Upcoming Events for 2024

The 2023 theme for Transforming Communities: A Movement to Racial Justice is Empowering Democracy: Advancing Racial Juistice and Equity in the 21st Century. Explore the following events and recordings that took take place November 1–15, 2024.

November 4

• 10:30am - 11:45am | The Importance of Peer Support Specialist in Alternatives to Policing

  • Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute

    Guests: Soma de Bourbon, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies
      Miranda Worthen, Professor, Public Health and Recreation
      RAMS Inc. Staff Members 

    Location: MLK Library room 225 (2nd floor), 150 East San Fernando St., San Jose, CA

    Event Description: 
    This workshop will be divided into two parts. The first part will include a presentation on the findings from a participatory action research (PAR) study on the importance of peer support specialists responding to 911 calls involving unhoused people struggling with substance use and / or mental health challenges. The study was a partnership between two university researchers and a long-standing community organization dedicated to equity and the mental wellness of vulnerable populations. The community organization trains, supports, and employs peer support specialists in a large urban city. The qualitative findings will be presented from eight recorded focus groups with peer specialists. The second part of the workshop will be an interactive discussion with the audience on the ways they have seen peer support specialists impact their own work with people experiencing homelessness and how/if they are employing an intersectional understanding to issues of housing, substance use, and mental health.

• 12:00pm - 1:30 pm | Transforming Communities Kickoff Celebration

  • Presented by: SJSU Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Location: SJSU Student Union Patio

    Event Description:
    Join us as we kick-off Transforming Communities: A Movement to Racial Justice with a celebration of art, music, culture and an honoring of Native American Heritage Month. This program will be featuring Teokalli Movimiento Cosmico.

    About Teokalli Movimiento Cosmico:
    The word for dance in the Mexica language Nahuatl (four waters) is xitontequiza (cosmic movement). These dances or xitontequiza are shared intentionally to build connection through movement and music in communities.  Today over 1/3 of the Indigenous people living in Mexico still speak native languages. In Guatemala there are 23 different dialects spoken by Indigenous people. Movimiento Cosmico is a multi-faceted traditional Aztec Dance group that is committed to preserving indigenous culture and raising awareness of traditional practices that promote healing on individual, interpersonal and community levels.

November 5 

• **Election Day**

  • 7:00am - 8:00pm - Voting Centers Open

    View the complete list of voting centers throughout the county

    Visit the SJSU Elections website for more Information.

    SJSU Voting Center
    
    Location: Provident Credit Union Event Center - Room 1035
    290 South 7th Street, San Jose CA

November 7

• 3:00pm - 4:30pm | RARE SPACE - Resolving All Racist Experiences  Science Promotes At Colleges Everywhere

  • Presented by: SJSU Department of Biology

    Facilitated by: Dr. Walter Adams, Associate Professor, Biology 
                           Dr. Carlie Pietsch, Associate Professor, Geology 

    Location: SJSU Interdisciplinary Sciences Building, Room 132 

    Event Description:
    Racial inequity has been present in the scientific enterprise since its inception. Despite concerted efforts to increase the enrollment, academic success, and career outcomes of underrepresented minorities in the sciences, dramatic racial disparities persist. A major contributing factor to these inequities are the implicit and explicit racist experiences that students encounter during their scientific journey. In RARE SPACES, we bring participants together to build community and tackle racial inequity through a series of scientifically themed case studies. While dedicated opportunities to fight racism in science feel all too rare, this space will foster community-centered solutions that participants can use to promote racial equity in their own discipline and beyond.

