WSBA Civil Rights Committee Remembers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2008 Civil Rights Conference: Opportunities, Next Steps, Civil Rights Issues Past, Present, and Future

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Civil Rights Committee invites attorneys and the public to attend its 2008 conference: Opportunities, Next Steps. The conference on past, present, and future issues in civil rights will be held on the Gonzaga University campus in Spokane on April 24, 2008. The program will include a presentation by Professor Lauren Winters of the Gonzaga University School of Law, a renowned academic in the field of civil rights law, and a roundtable discussion.

The conference is open to the public and is offered to Washington state attorneys for continuing legal education credit pending approval for the program. For the convenience of attorneys traveling from all over the state, this year's conference will occur the day before the WSBA Board of Governors meeting being held in Spokane at the historic Davenport Hotel on April 25.

The Civil Rights Committee is just one of numerous WSBA committees. Part of the WSBA mission, in addition to providing for the continuing education of lawyers, is to educate the general public about the law, and promote understanding of the law and civic rights and responsibilities. The particular mission of the Civil Rights Committee is to investigate and study matters involving civil rights and to recommend and develop activities, appropriate to the WSBA's mission, to address issues involving civil rights.

This Monday, we honor the values of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who espoused building peaceful communities of tolerance and equality, "the beloved community." The WSBA Civil Rights Committee commits to take action, through the education of lawyers and the public, to make this dream a reality. Dr. King's advocacy to end racial discrimination earned him the honor of being the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and caused him the heartache of imprisonment and to be the victim of several personal assaults.

Over the past two years, a subcommittee of the Civil Rights Committee specifically tasked to investigate alleged incidences of racial injustice on the Olympic Peninsula finalized its investigation of racial discrimination that were first reported in the Seattle Weekly. The investigation results and the interest of the school officials galvanized the Civil Rights Committee to develop recommendations for Committee activities to address such injustice around the state, as the Committee report to the WSBA Board of Governors states: "civil rights violations are not confined to any specific locale and [the Committee] recommends that the WSBA should take a leadership role in educating the public about civil rights, and protecting those rights."

History of the WSBA Civil Rights Committee
The WSBA Civil Rights Committee is a group of lawyers dedicated to contributing to the long history of Washington state as a leader in protecting civil rights. In 1909, the Washington Legislature passed a statute making it a crime to deny a person admission to a place of public accommodations on the basis of race, creed, or color. In 1921, the Washington State Supreme Court recognized the right of private citizens to bring a civil lawsuit to enforce the right to be free from discrimination in public accommodations. In 1948, the Washington Legislature was again ahead of many states and 15 years ahead of the federal government when it passed what is now known as the Washington Law against Discrimination, which expanded protections against discrimination, declaring that such discrimination "menaces the institutions and foundations of a free democratic state." This past year, the Legislature passed the Registered Domestic Partnership Act, which is a step toward protecting the rights of same-sex couples.

Committee Mission Evolves
The recent activities of the Civil Rights Committee included appointment of a subcommittee to investigate incidences of racial discrimination. Based on the work of its subcommittee, the Civil Rights Committee concludes that race remains a pivotal factor in the quality of life of Americans today, and that the mere accident of skin color can lead to either the ability of citizens to live out their lives to their fullest potential; or to fall by the wayside because of the intricate web of racial notions affecting every imaginable aspect of individuals' lives. The Civil Rights Committee learned that it fulfills an important function in bringing to light racial discrimination and that it must devise methods, appropriate to its role as an arm of the WSBA, to remedy such social injustice. The Committee has made a number of recommendations to the WSBA Board of Governors to seek to educate the public and the bar and to promote civil rights.

Committee Upcoming Activities
In the immediate future, the Committee plans to develop and make recommendations to the Board of Governors on the following:
• We the Jury program on DVD with mock trials based on civil rights scenarios.
• Civil Rights at School – It's the Law, a brochure for students, educators, and parents on civil rights under Washington law and the Washington state and federal constitutions.
• Continuing Legal Education programs for lawyers, especially prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers, about the law regarding hate crimes, racial incidents, and sexual orientation discrimination.
• Partnership with the WSBA Leadership Institute, Access to Justice Board, Diversity Committee, and Council on Public Legal Education to distribute We the Jury DVD, Civil Rights at School – It's the Law, and other materials promoting tolerance in schools and other appropriate venues.

WSBA members interested in becoming involved in any of these projects, please contact Civil Rights Committee Chair Tracy S. Flood at fltracylaw@aol.com.

About the Washington State Bar Association
The WSBA is part of the judicial branch, exercising a governmental function authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 31,850 lawyers. The WSBA both regulates lawyers under the authority of the Court and serves its members as a professional association — all without public funding. As a regulatory agency, the WSBA administers the bar admission process, including the bar exam; provides record-keeping and licensing functions; and administers the lawyer-discipline system. As a professional association, the WSBA provides continuing legal education for attorneys, in addition to numerous other educational and member-service activities.
The governance of the WSBA is vested in its Board of Governors. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district; one from each of the other eight districts; and three at-large members, one of whom represents the Young Lawyers Division. The president is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee. The president-elect is Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle; and the immediate past-president is Ellen Conedera Dial, of Seattle. The Board meets regularly (every six weeks) at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. Much of the work of the Bar is carried out through 23 standing committees; 26 sections; and a Young Lawyers Division, with its many committees.

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