Jackson Free Press

On Sept. 29, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi chose Keia Johnson as its new legislative strategist. Johnson will be responsible for communicating with the state Legislature and helping the ACLU prepare for the upcoming legislative session in January.

Johnson, 27, came to ACLU Mississippi after meeting the organization's executive director, Jennifer Riley-Collins, and speaking with her about the direction in which the state was moving. Her experience and dedication to legislation and policy work for the sake of other Mississippians secured her position.

"I knew I'd want to deal with law and policy from (an) early age," Johnson said. "I was always interested in working in civil rights and civil liberties, and I also put a lot of work into disability, employment rights and education. I chose to pursue policy work because I felt I could have a great impact on the day-to-day lives of people, and I took legal clerkships to get a good mix of both law and policy."

Johnson was born in Greenville and grew up in Eudora, Ark. She came back to Mississippi to pursue an undergraduate degree in political science from Jackson State University, which she received in 2009. She then returned to Arkansas to attend the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, where she received her law degree in 2013. Her work for the ACLU has once again brought her back to Jackson, where she currently resides.

Prior to her position at the ACLU, Johnson worked as a clerk for the Committee on Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., and for the Federal Communications Commission. She also worked for the Association of Arkansas Counties and for the Tyson Foods Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C.

To help the ACLU prepare to advance its legislative agenda for the upcoming session, Johnson is working to build and foster relations with the state's representatives and provide them with any training or data that they may need.

"We have an exciting legislative session coming up, and the ACLU will be focusing on pushing new Person First Language legislation for the state's law code. Person First is a plan that will require language used in state policy to respect people with disabilities and the contributions they make, and to honor them as people first," Johnson said. "Being able to promote policies and practices like this to ensure equal treatment for all Mississippians is the part of this job I'm most looking forward to."