2021 Events

The inaugural 2021 theme for Transforming Communities: A Movement to Racial Justice was Reflection. Discovery. Action.

On this page:

• Schedule of Events
• Event Recordings

2021 Schedule of Events

November 1

• 4:30 p.m. | Taller Bombalele Performance

  • "El tambor: La voz de mis ancestros" | "The Drum: My Ancestors' Voice"

    Location: Student Union Patio

    Event Description: For several generations now, the Cepeda Family has held the Batey sacred, the circle in which they gather to honor their ancestors, heal, resist, and create space for spiritual practice. In building community away from home, Maestra Julia Cepeda honors this tradition passed down to her going back generations uninterrupted through Taller Bombalele, the Bay Area Bomba class community she founded with Denise Solís. 

    Together as a class community, Taller Bombalele will offer a space to honor our ancestors through music and dance, and more importantly by holding a space for resistance and healing for Black, Indigenous, Queer Bodies in our Batey.

• 5 p.m. | Students Stress Less: A guided discussion for students and their families

  • Presented by: Teachers Empowering Youth Activists(TEYA)
    Facilitators: Tomara Hall

    Event Description: In this one-hour Students Stress Less session, Teachers Empowering Youth Activists (TEYA) will engage students and parents to share concerns, interests and stress factors that arise in the school and home. TEYA aims to support students of color with disabilities and families of students with disabilities by providing a space to build community. Allowing students to share their ideas and opinions with one another will support shared understanding of school experience. Similarly, families will meet with one another on their experience with the IEP process, navigating language barriers and access to resources through schools. In order to reduce stress, students and families will be led in a guided stretching and mindfulness exercise. As a means to give input and feedback, students and families will brainstorm solutions to concerns and stress factors, and pose ways to promote more interests based activities in schools. Family engagement is important to support students. Students of color benefit from parent engagement and more specifically, students with disabilities are one of our most vulnerable populations. Focusing on these populations in reducing stress and problem- solving will help educators learn about what changes would best support students.

• 5:30 p.m. | Opening Keynote

  • To Thrive: Place-Based Knowledge, Memory and Indigenous Movement Building from the Bay to the World
    Andrew Jolivette, UC San Diego

    Presented by: SJSU Office of the President
    Facilitators: Dr. Soma de Bourbon, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies

    Event Description: Place-based knowledge is central to building movements for transformative justice. In the Bay Area and across the world Indigenous Peoples activate their own knowledge systems and memory making to create, build, and sustain movements from Idle No More to MMIWG (Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls) to calls for rematriation of land back movements to shifts from resilience and survival to thrivance and joy making through kinship practices for wellness and cultural stewardship. This talk will explore the themes of Bay Area activism, memory, and relational accountability.

• 7 p.m. | Farmworker Communities and Race: Archbishop Mitty High School

  • Hosted by Dr. Ann López, Executive Director for Farmworker Families

    Presented by: Archbishop Mitty High School
    Facilitator: Patsy Vargas, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Event Description: Archbishop Mitty High School will virtually host Dr. Ann López, Executive Director for Farmworker Families.  During this one hour event, Dr. López will discuss the intersectionality between farmworkers and race and share more about the experiences of farmworker communities.  A brief Q&A session will follow Dr. López’s presentation.

November 2

• 4 p.m. | Racial Equity and the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute
    Facilitators: Dr. Miranda Worthen

    Event Description: The goal of this panel is to provide a public forum to engage in critical conversations about structural and systemic racism and inequity that laid the groundwork for health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic, experiences during the pandemic, and the strategies employed by health systems and others to dismantle these structures and counter the harm of inequities. The discussion will have a focus on anti-black racism, but include discussion of other types of structural inequalities (e.g. economic harm and other forms of racism and discrimination). Panelists will also be encouraged to discuss the backlash directed at them for their transformative public work.

