Civil Rights Coalition Announces Recipients of 2006 Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award

Washington – The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s premier civil rights and human rights coalition, today announced that it will honor Lionsgate’s extraordinary film Crash, co-written and directed by Paul Haggis, and La Opinión publisher Monica Lozano with the 2006 Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award, the organization’s highest honor given to those committed to the advancement of civil and human rights.

“This year the award is about communication and the importance of what we say to and how we treat each other,” Wade Henderson, executive director of LCCR said. “Using two different media – a film that confronts the reality of race in America and a newspaper that targets the nation’s fastest growing population – these awardees have made a difference in how Americans can better understand themselves.”

LCCR chose to honor Crash because of the film’s powerful, gut-wrenching, examination of race and class in America, and because of its realistic, sometimes challenging, portrayal of the subtle and blatant prejudices of, and endured by, people of different races.

“When I saw ‘Crash’ I was deeply moved not just by the powerful portrayal of the racial, ethnic, and class tensions in our society, but because the characters and situations felt so real,” said Henderson. “At that moment I said to myself, ‘LCCR needs to recognize this unprecedented film to further its underlying message – the need for greater understanding and respect.'”

Lozano, publisher and CEO of La Opinión, the nation’s leading Spanish language daily newspaper, is being recognized for her trailblazing media work, which has elevated the Hispanic community’s voice in the struggle for equality, and for her work in the field of education to advance social justice.

“Monica Lozano is not only a strong leader in the Hispanic community, but a powerful voice for justice and equality in America,” said Henderson. “Day in and day out, she acts on the values that the civil rights community stands for and as CEO of La Opinión, she is a beacon of hope to millions of Americans.”

LCCR’s annual dinner in Washington, D.C. will be held on May 4, 2006, the 30th anniversary of the Humphrey Award. The dinner is the largest annual gathering of the civil rights community.

Awardees are selected based on their distinguished contributions to the advancement of civil and human rights. Previous recipients include director/producer Steven Spielberg; Senator Edward Kennedy; Representative John Lewis; Former Connecticut Governor and Senator Lowell Weicker; United Farm Workers Union co-founder Dolores Huerta; civil rights leader Julian Bond; disability rights advocate Justin Dart; and actor-activist Danny Glover, among others.

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