Author Bios

Samantha Schmidt wrote this article for YES! Magazine. Samantha is a graduating senior majoring in journalism and Arabic at Indiana University. She reported this story while studying abroad in Amman, Jordan. She …

Alex Rowell is a research assistant with the Economic Policy team at the Center for American Progress. Follow him on Twitter: @AlexRowell.

Brendan Duke is a Tax Policy Analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Prior to joining the Center, Duke was the Associate Director for Economic Policy at …

Cindy Cohn is the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). From 2000-2015, she served as EFF's legal director as well as its general counsel. Cohn first became …

Sharita Gruberg is a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress' LGBT Research and Communiciations Project. Follow her on Twitter: @shugruberg.

Erica Smiley is organizing director at Jobs With Justice, a national network of grassroots-based labor and community coalitions.

Christian Coleman is the editor of Beacon Broadside, a project of Beacon Press.

Marcie Mai is a Health Policy & Management and Sociology major at Providence College. She is also an active member of the Board of Multicultural Student Affairs.

Stephen F. Skelly is a sociology and global studies major at Providence College.

Shawan Jabarin is director of Al-Haq, the oldest Palestinian human rights organization based in Ramallah. He is currently in the US on a Center for Constitutional Rights-sponsored trip with Raji Sourani, director …