Commission on Human Rights
Kweisi Mfume to speak in Louisville

Kweisi Mfume will travel to Louisville to speak at the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights 50^th Anniversary Civil and Human Rights Conference in October.

The Baltimore, Md., native is a renowned former president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was the five-term Democratic Congressman from Maryland's 7th congressional district from 1987 to 1996. In February 1996, Mfume left the House to accept the presidency of the NAACP, stating that he could do more to improve American civil rights there than in the Congress. He reformed the association's finances to pay off its considerable debt while pursuing the cause of civil rights advancement for African Americans. Mfume served this position for nine years before stepping down in 2004 to pursue other interests. He is currently the president of the executive director of the National Medical Association in Washington D.C.

He will be the main speaker at the Civil and Human Rights Conference Galen A. Martin Memorial Luncheon on Thursday, Oct. 14 from noon to 2 p.m., at the Louisville International Convention Center in downtown Louisville. The public is invited. The cost is $25 to cover the cost of the meal. Martin was the first executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights starting from its inception in 1960. He was one of Kentucky’s strongest leaders in the push for desegregation and civil rights and was a key writer of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, which passed in 1966, making discrimination illegal on a state level in Kentucky. Kentucky became the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to pass such a law.

Attendees of the luncheon are welcome to participate in the rest of Thursday’s activities, which is the first full day of the conference. There will be sessions on equal access and fairness in Kentucky Courts, immigrants and their struggles in Kentucky, a history and overview of minority business across the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and more. There will also be a meeting of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Board of Directors to rule on discrimination complaints on behalf of people in the state.

Visit the commission website at www.kchr.ky.gov to view the conference agenda or register for any or all of the three day conference at the cost of $25 a day to cover the cost of meals.

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