Get to know ACLU of WV Executive Director, Joseph Cohen. We recently sat down with Joseph to learn more about his background and why he decided to join team #ACLUWV. Below is our Q and A.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When I was growing up in the 1980’s, the region was really struggling because of the collapse of the steel industry. Loved ones lost their jobs, friends moved out of town and my family sometimes struggled to pay the bills. Growing up in that environment deeply influenced my view of what a just world would look like.
I decided to go to law school because, although I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I thought it would be a good way to serve oppressed communities. After law school, I received a fellowship that let me spend two years in South Central Florida with Florida Rural Legal Services (FRLS) representing public housing tenants associations and poor people facing housing crises. I was deeply moved by the great power of the tenants associations to improve life for the public housing residents. So when my fellowship was coming to an end, I sought a position where I could use my legal training to support an organization that similarly used the power of people working together to improve their collective lot.
I was lucky enough to get a job with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), which is a national labor union known for its political independence and democratic principles. I spent twelve years in the UE Legal Department, first as Staff Attorney and then, for seven years, as General Counsel. During my time with UE, I witnessed the incredible strength of people willing to exercise their right to freely associate in the face of powerful forces. From the historic occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory to the international campaign to overturn North Carolina’s Jim Crow prohibition on state and municipal collective bargaining, every day I had the honor of serving activists fighting for a more just society.
However, when I saw that the Executive Director position had opened up at the ACLU of West Virginia, it was an opportunity I could not pass up. The chance to engage in the fight for civil liberties and civil rights in such a broad way made the ACLU of West Virginia my absolute dream job. So, my family packed up a truck and moved to Charleston.
What about the ACLU of WV’s mission most resonates with you?
The one common thread in my life’s work has been my attempt to democratize American institutions. I believe that people should have power over their own lives. So, when I worked in Florida, I was helping public housing residents have a greater say in their living situations. When I was with the union, I was helping workers have a greater say in the eight hours per day they were at work. At the ACLU of WV, I have the opportunity to help people have a greater say in their government and how they chose to live their lives in virtually every way. The breadth of the ACLU of WV’s mission lets me not only fight to democratize a public housing complex or a workplace, but our entire society. That is incredibly exciting.
What are you most looking forward to about being Executive Director?
I am really looking forward to meeting the ACLU of WV members, supporters and allies. I think we are on the verge of a generational and demographic tipping point that has the opportunity to usher in a new era of expanded freedom and a more just society. I am so excited about the opportunity to fight alongside so many new friends in my adopted home state.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I usually like to spend my evenings and weekends pretending that I am a bad guy ninja who gets captured by the good guy ninjas. Before you question the Board’s decision to hire me, I should explain that I have two young sons with big imaginations. So, in my spare time, I try to spend as much time with my kids as I can.