SDLRLA member, and winner of SDLRLA’s 2011 Attorney of the Year Award, Victor Manuel Torres, will be speaking at a FREE* Pre-Show event at the San Diego Repertory Theatre on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 7 p.m.  Victor is the spokesperson for the human rights coalition El Grupo, which addresses social and legal concerns for minorities.

Other guests include Olga Diaz, the first Latino council member in Escondido, who has spoken out against the city’s race-based initiatives and Enrique Morones, President and Founder of Border Angels, which aids migrants and educates on the dangers of racial profiling and nativism.

*To attend this free event, you must purchase a ticket to the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s August 2 showing of Luis Valdez’ Zoot Suit, a “cultural celebration of swagger and swing that has become an American Classic.”   The show is playing from July 14- August 12. But August 2 is the only day with the free pre-show “A Look at Racial Profiling in San Diego County”

The Story of Zoot Suit

It’s Los Angeles, Calif., the years 1942 to 1943. The war in the Pacific is in full gear, American big band music has young people at home dancing up a storm and the Zoot Suit is the uniform of choice for Chicano gangs on the streets of Los Angeles. One August morning a young Chicano boy is found bloody and beaten by the side of a road near a county reservoir. His death leads to the indictment of a local Chicano gang and the infamous Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial, a kangaroo court fanned by media hysteria. When the verdict is announced the Zoot Suit riots begin, and the mythical mystical figure of El Pachuco is born.

To donate $10 of a regularly priced ticket to Border Angels for the August 2 performance use the code: ANGELS when purchasing your ticket here.

Tickets are $35-58/Students $18. Discounts available for Seniors and Military.