Phillip and Sala Burton Center for Human Rights

6:00 pm Panel Discussion at the Fort Mason Officers Club:
Keeping the Legacy Alive - The Human Right to a Safe & Clean Environment

with Edgar Wayburn, MD, Justice Harry Low, Dolores Huerta, Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., Michelle Leighton

The theme of the June 1, 2006 Tribute to Phillip and Sala Burton at Upper Fort Mason is the HUMAN RIGHT TO A SAFE AND CLEAN ENVIRONMENT. Organized labor has been at the forefront of the struggle to promote and defend this right by fighting for safe and clean working conditions. Although protecting the environment was not an urgent international concern when the delegates met in San Francisco in 1945 to draft and sign the Charter of the United Nations, nor explicitly included in the Universal Declaration for Human Rights when it was adopted in 1948 it is rapidly rising to the top of the international agenda. Phillip and Sala Burton were among the greatest champions in our nation’s history of the human right to a safe and clean environment. The most important action we can take to further the legacy of Phillip and Sala Burton is to work to codify the human right to a safe and clean environment in international law.

Panelists:

Photo courtesy of Ed Wayburn

Edgar Wayburn, MD
Phillip Burton called Dr. Wayburn his “environmental guru”. As President of the Sierra Club he worked with Phillip and Sala to create the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, expand the Redwoods National Park and protect Lake Tahoe from over development. The legislation to expand the Redwoods National Park to reach its ecological boundaries included funds to maintain the livelihoods of the working families affected by the Park’s expansion. Dr. Wayburn likened Phil Burton to a train “and the job for the rest of us was simply to lay the track”. Dr. Wayburn led the Sierra Club’s successful efforts to pass the Alaska National Interest Conservation Act signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980 - the largest piece of land conservation legislation in American history. For his conservation efforts, Dr. Wayburn received the Albert Schweitzer Prize for humanitarianism in April 1995 and in August 1999 President Clinton presented him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award bestowed by the nation on a civilian.

from left, Phillip Burton, Justice Harry Low, George Moscone, John Burton. Photo courtesy of Justice Low

The Honorable Harry Low
Phillip and Sala Burton won the admiration, respect and loyalty of Judge Low in 1956, during Phillip’s first successful primary campaign for the California State Assembly. Burton was one of the few political leaders who defined the rights of the Chinese-American Community against the unconstitutional mass subpoenas issued by the U.S. Justice Department to obtain immigration records of the major Chinese-American organizations in San Francisco. Together, with the help of others, Burton and Low formed the Chinese-American Democratic Party that brought the Chinese-American community into the mainstream of San Francisco political life. Judge Low now serves as a Dispute Resolution Specialist at JAMS, the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service. He served as California’s 38th Insurance Commissioner, Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeals and National President of the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance. He has won the American Bar Association’s 2002 Spirit of Excellence Award and in 2000 he received the Judge Lowell Jensen Public Service Award from the Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley. He was the Founding Chairman of the Board, Chinese-American International School and serves on the Board of Directors of the Phillip and Sala Burton Center for Human Rights at the Presidio National Park.

Dolores Huerta
“What a man” is how Dolores Huerta described Phil Burton when told of the plans to produce a film about his legacy. Now President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation for Community Organizing she co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez and holds the emeritus positions of the UFW as Secretary-Treasurer and First Vice President. In the 1960’s she worked with Phillip, then a member of the California State Assembly to pass legislation that provided disability insurance for farm workers and eligibility for public assistance for resident immigrants. As the main negotiator for the United Farm Workers she obtained many “first” that had been denied to farm workers: toilets in the fields along with soap, water and paper towels, cold drinking water with individual paper cups. She has served as a Regent of the University of California and received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Clinton in 1998 and was named as one the 100 most important women of the 20th Century by Ladies Home Journal.

from left, Phillip Burton, Yvonne Burke, Willie L.Brown, Jr. Photo courtesy of Bancroft Library

