Events

Vanita Gupta and Michael C. Wu to receive AALDEF 2019 Justice in Action Awards

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) will celebrate its 45th Anniversary on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City. The recipients of the 2019 Justice in Action Awards include Michael C. Wu, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Carter’s, Inc., and Vanita Gupta, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Actor and writer Aasif Mandvi will deliver a special message.

The AALDEF Justice in Action Awards recognize exceptional individuals for their outstanding achievements and efforts to advance social justice. Past award recipients include Preet Bharara, Art Chong, John G. Chou, David Henry Hwang, Deepa Iyer, Neal Katyal, Congressman John Lewis, Aasif Mandvi, Mari Matsuda, Mira Nair, Yoko Ono, George Takei, BD Wong, Phil Yu, and Fareed Zakaria, to name just a few.

Over 700 leaders of the civil rights, legal, business, and arts communities across the country are expected to attend AALDEF’s 45th Anniversary Gala. The evening begins with a 6 p.m. cocktail reception and silent auction, followed by the Justice in Action Awards ceremony and a banquet dinner. Tables of ten, available at $25,000, $20,000, and $15,000, include a VIP reception. Individual tickets start at $1,500. To reserve tickets, please contact Jennifer Weng at 212.966.5932 ext. 212 or jweng@aaldef.org.

Since 1974, AALDEF has protected and promoted the civil rights of Asian Americans across the nation through litigation, advocacy, community education, and organizing. All proceeds from the gala support AALDEF’s programs in immigrant rights, economic justice, educational equity, housing and environmental justice, and voting rights and democracy.

For further information, please contact:
Jennifer Weng
Assistant Director
212.966.5932 ext. 212
jweng@aaldef.org.

To purchase tickets, return reply form via mail or email.

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PAST JUSTICE IN ACTION AWARD RECIPIENTS

1987: William Marutani, Dith Pran, Michi Weglyn
1988: Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, Irene Natividad, Anthony M. Tung
1989: Benjamin Gim, David Henry Hwang, Grayce Uyehara
1990: Mary Frances Berry, Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña, Jack Greenberg, Pat Morita
1991: Connie Chung, Robert Matsui, BD Wong
1992: Gordon Hirabayashi, Maya Lin, George Takei
1993: Harold Koh, Yoko Ono
1994: Asian Americans for Action, Lani Guinier, Norman Mineta
1995: Shamita Das Dasgupta, Midori Shimanouchi Lederer, Deval L. Patrick
1996: Patsy T. Mink, Chang-Lin Tien
1997: Christopher Lee, Midori, Urvashi Vaid
1998: Bill Lann Lee, Nickelodeon
1999: Ira Glasser, Loida Nicolas Lewis
2000: Hiroshima, Dennis Rivera
2001: Bill Ong Hing, Wen Ho Lee Family and Legal Team
2002: Fred Korematsu, David Lim
2003: Margaret Cho, Bhairavi Desai
2004: Mira Nair, Open Society Institute, Alice Young
2005: Don H. Liu, Salman Rushdie
2006: Ivan K. Fong, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Katrina vanden Heuvel
2007: Javade Chaudhri, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, Helen Zia
2008: Harry Belafonte, Art Chong, Seymour Hersh
2009: Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Sandra Leung, Dale Minami
2010: Juan Gonzalez, Larry Tu
2011: A.B. Cruz III, Lillian Kimura
2012: Parkin Lee, Jean Koh Peters, Fareed Zakaria
2013: John Lewis, Jose Antonio Vargas, Simone Wu
2014: John G. Chou, Aasif Mandvi, Mari J. Matsuda
2015: Jessica Hagedorn, Neal Katyal, John W. Kuo
2016: Heidi C. Chen, Eric H. Holder, Jr., Phil Yu
2017: Marie Oh Huber, Deepa Iyer
2018: Preet Bharara, Linda Greenhouse, Chan Lee