KEYNOTE CONVERSATION
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL
Lawrence O'Donnell is the host of The Last Word on MSNBC. Formerly an Emmy Award-winning executive producer and writer for "The West Wing," O'Donnell also served as senior advisor to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), chief of staff to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works and the Senate Finance Committee. He is the author of Deadly Force and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. Born in Boston, O'Donnell graduated from Harvard College.
Learn more about Lawrence O'Donnell here.
REP. JUSTIN J. PEARSON
Justin J. Pearson is a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. When a mass shooter took the lives of six persons – three of them 9-year-olds – at The Covenant School in Nashville last March, Pearson, along with fellow state representatives Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson, staged a protest for common sense gun legislation on the Tennessee House floor. Republicans retaliated by expelling Pearson and Jones. Local authorities reinstated the legislators several days later. Pearson (and Jones) handily won reelection in August. Pearson is also president and founder of Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP) and co-founder of Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, a Black-led environmental justice organization.
Learn more about Rep. Pearson here.