Southern Center for Human Rights, Color of Change & Center for Constitutional Rights Host Virtual Day-Long Rep-A-Thon Fundraiser in Support of First Amendment Lawyer Bridge
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact [email protected]
Atlanta, GA – May 3, 2024 – The Southern Center for Human Rights (“SCHR”), Color of Change, and the Center for Constitutional Rights are proud to announce its inaugural live-streamed virtual fundraiser, Rep-A-Thon, scheduled for May 4th, 2024, from noon until 6:00 PM. This event is designed in the tradition of historic telethons to support the First Amendment Lawyer Bridge (“The Bridge”) Project, which seeks to protect the rights of people arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights. Rep-A-Thon will feature an array of programming focused on wellness, music, culture and political education about the national and international impact of political repression trends.
Rep-A-Thon speakers and contributors include Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vince Warren, Color of Change Senior Director of Government Affairs Michael Collins, Legal Defense Fund Senior Counsel Anne Oredeko, Democracy Organizer Nse Ufot, Atlanta historian King Williams, Atlanta Community Press Collective journalist Matt Scott, activists Rev. Keyanna Jones and Mary Hooks, The Guardian journalist Timothy Pratt and Public Defenseless podcast host Hunter Parnell. Anana Harris Parris will also provide grounding and somatic wellness sessions.
Notably, The Bridge has facilitated the representation of more than 50 of the 61 individuals charged in the sweeping Fulton County “Stop Cop City” RICO prosecution and will provide attorneys for unrepresented students arrested in the recent protests at Emory University. Housed at SCHR, the Bridge is a beacon of collective expertise, designed to provide educational trainings, research support, and facilitation of the pairing and compensation of attorneys providing essential legal representation to individuals arrested while exercising their First Amendment rights. With the increasing frequency and severity of prosecutions against protestors in Metro Atlanta, the need to formalize support for these individuals and their legal advocates became evident.
The Bridge is managed by SCHR Public Policy Unit Director Tiffany Roberts, Movement Policy Counsel Devin Franklin, and First Amendment Fellow Suad Abdel Aziz. A joint effort with Community Justice Exchange (“CJE”), CJE holds all funds raised for legal defense efforts and distributes them according to contracts executed by The Bridge, attorneys, and clients.
For more information and to register for the event, visit www.schr.org/repathon.
About the Southern Center for Human Rights
The Southern Center for Human Rights is working for equality, dignity, and justice for people impacted by the criminal legal system in the Deep South. SCHR fights for a world free from mass incarceration, the death penalty, the criminalization of poverty, and racial injustice.
About Color of Change
Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America.
About the Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights stands with social justice movements and communities under threat—fusing litigation, advocacy, and narrative shifting to dismantle systems of oppression regardless of the risk.
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