|
Equal
Justice Society e-Newsletter - Issue 8 - Fall 2006
|
|
|
SUBSCRIBE IN THIS ISSUE Letter from the President: Connecting the Dots Notes on the Right: The Enduring Importance of Strategy EJS December 8 Fundraiser Features Harriet Tubman Jazz Oratorio Vote Yes on 89: 'Clean Money' Initiative First California, Now Michigan: Putting Race up for a Vote Supreme Court to Revisit Brown v. Board in School Cases EJS, CTA Look at Unconscious Bias in Schools U.N. Committee Criticizes Racism in U.S. New Voting Rights Act Under Attack A First Look at the Roberts Court Latina/o Law Student Symposium Foundations Support EJS Efforts to Balance Racial Justice Debate Farewell from our Irmas Fellow
Newsletter
Editors: |
Farewell from our Irmas Law and Communications Fellow
It seems it was only yesterday I began working with the Equal Justice Society as the Irmas Fellow for Law & Communications, yet more than a year has passed. Looking back, I am astounded anew by all that I've experienced and learned during my time with EJS. I began working at the Equal Justice Society in September, just days after Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing crisis that devastated the Gulf Coast. I encountered an office bristling with activity, driven by a sense of outrage over the injustice the Katrina victims were being forced to endure. By the end of my first week, I was immersed in legal research and strategizing sessions with advocates from across the nation under the leadership of EJS President Eva Paterson. The next weeks and months were a blur: I worked with EJS staff to advocate on behalf of Katrina evacuees, petitioning Congress and the United Nations to address the structural inequities that led to the travesty in the Gulf, collaborated with lawyers from across the nation to file suit on behalf of Katrina evacuees, traveling to New Orleans with Law & Policy Director Kimberly Thomas Rapp for a federal trial instituted on behalf of Katrina victims and to New York for the 86th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and provided research and writing support for ongoing EJS work on the Intent Doctrine for both the domestic and international communities. And that was only the legal side of things! Working with the EJS Communications Team -- Elaine Elinson, Keith Kamisugi, and Rico Oyola -- I was introduced to a whole new world of ideas, possibilities, and information in the realm of communications and its intersection with racial justice. Over the past year, I've learned about conservative messaging and framing of race, the need for thoughtful messaging and communications strategies in the fight for racial justice, and the many possibilities and opportunities for alliance-building and message-creating in the years to come. The
scope of the work was more than I could have imagined. But even
more inspiring has been the experience of getting to know everyone
who makes up the Equal Justice Society family. I have found inspiration
in the talent, brilliance, and passion of every single person
here, and I will carry with me all that I have learned from EJS
as I continue to support the fight for racial justice in the years
to come.
|
 |
|
|
The Equal Justice Society (www.equaljusticesociety.org) is a national advocacy organization strategically advancing social and racial justice through law and public policy, communications and the arts, and alliance building. Serving as guiding principles for its programmatic goals, we contend that a) the United States has not achieved racial equity; and b) government and other institutions must actively intervene in order to advance racial justice. Equal Justice Society, 220 Sansome St, 14th Flr, San Francisco, CA 94104, Ph (415) 288-8700 |