All Events
Diversity Lecture
Feeling Politics: The Role of Emotions in Environmental Racism Fights
Dr. Nadia Kim
MCC Theater
Dr. Kim’s book, Refusing Death, examines race, class, gender, and citizenship with respect to the growing social phenomenon of marginalized and unauthorized immigrants – especially women and youth – making political inroads by way of grassroots activism, at times, sidestepping the need for formal political channels. By way of nearly four years of ethnographic observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis of Asian American and Latin@ environmental justice activism in the industrial-port belt of Los Angeles, she finds that these mostly female immigrant activists view their work as much more than an effort to spare their children’s lungs from the grey exhaust plumes of cargo ships and oil refineries; they are also redefining notions of politics, community, and citizenship in the face of America’s nativist racism and its system of class injustice, defined by disproportionate pollution and neglected schools, surveillance/deportation, and political marginalization. By inventively dovetailing all of these dimensions, the women show that they are highly conscious of how environmental and educational harms are an assault on their bodies and emotions; hence, they center embodied and affective strategies to uniquely challenge the neoliberal state’s neglect and betrayal and, ultimately, to refuse death.
Short Bio: Nadia Kim is Professor of Asian and Asian American Studies (and, by courtesy, Sociology) at Loyola Marymount University. Her research focuses on US race and citizenship injustices concerning Korean/Asian Americans and South Koreans, race and nativist racism in Los Angeles (e.g., 1992 LA Unrest), immigrant women activists, environmental racism and classism, and comparative racialization of Latinxs, Asian Americans, and Black Americans. Throughout her work, Kim’s approach centers on (neo)imperialism, transnationality, and the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and citizenship. Kim is author of the multi-award-winning Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA (Stanford, 2008); of multi-award-winning Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA (Stanford, 2021); and award-winning journal articles on race and assimilation and on racial attitudes. In part as a UCSB undergraduate, Kim has long organized on issues of immigrant rights, affirmative action, and environmental justice, some of which she has incorporated into her research. She and/or her work have also appeared (inter)nationally on National/Southern California Public Radio, Red Table Talk, Radio Korea, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Korea Times, NYLON Magazine, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Co-Sponsors: Environmental Justice Alliance, Office of Equal Opportunity & Discrimination Prevention, and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Black Flea Market
MCC Lounge
Welcome to the Black Flea Market brought to you by the MCC in collaboration with the Office of Black Student Development (OBSD). This event is centered around celebrating Black magic during Black History Month. The goal is to embrace the Black community at UCSB with participation from various Black organizations, creatives, and most importantly YOU. Join us for delicious food, FREE goodies for the soul, body, mind, and spirit – music and the best of vibes.
Co-sponsors: - OBSD, BSU (Black Student Union), Alpha Phi Alpha, NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers and Scientists, EASA (East African Student Association), EOP AdCRC, NSA (Nigerian Student Association), among many others.
Flyer artwork by Afiya Browne.
**POSTPONED** - Mirror Memoirs: Trauma, Healing and Surviving as Tools for Social Justice
EVENT POSTPONED TO SPRING QUARTER
**EVENT POSTPONED** (2/21/23) - This event has been postponed to Spring quarter. Check back with the MCC for updates and new date.
Activist Scholar in Residence Series
MIRROR MEMOIRS: Trauma, Healing, and Surviving as Tools for Social Justice
Amita Swadhin & Jaden Fields are nationally-recognized survivor-activists in the movement to end child sexual abuse and rape culture. Together, they co-lead Mirror Memoirs, a national organization uplifting the narratives, leadership and healing of Black, Indigenous and of color LGBTQ+ child sexual abuse survivors. The Mirror Memoirs network counts 650 QTIBIPOC survivors and thousands of accomplices as members across the US.
In November 2021, Mirror Memoirs filmed a new theater project, "Transmutation: A Ceremony," featuring four Black transgender, non-binary and/or intersex assigned-male at birth women and femmes who survived child sexual abuse, navigate the ongoing violence of the world as Black trans femmes, and share their vision of healing and the world we need and deserve.
Visit linktr.ee/mirror.memoirs for more information, and follow their Instagram @mirror.memoirs
Music Performance
Yaya Bey Music Performance
Yaya Bey
MCC Theater
(Doors open at 7pm)
Yaya Bey is one of R&B’s most exciting storytellers. Using a combination of ancestral forces and her own self-actualization, the singer/songwriter seamlessly navigates life’s hardships and joyful moments through music. Bey’s new album, Remember Your North Star (out June 17), captures this emotional rollercoaster with a fusion of soul, jazz, reggae, Afrobeat, and hip-hop that feeds the soul. The artist’s knack for storytelling is best displayed in the album’s lead single, “keisha”. It’s an anthemic embodiment of fed-up women everywhere who have given their all in a relationship, yet their physical body nor spiritual mind could never be enough.
