized by many political commentators.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yankah, Ekow Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Michigan alumni Yeshiva University faculty Cardozo School of Law faculty 21st-century African-American lawyers Alumni of the University of Oxford