Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Cher among those to be honored by ...

Two Baltimoreans will be honored for their contributions to justice and equality alongside national figures like Cher in an awards ceremony hosted by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. 

On March 29, Crump, along with actor Terrence J, will host the Equal Justice Now Awards at 6 p.m. at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. The ceremony will honor 11 recipients, including former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and conservative political commentator Armstrong Williams. 

Williams, owner of the broadcasting company Howard Stirk Holdings, is also part-owner of The Baltimore Sun alongside Sinclair Broadcast Group Executive Chairman David Smith. 

Equal Justice Now is a Houston-based nonprofit that “fights for the rights of all people” said Thomas Lucas, the organization’s senior administrator. The group focuses on issues such as ending overpolicing, addressing voter suppression and reforming the criminal justice system. Lucas emphasized these are issues that affect all people. 

This is the third Equal Justice Now Awards with previous honorees including sports reporter Jemele Hill and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat. 

This year, Cher will receive the Icon Award for her philanthropic work. Lucas said the organization does not award anyone who doesn’t affirm in writing that they will attend the ceremony in person.  

“We’re awarding some pretty prominent figures and just giving them their flowers for doing the hard work when it comes to criminal justice reform, philanthropy, and just overall being a good person in society,” Lucas said. “Being good people: that’s what the event is about.” 

Rawlings-Blake is set to receive the Excellence in Empowering Women Award for her work in business, social justice and politics, Lucas said. Baltimore native Rawlings-Blake served as mayor of Baltimore from 2010-2016 and is currently the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. 

Rawlings-Blake could not be reached for comment but she did post about the award on Instagram. 

“Spending years in the trenches fighting to improve my community has not gone unnoticed,” a caption reads on a photo naming Rawlings-Blake as an honoree. “I’m blessed, humbled and honored. The work continues.” 

Williams is set to receive the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award for his contributions to the media landscape, Lucas said. 

Rawlings-Blake and Williams will receive their awards in a ceremony led by Crump, the prominent civil rights lawyer who has represented the families of victims such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Last May, Crump said he was representing a “diverse coalition of survivors of child sex abuse by priests and others affiliated with the church in Maryland.” 

Lucas said Crump is Equal Justice Now’s national spokesperson. In a February Baltimore Sun op-ed, Crump praised the co-acquisition of The Baltimore Sun by Williams, a Black entrepreneur, saying it is a “source of encouragement and optimism in a world that is otherwise bleak.” He referred to Williams as his brother on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Crump did not return a request for comment. 

At the first two ceremonies, Equal Justice Now did not charge for tickets to the event, Lucas said, but that’s changing this time. 

“We made the clear decision not to do any fundraising in our organization’s entirety up until this point, up until this year actually on this upcoming event, because we wanted to have a resume of being an organization that puts our money where our mouth is instead of having our hands out and trying to raise funds without the resume,” Lucas said. “And now we’re at the point where it’s like, okay, like we’ve made a point, let’s go ahead and try to raise some funds so that we can do what we do at a larger scale as well as affect these smaller grassroots organizations throughout the country so that we can see massive change because we do believe we can’t do it all on our own.” 

A general admission ticket to the ceremony costs $100; sponsor-level tickets start at $1,000 and go up to $125,000 for a presenting sponsor. Lucas said Equal Rights Now has sold 520 tickets so far and that the last ceremony drew 1,000 attendees, which the organization anticipates will happen again. 

Lucas hopes attendees see themselves in this year’s recipients.

“An individual can make a difference if they step up just a bit,” Lucas said.