Veronica Laizure – Civil Rights Attorney

Episode 7

Veronica Laizure is a busy person these days.

With the recent inflammatory Republican presidential candidate remarks flying, Veronica finds herself battling Islamophobia and hate speech on a daily basis.

She is an attorney, and the Civil Rights Director for CAIR-OK, or, the Council on American Islamic Relations, Oklahoma Chapter.

That organization defines their mission this way:

To enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

While we may have heard her in sound bites at press conferences or on a panel, in this episode we get to hear her explain more fully about how CAIR works to build understanding in a time when others are actively working to sew misunderstanding about Islam.

We also visit about her own background and how that shaped her into a highly-skilled and deeply committed champion of all people in Oklahoma, not just a few.

The Tulsa native is a graduate of the OU College of Law and is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association. She joined CAIR Oklahoma in 2014 as a staff attorney.

Photo by Sarah Hussain. Provided courtesy of Red Dirt Report.