Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. and

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

are pleased to announce the next lecture in our

Human Rights and National Security Speaker Series

Minnesota's New Balancing Act: Protecting Human Rights & National Security on the State Level

presented by

Senator Mee Moua

Thursday, September 18, 12:00-1:00 P.M.

at

Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.

4000 Pillsbury Center

200 South Sixth Street

Minneapolis, MN

This presentation will examine efforts to balance human rights and national security on the state level. Senator Moua will discuss Minnesota legislation since September 11th, 2001, particularly her support of Minnesota’s anti-terrorism plan and opposition to the driver’s license “status check.”  Complimentary lunch will be provided to those who have pre-registered.

Mee Moua, who came to the United States in 1978 speaking no English, became the first Hmong American elected to state office when she won a special election to the Minnesota State Senate on January 29, 2002.  During the Vietnam War, the terror of the secret war in Laos forced Ms. Moua and her family to flee across the Mekong River in 1975 to refugee camps in Thailand where they lived until 1978.  At age five, Ms. Moua witnessed the risks that the Hmong people would take to reach freedom and gain independence.  It was during these formative years that Ms. Moua was influenced to dedicate herself to improving the socio-economic and political situation of all those who live on the periphery of society.  She graduate from Brown University in 1992, earned a Master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, and graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1997.  She was admitted to the Minnesota State Bar later that year and joined the law firm of Leonard, Street & Deinard.  In her new role as Senator, she serves on the Tax Committee, the Crime Prevention Committee and is Vice-chair of the Transportation Committee.  Ms. Moua has been a Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights' volunteer since she was a summer intern more than a decade ago.

This human rights speaker series will be held on the third Thursday of each month throughout 2003.  Lectures are free and open to the public (registration required).  For more information, please contact Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights.  You may find directions to Fredrikson & Byron at: www.fredlaw.com/contact.htm

Please R.S.V.P. to Rose Park at Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

by noon on Tuesday, September 16th.