More than 760 guests filled the ballroom at the Washington State Convention Center to celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy at KCBA’s annual MLK Luncheon on January 12, 2018.
Guest speaker Theodore M. Shaw gave an insightful speech that highlighted the need to continue to push for equality and diversity. Professor Shaw is the Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center or Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill and the former Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Attendees also listened to a wonderful performance by the Graham Hill Elementary School Choir.
In addition to thanking our sponsors for enabling us to honor Dr. King, we would also like to share our gratitude with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon Committee for all of their work in making this program such a successful community event: Hon. Richard A. Jones, Co-Chair, Karen W. Murray, Co-Chair, Lisa Castilleja, Phillip H. Ginsberg, Justo Gonzalez, Hon. Charles V. Johnson, Ret., Randolph J. Johnson, Kerry J. Keefe, James E. Lobsenz, Gregory M. Miller, Kevin A. Peck, Robert “Burns” Petersen, Hon. Catherine D. Shaffer, Leann Wagele, Pallavi Mehta Wahi.
Theodore
M. Shaw is the Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill.
Professor Shaw teaches Civil Procedure and Advanced Constitutional Law/Fourteenth Amendment. He was “Of Counsel” to the law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright (formerly Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP). His practice involved civil litigation and representation of institutional clients on matters concerning diversity and civil rights.
Professor Shaw was the fifth Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., for which he worked in various capacities over the span of twenty-six years. He has litigated education, employment, voting rights, housing, policy misconduct, capital punishment and other civil rights cases in trial and appellate courts, and in the United States Supreme Court. From 1982 until 1987, he litigated education, housing, and capital punishment cases and directed LDF’s education litigation docket. In 1993, Mr. Shaw returned to LDF as Associate Director-Counsel, and in 2004, he became LDF’s fifth Director-Counsel. Mr. Shaw has testified on numerous occasions before Congress and before state and local legislatures. His human rights work has taken him to Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.
Mr. Shaw served on the Obama Transition Team after the 2008 presidential election, as team leader for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.