Abre Conner was called the N-word when she was in grade school. When she approached her teacher, he did not do anything about it. Racism for this African-American woman started early. She was exposed to implicit and explicit racist remarks growing up in Central Florida.
In high school, American history class did not include the civil rights era. Being vocal, Abre Conner spoke out that it should be discussed and not considered as an extra-credit lesson. Instead of getting praises, her parents were called in.
The principal decided that the issue was not something they can pursue, as reported by Cosmopolitan. She knew she could never change the minds of adults who had always thought this way. In college, she enrolled in the University of Florida. Conner took business marketing and political science as her majors. In addition, she also took African-American studies courses and became active in the Black Student Union.
During that time, Abre Conner took two different college internships. One was interning at the House of Representatives. She experienced first hand how the constituents influenced the work flow for Congress. The second internship was in the senate. She learned how district offices interact with the Senate, as reported by Yahoo. From there she found out that there was no one representing the Black community.
She applied to the Washington College of Law at American University. This is the start of Abre Conner becoming a civil rights attorney at the ACLU. After passing the bar, now, she is working closely with communities. She is working on environmental justice, civil rights and social justice. She helps people petition for changes to the social codes such as the gendered language in dress codes and racial bias.
Abre Conner continues to fight. For this attorney, as long as there is a need for civil rights to be given attention in California, she feels her work is never done.
Check out the RT America news clip below which features Abre Conner was kicked out of a bar based on her color:
