By BTL Staff
The ACLU of Michigan will host its Annual Dinner on Nov. 7, playing host to special guest, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Coates is an Atlantic senior editor and writer, known for his original and perceptive take on pop culture, politics and history. Coates hails from Baltimore, which he details in his memoir, "The Beautiful Struggle." Previously a Martin Luther King Visiting Associate Professor at MIT, Coates will teach at CUNY's School of Journalism this fall.
His recent essay, "The Case for Reparations," is one of the most lauded pieces from The Atlantic. Coates presents a scathing examination of the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow segregation and federally backed discriminatory housing policy; the writer also calls for "collective introspection" on the issue of reparations.
During the dinner, the ACLU of Michigan will also honor advocates of civil rights who have worked tirelessly to protect and ensure civil liberties and rights in the state. This year, Matthew J. Lund, attorney of Pepper Hamilton LLP, will be honored for his extensive civil liberty work, including serving as the lead attorney for the ACLU voting rights case that restored the thousands of wrongfully-purged names from the voting rolls before the 2008 election. Lund also worked on the "Mike's Hard Lemonade Case," which challenged an unconstitutional state law that was used to remove children from their parents.
The Youth Leadership Team of the Michigan School-Justice Partnership will also be honored. According to the ACLU, this group "captured the attention of policy makers this past April by organizing an 80-mile march from Detroit to Lansing to bring awareness to law and policies that result in pushing children out of schools and into the criminal justice system."
The 2014 Annual Dinner for the ACLU of Michigan will hold its reception at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7. The main program will follow at 7:30 p.m. All events will be held at the Henry Ford Museum, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn. Tickets range from $50-1,000. For more information, call 313-578-6818 or visit http://www.aclumich.org.
