White House Invites Center For Law and Social Justice to Juneteenth Celebration
When Lurie Daniel Favors, Esq. travels to the White House as an invited guest for its June 13th Juneteenth celebration, it will be her second visit since the beginning of the year. Favors was asked down to Washington D.C. back in February as part of a Black History Month Celebration. Not unlike her past invite, the Center for Law and Social Justice Executive Director admits there’s a bit of mystery behind why she and Deputy Director Donna Lennon, Esq. are being tapped to go.
“They never really say why they’re inviting you is what I’m learning,” she said. “I honestly think that most of it is because we also got a grant from Congresswoman Clarke for the work we’re going to do with the pre-law program. This work that we’re doing is certainly what I think people are excited about. We look forward to formally announcing the details about this special program we are launching here at Medgar Evers College at the CLSJ gala later this month and to sharing details with our school community.”
The grant Favors is referring to is for roughly over a half million dollars that was made possible by Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, who represents the Ninth Congressional District of New York. And while for Favors, being in the nation’s seat of power is quite a unique experience, (“It’s wonderful to walk in and see President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s portraits and to be in that space. And it was really amazing to be there with advocates who are all wrestling with issues of racial justice”), she was also quick to point out the complexity of being in a situation like that.
“As much as we appreciate the ability to be in that space, we also have to challenge the administration to do more and to be more aggressive,” she said. “And considering what’s going on with racial tensions right now and the exponential increase in white nationalism, now more than ever we need government to partner with organizations that are speaking truth to power. It’s crucial.”
