by Contributed content on January 21, 2021
From tragedy to addiction and incarceration to release and recovery, Susan Burton is recognized as one of the new civil rights activists. Meet her and hear her story on Monday, January 25th at 5:00 p.m. Register online.
After a childhood of abuse, Burton’s world finally collapsed when her five-year-old son was run over and killed. Susan didn’t know where to turn or how to deal with her grief. She treated herself and became an addiction.
Burton was arrested during the war on drugs and rode his bike in and out of jail for more than 15 years. Once treated, her political awakening began and she became a powerful advocate for a more humane judicial system. Her award-winning organization, A New Way of Life, has changed the lives of more than a thousand former incarcerated women and is an international model for a less punitive and more effective approach to rehabilitation and re-entry.
Ms. Burton received the prestigious Citizen Activist Award from the Harvard Kennedy School of Law. In 2015, on the 50th anniversary of Selma and the Voting Rights Act, she was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of eighteen New Civil Rights Leaders in the nation.
This event is part of a series presented along with the Menlo Park Library virtual exhibition: Stitching California: Fiber Artists Interpret the People, Life and Land of the State from January 4 to February 15, 2021.
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