Alí Bantú Ashanti is an Afro-Colombian lawyer born in Colombia’s Pacific Coast in Timbiquí, Cauca. He is an expert in strategic litigation, criminal defense, criminology, and constitutional law. He is Co-founder and Director of the Racial Justice Lawyers Collective, an organization that links more than 100 black lawyers who work pro-bono in defense of victims of police and military abuse including arbitrary arrests, false charges, racial profiling and extrajudicial murders of young, Black, and poor people.
In 2022 Alí organized and led the Pacific Vote campaign which brought together 350 lawyers in a highly successful campaign to promote turnout and defend voters against coercion in Black communities along Colombia's Pacific Coast.
Last December, Alí was appointed to serve as an Expert Commissioner for Justice Reform in Colombia by the government of President Gustavo Petro.
Sponsored by Justice Studies, Global Studies and the Department of Philosophy