Willie Brown, Jr.
“The two Burtons were almost one person. Unlike any other political wife that I have ever met, she was a real partner.” 1 Willie Brown met Phillip and Sala Burton in the Young Democrats in the early 1950’s. They supported his first race for the California State Assembly in 1962 and were political allies in achieving a younger, vibrant and multiracial leadership in San Francisco. Elected to the State Assembly in 1964 he became Speaker in 1980 and held that post for 16 years, the longest in California History. In 1995 he was elected Mayor of San Francisco and was reelected in 1999.Mayor Brown has served on the Board of Trustees, California State University system that includes 23 campuses and 350,000 students, as a Regent, University of California that includes 10 campuses and 200,000 students, and on the CalPERS Board of Administration. He received his Juris Doctor from Hastings College of Law, University of California and has received numerous honorary degrees from major U. S. universities.

Photo courtesy Michelle Leighton

Michelle T. Leighton, L.L.M.
Is a specialist in international environmental and human rights law. Her practice encompasses human rights and the environment, desertification, trade, hazardous waste, water rights, and public participation in natural resource decision-making. She counsels nonprofit organizations, government and intergovernmental agencies, and United Nations bodies. She has served as a special advisor to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Toxics, and on Human Rights and Environment, the Secretariat of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification and Drough, the U.N. Environment Program, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Organization for Migration and the U.S. Congressional Commission on Immigration Reform. She also represents NGOs before U.N bodies, including the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Ms. Leighton has taught International Human Rights Law at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, Golden Gate University School of Law and University of San Francisco School of Law. She has authored numerous articles for periodicals and books and is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops on international human rights and the environment. She received her LL.M degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, J.D. from Golden Gate University Law School and B.A. from the University of California at Davis. Ms. Leighton Co-Founded the nonprofit organization, the Natural Heritage Institute and served as its Senior Attorney for over 15 years. She is currently serving as the Acting Dean of John F. Kennedy University School of Law in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be reached at mleighton@JFKU.edu.

For more information: Contact the Phillip & Sala Burton Center for Human Rights at the Presidio National Park at (415) 378-7935 or bhough@psburtoncenter.org

