MLK Social Justice Week

For more than 50 years, Seattle Colleges has commemorated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Starting in 2023, we had a vision to see our community honor Dr. King's vision for racial and social justice by hosting Seattle Colleges MLK Jr. Social Justice Week—a week of learning, growing, and uplifting our unwavering commitment social justice within our Seattle Colleges community. Together as a community with everlasting optimism and an abundance of excitement for the even brighter days ahead, we cordially invite you to join our Social Justice Week events. Details are below. Events are open to all students, faculty, and staff at North, Central, South, and the district offices.

Faculty, please consider offering extra credit for student attendance. Our entire Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Community team so greatly appreciates it.        
 

Community Questions Highly Appreciated with QR code graphic

 

Community Provided Questions for Speakers

We invite you to submit questions for any of our speakers before their event using the QR code at right/below, or complete this form.        
 

Join the Planning Committee

All faculty, staff, students, and administrators are invited to join. Complete the Community Learning in Conversation Speaker Series Planning Committee Interest Form.


Seattle Colleges is committed to the concept and practice of equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for all its students, employees, and applicants in education, employment, services, and contracts. For our full non-discrimination statement, visit www.seattlecolleges.edu/nds.

All Speakers will be captioned during the webinars.  

North Seattle College Disability Services 

Seattle Central College Accessibility Resource Center 

South Seattle College Access Services 


2024 Social Justice Week 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         
Rosa Clemente

Speaker: Rosa Clemente 

Award-Winning Black-Puerto Rican Scholar-Activist, Political and Cultural Commentator 

Join via Zoom Link

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         
Michael Benitez Jr.

Speaker: Michael Benitez Jr. 

Acclaimed Activist-Scholar, Educator, and Practitioner 

Join via Zoom Link

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         
Linda Sarsour

Speaker: Linda Sarsour 

Trailblazing Palestinian Muslim American, Racial Justice Activist, Strategist, Community Organizer, and Author

Join via Zoom Link

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       
Kunmi Yu Danico

Speaker: Mary Kunmi Yu Danico 

Award-winning Public Scholar, Writer, and Expert on the Asian American Diaspora, Race, and Ethnic Relations 

Join via Zoom Link

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       
David Basior

Speaker: David Basior

Rabbi and Co-director of the Kadima Reconstructionist Community

Join via Zoom Link

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       
Bettina Love

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       
Seattle MLK Organizing Coalition logo

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.

Punished for Dreaming Resources by Dr. Bettina Love

Punished for Dreaming Toolkit

Videos:

Reading list:

 

 



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.  
 


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