Activist, Human Rights Advocate Headline People¹S Speakers Series At UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Activist and entertainer Dick Gregory; east Los Angeles mathematics teacher Jaime Escalente, who inspired the movie ³Stand and Deliver,² and Native-American storyteller Gayle Ross have been scheduled for the People's Speaker Series at the University at Buffalo.

Sponsored by UB¹s Student Association, the programs, to be held on UB¹s North (Amherst) Campus, also will include China human-rights-abuse-authority Harry Wu and a play based on a fictional meeting between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Harry Wu will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, in the Katharine Cornell Theatre in the Ellicott Complex.

Executive director of the California-based Laogai Research Foundation, Wu spent 19 years as a political prisoner in the Laogai, China¹s forced-labor camp system. Dedicating his life to exposing human-rights abuses in China, he returned there in 1995 to gather video footage documenting violations. Arrested, convicted and given a 15-year sentence for spying, he finally was freed two months later and returned to the U.S.

€ Jaime Escalante will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Friday Feb. 21, in the Katharine Cornell Theatre. Escalante, a math teacher at Garfield High School, developed programs for his inner-city students and encouraged them to excel. They became known for their skill in advanced math and their success earned them advanced college credits.

€ Jeff Stetson's ³The Meeting,² a fictionalized discussion between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will be performed at 6 p.m., on Tuesday Feb. 25, in the Center for the Arts Drama Theatre

€ Speaking at 8 p.m. on Feb. 25 in the Center for the Arts Drama Theatre will be Dick Gregory. A former high-school track star turned activist, he started in 1992 the ³Campaign for Human Dignity² to fight crime in his native St. Louis. Well-known as a

comedian and satirist in the 1960s, he became active in the civil rights and anti-war movements. He has been bringing wit and dedication to human-rights causes here and abroad for decades.

€ Native American storyteller Gayle Ross will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday Feb. 27 in the Center for the Arts Drama Theatre. A direct descendent of John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation during the infamous ³Trail of Tears,² she will tell the legends and myths of the native people of our continent.

Call 645-2950 for free ticket information. All programs locations are handicap accessible.