	June 1st - Tribute to Phillip & Sala Burton 6:00 pm Panel Discussion at the Fort Mason Officers Club: *Keeping the Legacy Alive - The Human Right to a Safe & Clean Environment* with Edgar Wayburn, MD, Justice Harry Low, Dolores Huerta, Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., Michelle Leighton The theme of the June 1, 2006 Tribute to Phillip and Sala Burton at Upper Fort Mason is the HUMAN RIGHT TO A SAFE AND CLEAN ENVIRONMENT. Organized labor has been at the forefront of the struggle to promote and defend this right by fighting for safe and clean working conditions. Although protecting the environment was not an urgent international concern when the delegates met in San Francisco in 1945 to draft and sign the Charter of the United Nations, nor explicitly included in the Universal Declaration for Human Rights when it was adopted in 1948 it is rapidly rising to the top of the international agenda. Phillip and Sala Burton were among the greatest champions in our nation’s history of the human right to a safe and clean environment. The most important action we can take to further the legacy of Phillip and Sala Burton is to work to codify the human right to a safe and clean environment in international law. Panelists: Photo courtesy of Ed Wayburn Edgar Wayburn, MD Phillip Burton called Dr. Wayburn his “environmental guru”. As President of the Sierra Club he worked with Phillip and Sala to create the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, expand the Redwoods National Park and protect Lake Tahoe from over development. The legislation to expand the Redwoods National Park to reach its ecological boundaries included funds to maintain the livelihoods of the working families affected by the Park’s expansion. Dr. Wayburn likened Phil Burton to a train “and the job for the rest of us was simply to lay the track”. Dr. Wayburn led the Sierra Club’s successful efforts to pass the Alaska National Interest Conservation Act signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980 - the largest piece of land conservation legislation in American history. For his conservation efforts, Dr. Wayburn received the Albert Schweitzer Prize for humanitarianism in April 1995 and in August 1999 President Clinton presented him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award bestowed by the nation on a civilian. from left, Phillip Burton, Justice Harry Low, George Moscone, John Burton. Photo courtesy of Justice Low The Honorable Harry Low Phillip and Sala Burton won the admiration, respect and loyalty of Judge Low in 1956, during Phillip’s first successful primary campaign for the California State Assembly. Burton was one of the few political leaders who defined the rights of the Chinese-American Community against the unconstitutional mass subpoenas issued by the U.S. Justice Department to obtain immigration records of the major Chinese-American organizations in San Francisco. Together, with the help of others, Burton and Low formed the Chinese-American Democratic Party that brought the Chinese-American community into the mainstream of San Francisco political life. Judge Low now serves as a Dispute Resolution Specialist at JAMS, the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service. He served as California’s 38th Insurance Commissioner, Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeals and National President of the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance. He has won the American Bar Association’s 2002 Spirit of Excellence Award and in 2000 he received the Judge Lowell Jensen Public Service Award from the Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley. He was the Founding Chairman of the Board, Chinese-American International School and serves on the Board of Directors of the Phillip and Sala Burton Center for Human Rights at the Presidio National Park. Dolores Huerta “What a man” is how Dolores Huerta described Phil Burton when told of the plans to produce a film about his legacy. Now President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation for Community Organizing she co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez and holds the emeritus positions of the UFW as Secretary-Treasurer and First Vice President. In the 1960’s she worked with Phillip, then a member of the California State Assembly to pass legislation that provided disability insurance for farm workers and eligibility for public assistance for resident immigrants. As the main negotiator for the United Farm Workers she obtained many “first” that had been denied to farm workers: toilets in the fields along with soap, water and paper towels, cold drinking water with individual paper cups. She has served as a Regent of the University of California and received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Clinton in 1998 and was named as one the 100 most important women of the 20th Century by Ladies Home Journal. from left, Phillip Burton, Yvonne Burke, Willie L.Brown, Jr. Photo courtesy of Bancroft Library Willie Brown, Jr. “The two Burtons were almost one person. Unlike any other political wife that I have ever met, she was a real partner.” 1 Willie Brown met Phillip and Sala Burton in the Young Democrats in the early 1950’s. They supported his first race for the California State Assembly in 1962 and were political allies in achieving a younger, vibrant and multiracial leadership in San Francisco. Elected to the State Assembly in 1964 he became Speaker in 1980 and held that post for 16 years, the longest in California History. In 1995 he was elected Mayor of San Francisco and was reelected in 1999.Mayor Brown has served on the Board of Trustees, California State University system that includes 23 campuses and 350,000 students, as a Regent, University of California that includes 10 campuses and 200,000 students, and on the CalPERS Board of Administration. He received his Juris Doctor from Hastings College of Law, University of California and has received numerous honorary degrees from major U. S. universities. Photo courtesy Michelle Leighton Michelle T. Leighton, L.L.M. Is a specialist in international environmental and human rights law. Her practice encompasses human rights and the environment, desertification, trade, hazardous waste, water rights, and public participation in natural resource decision-making. She counsels nonprofit organizations, government and intergovernmental agencies, and United Nations bodies. She has served as a special advisor to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Toxics, and on Human Rights and Environment, the Secretariat of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification and Drough, the U.N. Environment Program, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Organization for Migration and the U.S. Congressional Commission on Immigration Reform. She also represents NGOs before U.N bodies, including the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Ms. Leighton has taught International Human Rights Law at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, Golden Gate University School of Law and University of San Francisco School of Law. She has authored numerous articles for periodicals and books and is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops on international human rights and the environment. She received her LL.M degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, J.D. from Golden Gate University Law School and B.A. from the University of California at Davis. Ms. Leighton Co-Founded the nonprofit organization, the Natural Heritage Institute and served as its Senior Attorney for over 15 years. She is currently serving as the Acting Dean of John F. Kennedy University School of Law in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be reached at mleighton@JFKU.edu. For more information: Contact the Phillip & Sala Burton Center for Human Rights at the Presidio National Park at (415) 378-7935 or bhough@psburtoncenter.org