Social Justice Week 2024
Events
Monday, January 15
3 to 3:45 p.m. online via Zoom
Meditation Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Cost: Free!
Registration is required.
Meeting Registration and Zoom Access Link
Join us for a special edition of our Meditation Monday program for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This 40-minute meditation session provides an opportunity for participants of any experience level to explore the museum's themes through mindfulness meditation practice. Together we will experience freedom in the present moment and contemplate the journey of Black Americans toward liberation.
Sponsored by: The National Museum of African American History and Culture
Tuesday, January 16
Noon to 1:30 p.m. online via Zoom
Speaker: Rosa Clemente
Award-Winning Black-Puerto Rican Scholar-Activist, Political and Cultural Commentator
From Moments to Movements: The Power of Community Activism And Organizing
We the people build power through community organizing, and in this workshop, Rosa Clemente shows us how. By examining the history of select social justice movements of the last 50 years and sharing the speaker’s personal narratives as an organizer, scholar-activist, and independent journalist, Rosa shows audiences how building movements provides space for people to work together for a common social, political, and cultural goal. She also outlines how to move from social media moments and viral hashtags to decentralized movements. What is needed for an idea of the few to be transformed to an idea of many? How do we build movements that are non-hierarchical? How do we make sure these organizing efforts are inclusive of the multiple identities that we all carry? The workshop will provide tools that we use to inspire and engage young people to become community activists and organizers.
Wednesday, January 17
Noon to 1:30 p.m. online via Zoom
Speaker: Michael Benitez Jr.
Acclaimed Activist-Scholar, Educator, and Practitioner
Latino/a/x/e and the Invisible Lines that Divide and Unite Us in America
This presentation explores the complexity of the collective sociocultural and political identity that is Latino/a/x/e. This identity is complicated by the political climate and the intersections of nationality, gender, language, religion, class, ethnicity, race, etc. which significantly impact how these communities are viewed in this country. The presentation aims to unpack, name, and heal, through a process of historicization and reflection, including deeper engagement with intersections of whiteness, anti-Blackness, religious imperialism, and “machismo” within pan-Latino/a/x/e cultural spaces and practice. Ultimately, we will learn how to move forward equity agendas that service Latia/o/x/e and other minoritized communities.
Wednesday, January 17
3 to 4:30 p.m. online via Zoom
Speaker: Linda Sarsour
Trailblazing Palestinian Muslim American, Racial Justice Activist, Strategist, Community Organizer, and Author
Community Care, and Solidarity in Action
Linda Sarsour is one of the country’s leading voices in the fight for racial, economic, gender, and social justice. The Brooklyn-born Palestinian Muslim American community organizer and mother of three is globally-recognized for her award-winning intersectional work on key civil rights topics, including the impact of domestic policies that target Arab and Muslim American communities, mass incarceration and criminal justice, Middle East affairs, immigration policy, and voter registration.
Linda is the author of two books, We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance with a forward by Harry Belafonte who writes, “While we may not have made it to the Promised Land, my peers and I, my brothers and sisters in liberation can rest easy that the future is in the hands of leaders like Linda Sarsour.” She’s also penned an empowering young readers’ edition of her memoir, We’re in This Together.
Thursday, January 18
Noon to 1:30 p.m. online via Zoom
Speaker: Mary Kunmi Yu Danico
Award-winning Public Scholar, Writer, and Expert on the Asian American Diaspora, Race, and Ethnic Relations
Understanding Asian American Microaggression History, Asian American Activism and Coalition Building
Mary Yu Danico, PhD, is an award-winning public scholar, writer, and prominent expert on race and ethnic relations, international migration, the Asian American diaspora, immigrant families, and social justice. She recently accepted a new position at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa, as Director for the Center of Oral History and faculty in the Department of Ethnic Studies.
As an immigrant and first-generation college student, Mary has always been curious about the role of family, community, and place on one’s identity. Her work is grounded in an anti-racist and anti-oppression framework that examines how socio-cultural factors shape us and her research centers around the intersectionality of ethnic identity, gender sexuality, class, community formation, family, generations, and social justice.
Thursday, January 18
3 to 4:30 p.m. online via Zoom
Speaker: David Basior
Rabbi and Co-director of the Kadima Reconstructionist Community
Resilience and Community Care
Rabbi David Basior shows up, and speaks out, when he believes people are being treated unjustly. David has served as Rabbi of the Kadima Reconstructionist Community since 2015 and Co-director of Kadima since 2022. Kadima Reconstructionist Community a progressive Jewish group in Seattle focused on social justice. Rabbi David also actively serves as a Board of Trustees member for Seattle Girls' School. As a decades-long worker in education and youth work, he holds a deep passion for, and upholds the values of economic, racial, gender, and labor justice.
