Morris Dees, Civil Rights Attorney, To Speak
Address by chief counsel of The Southern Poverty Law Center part of college's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration
Buffalo, NY – Morris Dees, civil rights attorney, will speak at Canisius College on Tuesday, February 12, 2002 at 8:15 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center located on the corner of Main Street and Eastwood Place.The event, held in conjunction with the college’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, is co-sponsored by the William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science. The evening is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.
Dees is chief counsel for The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit group he co-founded in 1971, which specializes in lawsuits involving civil rights violations and racially motivated crimes.
A champion of justice, his efforts have resulted in many achievements, including the Civil Rights Memorial, lawsuits that bankrupted the KKK, imprisoned perpetrators of hate crimes and increased awareness of radical militias.
When Klan members lynched an African-American man in Mobile, Alabama, in 1981, Dees and The Southern Poverty Law Center launched an historic lawsuit. They sued the Klan for inciting violence and won a $7 million precedent-setting judgment. In 1990, Dees won a $12.5 million verdict for the family of an Ethiopian murdered by Skinheads in Oregon. In 1998, he obtained a $37.8 million verdict against the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for the burning of the Macedonia Baptist Church in South Carolina. The $37.8 million award was the largest civil award ever won for damages in a verdict.
Most recently, Dees won a landmark case against the Aryan Nation. In September, 2000, a jury awarded $6.3 million to a woman and her son, saying that white supremacist leader, Richard Butler, was negligent in letting guards from his Aryan Nations compound chase down and shoot at Victoria Keenan and her son, Jason, in 1998. Butler was forced to sell the Aryan Nation’s northern Idaho compound in a bankruptcy auction as a result of the lawsuit.
A graduate of the University of Alabama Law School, Dees has received numerous accolades in conjunction with his work at the Center. His honors include being named a “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice and receiving the National Education Association’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Award.
Dees has devoted his time to educating people about America’s radical militia movement. In his 1996 expose, “Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat,” Dees explores the dangers these groups represent. He has also written two books: his autobiography, “A Lawyer’s Journey: The Morris Dees Story” and “Hate on Trial: The Case Against America’s Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi.”
A made-for-television movie about his life, “Line of Fire,” aired on NBC in January, 1991. Actor, Corbin Bernson, portrayed Dees in the film. Dees was portrayed by actor, Wayne Rogers, in “Ghosts of the Mississippi,” a feature film released in 1996 about the life of slain civil rights worker Medgar Evers. In the fall of 2000, HBO premiered a documentary, which was hosted by Dees. Called “HATE.com” it covered hate crimes and the Internet.
For more information regarding the lecture, contact the Office of Public Relations at (716) 888-2790.
Canisius College is one of 28 Jesuit colleges in the nation and the premier private college in Western New York. Canisius prepares leaders – intelligent, caring, faithful individuals – able to pursue and promote excellence in their professions, communities and service to humanity.