My mother was my first inspiration and rebel teacher because she is an immigrant who worked on the front lines as a registered nurse in the ICU for four decades. I learned from her example as a healer who speaks truth to power and takes care of those who can’t care for themselves.  While performing in prisons as a teenager, I learned how to use my art as a tool for healing, and to challenge inhumane treatment and trauma behind those bars. In 1999, my family and I were wrongfully imprisoned, and after law school, I sued the NYPD for unjustly incarcerating us. That led me to advocate for the freedom of Los Angeles native Nanon Williams – who has been locked up in Texas for 30 years for a crime he did not commit. Today, I bring that energy into the classroom – like we did this fall with women at Victorville Federal Prison. My UCLA class read one chapter of the new book -- REBEL SPEAK: A Justice Movement Mixtape -- each week, then wrote reflections and letters to each of the rebels in the book. The students even made art in response to it! Check it out June 2nd at their art exhibit: “BY ANY MEDIA NECESSARY” at the Skirball Cultural Center in LA. Opening with a foreword by legendary prison abolition scholar Angela Davis, the "mixtape" centers “Credible Messengers” – artists and activists who are formerly incarcerated, system impacted, and demanding that we reimagine JUSTICE. The inspiration came nine years ago when I interviewed two of the most influential activists of the last century: Dolores Huerta and Harry Belafonte. Given the impact of their work, they should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!