November 8

• 8:45am - 12:15pm | Disability, Race & Equity: Exploring Intersectionality

  • Presented by: Parents Helping Parents

    Keynote Speaker: Yomi Young, Disability Advocate
    Guests: Sylvia Arenas, Santa Clara County Supervisor, District 1

    In-Person Registration: www.php.com/event/disability-race-equity

    Location: Sobrato Center for Nonprofits, 1400 Parkmoor Ave (Cupertino Room), San Jose, CA 95126

    Event Description:
    Around 144,000 residents of Santa Clara County have a disability. The disability community experiences a number of poorer outcomes compared to the general population. People with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty, with 27% living at poverty level. Up to 85% of youth in juvenile detention facilities have a disability, yet only 37% of them receive special education services. Within the disability population, people of color experience the greatest disparity. In order to serve our most vulnerable populations, systems of care must address the multi-faceted barriers faced by people of color with disabilities.
    This event joins public and nonprofit leaders, advocates, parents, students, and the larger community in EXPLORING DISABILITY AND RACIAL EQUITY and DISCOVERING how we can ADVANCE JUSTICE within the education, health, and justice systems.Through this FREE event, participants will discover the importance of integrating disability and racial equity into their community work, with Keynote Speaker Yomi S. Young, nationally-recognized disability advocate and Director of Civil Rights Compliance at Sutter Health. Opening remarks will be provided by Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas. 
    Attendees will also have the opportunity to join one of three sessions to learn how disability and racial disparities impact outcomes in the education, health, and justice systems, as well as find solutions and best practices for promoting better access and support.Together, we will examine how systemic practices affect members of the disability community and communities of color, as well as unlock tangible steps we can take to create more just and equitable systems of care.

• 6:00pm - 8:00pm | Film Screening and Discussion: American Homeboy: A Documentary

  • Presented by: SJSU MLK Library

    Facilitated by: Estella Inda, Senior Assistant Librarian, University Library

    Guests: Brandon Loran Maxwell, Director 

    Location: SJSU Student Union Theater

    Event Description:
    American Homeboy is a documentary film that explores the complex origins of pachuco and cholo culture which sprouted from American soil more than 100 years ago in response to wartime sentiment, social alienation, and government discrimination only to become a pop culture phenomenon.
    The film draws from rare interviews shot on 5k with leading Mexican American historians, academics, artists, activists, cholos, and former law enforcement officers against a backdrop of 50 hours of restored archival footage.
    Learn more about the film at https://americanhomeboy.com/

November 12

• 5:00pm - 7:00pm | SJSU Human Rights Institute: Meet the Authors

  • Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute 
         
    Facilitators: Dr. Michael Dao, SJSU Kinesiology Department; SJSU Human Rights Institute, Director, 

    Guests: Dr. William Armaline, Professor, Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies 
                   Dr. Tanya Bakhru, Professor, Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies 
                   Dr. John Halushka, Associate Professor, Justice Studies
                   Dr. Grace Howard, Associate Professor, Justice Studies
                      
    Location: MLK Library room 225 (2nd floor), 150 East San Fernando St., San Jose, CA

    Event Description:
    The San Jose State University Human Rights Institute will be hosting a panel of HRI members who have recently published books. While the books have different topic areas, there is a common underpinning of human rights and social justice across each book. The four authors will be in conversation with one another on how to engage in human rights related topics by bringing in their own expertise. 

• 6:30pm - 7:45 pm | Black Community Stabilization Project

  • Presented by: Silicon Valley @ Home

    Facilitators: Kenneth Rosales, Program Manager, SV@Home; 
                         Walter Wilson, Senior Project Supervisor, African American Cultural Center
                         
    In-Person Registration: Coming Soon

    Location: SJ African American Community Services Agency, 304 N 6th St, San Jose, CA 95112

    Event Description:
    Join us for a moderated panel discussion on emerging research that supports the need for a Black Housing and Displacement Study in Santa Clara County. Elementary economics tells us that growth is supposed to help everyone, but when Silicon Valley’s economy boomed, African Americans were left out. From 1980-2000, census tracts with disproportionately higher poverty rates lost Black residents. As the county's Black population declines, we need to examine its cause and develop strategies to build Black permanence and regeneration.

    We invite you to investigate place-based community development as a means to make Silicon Valley an accessible place Black folks can call home. The community development model empowers community members and organizations to play a central role in the prosperity of their neighborhoods. Community developers were essential in preserving and strengthening Black neighborhoods in the East Bay and San Francisco from gentrification between 1980-2000. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley unsuccessfully fought off these displacement pressures because it lacked a robust community development infrastructure.

