On Sunday, September 23, in Los Angeles, Death Penalty Focus will honor the Reverend James Lawson, a civil rights icon whom Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called “The leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.”
DFP will present Rev. Lawson with its Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong dedication to civil rights, criminal and social justice, and the abolition of the death penalty. Rev. Lawson helped coordinate the Freedom Rides and the Meredith March in the 1960s.
Kevin Cooper, who has been on California’s death row for 33 years for a crime he didn’t commit, will join us by phone from San Quentin, and Gary Tyler, who was sent to Angola Prison’s death row when he was just 17, and spent 41years before being released for a crime he didn’t commit, will join us in person. Each embodies the reason we have fought for so long to end this brutal system of punishment, each embodies the humanity that strengthens our resolve to never give up.
DPF President Mike Farrell will host the event, and we’ll introduce DPF’s new Executive Director, Magdaleno “Leno” Rose-Avila.
Political commentator, actor, comedian, and Twitter phenomenon John Fugelsang will return as Master of Ceremonies and perform a comedy set.
Click here for individual ticket pricing. For information about purchasing tables or sponsoring the event, click here to email events@deathpenalty.org.
Discount codes are available for students and formerly incarcerated people – email events@deathpenalty.org to inquire.
See you on September 23!