February 28, 2008, 7:00pm – 8:30pm
"Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story" follows three families in a contemporary American battle for equal opportunity. One city's struggle over racial discrimination and how to redress institutional housing segregation is shown in a confrontation that challenges and changes Yonkers, New York.
Drawn deeply into the conflict, the people in "Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story" show how contemporary America confronts the issues of race and opportunity today. Through their city's crucible they deal with the meaning of civil rights in a contemporary context.
This story describes the racial and class divisions still running through American hearts and minds, and the important role of political activism and leadership in bridging them.
Watch the trailer here.
Featured Panelists: Gene Capello, Assistant General Counsel, Pfizer Inc. Andrew Jakabovics, Associate Director for Economic Mobility Program, Center for American Progress Bill Kavanagh, Director, "Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story"
Moderated by: Melody Barnes, Executive Vice President for Policy, Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress 1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor Washington, DC 20005
Listen to the Events: Biographies Melody C. Barnes is the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, where she coordinates and helps to integrate all of the Center's policy work from the policy departments, fellows, and the Center's network of outside policy experts. From December 1995 until March 2003, Barnes served as chief counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) on the Senate Judiciary Committee. As Kennedy's chief counsel, she shaped civil rights, women's health and reproductive rights, commercial law, and religious liberties laws, as well as executive branch and judicial appointments. Barnes' experience also includes an appointment as Director of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and serving as Assistant Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. During her tenure with the subcommittee, she worked closely with members of Congress and their staffs to pass the Voting Rights Improvement Act of 1992, which was signed into law. Barnes began her career as an attorney with Shearman & Sterling in New York City and is a member of both the New York State Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar Association. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Constitution Project, EMILY's List, and the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. She received her law degree from the University of Michigan and her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated with honors in history. Gene A. Capello joined Pfizer Inc. in 2006 as Assistant General Counsel where he specializes in corporate governance and securities law issues. A frequent speaker and panelist at various forums for lawyers and corporate governance professionals, Gene has most recently lectured on ethics and professionalism in securities law, the evolving proxy process and emerging issues in securities and corporate governance law. Prior to Pfizer, Gene was Managing Director for Policy at Proxy Governance, Inc., where he was co-head of policy development at a new and innovative proxy advisory firm. From 1985 through 2004, he was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and later at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. where he specialized in a number of areas including corporate governance, securities, foreign exchange, and derivatives and banking law. Prior to that Gene was an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York. Gene received his J.D. from St. John's University School of Law in 1981 where he was a member of the Law Review. He also holds an M.S.W. from New York University and a bachelor's degree in business administration from The City College of New York. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the Westchester County Health Care Corporation, the parent of Westchester Medical Center, and is currently a member of the Board of Riverside Health Care System in Yonkers, New York. He has served on a number of local civic and charitable organizations including Chairman of the Yonkers Mayor's Judicial Selection Committee and as President of the N.A.A.C.P., Yonkers branch. Gene currently resides in Westchester County, New York with his wife, Doris, a university professor and his daughter, Angela, a student at the University of Delaware. Andrew Jakabovics is the Associate Director for the Economic Mobility Program at the Center for American Progress. He works on housing, household debt, and higher education, as well as other issues related to sustaining and growing the middle class. Jakabovics has appeared on television and radio and in print, most recently for his research on the effects of the current mortgage crisis and potential policy solutions. Prior to joining the Center, Jakabovics served as the research chief of staff for the MIT Center for Real Estate's Housing Affordability Initiative. In 2004, he founded a grassroots organization, Kiruv for Kerry, which conducted outreach to the Orthodox Jewish community, drafted position papers, and connected policy issues with Jewish principles. He has also lectured on the relationship of Jewish law to the modern, democratic state. Andrew holds a B.A. in urban studies from Columbia University and an M.C.P. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is currently pursuing his doctorate. Bill Kavanagh is the Producer/Director of "Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story." The film premiered on Thirteen/WNET, New York City's flagship PBS station in 2007. "Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story" begun touring the festival circuit and won second prize in documentary feature at its premiere at the Tupelo Film Festival. The film has so far been an official selection of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, ON LOCATION Memphis, the Red Hook Film Festival, and the Bronx N-Spired Film Festival. This feature documentary is Bill's first full-length documentary as producer/director, but hardly his first experience in media journalism. Prior to "Brick by Brick," Bill Kavanagh was the field producer of "Enemies of War (2001)," a documentary on the civil war in El Salvador. Bill made several journeys to El Salvador, interviewed FMLN rebel commanders, officials from the Salvadoran and US governments, human rights workers and ordinary Salvadoran citizens caught in-between. In 1994, he covered the first Salvadoran elections after the UN-sponsored ceasefire. Kavanagh also followed the trail of the late Congressman Joe Moakley and his aide, Jim McGovern, who broke the stone-wall of silence around the killing of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter by the Salvadoran army in 1989. "Enemies of War" was offered nationally on PBS through "Independent Lens." Bill's work as a filmmaker spans several decades, providing camera work, footage, and direction for news agencies and networks such as Reuters, PBS, GLOBO in Brazil, and NBC's Dateline, as well as MTV and Nickelodeon. He also owns and runs a media production and post-production company in New York City, Kavanagh Productions, which produces events and media for corporations and non-profit organizations.
