Page 11 - ArentFox Schiff 2023 DEI Annual Report

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

2023 AFSCRE Programming

The Center hosts programs for the firm and our broader communities to raise awareness around issues related to
racial justice.

February 2023
In honor of Black History Month, AFS’s Black Inclusion Group (BIG@AFS) and the Center hosted a webinar
discussion with Eva Pulliam, AFS alumnus and AFSCRE founding board member, and Clint Smith, author of How
the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. Mr. Smith, a staff writer at The Atlantic,
examines the legacy of slavery in America — and how both history and memory continue to shape our everyday
lives. The discussion focused on the book, its connection with current events, and the work being done by the
Center.

June 2023
The Center and the Buried Alive Project jointly hosted a panel discussion featuring Mr. Tony Lewis. In a pro
bono partnership with the Buried Alive Project, AFS helped secure the release of Mr. Lewis, who was serving a
life sentence for a drug offense in Washington, DC, after spending nearly 34 years in prison. Mr. Lewis’s case has
generated national media attention as an example of people serving life sentences without parole for non-violent
drug offenses that were committed decades ago. You can find more information on the pro bono partnership
between AFS and the Buried Alive Project that secured Mr. Lewis’s release here.

September 2023

Senator Doug Jones, AFS Counsel and author of Bending Toward Justice, and the Center hosted an event to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing. Senator Jones, the
prosecutor in the bombing case, provided a compelling inside perspective on the civil rights history of the bombing
and the investigation and trials that finally brought full justice and healing nearly 40 years after the attack.

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