The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) will honor Parkin Lee of The Rockefeller Group, Yale Law professor Jean Koh Peters, and Fareed Zakaria, CNN host and Time editor-at-large with the 2012 Justice in Action Awards, at its Annual Lunar New Year Gala on Wednesday, February 8, 2011 at PIER SIXTY, Chelsea Piers, in New York City.
The co-emcees for the evening are Juju Chang, Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ABC News Nightline, and Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Student Affairs and digital media professor at Columbia Journalism School.
The AALDEF Justice in Action Awards recognize exceptional individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions in advancing justice and equality. Past recipients include the late civil rights icons Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi, David Henry Hwang, Harold Koh, Mira Nair, Deval Patrick, Salman Rushdie, BD Wong, Seymour Hersh, Charles Ogletree, Jr., Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn, Harry Belafonte, Margaret Cho, and Yoko Ono.
Over 600 leaders of the civil rights, legal, business, and arts communities are expected to attend AALDEF’s 2012 Lunar New Year Gala celebrating the Year of the Dragon. The Gala begins with a 6 p.m. cocktail reception and silent auction, followed by the Justice in Action Awards ceremony and a banquet dinner.
Reserve Tickets: Tables of ten, available at $50,000, $20,000, $15,000, and $10,000, include a VIP reception. Individual tickets start at $500. To reserve seating, please contact Lillian Ling at 212.966.5932 ex. 202 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Proceeds from the Lunar New Year Gala benefit AALDEF’s legal and educational programs in immigrant rights, economic justice for workers, voting rights and civic participation, affirmative action, language access to services, youth rights and educational equality, housing and environmental justice, Census policy, and the elimination of hate violence, police misconduct and human trafficking.
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.
Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.