    Panelists:
    

    Toni Eyssallenne, MD, PhD
    Physician and Leader in Global and Public Health, Health Equity, and advocate for Anti-Racism Praxis in Care Delivery

    Rhea Boyd, MD, MPH
    Pediatrician, Public Health Advocate, and Scholar. Co-developer of THE CONVERSATION.

    Paula Braveman, MD, MPH
    Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Director of the Center on Social Disparities in Health at UCSF

    Julia Liou, MPH
    Chief Deputy of Administration and incoming CEO for Asian Health Services, co-founder of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative

November 3

• 4:30 p.m. | What and Why You Should Know about Ethnic Studies: Unpacking the Controversy

  • Presented by: American Leadership Forum SJSU.

    ALF Silicon Valley is partnering with San José State University for this panel and dialogue to bring students, educators, and community leaders together to explore how ethnic studies impact education and employment, community, and democracy.

    Join us to:
    Learn about ethnic studies to be better-informed students, educators, employers, and active “citizens” of an inclusive democracy

    Practice dialogue across differences to engage productively with others and contribute to meaningful ethnic studies at SJSU and in your local schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, and communities

    Identify actions students and community leaders can take to transform communities into more democratic and socially harmonious spaces

    Featuring:
    San José State University Students

    Leon Beauchman (ALF Class XX), External Affairs Consultant, AT&T; Associate Marriage and Family Therapist; President, Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators; Former Board Member Santa Clara County Office of Education

    Dr. Travis Boyce, Chair, African American Studies, Director, Ethnic Studies Collaborative, SJSU

    Dr. Hien Do (ALF Class XXXVI), Professor, Sociology, Interdisciplinary Social Science & Asian American Studies, SJSU

    Dr. Marcos Pizarro, Associate Dean, College of Education, Professor, Chicanx Studies, SJSU

    Toni Vanwinkle (ALF Class XXXIX), Senior Director, Digital Workplace Experience, Adobe

    Background: Ethnic studies has become a lightning rod in an environment of political polarization and racial reckoning. People in communities across the region and country have spoken out in support and opposition in school board meetings and the news media.

    While ethnic studies is newer in the K-12 system, there is a long history of ethnic studies at the college level. Still, some worry that recent state mandates could water down ethnic studies in Cal State universities. What can we learn from experiences at SJSU and in our community to support meaningful ethnic studies to strengthen education and democracy?

• 5 p.m. | Segregation in the City of San José

  • Segregation in the City of San José – History, Impacts and Government Responsibility

    Presented by: City of San Jose
    Facilitators: Ruth Cueto, Supervising Planner and Josh Ishimatsu, Policy Manager

    Event Description: The City of San José proposes to provide a presentation to highlight the City’s history of segregation. The presentation will focus on the City’s practices and policies that have resulted in, and continue to perpetuate, a pattern of segregation by race and socioeconomic status. The presentation will include specific examples of past government actions that have impacted communities of color, such as land use and transportation decisions that created the Eastside, and the destruction and replacement of Asian neighborhoods Downtown. The presentation will examine the City’s role in creating segregation and its responsibility to address it.  We will discuss Fair Housing laws that require cities to address racial segregation and the City’s Housing Element update, which is an major opportunity for community members to get involved. A moderated discussion will follow the presentation.

• 7 p.m. | Keynote Conversation

  • Taking a Stand for Racial Justice in Soccer
    Kaiya McCullough, Professional Soccer Player/Activist

    Presented by: SJSU Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change (ISSSSC) and SJSU Community & Government Relations
    Facilitators: Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, SJSU Department of African American Studies, ISSSSC

    Event Description: Join us for a spirited conversation with Kaiya McCullough, activist and former professional soccer player. She spent time playing in the National Women’s Soccer League and 2. Frauen-Bundesliga after a four-year career at UCLA’s elite women’s soccer program. At UCLA, she received the Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year award for women's soccer, and was one of the first collegiate athletes to kneel for the National Anthem, inspired by Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe. She currently is the chairwoman for Anti-Racist Soccer Club, a coalition fighting against racism in the American soccer landscape, and a co-founder of United College Athletes’ Association, an organization working to ensure college athletes are protected, educated, and compensated. She is fiercely passionate about many social justice causes, especially in the intersections of racial justice, and is currently in the process of applying to law school.

