There is only one more week to get your ticket to our annual (and now virtual) William Sloane Coffin Jr Peacemaker Awards event on Monday, October 5 at 6pm. Many thanks to all of you who have purchased your ticket. You will be receiving instructions on how to join the event!

In this unprecedented election year, our 2020 Awards ceremony will be held virtually via Zoom and will focus on voter participation and voting rights. We honor and celebrate those who have fought and continue to fight tirelessly against voter suppression. Most importantly, we urge you to VOTE! — and get a PEACE of the ACTION! (Get it?)

It is our great pleasure to announce that this year’s William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Peacemaker Award will go to Desmond Meade, President and Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Desmond and his team wore out several sets of tires to gather 799,000 signatures to restore voting rights to 1.4 million formerly incarcerated Americans in Florida. They succeeded and are overcoming every single obstacle that is being put in their way all the way up to Election Day and beyond. He will be introduced by professor and author Vincent Intondi.

We will also be honoring the students from Manhattan College’s Peace Action chapter with the Don Shaffer Student Peacemaker Award.

The entire program is being dedicated to the memory of former Rep. John R. Lewis, with a special tribute from actress and longtime activist Vinie Burrows. The event will also include a keynote speech from Sochie Nnaemeka, Director of the NY Working Families Party, as well as a performance by Bill Hartung, a presentation by Greg Palast, and artist performance by the Election Peace Collective. Peace Action New York State President Jim Anderson is the evening’s emcee.