Campus and community dialogue on race

By | Charlotte Rutigliano

Next week marks the 19th annual Campus Dialogue on Race held at Humboldt State University.

According to Kumi Watanabe-Schock, library media coordinator and CDOR committee member, the event started in 1998 from an initiative presented by former President Bill Clinton to get colleges and universities talking about race.

“Over past years we’ve only held events on campus,” Watanabe-Schock said, “this is the first year we’re holding events both on campus and in the community.”

Each year, the CDOR has had a different topic of focus. This year, the event focus is, “Beautiful Struggle: Love and Care in the Time of Hate and Violence”.

The different workshops presented will include cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation, the Asian American experience and needs, a digital storytelling workshop, and a black and blue dialogue.

There will also be several film screenings and discussions throughout the week. Films covering topics from American revolutionaries to students promoting institutional equity.

Watanabe-Schock said that the committee takes around a year to plan, and start planning the next year’s events as soon as the current year finishes.

“We get input from people on and off campus to see what workshops we should cover and what keynote speaker we should get for the following year,” Watanabe-Schock said.

The events start on Monday, Oct. 30 at 11 a.m. with keynote speaker Melina Abdullah, professor and department chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University Los Angeles.

To get the full schedule of next weeks events go to humboldt.edu/dialogue/#schedule.