Honoring Dr. Clarence Jones, 91, the speech writer to Martin L. King Jr

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Dr Martin Luther King Jr

The Joseph Naik Vaz Institute (St. Joseph Vaz) of Berkeley, California is pleased to be one of the contributing sponsors of a remarkable event honoring one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s lawyer, advisor, speechwriter, Dr. Clarence Jones, 91, on Saturday, Nov 19, 7-9pm in San Francisco. See details at this link https://www.usfca.edu/event/bryan-stevenson-dialogue-dr-clarence-b-jones/9942623
Dr. Clarence Jones wrote the first draft of the iconic “I have a Dream” Speech for Dr. King, was the lawyer who smuggled out Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and one of New York Governor Rockefeller’s mediators in the 1971 Attica prison riots. His life’s work is monumental. At 91, he is still very active in various causes.

In keeping with St. Joseph Vaz’s work with various inter-religious groups and our Institute’s own inter-religious and diversity efforts, we are happy to be one of the contributing sponsors of this marquee event associated with Dr. Martin Luther King and one of his key associates, Dr. Clarence Jones. This is a rare opportunity to engage with living history and one of America’s giants in the civil rights movement.

On November 19, 2022, the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice will present an extraordinary community event of profound dialogue, gorgeous music, political vision, and moral inspiration to celebrate the amazing life and deeply impactful work of Dr. Jones.

Please join us for an evening with America’s foremost racial justice leader for an evening with America’s foremost racial justice leader BRYAN STEVENSON, Founder and Director of the Founder and Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, to honor Civil Rights icon DR. CLARENCE B. JONES — lawyer, strategic advisor, and draft speechwriter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to celebrate his life.

  • Bryan Stevenson is “the single most significant social change agent in America today,” (Iboo Patel, founder/director of Interfaith America). Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization providing legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. Stevenson and EJI created two profound and lasting gifts to all Americans: The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, in Montgomery Alabama.
  • Mr. Stevenson will receive the Clarence B. Jones Award for Kingian Nonviolence from the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice from Dr. Clarence B. Jones, Founding Director of the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, recipient of the 2021 Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association, and the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Lawyer. Together we will honor Dr. Jones for his partnership with Dr. King in the movement to end Jim Crow segregation in the United States and for his tireless and inspiring work for a better world over the subsequent decades.
    – Ms. Lateefah Simon, President of the Meadow Fund, will engage Mr. Stevenson and Dr. Jones in dialogue addressing the struggle for racial justice in America today.
    – The Kronos Quartet, the world’s most innovative string ensemble, will perform a magnificent composition dedicated to Dr. Jones (“Peace Be Till”) for this special occasion, and a tribute to Dr. King’s favorite gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson.

Powerhouse soul & Afro-diasporic world music vocalist Jenn Johns will summon and exhilarate the spirit through song.

Please join us for this once-in-a-lifetime celebration of social justice leadership in the United States. In this time of political violence, disenfranchisement, and white backlash to the achievements of the Civil Rights era, we will gather together in solidarity to support racial justice, democracy and human rights, to be inspired, and to renew our commitment to do the work Dr. King demanded of us.