Salaam and greetings John,

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, my first memory as a four-year-old was seeing people running, screaming and crying down our street, as the soft spring air was billowing with smoke. I was frightened and clung to my maternal grandmother, asking what was happening. She said that we lost a hero, and the whole world was weeping. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and a couple of months later, Democratic presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. suffered a similar fate. It was a cruel, chaotic and coarsening summer of 1968, with the death of my communities’ heroes and the Vietnam War violent protests. Witnessing the volatility made the words in the pledge of allegiance we recited in school ring hollow – there was no "liberty and justice for all."

My family tried to shield my sisters and I from the rampant racism and violence for which they quickly realized there is no refuge. Like a pandemic, it’s everywhere. As we could not escape it, we fought it.

As I got older, my family participated in peaceful marches, supported economic protests, and attended church organizing meetings. I often complained about the time-consuming and tedious gatherings, preferring to play with my friends. My grandmother’s response reminded me of a quote from my favorite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee:

Although fictional, the novel’s setting and the theme was all too real as it took place in my grandparents’ home state of Alabama. The story focuses on Atticus Finch, a prominent local lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of rape. The protagonist and narrator was Atticus’ young daughter, Jean "Scout" Finch. Scout’s youthful experience resonated with mine – dealing with issues of prejudice, human morality, and injustice. It served as the impetus for my legal career.

Today, as a 25-year practicing lawyer, whether in the courtroom or the boardroom, I continue to use my profession as a platform to create social change and demand equal treatment under the law as the Constitution guarantees. The government cannot just discard these rights due to challenging times.

I joined the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America (CLCMA) in 2016, spearheading a pilot program called the Nonprofit Practice Group (NPG). What I enjoyed most about working for CLCMA is that I continued to fight for liberty and justice for the maligned and marginalized by protecting and defending one of their most precious assets – nonprofits. Just like the discrimination perpetrated upon enslaved Africans, women, and immigrants before them, Muslims and Muslim-based nonprofit organizations are continuing to lose their civil liberties through profiling, surveillance, religious intolerance, and guilt by association.

Access to free or low-cost legal services is limited as the U.S. government continues to promulgate laws and enlarge its powers to target Muslim nonprofits. These institutions struggle to obtain legal representation to combat these injustices due to conflicts of interest, risk profiles, or high legal fees. CLCMA’s NPG provided its services pro bono, expanding its legal reach to benefit thousands of Muslim charitable, community, and faith-based nonprofits. Nonprofits serve as a safety-net for human and health services and a catalyst for social change. Without these institutions, we are depriving millions of people in the U.S. and across the world of social, medical, educational, and legal resources.

I am proud that CLCMA educates, enlightens and enhances the capacity of Muslim nonprofit organizations. Our work helps to improve the economic and social inclusion of an at-risk population that they serve through compliance reviews, risk management counseling, workshops and legal services. Our guidance, resources and tools encourage leadership to adopt standard procedures and policies to ensure compliance with nonprofit best practices and withstand government scrutiny.

Most importantly, CLCMA’s Nonprofit Practice Group’s work went beyond compliance and was not just a "tick" the box approach. Our legal support enabled Muslim nonprofits’ to put their mission into action and live out their values. I take great pride when clients remark that "CLCMA’s quality programming is beneficial to the board in understanding their roles and responsibilities; "The Board Boot Camp being free eliminated barriers for the smaller organizations who otherwise could not afford to attend;" and "Our organization could not assist orphans and widows ravaged by war without your support." Hearing these sentiments lets me know that we are making progress in our fight for liberty and justice for all.

The work of justice is a battle on many fronts, and I am honored to have been a part of an organization that challenges injustice and empowers communities. The work of justice is ongoing, and I am blessed to be able to serve diverse organizations and contribute my expertise as they fulfill their missions. The work of justice is not easy, and I hope you continue to value the work of MLFA and CLCMA and invest in their mission for as long as it takes to root out injustice wherever it is found.

We must face the challenges and injustices of our time with courage and compassion. I truly believe we each have a role to play, and together, we can build a more just society.

Sincerely,

About Shari:

Originally from New York, Ms. Crittendon has over 25 years of legal experience focusing on for-profits, nonprofits and higher education institutions. She started her legal career as an associate for two major law firms in the state of Maryland and as in-house counsel for a state university. Most recently, Shari served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary to the Corporation for the United Negro College Fund, Inc. (UNCF), the nation’s largest higher education minority education assistance organization. The hallmark of her tenure was providing legal advice and counsel to the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars $1.6 Billion dollar grant. Shari also served as UNCF’s top lobbyist on Capitol Hill and with the Bush and Obama administrations, helping to secure $2.6 Billion for minority serving institutions.

Shari served as the Senior Corporate Counsel and Director of CLCMA’s Nonprofit Organizations Practice Group. Her experience managing governance, risk and compliance as well as other legal issues for charitable, community and faith-based nonprofits across the nation has proven invaluable to the American Muslim community. Ms. Crittendon graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Syracuse University and attended the University Of Maryland Francis King Carey School Of Law in Baltimore, Maryland. She is licensed in the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia, U.S. Federal District Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. She is a member of the American and National Bar Associations as well as the Association of Corporate Counsel. Shari is a proud member of the public service sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Shari will serve as General Counsel at Kansas State University in the fall.

About NPG:

In 2016, MLFA learned that over 300 American Muslim nonprofit organizations lost their tax-exempt status between 2011-2015. That year, its grant-funded law center, CLCMA, launched the Nonprofit Practice Group (NPG) as a pilot project in September 2016, with a mission to transform the Muslim community by equipping its nonprofit leaders with the skills, confidence and resources they need to make their organizations effective, innovative and sustainable. Under the expert leadership of Senior Corporate Counsel Shari Crittendon, NPG’s work consisted of assisting charitable, community and faith-based Muslim nonprofits in strengthening their organizational and programmatic infrastructure, so that they may achieve their mission and withstand heightened government scrutiny. To date, NPG has assisted over 75 organizations and trained over 150 leaders across the nation.