Ezili (“Zili”) Danto  

Ezili Danto is Haitian-American international human rights attorney, political activist and award winning playwright and poet. She is the founding president of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, which is the leading Haitian voice to protect Haitian’s civil rights against Western humanitarian and capitalist colonialism and nefarious activities incluing criminalization of poverty, indefinite detention of political prisoners, women and child sex trafficking, orphanage abuse and misappropriation of humanitarian aid.  Zili has become recognized as the foremost legal analyst about the island nation and was the legal foreign consultant to Haiti’s first elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide. Her Ezili Danto Witness Program documents human, political and civil rights cases and provides Haitians with access to technological tools to advance the population’s advocacy. Zili is a graduate of Boston College and received her judicial doctorate from the University of Connecticut Law School. More information about Zili and work can be found at her website EziliDanto.com and her Haitian Perspectives journal and newsletter at MarguerieLaurant.com. You can learn about her artistic work, theatrical plays, spoken word and poetry through her production company Ezilii Danto’s Spoken Word Dance Theater Company.