Melody C. Barnes is the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, where she coordinates and helps to integrate all of the Center's policy work from the policy departments, fellows, and the Center's network of outside policy experts.
From December 1995 until March 2003, Barnes served as chief counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) on the Senate Judiciary Committee. As Kennedy's chief counsel, she shaped civil rights, women's health and reproductive rights, commercial law, and religious liberties laws, as well as executive branch and judicial appointments. Barnes' experience also includes an appointment as Director of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and serving as Assistant Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. During her tenure with the subcommittee, she worked closely with members of Congress and their staffs to pass the Voting Rights Improvement Act of 1992, which was signed into law.
Barnes began her career as an attorney with Shearman & Sterling in New York City and is a member of both the New York State Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar Association. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Constitution Project, EMILY's List, and the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. She received her law degree from the University of Michigan and her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated with honors in history.
Gene A. Capello joined Pfizer Inc. in 2006 as Assistant General Counsel where he specializes in corporate governance and securities law issues. A frequent speaker and panelist at various forums for lawyers and corporate governance professionals, Gene has most recently lectured on ethics and professionalism in securities law, the evolving proxy process and emerging issues in securities and corporate governance law.
Prior to Pfizer, Gene was Managing Director for Policy at Proxy Governance, Inc., where he was co-head of policy development at a new and innovative proxy advisory firm. From 1985 through 2004, he was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and later at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. where he specialized in a number of areas including corporate governance, securities, foreign exchange, and derivatives and banking law. Prior to that Gene was an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York.
Gene received his J.D. from St. John's University School of Law in 1981 where he was a member of the Law Review. He also holds an M.S.W. from New York University and a bachelor's degree in business administration from The City College of New York. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the Westchester County Health Care Corporation, the parent of Westchester Medical Center, and is currently a member of the Board of Riverside Health Care System in Yonkers, New York. He has served on a number of local civic and charitable organizations including Chairman of the Yonkers Mayor's Judicial Selection Committee and as President of the N.A.A.C.P., Yonkers branch.
Gene currently resides in Westchester County, New York with his wife, Doris, a university professor and his daughter, Angela, a student at the University of Delaware.
Andrew Jakabovics is the Associate Director for the Economic Mobility Program at the Center for American Progress. He works on housing, household debt, and higher education, as well as other issues related to sustaining and growing the middle class. Jakabovics has appeared on television and radio and in print, most recently for his research on the effects of the current mortgage crisis and potential policy solutions. Prior to joining the Center, Jakabovics served as the research chief of staff for the MIT Center for Real Estate's Housing Affordability Initiative. In 2004, he founded a grassroots organization, Kiruv for Kerry, which conducted outreach to the Orthodox Jewish community, drafted position papers, and connected policy issues with Jewish principles. He has also lectured on the relationship of Jewish law to the modern, democratic state. Andrew holds a B.A. in urban studies from Columbia University and an M.C.P. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is currently pursuing his doctorate.
Bill Kavanagh is the Producer/Director of "Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story." The film premiered on Thirteen/WNET, New York City's flagship PBS station in 2007. "Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story" begun touring the festival circuit and won second prize in documentary feature at its premiere at the Tupelo Film Festival. The film has so far been an official selection of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, ON LOCATION Memphis, the Red Hook Film Festival, and the Bronx N-Spired Film Festival. This feature documentary is Bill's first full-length documentary as producer/director, but hardly his first experience in media journalism.
Prior to "Brick by Brick," Bill Kavanagh was the field producer of "Enemies of War (2001)," a documentary on the civil war in El Salvador. Bill made several journeys to El Salvador, interviewed FMLN rebel commanders, officials from the Salvadoran and US governments, human rights workers and ordinary Salvadoran citizens caught in-between. In 1994, he covered the first Salvadoran elections after the UN-sponsored ceasefire.
Kavanagh also followed the trail of the late Congressman Joe Moakley and his aide, Jim McGovern, who broke the stone-wall of silence around the killing of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter by the Salvadoran army in 1989. "Enemies of War" was offered nationally on PBS through "Independent Lens."
Bill's work as a filmmaker spans several decades, providing camera work, footage, and direction for news agencies and networks such as Reuters, PBS, GLOBO in Brazil, and NBC's Dateline, as well as MTV and Nickelodeon. He also owns and runs a media production and post-production company in New York City, Kavanagh Productions, which produces events and media for corporations and non-profit organizations.
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