November 4

• 4 p.m. | Crafting Creative Community Responses to Hate Speech

  • Facilitator: Teresa Veramendi

    Event Description: This workshop is an open space of dialogue and action aimed at devising creative responses to hate speech in our communities. We will examine what hate speech is, how it arises in our lives, and our typical responses to it. Using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, we will engage in embodied explorations of these moments of conflict, and brainstorm new responses as individuals and as a collective group. During the workshop, safety for the community will be prioritized, and self-care techniques shared.

    Racial justice is central to this program because it is a training to help communities and individuals deal with racial hate speech when it arises. It will be useful to people who are afraid of being targeted, as well as those who may consider themselves bystanders and want to do the right thing in the face of racial hate.

• 6 p.m. | Open Mic Night: Native American Heritage Month

  • Presented by: SJSU MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center

    Location: Student Union Theater (live attendance welcome) and simulcast on the Mosaic YouTube page

    Event Description: Mosaic, in collaboration with the Student Union, presents its monthly open mic event. November's theme will be Native American and Indigenous identity. All participants are welcome! Sign up online! Link on the Mosaic Linktree.

November 5

• 9:30 a.m. | The People's Budget of San José: Findings & Continuing the Conversations

  • Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute
    Facilitators: Dr. Soma de Bourbon, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Dr. Michael Dao, SJSU Department of Kinesiology, Melissa McClure Fuller, SJSU Department of Public Health, and Recreation and Dr. William Armaline, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies

    Event Description: This session is an opportunity to share with community members about the findings of focus group discussions on community safety, law enforcement, and the budget of San José. We will introduce the PBSJ study, share the findings, and open up to conversation about the findings and how they sit with people's experiences. We'll also discuss next steps in the PBSJ project.

• 11 a.m. | Forum on Race & Politics with Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II

  • Presented by: San José African American Community Services Agency, SJSU Black Male Collective and SJSU Community and Government Relations

    Facilitators: Lavere Foster, SJAACSA Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, Aman Tesfagiorgis, SJSU student, Aviation, Black Male Collective board member and Jahmal Williams, SJSU Director of Advocacy for Racial Justice

    Event Description: Join the AACSA, the SJSU Black Male Collective, and SJSU Community and Government Relations as they engage in an honest and open conversation with the first Black Lieutenant Governor of the State of Michigan. Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II will talk about his experience as a Black man in the political landscape, his experience navigating his career path out of college, and his thoughts on dealing with the impacts that the water crisis and COVID-19 have had on Black communities in his state. 

    Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist has dedicated his career to solving problems. An engineer by training, he uses thoughtful innovation, progressive reform, and efficient modernization of policies and programs to make the work better for hardworking families. From spearheading campaigns for equality and justice to harnessing technology to solve real problems, his focus has consistently remained on serving the public and getting things done.

    As part of the Whitmer Administration, Lt. Governor Gilchrist has sought to address injustice and inequity across our state at every level. From co-chairing the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration to helming the Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, these task forces have taken actions that saved lives and protect our most vulnerable populations. Lt. Governor Gilchrist’s approach to addressing these disparities is deeply rooted in fact-based practices, science, and connecting with individuals across Michigan.

November 6

• 8 a.m. | Feed The Block

  • Presented by: B.L.A.C.K. Outreach

    Location: Grace Baptist Church 

    Event Description: Feed The Block, a free community brunch program, feeds hundreds of unhoused community members every week. Come join the members of B.L.A.C.K. Outreach SJ and H.E.R.O. Tent for a day of service to local San Jose residents. Afterwards, engage in a discussion about the impact of homelessness on communities of color in the south Bay.

