United States Department of Justice Association of Black Attorneys

30th Anniversary Celebration: Lifting as We Climb

November 7, 2019 3 – 6:30 pm District of Columbia Court of Appeals

KEYNOTE SPEAKER KRISTEN CLARKE

Kristen Clarke, President & Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, leads one of the country’s most important national civil rights organizations in the pursuit of equal justice for all. Under her leadership, the organization has been at the forefront of some of the nation’s biggest racial justice problems today. The Lawyers’ Committee seeks to promote fair housing and community development, economic justice, voting rights, equal educational opportunity, criminal justice, judicial diversity and more. Kristen received her A.B. from and her J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Throughout her career, Ms. Clarke has focused on work that seeks to strengthen our democracy by combating discrimination faced by African Americans and other marginalized communities. Clarke formerly served as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York State Attorney General’s Office, where she led broad civil rights enforcement on matters including criminal justice issues, education and housing discrimination, fair lending, barriers to reentry, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, gender inequality, disability rights, reproductive access and LGBT issues. Under her leadership, the Bureau secured landmark agreements with banks to address unlawful redlining, employers to address barriers to reentry for people with criminal backgrounds, police departments on reforms to policies and practices, major retailers on racial profiling of consumers, and one of the country’s largest school districts concerning issues relating to the school-to-prison pipeline.

Ms. Clarke spent several years at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) where she helped lead the organization’s work in the areas of voting rights and election law across the country. Ms. Clarke worked on cases defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act and also testified before Congress and state legislatures. Prior to joining LDF, she worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division. While at the Justice Department, she served as a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Section of the Division, handling police misconduct, police brutality, hate crimes, and human trafficking cases. She also worked on voting rights and redistricting cases through the Division’s Voting Section.

Ms. Clarke speaks and writes regularly on issues concerning race, law and justice. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Democracy Now, , C-Span’s Washington Journal, TV One, and Yahoo News, the world’s second largest news site. She has also written numerous articles and books including Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black America’s New Leadership (co-edited with Dr. Manning Marable). In 2015, she served as a lecturer at School of Law. Her honors and awards include the 2018 Louis L. Redding Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018 Harvard College Service to Society Award, the 2017 Choate Rosemary Hall Alumni of the Year, the 2017 Thurgood Marshall Award from Quinnipiac University School of Law, the 2016 Alumni of the Year by the National Black Law Students Association, the New York Law Journal’s 2015 Rising Stars, the 2014 New York State Senate Proclamation for Exemplary Service, the 2012 Best Brief Award for the 2012 Supreme Court term from the National Association of Attorneys General, the 2012 Network Journal’s Top 40 Under 40, the 2011 National Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40, and the 2010 Paul Robeson Distinguished Alumni Award from Columbia Law School, among others.

DOJABA’s 30th ANNIVERSARY PROGRAM Lifting as We Climb

I. Welcome by Davené Walker, DOJABA Vice Chair, Trial Attorney, Environment and Natural Resource Division, Natural Resource Section

II. Greetings from Chief Judge Anna Blackburn-Rigsby, District of Columbia Court of Appeals

III. Lift Every Voice and Sing led by Dorothy Williams, Accessibility Specialist, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section

IV. Introduction of Keynote Speaker by Antoinette Barksdale, General Counsel, Community Relations Service

V. Keynote Speech by Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Former Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Voting and Criminal Sections (followed by brief Q & A)

VI. Panel Discussion: The State of DOJABA and the Department Over the Years moderated by Michelle Coles, Legislative and Policy Counsel, Civil Rights Division, Policy Section

• Raheemah Abdulaleem, Senior Associate General Counsel, Executive Office of the President, Office of Administration Former Senior Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division

• George Henderson, Associate Pastor, National Church of God Retired Legal Counsel, Community Relations Service

• Loretta King, Principal and Founder, King Law Firm and Consultants Retired Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division

• Quentin Pair, Professor, Howard University School of Law Retired Senior Trial Attorney, Environment and Natural Resources Division

• Felicia Sadler, Senior Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section

• Wayne Williams, Principal Attorney at WPWilliams Law Office Former Senior Trial Attorney, Criminal Division and Former Assistant Attorney for the District of Columbia, Civil and Criminal Divisions

VII. DOJABA’s Recommitment 30 Years Later by Oneshia Herring, DOJABA Chair, Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section

VIII. DOJABA Public Service Award presented by Oneshia Herring, DOJABA Chair, Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section

IX. Closing Remarks by Davené Walker, DOJABA Vice Chair, Trial Attorney, Environment and Natural Resource Division, Natural Resource Section

Reception immediately following the program in the lower level atrium.

LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING Written by J. Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson

Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; let our rejoicing rise, high as the list'ning skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea sing a song full of faith that the dark past has tought us, sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chast'ning rod, felt in the day that hope unborn had died; yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet, come to the place on witch our fathers sighed? we have come over a way that with tears has been watered, we have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last where the white gleam of our star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far on the way; thou who has by thy might, led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, least our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee, shadowed beneath the hand, may we forever stand, true to our God, True to our native land.

DOJABA’s FOUNDING MEMBERS

Loretta King Ted McBurrows Quentin Pair Phyllis Plyes Michael Robinson

Karen Stewart Wayne Williams DOJABA’s PAST CHAIRS

Quentin Pair Wayne Williams

Felicia Chambers Daphne McFarren Granette Trent Lisa Taylor

Antoinette Barksdale Felicia Sadler

Marlysha Myrthil

DOJABA’s CURRENT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

Oneshia Herring, Chair Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section

Davené Walker, Vice Chair Trial Attorney, Environment and Natural Resource Division, Natural Resource Section

Corey Sanders, Treasurer Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section

Brandie Weddle, Corresponding Secretary Trial Attorney, Civil Division, Civil Fraud Section

Kendrack Lewis, Parliamentarian Trial Attorney, Civil Division, Consumer Protection Branch

Krystal Walker, Assistant United States Attorney Representative Assistant United States Attorney, Executive Office for United States Attorneys, General Counsel’s Office

Denise Barnes, Community Service Chair Trial Attorney, Civil Division, Civil Fraud Section

Marlysha Myrthil, Immediate Past Chair Senior Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

DOJABA would like to thank the 30th Anniversary Committee and others for making this event a success: • Marlysha Myrthil (Committee Chair) • Antoinette Barksdale • Michelle Coles • Oneshia Herring • Felicia Sadler • Davené Walker • Onjil McEachin • Tanda Caterers • Vivieon Green (Reception Slideshow) • Joy Larry (Photographer) • Judge Anna Blackburn-Rigsby, Kristen Clarke, panelists, members, and guests

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I want to become a member. How do I join DOJABA?

Membership dues are $30 for DOJ attorneys and staff located in the DC metro area and $15 for DOJ attorneys and staff outside of the DC metro area. Membership dues must be paid via PayPal to DOJABA’s Treasurer, Corey Sanders, at [email protected]. Please be sure to send the payment as a gift to “family or friends,” so that DOJABA does not incur any fees with the transaction.

I’m a member. How do I become more involved?

We invite you to serve on one of the following committees:

• Advocacy • Assistant U.S. Attorney Engagement • Attorney Recruitment and Professional Development • Community Service • Social Events • Organizational Partnerships • Website Please email DOJABA’s Corresponding Secretary, Brandie Weddle, at [email protected], and she will connect you with the appropriate committee chair.

When are DOJABA’s next events?

Please save the dates for our upcoming events:

• DOJABA General Body Meeting and Discussion with Various Diversity and Inclusion Council Leaders at the Department – Thursday, December 12 at 12 noon in 4CON Conference Room 8.1118 • DOJABA Community Service Day – January 2020 • Annual DOJABA Day (with DC area Black law students) – February 2020 • DOJABA General Body Meeting and Communications Skills Workshop – Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 12 noon in 4CON Conference Room 8.1118

I’m not receiving DOJABA emails. How do I join the listerve?

Please send your request to DOJABA’s Corresponding Secretary, Brandie Weddle, at [email protected].

The Department of Justice Association of Black Attorneys (“DOJABA”) is a group of attorneys organized since 1989 with the purpose of enhancing the professional environment of African-American attorneys at the Department of Justice and providing outreach and community support to those interested in the pursuit of law. DOJABA members include attorneys in the Offices, Boards and Divisions of the Department as well as various United States Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country.