Social Justice Week 2026 Events

53rd Annual Community Celebration of MLK

Date: Friday, January 16
Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Location: Brockey Center, South Seattle College

Join us for a community celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. featuring music and song by DaNell Daymon and Greater Works and three young local scholars affiliated with Speak with Purpose, who will share their original speeches that explore topics including culture, identity, social justice, and their vision for a better world. Serving as emcee will be Monique Ming Laven, KIRO 7 evening anchor.

• Breakfast 9 to 10 a.m.
• Program 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Community Conversation 1 to 2 p.m.

View the full schedule of the day.
 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Federal Holiday - No Classes, Campus Offices Closed

We encourage you to join one of the many local celebrations and observances offered across the region. 

• Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition 2026 March and Rally
• Seattle Parks Foundation MLK Day of Service at Pigeon Point Park
• Do an internet search to find more events.

Bystander Intervention Training with Sophia Agtarap

Date: Tuesday, January 20
Time: 10 to 11 a.m.
Location: online via Zoom

Have you ever experienced or witnessed a form of bias and didn’t know how to respond? Many folks have likely encountered or experienced bias and maybe didn’t even know how to identify it. If you are someone who holds systematically and intersecting marginalized identity/ies, the chance is even higher. As a community of people who are working together to create spaces of belonging and inclusion, what does it look, sound, and feel like to interrupt when we see instances of bias, racism, transphobia, xenophobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, sexism, and more, occur? What is the possibility of what can happen in that moment and beyond? We’ll come together to understand language and practices that can help move each of us to intervene when we witness or experience instances of bias in our communities.

Speaker Bio: Sophia Agtarap is a 1.5 generation Filipina American who resides in Tacoma, the traditional lands of the Puyallup people. She works alongside communities in the areas of racial equity, justice, and climate solutions, as they do the necessary work of imagining the world they want to build and animating others to join them in creating a more just society where all may thrive. In addition to her faculty role at South Seattle College, she is a consultant and thought partner with organizations that are trying to meet this moment with creative solutions for the common good. She has held equity and racial justice roles in municipal and state government, in higher education, P-12, and in nonprofit and interfaith spaces. She does life with her spouse, seven year old, two pups and a bunny. She is a daughter, older sister to two, and auntie to six.

Film Screening of "Since I Been Down" with filmmaker Dr. Gilda Sheppard and Kimonti Carter 

Date: Tuesday, January 20
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Location: Brockey Event Space (JMB A&B), South Seattle College

The documentary film "Since I Been Down" is an American story showcasing one city, Tacoma, WA, as an example of "Every town, USA" through the eyes of a community decimated by drugs, poverty, and fear. Thrown into prison—not for education or rehabilitation, but for removal and punishment—these children, who are now adults, built a prisoners' community of healing that extended beyond prison walls. The film is a dramatic chronicle of how gangs, fear, racism and power arrested the development of one American community, and how in their rush to discard the poorest by targeting brown and black youth for a false sense of safety, security and prosperity, an entire generation disappeared. "Since I Been Down" spotlights prisoner Kimonti Carter and follows his efforts, as well as a wide group of prisoners, as they break free from their fate and create a model of education that is transforming their lives, their communities, our prisons, and our own humanity.

Speaker Bio: Gilda Sheppard is an award-winning filmmaker who has screened her documentaries throughout the United States, Canada,  Sub Saharan Africa, and Europe. Sheppard is a 2017 Hedgebrook Fellow for documentary film, a 2019 recipient of an Artist Trust Fellowship and 2023 Best Director for Documentary at the New York Independent Film Festival, and several other national and international awards.

Sheppard is attracted to the power of film as a tool for human interaction, healing and justice to promote dialogue and action across significant differences. Her work explores oppression, and activism particularly in relationships to power, and the triumph of the human spirit to inspire imagination and creativity.

Her documentaries include stories of resilience of Liberian women and children refugees in Ghana; three generations of Black families in an urban neighborhood; and a film ethnography of stories from folklore started by Zora Neale Hurston in Alabama's AfricaTown and the award winning documentary Since I Been Down.

For over a decade, Sheppard has taught sociology classes in Washington State prisons and is a co-founder and faculty for Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPS) an organization offering college credit courses at Washington Corrections Center for Women. Gilda is faculty emerita in sociology, cultural and media studies at The Evergreen State College Tacoma Campus in Washington State.

Sheppard is presently developing 7 part absurdist TV Mini Series set in Seattle Washington that explores humanity in a time of data driven intelligence, AI and corporate domination titled TRICKY.

Affinity and Collective Meet-and-Greet Drop-In

Date: Tuesday, January 20
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: online via Zoom

Beloved Community, please join the Division of Access, Community, and Opportunity in partnership with PR and Strategic Initiatives to learn about Community Collectives (formerly Affinity Groups). We will be offering multiple sessions with the same format and content so that all community members who wish to participate in these sessions can do so. We know there may be a lot of questions about Community Collectives such as what are the benefits of joining a Community Collectives or how to start one? We are so excited to hear to have a dialogue with you. This event is open to all community members.