November 8

• 1:45 p.m. | Screening of Coded Bias Documentary and Q/A with Director, Shalini Kantayya

  • A Coded Bias film screening and discussion

    Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute
    Facilitators: Dr. Halima Kazem-Stojanovic, SJSU Department of Justice Studies and Dr. Roxana Marachi, SJSU Department of Teacher Education

    Event Description: Artificial intelligence [AI] and data privacy represent critical new frontiers in the field of human rights. AI systems are used by police departments to surveil communities, by human resources departments to vet job candidates, and most recently by the medical industry to aid in the diagnosis and tracking of COVID-19. Unchecked and unregulated, these technologies can amplify racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination. 

    For example, some facial analysis software can’t detect dark-skinned faces or have high error rates for women’s faces, especially for darker-skinned women. Joy Buolamwini, MIT researcher and the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League reports that the companies she evaluated that created AI systems had error rates of no more than 1% for lighter-skinned men and 35% for darker-skinned women. These errors can lead to a wrong darker-skinned person popping up on a police database or only light skinned job candidates being identified by an employer’s AI system. The racial and gender biases built into AI systems will have real and harmful impacts on already vulnerable and underrepresented communities. 

    Join us for a Film screening of Coded Bias by Shalini Kantayya and a riveting discussion with the filmmaker as we dive into the aspects of racial prejudices within AI.

• 2 p.m. | Skin Tones - Notes, Quotes, and Community

  • Facilitator: Walter Adams, SJSU Department of Biological Sciences

    Location: Tommie Smith & John Carlos Lawn (SJSU Campus)

    Event Description: Students, staff, faculty, and community members are encouraged to reflect on the following question: "When you hear the phrase 'Racial Justice' what is the very first song or quote you think of and why. It is our hope that by having a safe space to dialogue about race through music and prose we can create a genuine community that advocates for a more racially just campus, country, and world. 

    Come join SJSU and local community for an afternoon discussion on the lawn.

• 5 p.m. | AI Literacy is a Civil Rights Issue

  • Presented by: AllAI Consulting, LLC
    Facilitator: Masheika Allgood

    Event Description: AI is increasingly being employed in every aspect of our society. Its use is fundamentally altering the social construct and societal contracts.  When the system is severely imbalanced, the people suffer. Some significantly more than others. Society at large needs foundational AI understanding to perform oversight and advocacy for our communities and most-at-risk populations, and to ensure accountability when norms are breached.

• 6 p.m. | Roundtable discussion with author/poet/educator, Vernon Keeve III

  • Presented by: Diasporic Peoples Writing Collective
    Facilitators: Carmen Kennedy, SJSU

    Event Description: Vernon Keeve III, aka, Trey, is a Virginia born writer, living and teaching in Oakland. They hold an MFA from CCA and a MA in Teaching Literature from Bard College. Their full-length collection of poetry, Southern Migrant Mixtape, was published by Nomadic Press and received the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award.

    Trey has written "Southern Migrant Mixtape" a collection that relays the experiences and observations of a black, queer man from Virginia who thought they were leaving racism and sexual intolerance behind in the regions where they initially experienced them. Trey will have you plunging heart first into their emotive journey of growth. They'll lead you through prose that is a transformation of pain into armor, and wisdom that can be earned when one is true to themselves.

November 9

• Noon | The Professional World of Black, Indigenous, Latinx and Other Nurses of Color (BILNOC): Facing Racism

  • Presented by: Dr. Sheri Rickman Patrick, SJSU Department of Nursing

    Event Description: Join us for an in-depth discussion about racism within the nursing profession.

• 6 p.m. | SJSU Spartan Speaker Series

  • "Searching for Voice, Purpose, and Place: How Sharing with Vulnerability, Humility, and Courage Can Be a Path to Self Discovery and Community Empowerment" —Janet Mock

    Presented by: SJSU Student Affairs

    Event Description: Join Janet Mock, author, Emmy-nominated writer, director, and executive producer of FX's POSE, for an evening of discussion.

