Lectures by two nationally noted anti-racism advocates are part of local celebrations planned for the week leading up to the official observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan. 17.
Edmonds Community College’s winter lecture series begins at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11 with Tim Wise, a social justice activist for more than 20 years.
Wise’s talk, “But Some of My Best Friends Are Black… Racism and the Culture of Denial,” will look at the ways that racism persists in America. Wise has provided anti-racism training for teachers, journalists, physicians and law enforcement officers in private and public agencies. From 1999-2003, he was an adviser to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute and in the early ’90s was associate director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, the group credited by many with the political defeat of neo-Nazi, David Duke. A collection of Wise’s essays, “Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections from an Angry White Male” is due out in 2005.
Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center will address Shoreline Community College students and the public at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12 in a program titled “With Justice for All.”
Dees will talk about his work in civil rights law as co-founder, with Joseph Levin, Jr., of the non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center. Founded in 1971, the Center specializes in lawsuits involving civil rights violations, domestic terrorists and racially motivated crimes. Dees serves as chief trial counsel and chair of the executive committee for the SPLC and has devoted his time to developing ideas for “Teaching Tolerance,” the Center’s education project.
In 1990, Dees won a $12.5 million verdict for the family of an Ethiopian murdered by Skinheads in Oregon. In 1998, he obtained a $37.8 million verdict against the Christian Knights of the KKK for the burning of the Macedonia Baptist Church in South Carolina. The $37.8 million award was the largest civil award ever won for damages in a verdict.
In 1972, Dees raised over $24 million from 600,000 small donors as Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern’s finance director. He served as President Carter’s national finance director in 1976 and as national finance chairman for Sen. Kennedy’s 1980 presidential campaign.
Both colleges also plan Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations on campus.
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