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Michael “Zaki” Smith was a policy entrepreneur at Next100. He is an entrepreneur and activist with more than fifteen years of experience in youth empowerment and social justice. Zaki has recently worked with the Clean Slate NY Coalition to advocate for automatic expungement of criminal records in New York State. 

Zaki launched the #EndPerpetualPunishment arts campaign, which uses murals and art in the neighborhoods most impacted by the criminal justice system to educate and empower community members around making policy change. 

I am a Muslim. A father. One of the 70 to 100 million formerly incarcerated individuals in this country.

“There are 47,000 punishments for a person with a criminal conviction—and in some states even an arrest—that could bar you from employment, housing, education, licensing, and voting, to name a few. All the things that can impact a person’s ability to stay out of prison are now restricted or taken away. My passion is to create policy to remove the heartbeat of recidivism that is collateral consequences.”

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A LONG WAY FROM THE BLOCK PODCAST

This show gives me the opportunity to share with listeners one of my greatest interests, which is people and the great stories of their lives. Growing up in San Diego I came across all types of folks who had some type of influence over me. As I became older and stretched to see outside my city limits either through conversation, books, music or traveling, I gained a different perspective on the importance of culture, art, wisdom and what it means to be "educated." I have had the the good fortune to come across amazing artists from various walks of life such as painters, poets, writers, chefs, and more. You might hear a few more stories about jazz musicians, athletes, coaches and martial artists as those areas are near and dear to me. What I hope to achieve through this podcasts is to preserve the valuable information of those who have paved the way for me. The show focuses on their foundations, what was their childhood and family life like? What were the lines they knew not to cross? What were the unexpected lessons that they took with them? Through a conversational dialogue, listeners hear where they came from, who their early influences were and the tools and skills they developed along the way. I hope people enjoy these stories as much as I have.

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