November 10

• Noon | 2021 Silicon Valley Pain Index: Inequality Soars by Race and Class under COVID-19

  • 2021 Silicon Valley Pain Index: Inequality Soars by Race and Class under COVID-19

    Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute 
    Facilitator: Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies

    Event Description: The Silicon Valley Pain Index (SVPI) illustrates the persistent racial discrimination and income/wealth inequality that continue to define our region. The purpose of this yearly report is to provide a measure of structured inequalities to inform policy and practice in “Silicon Valley.” First produced in 2020, the 2021 SVPI report updates prior findings and illustrates a stunning increase in inequalities over the past year, as communities weathered a global rebellion against racist police violence, the global COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout, and an economic downturn producing high unemployment rates in the face of still rising housing costs.

    While our community was shocked at the incredibly high levels of racial discrimination and income and wealth inequality detailed in the 2020 SVPI, the 2021 Silicon Valley Pain Index shows how the level of inequality during this pandemic has gone from bad to horrific. As 2021 SVPI shows, most all “pain” indicators have worsened, as hunger, housing insecurity, homelessness, high school dropout rates, income inequality, and wealth inequality have all increased. 

    Panelists will discuss the various components of the SV Pain Index, and how it affects the people of our community.

    Panelists:

    Dr. Bill Armaline
    SJSU Human Rights Institute, Director 

    Darcie Green
    Executive Director, Latinas Contra Cancer

    Jahmal Williams
    SJSU Director of Advocacy for Racial Justice

    Rev. Steve Pinkston
    Associate Pastor, Maranatha Christian Center

• 3 p.m. | The New Human Rights Frontier: Artificial Intelligence and Data Privacy

  • Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute
    Facilitator: Dr. Halima Kazem-Stojanovic, SJSU Department of Justice Studies

    Event Description: In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been rapidly deployed and marketed as among the most “promising” of solutions in nearly every sector, with data-driven algorithms poised to make decisions in healthcare, hiring, education, social service, and justice systems.  Yet when data drawn from past systemic injustices are baked into future predictions, questions arise regarding who designs the algorithms, how decisions are made, whose voices are excluded, and what civil and human rights may be compromised in the process. Join us as we welcome experts in the fields of racial justice, AI ethics, and data privacy to explore current trends and critical perspectives on the ways that AI is shaping our justice, policing, healthcare, and education systems. 

    Panelists and Bios:

    Masheika Allgood is an AI Ethicist and the founder of AllAI Consulting, LLC, a platform for providing AI education across various industries to people with non-tech and non-AI backgrounds.  The company's goal is to create an AI literate society, allowing citizens from all walks of life to feel comfortable engaging in discussions on the use of AI technology in their lives and communities.  Before founding AllAI Consulting, Masheika founded and led the AI Ethics Workgroup at NVIDIA.  She is passionate about purpose-driven design, empowering the everyday activist, and building AI educational materials that are accessible to all. Masheika holds a Masters in International Business from Florida International University, a Juris Doctorate from Florida State University, and an LL.M in Litigation and Dispute Resolution from the George Washington University School of Law.

    Dr. Ceceilia Parnther is an assistant professor of Higher Education in the Department of Administrative and Instructional Leadership at St. John’s University. Her research focuses on academic integrity and postsecondary student success. Parnther uses qualitative and qualitatively dominant mixed methods approaches to describe and explore understandings of equity in higher education. Currently, Parnther is an Editor of the SAGE Student Success resource on academic integrity, and on the editorial board for the Ethics and Integrity in Educational Contexts book series. Dr. Parnther has recently co-authored Academic Integrity and Anti-Black Aspects of Educational Surveillance and E-Proctoring, published in the Teachers College Record, The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

    Jessica Berger MLIS, RN is an author on information security and privacy whose research on the cyber security of drones informed drone data privacy policy design for the cities of Boston and Toronto. As a former pediatric registered nurse and health columnist concerned with computer-based patient records and confidentiality, she has published articles addressing online safety and the privacy rights of children and patients. She holds a master of library and information science and is an advocate for privacy rights. Through San José State University, Jessica served as an information security and records manager intern, originating the Wikipedia Library’s privacy program including security measures around integrated apps, encryption protocols, social media and virtual private network (VPN). She is currently represented by the literary agency, Nine Speakers, Inc. for her upcoming book on cyber crimes that target job hunters.

