Speak Truth to Power comes to Nashville

UPDATE: Click here to watch  a video of the panel discussion.

Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Speak Truth to Power
Panel Discussion
Benton Chapel, 7pm

Nashville, TN- Tonight in Nashville as part of Vanderbilt University's Martin Luther King Jr. 2010 Commemorative Lecture Series, Kerry Kennedy will be joined by two RFK Laureates, Stephen Bradberry and Lucas Benitez, and a Defender from "Speak Truth to Power", Marina Pisklakova, for a panel discussion on human rights and speaking truth to power. The panel will be moderated by RFK Book Award Chair, acclaimed journalist and former Robert F. Kennedy aide, John Seigenthaler Sr.

Find out more at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/mlk

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"In a world where there is a common lament that there are no more heroes, too often cynicism and despair are perceived as evidence of the death of moral courage. That perception is wrong. People of great valor and heart, committed to noble purpose, with long records of personal sacrifice, walk among us in every country of the world." -Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F Kennedy

Kerry Kennedy is an American human rights activist and author of Speak Truth to Power, a book that seeks to promote a more just and peaceful world by galvanizing public support for international human rights through cultural, educational, and web-based programs. Ms. Kennedy will serve as moderator for the panel.

The panelists for this event are living testimony to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for action and justice:

Lucas Benitez is the co-founder and co-director of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. By educating and organizing fellow migrant farmworkers, he has helped secure the first wage increase for tomato pickers in 20 years, exposed and stopped two slavery rings, and launched a Labor Action Rights program that collected nearly $100,000 in back wages. He organized a successful boycott of the fast-food chain Taco Bell, called off in 2005 when the company agreed to address the wages and working conditions of farmworkers in the Florida tomato industry.

Stephen Bradberry is the head organizer of Louisiana ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for ReformNow. ACORN has been active in communities of color for more than 30 years. Bradberry has served in low and moderate-income neighborhoods in Louisiana for more than a decade. His chapter of the nationalcommunity group, ACORN, has more than 10,000 member families and works specifically in the area of Living Wages, Environmental Justice and Voting rights.

Marina Pisklakova is internationally recognized as one of the leading women's rights activists in Russia. As founder of the National Center for the Prevention of Violence "ANNA," she works on creating an effective system of response to domestic violence by educating governmental officials and the public about domestic violence within Russia and in other countries. For the past twelve years, Ms. Pisklakova has been involved in training the staff of newly established Crisis Centers as well as law enforcement and other governmental officials on the topics of domestic violence, human trafficking and women's rights.

For more information on the Speak Truth to Power mission, click HERE.