All Events
Race Matters
Defending the Hood: Fighting Back Against Gentrification Alejandra Melgoza, Gaby Hernandez, Jorge Cabanillas, Jonathan Gomez Facilitated by George Ygarza
MCC Lounge
As inequality continues to grow all across the country, many communities are contending with the effects of tech booms, new-age trends and progress. Those on the periphery understand these as euphemisms, disguising violent processes of displacement, marginalization and erasure. This panel will bring together members of various communities that have confronted gentrification as we discuss strategy while looking at the ways in which these local battles are part of a broader system. Alejandra Melgoza is a community organizer with Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) working for tenants rights. Gaby Hernandez is a licensed clinical social worker and works with Chicanos Unidos fighting gentrification. Jorge Cabanillas is a member of Queens Neighborhoods United, a New York grassroots organization doing anti-gentrification work. Jonathan D. Gomez is a faculty member in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Jose State University, and examines the racial, spatial, and gender dimensions of social space in the postindustrial city. The facilitator, George Ygarza is a PhD student in the Global Studies department at UCSB.
Performance
Expressing Urban-Indigenous Identity Sammay Dizon
MCC Theater
SAMMAY (Samantha Peñaflor Dizon) is a kinetic storyteller who engages her body as a vessel for spiritual intercession and envisions a future in which our indigenous traditions co-exist with(in) our urban landscapes. Her choreography is a unique blend of Hip Hop, urban dance, and contemporary movement with African diaspora influence - inspired by the desire and longing to (re)connect and (re)vitalize our relationship with the earth and each other. She is of Kapampangan, Ilokano, and Bikol descent born and bred in Carson, CA/Tongva Territory and now reclaiming space in San Francisco, CA with honor and gratitude to the Ohlone. She holds a B.A. in Media Studies and Sociology and minors in Dance & Performance Studies and Global Poverty & Practice from University of California, Berkeley.
Cup of Culture
Los Eternos Indocumentados
MCC Theater
Based on interviews with recently arrived Central American immigrants and organizers leading the struggle on the ground in Central America and the United States, this film captures the stories of refugees, LGBTQ migrants, children and families, and uncovers the root causes of forced migration and the consequences of migrant incarceration. In the words of revolutionary Salvadoran poet, Roque Dalton, this film captures the lives of the eternally undocumented.
Post film discussion with Steven Osuna, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach, and Jennifer Carcamo, a queer Salvadoran independent filmmaker, scholar, organizer and PhD student in the History Department at UCLA with a focus on Latin America. 1h 17m
Race & Religion
Altering our Commitments: How to Defeat Islamophobia in the United States Moustafa Bayoumi
MCC Theater
In today’s United States, Muslims—who have been here since before the nation’s founding—are routinely and repeatedly considered to be outsiders, dangerous newcomers who must tirelessly and continuously prove their loyalty to the country. Not only does this fiction that American Muslims are new members of American society distort our national history, but it also enables a way of thinking about Islam that reinforces decades of disastrous American foreign policy. In this lecture, Moustafa Bayoumi—author of This Muslim American Life, among other works—will describe the little-known Muslim past of the United States, how the Islamophobic present functions to buttress traditional American power and racism, and the surprising opportunity created by this moment to forge a new, more equitable future. Moustafa Bayoumi is a Professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY) and the author of the critically acclaimed How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America.