    Facilitators:

    Dr. Roxana Marachi
    Professor of Education, San José State University

    Halima Kazem-Stojanovic
    Lecturer in Journalism and Human Rights and Journalism Coordinator for the San José State University Human Rights Institute

    Please contact Halima.Kazem@sjsu.edu for more information.

November 11

• 1 p.m. | Simply Healthy Cooking with Momma Crystal

  • Presented by: San José Equity Coalition
    Facilitator: Crystal Calhoun

    Event Description: In Simply Healthy Cooking, Momma Crystal will guide people to cook their own meal in a two hour time-frame. On the menu is baked rotisserie chicken leg quarters, vegetable rice and roasted seasonal vegetables. 

    Crystal has made home-cooking a priority in her day-to-day life and in modeling healthy eating for her family. Crystal has helped her children, grandchildren and siblings to learn to cook with their own produce, seasonal herbs and use healthy meat options to maintain self-sufficiency and a long life. She uses her cooking sessions to help others understand the need of a dynamic lifestyle; it is not just diet, it is also exercise and daily movement that will support a happy and healthy life. Crystal understands and promotes the importance of thriving and healthy living as Black people through her cooking. 

• 7 p.m. | SJSU Men’s Basketball vs. CSU Fullerton

  • Location: Provident Event Center at SJSU

    Event Description: Come support the Spartan Men’s Basketball Team as they take on Cal State Fullerton in their opening game of the season.

November 12

• 10 a.m. | Healing Space

  • Presented by: Anti-Racist San Jose (ARSJ), Talk Justice (TJ) and San Jose Strong (SJS)
    Facilitators: Tomara Hall, Educator

    Event Description: In this Healing Space, Anti-Racist San Jose (ARSJ), Talk Justice (TJ) and San Jose Strong (SJS) will facilitate a program for centering the mind, sharing stories, learning from one another, and unpacking personal biases in a vulnerable and supportive environment. Our focus will be to help community leaders/members/organizers share space while working on personal anti-racist journeys.

    In the last year, TJ has supported the community in developing guides for and leading radical discourse on social justice topics. Since late spring 2020, SJS has supported local youth organizers in community movement building. Forming in Summer 2020, ARSJ has built an online space for people to make a public commitment to anti-racist mindsets, practices and polices, and offered a platform for coalition members to constructive learning and sharing opportunities with one another. Since January 2021, ARSJ has led Community Hours to hold virtual space for continuity of online posts as well as a space to build community amongst online members.

    ARSJ is a coalition of members who work to put an end to systemic and institutional racism through self-led learning, healing and community action. TJ aims to provide an intentional, thoughtful method to hold radical discourse. SJS is a grassroots organization to reinvent San José for and by the community.

• 12:30 p.m. | Closing Keynote

  • An Afternoon with Viet Thanh Nguyen

    Presented by: SJSU Office of the President
    Facilitators: Dr. Yvonne Kwan, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies and Phillip Nguyen, Executive Director, Vietnamese American Roundtable

    Event Description: Join us for an afternoon discussion with writer and educator, Viet Thanh Nguyen. Viet and his family came to the United States as refugees during the Vietnam War in 1975. As he grew up in America, he began to notice that most movies and books about the war focused on Americans while the Vietnamese were silenced and erased. He was inspired by this lack of representation to write about the war from a Vietnamese perspective, globally reimagining what we thought we knew about the conflict. The New York Times says that his novel, The Sympathizer, “fills a void…giving voice to the previously voiceless while it compels the rest of us to look at the events of forty years ago in a new light.” His voice is refreshing and powerful as he urges readers to examine the legacy of that tumultuous time and its aftermath from a new perspective. The audacious novel has also been described by The Guardian as having a “Whitman- like multiplicity” as it “reads like the absolute opposite of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.” The Committed, the long-awaited follow-up to The Sympathizer, was published in 2021 and has been called “a masterwork” and “revelatory.”

