“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
We are not a nation of laws if those laws are applied discriminately. We must have equality; actual, real and true equality – in education, in opportunity, and in the creation and application of our laws. There is insufficient room on this page to list all of the black and brown people who have been killed by racism over the last 400 years. We mourn the loss of George Floyd and we support those peacefully calling on all of us to do more and be better.
The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation and all of Ohio’s legal aid societies work daily to remedy disparities and to achieve equality; actual, real and true equality – in education, in opportunity, and in the creation and application of our laws. Through civil legal services, we work to give every person who cannot afford an attorney a chance to live a safe, financially stable, healthy and productive life. Many of the amazing people we are privileged to serve are black and brown people and we are proud to use the law to achieve justice everywhere. Civil legal services, legal aid, and the Foundation are a critical part of the answer, but they are only a part.
Injustice remains and it threatens us all. We must seize this moment in time. We must ensure that George Floyd’s death does not become another example of inaction following outrage.
We all have a role to play. We can be better and we can do more. The Prophet Micah tells us that we are called to: “do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly.” Micah 6:8. Each of us must commit to be civil and kind to every person, no matter their color, their race, their age, their religion, their gender, their sexual orientation or their legal status. Each of us must commit to give something of our time, treasure or talent to make our communities better, healthier and stronger – equal. Together, we can commit these injustices to history. Together, we can achieve justice everywhere.
President – Kimberly C. Shumate Vice President – Jennifer E. Day
Treasurer – Paula Boggs Muething Secretary – Mary Amos Augsburger
Past President – David A. Kutik Executive Director – Angie Lloyd
Staff of the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation
| BOARD MEMBERS Victoria E. Beckman Ann S. Bergen Sally W. Bloomfield Vallie T. Bowman-English Stephen R. Buchenroth Stuart F. Cubbon Christopher J. Davey Susan M. DiMickele Hon. Matthew J. Dolan Matthew J. Donahue William D. Dowling Dean Lee I. Fisher Hon. Judith L. French Scott T. Greenwood Hon. Cheryl L. Grossman Hon. William A. Klatt Gary J. Leppla Joseph L. Mas G. Scott McComb |
John B. Pinney Richard W. Pogue Brenda L. Rinehart P. Kelly Tompkins Kathleen M. Trafford Rev. Daryl Ward William K. Weisenberg Hon. Richard P. Wright Timothy Young EX-OFFICIO EMERITUS |