Bey’s ability to tap into the emotionally kaleidoscopic nature of women, specifically Black women, is the essence of the entire album. With themes of misogynoir, unpacking generational trauma, carefree romance, parental relationships, women empowerment, and self-love, Remember Your North Star proves that the road to healing isn’t a linear one – there are many lessons to gather along the journey.
“I saw a tweet that said, ‘Black women have never seen healthy love or have been loved in a healthy way.’ That’s a deep wound for us. Then I started to think about our responses to that as Black women,” Bey says of Remember Your North Star’s title inspiration, an entirely self-written project featuring key production from Bey herself, with assists from Phony Ppl’s Aja Grant and DJ Nativesun. “So this album is kind of my thesis. Even though we need to be all these different types of women, ultimately we do want love: love of self and love from our community. The album is a reminder of that goal.”
The artist’s raw, unfiltered approach threads Remember Your North Star. “big daddy ya” finds the artist tapping into her inner rapper, channeling the too-cool and confident factor that artists like Megan Thee Stallion and City Girls are well-known for. “reprise” captures women’s exhaustion everywhere, with its lyrical tug-of-war of bettering oneself while trying to cut yourself off from toxic relationships. There’s also “alright” (co-produced by Aja Grant), a soothing, jazz-inspired ditty that showcases Bey’s love for the genre’s icons like Billie Holiday, while the carefree “pour up” highlights the artist’s friendship with DJ Nativesun (the song’s producer) and will immediately rush hips to the dancefloor.
There is no fakeness when it comes to Bey’s music, and her authenticity can be partly attributed to her upbringing in Jamaica, Queens. Early childhood memories included watching her father (pioneering ‘90s rapper Grand Daddy I.U) record in his studio – which also doubled as Bey’s bedroom – and listening to records by soul legends Donny Hathaway and Ohio Players around the house. Beginning at age nine, the artist’s father would leave space for her to write hooks to his beats, using her favorite artists like Mary J. Blige and JAY-Z as inspirations.
Bey quickly grew out of New York City and moved to D.C. at age 18. Calling it her second home, the city further ignited the artist’s creativity as she worked at museums and libraries, as well as tapping into poetry and attending protests. Her first release ‘The Many Alter - Egos of Trill’eta Brown’ in 2016 that incorporated a digital collage and a book, was praised by FADER, Essence, and many more. Bey followed up with fellow critically acclaimed projects like 2020’s ‘Madison Tapes’ album and 2021’s ‘The Things I Can’t Take With Me’ EP – the first release on Big Dada’s relaunch as a label run by Black, POC and minority ethnic people for Black, POC and minority ethnic artists – that received support from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR, Harper’s Bazaar, FADER, HotNewHipHop, Dazed, Clash, FACT, Crack Magazine, The Line of Best Fit and Mixmag.
In 2021, Bey was also profiled by Rolling Stone for their print magazine, contributed to the publication’s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, and curated a playlist for Document Journal. The artist’s “september 13th (DJ Nativesun Remix)” and “made this on the spot” singles received strong radio support from BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC 1 Xtra’s Jamz Supernova. Last May, Bey was interviewed on BBC 1Xtra and performed three tracks for Jamz Supernova’s “Festival Jamz” including The Things I Can’t Take With Me’s “fxck it then” and “september 13th” that December.
Bey is also a critically acclaimed multidisciplinary artist and art curator, creating the artwork for her music through collages of intimate photos and self-portraits. In 2019, her work was featured in the District of Columbia Arts Center’s “Reparations Realized” exhibit and Brooklyn’s Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA)’s “Let the Circle Be Unbroken” exhibit. She also completed multiple fine art residencies with MoCADA, curating programs that reflect the same theme that drives her music: the Black woman’s experience.
‘Remember Your North Star’ continues Bey’s personal and artistic evolution as she strives to be a soundboard for Black women everywhere. “I feel empowered in music because I can transform anything that happens to me into something that is valuable. Music helps me to see the value in what’s going on in my life,” she explains. “There’s a spirit in music. It’s a culture and I’m in that community, contributing my story which keeps us connected.”
Co-Sponsors: Jackson Social Justice Legacy Scholarship / BWHC