    Viet’s book Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War was a finalist for the National Book Award. Author Ari Kelman praises Nothing Ever Dies saying it, “provides the fullest and best explanation of how the Vietnam War has become so deeply inscribed into national memory.” His collection of short stories, The Refugees, explores questions of immigration, identity, love, and family. In 2018, Viet called on 17 fellow refugee writers from across the globe to shed light on their experiences, and the result is The Displaced, a powerful dispatch from the individual lives behind current headlines, with proceeds to support the International Rescue Committee.

    Viet was the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. The MacArthur foundation noted that Viet’s work “not only offers insight into the experiences of refugees past and present, but also poses profound questions about how we might more accurately and conscientiously portray victims and adversaries of other wars.”

• 6 p.m. | Blackbook: A Discussion About the Student Experience Platform and its Uses

  • Presented by: Diasporic Peoples Writing Collective
    Facilitator: Carmen Kennedy, SJSU Student

    Event Description: The Blackbook Project: Reimagining the Black student experience. Empowering Black students by providing resources, networks, and opportunities on one centralized platform. 

    The Student Experience: Student organizing and shared information are a fundamental aspect to both academic and professional development - however not all students are granted the same access and visibility to resources, opportunities, and networks. To solve this problem we developed Blackbook University, a student-driven application and organizing platform designed to equip communities with tools that allow students to digitally interact, manage, and engage in the community in a centralized space.

    Black Student-centered Design: Black students are among the most underserved, and underrepresented student demographics across the country. The overall enrollment of Black students decreased by 21% from 2010 to 2018. Over 70% of Black students rely on federal loans and scholarships while making up only 13% of the national student population. These trends led us to focus on the relationship between Black students, community, and campus.

2021 Event Recordings

Opening Keynote

To Thrive: Place-Based Knowledge, Memory and Indigenous Movement Building from the Bay to the World

Andrew Jolivette, UC San Diego

Presented by: SJSU Office of the President
Facilitators: Dr. Soma de Bourbon, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies

Segregation in the City of San José – History, Impacts and Government Responsibility

Presented by: City of San Jose
Facilitators: Ruth Cueto, Supervising Planner and Josh Ishimatsu, Policy Manager

Taking a Stand for Racial Justice in Soccer

Kaiya McCullough, Professional Soccer Player/Activist

Presented by: SJSU Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change (ISSSSC) and SJSU Community & Government Relations
Facilitators: Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, SJSU Department of African American Studies, ISSSSC

Forum on Race & Politics with Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II

Presented by: San José African American Community Services Agency, SJSU Black Male Collective and SJSU Community and Government Relations
Facilitators: Lavere Foster, SJAACSA Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, Aman Tesfagiorgis, SJSU student, Aviation, Black Male Collective board member and Jahmal Williams, SJSU Director of Advocacy for Racial Justice

AI Literacy is a Civil Rights Issue

Presented by: AllAI Consulting, LLC
Facilitator: Masheika Allgood

2021 Silicon Valley Pain Index: Inequality Soars by Race and Class under COVID-19

Presented by: SJSU Human Rights Institute 
Facilitator: Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies

Closing Keynote

An Afternoon with Viet Thanh Nguyen

Presented by: SJSU Office of the President
Facilitators: Dr. Yvonne Kwan, SJSU Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies and Phillip Nguyen, Executive Director, Vietnamese American Roundtable