National Bar Association To Hold “Black Lives Matter” Community Service Day In Missouri

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                
National Bar Association
 
communications@nationalbar.org

National Bar Association To Hold “Black Lives Matter”  Community Service Day In Missouri

WHO:
National Bar Association, along with its affiliate The Mound City Bar Association & Democratic Committeewoman Patricia Bynes of Ferguson Township
 
WHAT:
National Bar Association’s “Black Lives Matter” Community Service Projects
 
WHEN:
Saturday, March 28, 2015
11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
 
WHERE:
National Bar Association’s Mid-Year Conference
Greater St. Mark Family Church
9950 Glen Owen Drive
St. Louis, MO 63101

NEEDED:
Missouri Residents Interested In  
Voter Registration
Expungement of Criminal Records
Firearm Safety Instruction.  
 
BACKGROUND:
Our nation and the African American community are at critical point in history.  “Since early July 2014, America has been embroiled in a series of racially-charged debates that have been fueled by a series of deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers. These debates have revealed that Police Brutality is the New Civil Rights Movement and that Ferguson, MO is the modern-day Mississippi of this new Movement,” stated Pamela Meanes President of the National Bar Association. “Thus, it is imperative that we all do our part to eradicate this grave injustice and demonstrate that all lives matters,” stated President Meanes.  
 
In additional to advocating for legal reform, the National Bar Association understands that Voting, Criminal Records and Gun Safety are critical parts of the solution.  “The events in Ferguson, MO this past summer demonstrated the importance of exercising your vote.  More importantly, many African Americans have difficulty obtaining gainful employment because of their criminal records, stated President Meanes. “Finally, there is an over proliferation of guns in our community.  Thus, it is vital that we provide gun safety literature to the black community so that they learn how to properly store their firearms; and how to keep weapons from their children, President Meanes stated.

Given the importance of these issues, on Saturday, March 28, 2015 the National Bar Association is sponsoring the following three Community Service Projects in 11 predominately African American municipalities in St. Louis County:
Voter Registration & Mobilization
Expungement of Criminal Records
Firearm Safety Instruction.  
Volunteers will provide the following information and services:

Voter Registration: Volunteers will canvass one of the eleven cities with predominately African American populations: Belle, Bridgeton, Ferguson, Florissant, Glen Echo Park, Bellerive, Bel-Ridge, Bel-Nor, Jennings, Spanish Lake, and Pasadena Hills to encourage voters to VOTE in the upcoming April 7, 2015 election and registrar citizens to vote in elections held thereafter;

Expungement of Criminal Records: Volunteer lawyers and Rule 13 certified law students will man an informational tables and distribute educational materials about Missouri expungement process.  In addition, volunteers will conduct interviews with citizens inside the Greater St. Mark church to determine the person’s basic eligibility for expungement; and

Firearm Safety Instruction:  Volunteers will man a gun safety & responsibility table.  The NBA will distribute gun safety information and provide gun safety locks.  

For more information, please contact Chair Terry Wiley at nbacrimlawsection@gmail.com or Dorothy White Coleman at dwcoleman@whitecoleman.net
 
ABOUT THE NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION
The National Bar Association was founded in 1925 and is the nation’s oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 60,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students.The NBA is organized around 23 substantive law sections, 9 divisions, 12 regions and 80 affiliate chapters throughout the United States and around the world. For more information, visit: http://www.nationalbar.org.

ABOUT THE MOUND CITY BAR ASSOCIATION
The Mound City Bar Association is one of the oldest black bar associations west of the Mississippi River. Our objectives are to advance the professional interest of our members; to improve the administration of justice; to uphold the honor of the legal profession; to promote the professional development of our members; and to provide service to the community.

ABOUT DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEEWOMAN PATRICIA BYNES OF FERGUSON TOWNSHIP
Patricia Bynes is the Democratic Committeewoman of Ferguson Township. She was appointed in 2011 to the position. In 2012 she was elected to be a delegate for the 1st Congressional District for the Democratic National Conventional and won election for her committeewoman seat.  She is currently on the Executive Committee for the St. Louis City NAACP, is a former board member of Prison Performing Arts, and a former Board President for the first year-round public school in the city of St. Louis, South City Prep