CDCA Hosts Program Celebrating South Asian Diversity

On Friday, January 11, 2013, United States Attorney André Birotte Jr., hosted the Central District’s first South Asian Diversity Event, celebrating diversity in the United States Attorney’s Office, the federal courthouse, and the broader Los Angeles community. The event was held in the courtroom of Federal Judge Otis D. Wright. A number of federal judges including, Judge Manuel Real, Judge Terry Hatter, Judge Ronald Lew, and Judge George Wu attended, as did Sean Kennedy, the Federal Public Defender for the District, and several Deputy Federal Public Defenders. The event featured three speakers from the local legal community: The Hon. Halim Dhanidina of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the first Muslim judge appointed to the bench in the State of California; Laboni Hoq, Esq., a civil rights attorney and the Litigation Director at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center; and The Hon. Jay C. Gandhi, United States Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California, the first South Asian federal judicial officer in California’s history. Two AUSAs from the CDCA also made presentations: AUSA Alka Sagar and AUSA Rupa Goswami. In addition to highlighting the progress and diversity of the South Asian Community, the event also addressed the subject of hate crimes committed against South Asians and other persons – a focus area for the Department of Justice. The South Asian Community include persons whose families emigrated from the greater South Asian subcontinent, namely, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.