State Bar & Bar Associations
May 30, 2001
Rave Reviews
The ACLU's Torch of Liberty Awards attracted 400 movers and shakers, there to honor music manager Jeffrey Kwatinetz and veteran filmmaker Irwin Winkler.
Listen to our youth, don't silence them.
That's the message attorney-turned-music-manager Jeffrey Kwatinetz recently conveyed to supporters of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Kwatinetz, along with filmmaker Irwin Winkler, were honored by the organization's Southern California chapter at its Torch of Liberty Awards Dinner on May 7.
The gala paid tribute to the message makers in the arts and entertainment industry and the media whose contributions preserve civil liberties and civil rights.
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamente presented the Torch of Liberty award to Kwatinetz, and songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman did the honors for Winkler, whose movies include "Goodfellas" and "The Net."
Founded in 1923 by muckraking author Upton Sinclair, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California fights abuse of the U.S. Constitution in the Southland.
People blame the entertainment industry, especially the music sector, for violence in society because people want a "quick-fix solution," Kwatinetz told a crowd of 400 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.
"Instead of silencing the music, why not listen to it and try to understand what troubles these kids," Kwatinetz said.
His company, The Firm, represents music sensations Backstreet Boys, Korn, Ice Cube and Limp Bizkit.
"Angst cannot be suppressed legislatively; it can only be addressed emotionally," Kwatinetz said. "It's time to pay attention to the messages instead of running from them."
Director Oliver Stone, publisher Larry Flynt and Universal Studios head Ron Meyer mingled with lawyers like Center Span's Howard Weitzman, Loeb & Loeb's Douglas Mirell and Rohde & Victoroff's Stephen Rohde. The gala netted $180,000 for the ACLU affiliate.
"We're in another era," Rohde, president of the local chapter, said. "Civil liberties are under attack. I'm fearful of further pressure on the Supreme Court away from protection of individual rights and personal liberties."
Some of the night's speeches had a political message.
Chapter Executive Director Ramona Ripston lambasted the Bush administration. She said that its Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, combined with an administration directive that every federal department involved in social services look for ways to fund religious groups, threatens to make the federal government an active agent of the religious right.
"So-called charitable choice is not about helping people; it's about doing away with our social contract," Ripston said.
Mirrell, who sits on the board of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, the affiliate's fundraising arm, also took aim at Republicans.
"George Bush is making our job easier," Mirrell said. "The specter of the Federalist Society supplanting the American Bar Association's role in selecting judges is enough to scare anyone into activism."
Meanwhile, actress Carol Kane, the event's master of ceremonies, took the Democrats to task.
In a reference to legislation allowing the Federal Trade Commission to levy penalties against film, music and video companies for marketing adult material to children, Kane said, "Recent legislation introduced by Senator Lieberman raises the question, Should government have authority to dictate what we read, listen to or watch? The best remedy for messages we don't like is free speech."
Victoria Newman
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