Film Screening of "I Am Not Your Negro" 

Date: Wednesday, January 21
Time: 10:15 a.m. to Noon
Location: Online via Zoom, and in person at Seattle Central College, BE1110
Sponsored by Project Baldwin

Join us as we explore the film’s themes and connect them to the mission of the Project Baldwin program and the students we support. Project Baldwin will review the program's history, academic accomplishments this past year, and answer questions.

The documentary I Am Not Your Negro brings to life the book James Baldwin never completed, offering a powerful and unflinching meditation on race in America through Baldwin’s own words, voiced by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Drawing on a wealth of archival footage, the film weaves together Baldwin’s reflections on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. to present a bold and timely perspective on America’s ongoing racial dialogue. Directed by Raoul Peck and nominated for an Academy Award, the film traces a compelling journey through Black history, linking the Civil Rights Movement of the past to the present-day Black Lives Matter movement. 

Speaker Chris Crass, Facilitator and Educator on Leadership and Social Impact: Being an Ally for Social Justice

Date: Wednesday, January 21
Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Location: Hybrid online via Zoom with learning spaces at North, Central, and South

North Seattle College Learning Space: North Star Dining Room

Seattle Central College Learning Space: BE1110 

South Seattle College Learning Space: JMB 140

While awareness of power, privilege and oppression is growing on campuses and in many of our communities, the question “what can I do” persists. Using stories from his own experience as a white person coming into consciousness about racism and as a man coming into awareness of sexism, Chris takes people on a journey that many can relate to, yet few speak openly about. Sharing openly and honestly, with humanity and humility, about the often painful experience of becoming aware of one’s privilege, and the awkward confusion of trying to figure out what to do, Chris invites participants to explore their own journey and helps them develop frameworks and practical next steps to become allies. For Chris, the work of an ally isn’t just to work to end the injustices impacting others, but to work against supremacy systems that pit us against each other, suffocate our full humanity, and undermine democracy and economic justice for all.

Speaker Bio: Chris Crass is a nationally recognized author and speaker who helps communities in higher education and K-12 develop anti-racist values and commitment for racial justice and gender justice. His passion is working with students, faculty and staff to connect to their deepest values, overcome divisions, and act with love and courage for racial justice. Chris’ powerful talks and workshops address lessons from past justice movements, and how a vision of collective liberation can move us into effective action.

Chris has provided professional development for staff and faculty at a wide range of educational settings. He focuses on developing literacy, and leadership for anti-racism and feminism with an emphasis on developing culture that helps bring people into the work, connects with core values and purpose and aligns goals for positive impacts on the lives of faculty, students, families and the larger community. Using a popular education approach influenced by Paulo Freire and the Highlander Center in Tennessee, Chris uses people’s own experiences, hopes, worries and values to develop literacy, resilience and courage for anti-racism and racial justice.

Speaker Lian Ryan-Hume (Najami): Women Empowerment | Disabilities | Social Inclusion

Date: Wednesday, January 21
Time: 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Location: online via Zoom

As an Arab woman with a disability, Lian recognizes (and has first-hand experience of) discrimination, prejudice, social exclusion, and multiple disadvantages which are prevalent in society. But as an inclusion advocate, Lian has been determined to challenge these inequalities and promote positive change. By standing on podiums across the world, Lian has raised awareness of the critical social and political role minority groups play in our society and has championed an affirmative model of disability. She has fought to challenge the attached stigmas associated with gender and disability and is actively working to create a more inclusive environment. 

Speaker Bio: Lian Ryan-Hume (Najami) is the first Arab-Israeli Rhodes Scholar, an inclusion advocate, and a sought-after international public speaker. Lian is the youngest member on two executive boards of Israeli NGOs: Mabat and 50:50 Startups.

Lian’s advocacy work, which has taken her around the world on several speaking tours, focuses on minority groups in Israel and beyond, MENA politics, the rights of people with disabilities, patient empowerment, inclusive leadership and more.

Lian is determined and passionate about raising awareness to issues pertinent to minorities, acting as an advocate for patients, and promoting social change. Fluent in five languages, she was featured at the 2016 Forbes 30 under 30 summit in Israel for her leadership role within the Arab community and served in the US Senate as a Lantos Congressional Fellow in 2017.

As the first Arab-Israeli Rhodes Scholar, Lian has completed two Master degrees at the University of Oxford: an MSc in Comparative Social Policy and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at the Blavatnik School of Government. She has been awarded the Policy Leaders Fellowship at the European University Institute and has recently completed her City Diplomacy Fellowship at the Haifa Municipality. 

Affinity and Collective Meet-and-Greet Drop-In

Date: Wednesday, January 21
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: online via Zoom

Beloved Community, please join the Division of Access, Community, and Opportunity in partnership with PR and Strategic Initiatives to learn about Community Collectives (formerly Affinity Groups). We will be offering multiple sessions with the same format and content so that all community members who wish to participate in these sessions can do so. We know there may be a lot of questions about Community Collectives such as what are the benefits of joining a Community Collectives or how to start one? We are so excited to hear to have a dialogue with you. This event is open to all community members.

