Compassion in Justice: A Remarkable Evening of Healing
Defend New Orleans Presents Compassion in Justice:
A Remarkable Evening of Healing with Lara Naughton, Gregory Bright and Khari Allen Lee
Tuesday, August 16, 6 – 9 p.m. at The Ace Hotel
Free and open to the public
When you think “crime” do you think “compassion”? Defend New Orleans (DNO), along with Ace Hotel, presents Compassion in Justice, a remarkable evening of healing. Lara Naughton and Gregory Bright, both survivors, encourage us to imagine a world in which victims – and offenders – are treated with compassion so that all who are affected by violence can heal.
This event, which brings together the art, education, business and non-profit communities, is the start of a compassion movement in New Orleans. Lara Naughton (Chair of Creative Writing at NOCCA | pictured above), who was kidnapped and raped while vacationing in Belize, will read from her newly released memoir The Jaguar Man; Gregory Bright, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 27 ½ years in Angola prison before being exonerated, will perform monologues from his one-man play Never Fight a Shark in Water (written by Lara Naughton based the words of Gregory Bright); Khari Allen Lee (Music faculty at NOCCA | pictured above) and his ensemble The New Creative Collective, will offer soul-stirring music; and local business DNO will unveil its new Compassion New Orleans t-shirt collection.
Proceeds from the event will support Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO), a nonprofit law office dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted in Louisiana and south Mississippi. Since 2001, IPNO has freed or exonerated 28 innocent clients, including Gregory Bright.
The event will be held in the Three Keys room at the Ace Hotel in downtown New Orleans, 600 Carondelet Street NOLA 70130
4 – 6 p.m.: Meet and greet at DNO’s downtown location next to the Ace Hotel. Copies of The Jaguar Man and Compassion New Orleans t-shirts, pins and posters will be available for purchase.
6 p.m.: Happy hour DJ set
7 p.m.: Readings by Lara Naughton, The Jaguar Man, and Gregory Bright, Never Fight a Shark in Water
8 – 9 p.m.: Music by Khari Allen Lee