Dec. 6 Update: We just sold out of tickets to our Dec. 7 gala thanks to the tremendous support from our host committee, our event sponsors and the hundreds of supporters who purchased tickets. We still have space at our 4:00 p.m. panel on Restoring 14th Amendment Protections for Victims of Discrimination, which is approved by the State Bar of California for 1.5 hours of MCLE credit, including 1.0 hour of bias credits.

Recent Supreme Court decisions have caused many to question the Court's commitment to upholding "Equal Justice Under the Law" for all Americans.  This year we reflect on the implications of a judicial system that fails to acknowledge racial bias as experienced in 2011.

Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Gala
A Benefit for the Equal Justice Society
December 7, 2011
4 p.m. Panel (approved for 1.5 hours of MCLE credit, including 1.0 hours of bias)
6 p.m. Reception
7 p.m. Program and Performance

Yoshi's
1330 Fillmore Street, San Francisco
Parking available at garage entrance on Eddy Street.

Proceeds from this event support the Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellowship, which is awarded to law school graduates committed to racial justice advocacy and litigation. The Equal Justice Society's annual gala attracts hundreds of regional and national leaders in the private, public and non-profit sectors.

ABOUT THE PANEL

Panel: Restoring 14th Amendment Protections for Victims of Discrimination

The Equal Justice Society presents a panel exploring issues related to developing a cohesive legal strategy to reclaim the 14th Amendment. The panel is approved for 1.5 hours of MCLE credit, including 1 hour of bias credits.

Panelists

Anthony Graves
Texas Public Defender Project, Exonerated After 18 years on Texas' Death Row

Kimberly Papillon, Esq.
Judicial Professor Who Teaches the Neuroscience of Bias in the Justice System

Christina Swarns, Esq.
Director of Criminal Justice, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Gary D. Sowards
Death Penalty Trial Lawyer

Eva Paterson (moderator)
Equal Justice Society

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

The "Dying While Black and Brown" performance, commissioned by EJS, builds on the dynamic relationship with award-winning musician Marcus Shelby that started in 2003, when the organization commissioned Shelby to create an original 75-minute jazz and swing composition titled "Port Chicago."

The composition commemorated the 60th anniversary of the tragic World War II explosion at a munitions loading dock just north of San Francisco that killed more than 320 sailors, most of them African American. The Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra performed "Port Chicago" in Dec. 2004 to a sold-out crowd at EJS's first annual benefit.

"Dying While Black and Brown" will fuse Shelby's music and the vocal styling of Ed Reed with the unique movements of the Zaccho Dance Theatre, which creates and presents performance work that investigates dance as it relates to place.

EJS first connected Zaccho's Artistic Director Joanna Haigood with Shelby after being inspired by the theatre's performance earlier this year of 'The Monkey and the Devil," which reflected how slave history and its legacy of skeptical and misinformed race relations continue to influence how blacks and whites relate today. This marks the first collaboration between Haigood and Shelby.