Khizr Khan at Golden Door Gala in Austin
The Forrest Four-Cast: December 2, 2017
I am excited to be attending the 2017 Golden Door Gala on Saturday, December 2. Benefiting the Central Texas Regional office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), this event is named for the last line of the “New Colossous” poem by Emma Lazarus: “Send these, the homeless, tempest-toss to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Tonight’s special guest and keynote speaker will be Khizer Khan (pictured above), the Gold Star Father who upholds the American values of equity and justice for all. He is also a Pakistani-American lawyer, with degrees from Punjab University and Harvard Law School. In addition to his work with immigration and international business law, he founded a pro bono project to provide legal services for the families of men and women serving in the military. Given this week’s problematic re-tweets by President Trump, Khan’s remarks at the Golden Door Gala promise to be particularly poignant
Additional honorees for tonight include Mayor Steve Adler & Ms. Diane T. Land, who will receive the Raymond and Audrey Maislin Humanitarian Award. Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, the President and CEO of Huston–Tillotson University, will receive the Community Hero Award.
Tickets for the 2017 Golden Door Gala are completely sold out. But, the ADL welcomes your donations to help their mission of stopping the defamation of the Jewish people and securing justice and fair treatment to all. Click here for more information.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
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