(ANAHEIM, CA, 11/19/18) For more than 20 years, Shaun King has fought the good fight with his work as a Brooklyn-based writer and as a civil rights activist. He shared his experiences as the featured speaker for the Greater Los Angeles Area office of CAIR-LA’s 22nd Annual Banquet at the Anaheim Hilton on Saturday.
More than 2,000 people attended the event, including Michigan Congresswoman-elect Rashida Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women and the only Palestinian to be elected to Congress and winner of CAIR-LA’s inaugural Trailblazer Award. Journalist and AJ+ senior presenter and producer Dena Takruri hosted the event.
A major turning point for King occurred when he was a 15-year-old sophomore at a Kentucky high school.
It happened March 8, 1995, when a group of racist students, who had harassed him daily for two years, brutally beat him and inflicted major injuries from which it would take years to recover.
“I ended up missing all of my sophomore and all of my junior year of high school,” King said. “I had three spinal surgeries, fractures in my face and ribs, and it completely changed my life. I was not just broken physically but I was deeply wounded emotionally.”
The incident would have a lasting impact: putting King on the path to becoming a warrior for social justice.
“It seared in my heart this notion that there are people who are experiencing horrible bigotry and injustice, and nothing is done about it,” King said.
King covered a variety of topics during his presentation, highlighting another watershed moment years ago.
“Most of the ’90s and most of the early 2000s, I almost exclusively fought for injustice in black communities,” said King, a graduate of the historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he became the youngest student government president in 1999 since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1947. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes, you have to really focus in and do what you know. But through that whole time, I used this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King where he says, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ I used that quote as motivation (but) I had someone tell me that they thought a better interpretation of that quote would be if they saw me fighting for justice for people in all different places.”
King, 39, has been an outspoken and frequent critic of police brutality, among other pressing themes in marginalized minority communities. King, who is writing a book to chart his experiences, believes there are four key components to prompting/producing change in America. People need to be well-energized, well-organized, have a sophisticated plan and have access to plenty of money, he said. It’s among several reasons he values CAIR.
“That’s why I love and believe in organizations like CAIR that are trying to not bring down our energy. CAIR helps to lift the quality of our organizing,” King said.
In contrast, King referred to the National Rifle Association (NRA) as an example of how a rogue organization with deep pockets can have a huge impact on society.
“Here’s how effective they are. A man walked into a hotel in Las Vegas with a small arsenal of weapons, went up to his hotel suite and shot 600 people,” King said, referring to the October 2017 massacre that resulted in the deaths of 58 people and wounded more than 800. “And guess what this country did about it? Nothing.”
However, the recent election offers proof of the ability to bring about more positive social change.
“Here’s why I’m excited. (On Nov. 6), more NRA members lost than any election in American history. Because we’re fighting back,” King said.
CAIR is pivotal to that fight now and in the future.
“I love CAIR because CAIR is energized, organized, sophisticated and it needs to be well-funded,” King said. “Somebody else said it earlier. You need to treat CAIR like you treat your utility bills, like you treat groceries. I want you to treat social change like you treat college tuition, like you treat transportation. Social change will go as far as we fund it.”
CAIR-LA is Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Coordinator Forrest Lee, 714-776-1847 or flee@cair.com