    SV@Home will share a Story Map that walks through the history of Santa Clara County’s Black population from the early days of San Jose’s founding and its first Black neighborhoods, into the county’s rapid African American population growth from 1960-1980, and to the displacement that followed as Silicon Valley’s economy boomed. We will end with a Q&A that engages participants and invites them to collectively dream about what it would take to create a Silicon Valley that shares prosperity in and with the African/African Ancestry community.

November 13

• 10:00am - 11:30 am | SJSU Inclusive Excellence Framework Town Hall 

  • Presented by: SJSU Campus Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Facilitator: Dr. Kristin Dukes, Senior Diversity Officer, SJSU Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
                      
    Location: SJSU Student Union Room 3, (2nd floor) 

    Event Description:
    In this town hall, guests will learn about the new Inclusive Excellence Framework that will help guide SJSU as it works to achieve the goals in the Transformation 2030 strategic plan. 

November 14

• 6:00pm - 8:30pm | MACLA presents Undocumented Americans: A Conversation with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio  Moderated by journalist José Antonio Vargas 

  • Presented by: Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana

    In-Person Registration:  

    Location: San José City Hall Rotunda - 200 E Santa Clara St, San José, CA 95113 

    Event Description:
    In the wake of the 2024 U.S. elections, which have seen a renewed wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, this conversation is a crucial gathering space for undocumented individuals, mixed-status families, and allies. On November 14, 2024, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio and José Antonio Vargas—two of the most prominent and unapologetic voices in the undocumented immigrant rights movement—will hold a timely, post-election conversation about the future of immigrant rights in America. This evening is designed to bring the undocumented community together, to process, reflect, and find strength in collective resilience. 

November 15

• 7:30pm - 10:30pm | Exploring Racial Justice Themes in Cabaret: A Stark Warning Against Extremism

  • Presented by: SJSU School of Music
                           SJSU Department of Film, Theater, and Dance

    Location: MLK Library room 225 (2nd floor), 150 East San Fernando St., San Jose, CA

    Event Description:
    Today the media impacts public beliefs and opinions in a way that shapes our interactions. Our workshop, "Shaping Interactions," focuses on the effect of media in building our perceptions. The focus will be the negative portrayal of the media towards the Middle East. Media portrays the information in a way that barricades your judgment or interest in knowing more about the topic. We are investigating our influence on publicizing and disseminating ideas that need to be seen by the mass audience. The question is whether or not the media can control public opinion, which leads to shaping society. 

    The workshop will focus on three topics; human rights, faith, and education; where participants will work together on reflecting on the information they have heard/seen about the Middle East through international media in distinct aspects. Each group will be asked to gather information about a topic from different media platforms and look into its credibility and word choice. In the second section, participants will work on concluding what they learn throughout the workshop about the effect of media on Middle Eastern issues in one sentence. Then, they will print the sentences on tote bags using patterns and letters provided by the workshop's organizers. These reusable tote bags will be participants' media to raise awareness about the possible misleading by Western media about issues in the Middle East.

Bonus Programming
November 23

• 10:00am - 5:00pm | The San Antonio Festival

  • Presented by:  SJSU School of Journalism and Mass Communications - Advertising Department
                                    Local Color
                                    City of San Jose
                                    SJ Moment 

    Location: El Paseo de San Antonio, Downtown San Jose 

    Event Description:
    This AEPG project aims to revitalize the Paseo de San Antonio and transform it into an annex to campus through an initial central event: The San Antonio Festival. Based on a communication strategy, collaborations with local organizations and an artistic windows activation, we aim to highlight the ethnic and racial diversity of San Jose while highlighting the potential of the street among local entrepreneurs, encouraging them to set up their businesses there. 

    This festival intends to revitalize the Paseo de San Antonio (solving a social problem these days, based on the high amount of empty storefronts and the consequent loneliness of the area) by bringing our diverse community together around four main activities: a pop-up market where local vendors could sell their products and local associations could transmit their mission; a free workshop for local entrepreneurs about rental resources and branding tips; an immersive artistic experience coordinated by Local Color; and cultural performances that will highlight the ethnic and racial diversity of San Jose.