When CKCPJ held its Annual Dinner on Sunday, March 16, 2014 at the Imani Family Life Center, the CKCPJ 2014 Sohner award was presented to the Kentucky Equal Justice Center (KEJC) in recognition of the work done by the staff of this small but dedicated group which has a distinguished role in impacting legislation that assists the poor, protects consumers, and prevents the exploitation of workers. In the past year Kentucky Equal Justice Center played a major role in shaping legislation to prevent human trafficking and compensate victims of trafficking.
Through their work in leading the Kentucky Worker's Rights Task Force, the Kentucky Equal Justice Center educates the larger community with respect to injustices that impact workers and legislation which may improve or negatively affect Kentucky Workers.
Presenting the award was CKCPJ board member Janet Tucker. We are grateful that she provided us a copy of her remarks, below.
I am honored to present the Chuck Sohner award tonight. Chuck was a member of our community that was very much loved and respected. He lead the way for many of us. Among many other contributions, Chuck was one of the founders of the living wage campaign here in Lexington.
This years award goes to the Kentucky Equal Justice Center . Some of their work includes:
The Maxwell Street Legal Clinic which provides services to our brothers and sisters in the immigrant community. They work to provide services that the Dream Act would and should do on a broader scale. They help sign up young people for Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
They have a new health outreach program that is helping to sign up children for healthcare.
They worked with others to craft a new human trafficking measure assuring it had a wage theft provision.
As he accepted the award, Rich Seckel 0ffered a number of comments. He reflected that many of us are familiar with the Maxwell Street Legal Clinic (one part of the Kentucky Equal Justice Center) and the work done there on behalf of migrant workers who receive assistance with their immigration status. Once that work is done, however, many of us do not know that the next
question of many workers is: "I worked for this place once, and I never got paid. Is there anything that can be done?" The workers' advocacy done by the staff of the KEJC is wide-ranging indeed.
Note: The Sohner family included with the award three copies of Chuck Sohner's autobiography, Final Exams. Chuck was a strong human rights and labor advocate and a champion of the case for paying workers a living wage. (You can see a review of Final Exams in CKCPJ's Peaceways newsletter here. Written by past CKCPJ co-chair Jeff Freyman, it's titled "Fanfare for Our Common Humanity" and includes this note: “Chuck was an uncommon common man, who without pedigree or power or great wealth nevertheless embodied an aristocracy of the soul...”
We are very grateful to photographer Rikka Wallin for permission to use these fabulous photos of our annual dinner. Click through to view her full Facebook album of the event.
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