Eddie Ahn Demonstrates the Impact of Combining Advocacy, Creativity, and Authenticity
Eddie Ahn, Executive Director of the environmental justice nonprofit Brightline Defense and author of Advocate: A Graphic Memoir of Family, Community, and the Fight for Environmental Justice, visited Roger Williams University School of Law on Thursday, March 20. Hosted during Professor Natasha Varyani’s Property Law class, Ahn’s visit provided first-year law students and community members an opportunity to engage in a conversation about his book and its themes of family, advocacy, and environmental justice.
Varyani, reflecting on why she invited Ahn to RWU Law, explained, “Engaging with Eddie's story in Advocate evoked a change in perspective for me and brought new life to concepts I have been teaching for over a decade. I knew the students at RWU Law would respond to his story of family, community, and environmental justice because of what I see them bring to the classroom every day.”
Ahn opened the discussion with a slideshow, showcasing the artwork from his memoir and sharing personal stories that shaped his life and career. Through the images in his memoir, he showed how over time he began to see his life in different shades of colors, a mix of uncertainty and transformation throughout his journey.
Raised in Texas, Ahn described his parents' sacrifices, particularly deciding to emigrate to the United States to invest in his and his sister’s education while running a small liquor store. Their hard work allowed him to attend Brown University and University of California, Hastings College of the Law. It was there that his clinical experience exposed him to advocacy and policymaking.
Graduating in 2009, Ahn entered the legal field at the height of the recession, a time when jobs in law were scarce. He joined Brightline Defense as a Legal Fellow through a research grant, initially focusing on environmental justice issues in Bayview-Hunters Point, a neighborhood in San Francisco that had suffered from environmental and economic decline following the closure of a World War II naval shipyard. Working with grassroots leaders like Dr. Espanola Jackson, Ahn helped navigate the complex intersections of policy, law, and community advocacy.
By 2015, he faced a critical decision: join a larger environmental organization or take the helm of Brightline Defense. Choosing the latter, Ahn worked tirelessly to build the nonprofit into a broader force for change. Today, his work extends beyond San Francisco, influencing local and national environmental policy and infrastructure planning, from the Bay Area to the Northeastern seaboard.
Throughout his discussion, Ahn’s storytelling and ability to connect with his audience demonstrated why he has become such an effective voice in environmental justice.
"Having Eddie Ahn at RWU Law was an insightful and meaningful experience,” said first-year Kamaljyot Bhalla. “Learning and reading his story tells us how we should always continue to fight the adversities that affect communities around us."
Another in attendance was first-year Naomi Zhang, who said, “Ahn’s story reinforced my commitment to dedicate my legal career to serving underrepresented minority communities. Representation and advocacy matter; seeing leaders like Eddie Ahn succeed in nonprofit and public interest law is inspiring and reassuring.”
Ahn’s visit was co-sponsored by RWU Law, the Asian American Lawyers of Massachusetts, the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston, and the law firm Sullivan & Worcester. As part of the event, all RWU Law students in attendance received a copy of Advocate and had the opportunity to have it signed by Ahn.
