Jan. 14, 1998 Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129 Media Availability Editor's Note: Lawson will meet with UO law school students and faculty at a brown bag lunch in Room 123, Grayson Hall, 1101 Kincaid St., just prior to this event. The media is welcome to attend that event. WHAT Interview opportunity with Pastor James M. Lawson Jr., close friend and associate of Martin Luther King Jr. WHEN 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 WHERE Courtroom, Grayson Hall (former UO Law Center) 1101 Kincaid St. BACKGROUND Lawson, who collaborated with King to develop the philosophy of nonviolence that became the cornerstone of the civil rights movement, will speak at the University of Oregon on Jan. 15, the 69th anniversary of King's birth. As director of nonviolent education for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Lawson traveled around the South throughout the 1960's, advising, and training civil rights protesters. He worked closely with King and was with him on April 4, 1974, the day King was murdered in Memphis, Tenn. Lawson has worked on many issues ranging from hunger and homelessness to AIDS and gay rights. He has worked to end the death penalty, police brutality and the high rates of incarceration among the young and the poor. In 1992, Lawson played a large role in ministering to the victims of the riots that erupted after the Rodney King verdict was announced. Lawson was chair of the Los Angeles chapter of the SCLC from 1979 to 1993. He has been pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles since 1974. He is national chairman of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest pacifist organization in the country. -30- #A-6047/Local,PDX