ALL PEOPLE’S BREAKFAST WELCOMES PULITZER PRIZE WINNER AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER ON MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY 2012

 
José Antonio Vargas, award winning multimedia journalist and founder of Define American, to headline Breakfast program heralding “inspirational voices for acceptance, inclusion, opportunity and change.”

The living legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be honored at a powerful and uplifting Twenty-Fourth Annual All People’s Breakfast on Monday morning, January 16, 2012.  Presented by Equality Alliance of San Diego County, the 2012 theme of this often provocative, always popular annual celebration is “All People Speak – Inspirational voices for acceptance, inclusion, opportunity and change.” 

Delivering the keynote address will be José Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist whose compelling essay "My Life As An Undocumented Immigrant," published by the New York Times Magazine in June 2011, has paved the way for broader, deeper conversations about inclusion, opportunity and civil rights.  Vargas was born in the Philippines in 1981 and emigrated to the United States at the age of 12.  He’s been a journalist for more than a decade, writing for prestigious news organizations such as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker and Rolling Stone magazines.  Most recently, he was a senior contributing editor at the Huffington Post.  Vargas founded Define American to “bring new voices into the immigration conversation.”  Define American is a project of the Tides Center, a nonprofit public charity.

In addition to Vargas, the Breakfast program will feature short digital stories of overcoming intolerance told by San Diegans of diverse backgrounds, including the former County Supervisor Leon Williams, Viejas Tribal Chairman Anthony Pico, and Susan Madison, San Diego’s Disability Services Program Coordinator. Featured also will be performances by acclaimed local artists; the Community Space – a convening of 25+ local nonprofit social change “vendors” who are provided free space to network with Breakfast patrons; and volunteer bloggers, tweeters and youth videographers.

Estela De Los Rios, Executive Director of the Center for Social Advocacy, will receive the San Diego Human Relations Commission’s Ashley L. Walker Social Justice Award.

The 2012 All People’s Breakfast program will also feature performances by acclaimed local artist/activists; the Community Space – a diverse convening of local nonprofit social change “vendors” who are provided free space to network with Breakfast patrons; and volunteer community bloggers, tweeters and youth videographers documenting the event proceedings.