How We Respond to ICE Officials on our Campus: Immigration Rights and Non-Discrimination Plan (IRND-Plan) and Keep Washington Working Act (KWWA) with Associate Vice Chancellor D'Andre Fisher

Date: Thursday, January 22
Time: 10 to 11 a.m.
Location: online via Zoom

This session offers an opportunity to stay informed about important policy updates that may affect you or your peers, particularly regarding immigration rights, non-discrimination policies, and community engagement issues. As the national landscape shifts, you must know your rights and protections. 

Learn more about the Seattle Colleges 5-Step ICE Protocol with clear procedures for how we respond to ICE officials on our campus and who the designated staff members are to serve as the main contacts at initial engagement with ICE and other related agencies.

You will be able to ask questions, provide feedback, learn more, and gain a refresher about the Seattle Colleges Rights and Non-Discrimination Plan (IRND-Plan) and the Guidelines for Keep Washington Working Act (KWWA). This will be a forum for you to engage in critical conversations about access, and community within our community. 

Film Screening of "Fish War" with special guest Willie Frank III

Date: Thursday, January 22
Time: 1:30 to 4p.m.
Location: Seattle Central College, Room BE1110

When the state of Washington made it illegal for tribes to fish for salmon in their usual and accustomed places, it was a declaration of war. FISH WAR follows the tribes' fight to exercise their treaty-reserved fishing rights. A landmark court case in 1974 would affirm the tribes’ treaty rights and establish them as co-managers of the resource, but the fate of salmon in the Pacific Northwest still hangs in the balance.

Please join ACO and special guest Willie Frank III of the Nisqually Tribe who continues the legacy work of his father,  Billie Frank Jr. as we engage in this powerful documentary around Social Justice and Treaty rights for Coast Salish peoples.

Speaker Bio: Willie Frank III is a Nisqually Tribal member. He has been on Tribal Council since 2009 and was recently elected for a third term. Willie graduated from Evergreen State College in 2007 with his B.A. in Native Studies and two years later was elected to Tribal Council at the age of 27 — one of the youngest elected to Nisqually Tribal Council. 

Willie loves working for his people and carrying on his father’s work and message. Both of Willie's parents worked in strong leadership roles. His mother, Susan Crystal, served under Governor Lowry and Governor Locke as one of the top Health Care Advisors. His mother passed away in 2001. His father, Billy Frank, Jr., spent his whole life working towards protecting Tribal Treaty Fishing Rights. His father passed away in 2014. Willie continues his father’s message but also knows he has to pave his own way. He believes in working together for the habitat and environment.

Affinity and Collective Meet-and-Greet Drop-In

Date: Thursday, January 22
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: online via Zoom

Beloved Community, please join the Division of Access, Community, and Opportunity in partnership with PR and Strategic Initiatives to learn about Community Collectives (formerly Affinity Groups). We will be offering multiple sessions with the same format and content so that all community members who wish to participate in these sessions can do so. We know there may be a lot of questions about Community Collectives such as what are the benefits of joining a Community Collectives or how to start one? We are so excited to hear to have a dialogue with you. This event is open to all community members.

Roundtable Discussion on Black Male Students Success with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

Date: Thursday, January 22
Time: 6 to 8 p.m.
Location: in person, North Star Dining Room

At Seattle Colleges, we are deeply committed to supporting the success of young men both inside and outside of the classroom. Initiatives such as Project Baldwin and My Brother’s Teacher take intentional, strategic approaches to mentorship—helping young men identify their passions while providing critical supports such as internship placement, mental health services, and financial navigation throughout their college journey.

Today’s conversation brings together the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to help us think collectively about how we can deepen and expand this work. We will explore additional ways to support young men, examine how to increase institutional and community capacity, and address the barriers—particularly fear and uncertainty—that may prevent young men from taking the first step toward college.

Together, we will consider:

• What can colleges do to better support young men in and out of the classroom?
• What strategies can instructors employ to create supportive, affirming learning environments?
• How can lived experiences inform more responsive and effective practices?

As we engage in this dialogue, we intentionally center lived experience as a source of knowledge, leadership, and transformation.

Luncheon and State of Equity

Date: Friday, January 23
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Location: Georgetown Campus, Building C, Room 122

Faculty and Staff of Color Council (FSOCC) Share Out

Date: Friday, January 23
Time: 12:40 to 1 p.m.
Location: Georgetown, C0110 & 0111

Student Life & Social Justice: Becoming Civically Engaged as a Seattle Colleges Student

Date: Friday, January 23
Time: 1 to 2 p.m.
Location: Seattle Central College, BE1110

Join a student-led conversation on civic engagement and social justice during Social Justice Week, exploring what it means to get involved as a student. This chat offers an opportunity to discuss advocacy, share experiences, and discover ways students can create meaningful impact in their communities.