LS&Co. Unzipped

Welcome to our blog. Here’s where you’ll find a “behind-the-seams” look at what’s going on with Levi Strauss & Co. You’ll hear from a variety of voices, from both inside and outside the company. And you have the chance to share your thoughts. So read on — and weigh in!

Feb 09 2011

Fighting for Change

“If my grandmother, who lived and cleaned houses in Jim Crow South, would’ve ever been told that her granddaughter would get paid to talk about freedom, she wouldn’t have believed it.”

Whether it’s Black History Month or any other time of the year, Lateefah Simon speaks with disarming honesty and an uncanny flair for getting to the simple truth. In this case, she’s talking about her personal journey, which in a way is also the journey of the Civil Rights Movement and of the organization she leads, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of San Francisco Bay Area.

Lateefah is one of the first Pioneers in Justice, a new initiative by the Levi Strauss Foundation. The program supports the next-generation leaders who are taking our civil and human rights organizations into the 21st century.

Lateefah became Executive Director of Lawyers’ Committee in 2009, after spending her teenage and young adult years tirelessly advocating on behalf of communities of color, youth and women. She has become a nationally recognized advocate for juvenile and criminal justice reform. But if you ask her what she does for a living, she’ll simply say: “I fight for change.”

For her, it’s as simple as that.

Hearing Lateefah speak about her personal journey is both striking and inspiring. As a 15-year-old high-school student, born and raised in San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood,  she began volunteering at the Center for Young Women’s Development while working full time. At 19, she was named its executive director, becoming one of the youngest leaders of a social service agency in the country. Since then, her belief that young people hold the key to solving their own problems, and consequently those of society at large, is still central to her leadership. 

See for yourself what social justice means to Lateefah, and where she sees the movement going in the years ahead:

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area was founded in 1968, five years after President John F. Kennedy supported the creation of a national Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. In addition to having helped desegregate the San Francisco Fire Department and the local school district, the organization has provided free legal assistance to communities of color, immigrants, and refugees for more than 40 years. Learn more here.

As a foundation deeply committed to advancing social justice in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, the Levi Strauss Foundation has enjoyed a long history of support for Lawyers’ Committee, which continues to this day through our Pioneers in Justice initiative.

Posted By: Daniel Lee, Executive Director, Levi Strauss Foundation

 Bookmark and Share
 

Tags: Levi Strauss & Co.,Social Responsibility

Before posting your comment, please read the Blog Guidelines.

Kris Putnam-Walkerly (not verified) - Feb 16 2011
Thanks so much for posting this blog and video. Lateefah is an important leader, and it is wonderful to share her insights about the need to engage community voices in the policies that impact all of us, as well as to showcase the accomplishments of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Thank you for all that you are doing to support social justice at home and around the world.

Amanda (not verified) - Feb 10 2011
Lateefah is an inspiration to us all. If we had more people like her, the world would be a better place!

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.

Before posting your comment, please read the Blog Guidelines.

We welcome your comments.

When submitting a blog comment, please consider the following guidelines:

  • Focus on the topic
  • Be constructive and considerate
  • All submissions are subject to the terms set forth in our Terms of Use

This is a moderated blog. Each comment will be reviewed. We reserve the right not to post your submission if it’s off-topic or contains any of the following types of content or violates other guidelines:

  • Obscenities, discriminatory language, or other language not suitable for a public forum
  • Advertisements, “spam” content, or references to other products, offers, or websites
  • Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other forms of contact information
  • Critical or spiteful comments on other posts on the page or their authors

In addition, if you wish to share feedback with us about product selection, pricing, ordering, delivery or other customer service issues, please do not submit this feedback through this blog. Instead, contact us here.