UIC Social Justice Initiative, WBEZ, and The Public Square present the following sessions: 

12:30-2:00p- Post-Race? Trayvon and Racial Violence in the 21st Century

The shooting of Trayvon Martin has prompted weeks of public protest. What does this fatal shooting — and the multi-faceted responses of Americans — reflect about the politics of race  and racial violence in the 21st century? How can we decriminalize Black youth in America? What is the conversation on race that we should be having? 

Gary Younge, journalist for The Nation and The Guardian and author of Who We Are: And Should It Matter in the 21st Century 

Kevin Coval, poet, co-founder of Louder Than A Bomb teen poetry festival, author of L-Vis Lives!

David Stovall, Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and African American History at UIC and volunteer social studies teacher at the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School of Social Justice High School 

Alice Kim, director of The Public Square

2:30-4:00p-Hunger Games and Real World Economic Injustice

Some critics see the Hunger Games as an allegory for today: staggering world poverty amidst growing economic inequality. This panel will explore real world economic injustices and  possibilities for creating a more equitable and fair system locally and globally. Join us to take a closer look at globalism, militarism and the impact of the economic crisis. 

Mark Weisbrot, Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, columnist for The Guardina Unlimited (U.K.) and Brazil’s largest newspaper, Folha de Sao Paulo, and president of Just Foreign Policy

Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator of Creative Voices for Non-violence and author of Other Lands Have Dreams: from Baghdad to Pekin Prison

Harishi Patel, a cultural organizer with Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and Chicago activist

4:30-6:00p -Kony 2012 and Beyond: Transnational Solidarities

The Kony 2012 controversy raised important questions about activism at home and abroad. How can those in the United States building meaningful transnational solidarities in Africa and around the globe? What should informed activism look like? How can we can act as citizens of the world? 

Barbara Ransby, historian, writer and long-time political activist, author of Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement; 

Nicholas De Genova, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London and author of Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and “Illegality” in Mexican Chicago

Anna Guevarra, interdisciplinary scholar and author of Marketing Dreams, Manufacturing Heroes: The Transnational Labor Brokering of Filipino Workers; 

Prexy Nesbitt, activist, educator and founder of Making the Road Tours to Africa; 

Andy Clarno, Assistant Professor in Sociology at UIC 

WBEZ’s Global Activism Expo gathers hundreds of Chicago-area global activists, each providing ways you can immediately get involved and join these efforts.

Learn more about the event here.  

Free and open to the public. 

Questions or Comments?
Email Don Hall at dhall@wbez.org or give him a call at 312.948.4644