Southern Poverty Law Center speaker urges crowd to 'Do the right thing'

It wasn’t the first time Southern Poverty Law Center Outreach Director Lecia Brooks addressed a crowded Student Union and Recreation Center Ballroom at Central

Brooks joined Ellensburg’s first Not In Our KittCo panel discussion via Skype in November, and returned to speak in person on Monday. She discussed the history of the SPLC, the tracking of current hate and bias incidents, as well as what people can do to stand up to hateful acts in everyday situations.

Brooks was impressed with the Not In Our KittCo movement and how the community banded together after Ku Klux Klan literature was passed out in the fall, and again on Martin Luther King day, but urged the crowd to not only come together in reaction, but to take action every day.

“I want you to really think about how you can make that an every day reality,” Brooks said. She then pointed to pictures of diverse crowds marching in recent protests against hate. “Use that in your every day life. Not just when the Klan circulates flyers — I respect you for doing that, but there are opportunities for you to do that every day.”

Read the entire article online at the Daily Record.

Photo Credit: Central Washington University
--February 14, 2017