Friday, January 19
Doors open at 5 p.m.
6 to 7:30 p.m. - live in person
Broadway Performance Hall - 1625 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122
Speaker: Dr. Bettina Love
Abolitionist and Freedom Dreamer
Dr. Bettina L. Love holds the prestigious William F. Russell Professorship at Teachers College, Columbia University, and is the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller “Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal.” In 2022, the Kennedy Center recognized Dr. Love as one of the Next 50 Leaders dedicated to making the world more inspired, inclusive, and compassionate.
As a co-founder of the Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN), Dr. Love actively contributes to its mission of nurturing and empowering teachers and parents who are committed to fighting injustice within their educational institutions and communities. She has played a pivotal role in overseeing the distribution of over $250,000 in grants to abolitionist initiatives across the nation. Notably, Dr. Love is also a founding member of the Task Force that initiated the groundbreaking program “In Her Hands,” one of the largest guaranteed income pilot programs in the United States. This program has successfully disbursed over $15 million to support Black women in Georgia.
Renowned as a highly sought-after public speaker, Dr. Love covers a wide range of compelling topics in her engagements, including abolitionist teaching, anti-racism, Hip Hop education, Black girlhood, queer youth, educational reparations, and the use of art-based education to foster youth civic engagement. Her profound insights and expertise have earned her recognition in various news outlets, including NPR, PBS, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Time, Education Week, The Guardian, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dr. Love is also the celebrated author of the bestseller “We Want to Do More Than Survive,” solidifying her position as a leading voice in the field of education and social justice.
Seattle MLK Jr. Coalition presents MLK Jr.’s Dream Unfinished
A timeline of events for 2024’s march, rally, and community events scheduled for January 11-16
Garfield High School, 400 23rd Ave. 98112
The Seattle MLK Jr. Organizing Coalition is an all-volunteer organization composed of grassroots, labor, business, people of color, and progressive community organizations and volunteers from throughout the Puget Sound region. Annually, these groups come together and organize our community's largest tribute to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for King County, the only geographic jurisdiction named in Dr. King's honor.
Resources Offered by Our Community and Speakers
Following is a list of resources provided and submitted by our Seattle Colleges community members and honorable guest speakers.
- Video: Anti-Asian Hate conversation with Mary Kunmi Yu Danico and Linda Palacios
- Video: South Seattle College Lecture - Dr. Michael Benitez Jr., October 5, 2016
- Video: Rosa Clemente Sizzle Reel
Punished for Dreaming Resources by Dr. Bettina Love
- Website: https://bettinalove.com/
- Book: Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal (St. Martin’s Press)
Punished for Dreaming Toolkit
Videos:
Reading list:
- How School Choice Left Black Children With Scraps for Their Education (Time)
- The Lies America Tells Itself About Black Education (Opinion | Education Week)
- Stop Trying to Recruit Black Teachers Until You Can Retain the Ones You Have (Opinion | Education Week)
- America Must Confront the Black History It Teaches (Opinion | Education Week)
- Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering to our Movement - a 44 page PDF text primer from the organization Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
- The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism - a web document that includes a definition of antisemitism and also examples of both antisemitic and not antisemitic statements about Israel
- Video: Breaking The Antisemitism Cycle Through Solidarity - 20 min talk by Dove Kent of JFREJ
- Video: Antisemitism in America - 2 hour video panel by Eric Ward, Derek Black, and Dove Kent
- Debunking The Myth That Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitic - Article in the Forward by Peter Beinart, editor of Jewish Currents
- Fighting Antisemitism Is a Critical Piece of a Racial Justice Agenda - Article by an organizer with Jewish Community Action
- Anti-Defamation League Staff Decry ‘Dishonest’ Campaign Against Israel Critics - Recent news article from the Guardian
- Curriculum on Antisemitism from a perspective of Collective Liberation (antisemitismcrriculum.org)
Enacting Nonviolent Social Change
The King Center offers a number of educational resources on enacting nonviolent social change and educating all on the tenets of civic discourse and civil disobedience.
Highlighting surprising facts about King’s life is now available at nmaahc.si.edu/5thingsMLK.