Social Justice Week 2026 Events
Following is information about Seattle Colleges Social Justice Week 2026, running from January 16 through 23, 2026.
Please note: some information is still being finalized.
Events by Day
Click on each accordion box below for details about events and speakers that are part of Social Justice Week 2026 across Seattle Colleges.
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.
Speaker Talila Lewis, Lawyer, Educator, and Organizer for Disability Justice, The Love to Liberation Pipeline: Disability Justice & Solidarity
Date: Tuesday, January 20
Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Location: Hybrid online via Zoom with learning spaces at North, Central, and South
Current education and legal systems continue to have devastating effects on marginalized communities. While many have come to recognize the cyclical violence these systems inflict on racialized communities, low-income and no-income communities and LGBTQ communities, far too little attention is paid to the injustices visited upon disabled and deaf communities, or to the link between these marginalized communities and the disabled identity. This, when disabled Youth are disproportionately targeted in school suspensions, arrests and expulsions; the foster “care” system; and within economically distressed communities. People with disabilities also represent more than half of the people killed by the police annually and are the largest minority group within our jails and prisons.
Dismantling the school to prison pipeline requires an intersectional approach that addresses varied causes of education inequity simultaneously.
Our collective failure to address trauma and disability experienced by our Youth contributes to cycles of violence within our communities and to our children being pushed out of out of school and into a penal system that only serve to further traumatize young people and pave the way to adult incarceration. Over-reliance on punitive discipline does not consider (and too often punishes) poverty, disability, race, trauma, and other lived experiences of our youth.
Speaker Bio: Talila Lewis is a community lawyer, educator, and organizer whose work highlights and addresses the nexus between race, class, disability and structural inequity. Recognized as a 2015 White House Champion of Change and one of Pacific Standard Magazine's Top 30 Thinkers Under 30, Lewis engineers and leads innovative and intersectional social justice efforts that illuminate and address grave injustices within education, medical, and legal systems that have gone unaddressed for generations.
As the creator of the only national database of imprisoned deaf people, Lewis, a prison abolitionist, advocates with and for hundreds of deaf and disabled defendants and incarcerated and returned individuals as the volunteer director of Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf communities (HEARD). As one of the only people in the world working on deaf wrongful conviction cases, Lewis regularly testifies, teaches, presents and trains on carceral ableism and related topics. Lewis serves as a consultant for dozens of social justice organizations on various topics including racial, economic, gender, and disability justice and as an expert on cases involving deaf/disabled people.
Film Screening of "Since I Been Down" with 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.
Affinity and Collective Meet-and-Greet Drop-In
Date: Tuesday, January 20
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: online via Zoom
Film Screening of "I Am Not Your Negro"
Date: Wednesday, January 21
Time: 10:15 to 11:30 a.m.
Location: to be announced
Sponsored by Project Baldwin
The documentary film "I Am Not Your Negro" envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words, as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Alongside a flood of rich archival material, the film draws upon Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. to explore and bring a fresh and radical perspective to the current racial narrative in America. Raoul Peck's Oscar-nominated film is a journey into Black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of Black Lives Matter. It is a film that questions Black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin, and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.
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
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.
Affinity and Collective Meet-and-Greet Drop-In
Date: Wednesday, January 21
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: online via Zoom
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.
Speaker Bio: Prior to his appointment as the first Associate Vice Chancellor of the Division for Access, Community, and Opportunity at Seattle Colleges in June of 2022, D’Andre Fisher served as Associate Vice President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for North Seattle College from 2018 to 2022.
Fisher has experience as a Diversity and Inclusion consultant, and prior to establishing his consultant firm, he served as the Special Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Operations in the Office of University Community at the University of Oklahoma (OU), working alongside Vice President Jabar Shumate to promote campus diversity and inclusion. In these positions, Fisher served as a liaison to faculty and staff departments with Diversity and Inclusion Programs, including Admissions and Recruitment, Student Sffairs, and the Center for Student Life. He assisted with the cultivation of faculty, staff, and alumni advisory boards for the Office of University Community and helped implement their recommendations.
Fisher has a passion for working with college students and earned his Master’s in Adult and Higher Education from OU. Before his work in the Office of University Community, he served as Assistant Director of Diversity Enrichment Programs in OU Admissions and Recruitment. He met with thousands of high school students each year, primarily reaching out to under-represented minorities and students with low socioeconomic backgrounds. While there, Fisher co-founded the George McLaurin Male Leadership initiative, which is now supplemented by the Sylvia A. Lewis Women’s Leadership Initiative. These programs are now under the Office of University Community and annually bring approximately 150 prospective students to OU’s Norman campus for a conference that builds relationships with first-generation college students. Fisher has also served as an adjunct instructor in Human Relations.
Native Fishing Rights with Willie Frank III
Date: Thursday, January 22
Time: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: to be announced
Affinity and Collective Meet-and-Greet Drop-In
Date: Thursday, January 22
Time: 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: online via Zoom
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, location to be announced
Luncheon and State of Equity
Date: Friday, January 23
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 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: to be announced
Central Workshop
Date: Friday, January 23
Time: 1 to 2 p.m.
Location: to be announced, Seattle Central College
Speaker Lian Ryan-Hume (Najami): Women Empowerment | Disabilities | Social Inclusion
Date: to be announced
Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced
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.
In Memorium: Patty Berne, 2025 Social Justice Week Speaker
Patricia (Patty) Berne, who was one of the featured speakers for Seattle Colleges Social Justice Week 2025, passed away on May 29, 2025. Patty—Disability Justice leader, artist, mentor, visionary—touched and transformed countless lives. Her appearance at Social Justice Week 2025 was her final public speaking engagement. We offer our sincere condolences to her friends and family.