Aisha Fukushima is a performance lecturer, justice strategist, singer/songwriter, and rap activist (RAPtivist). She is the founder of RAPtivism, a hip-hop project spanning 20 countries and four continents that amplifies efforts for freedom and justice. A multilingual, multiracial, African American Japanese woman, Fukushima has lectured and performed around the globe, highlighting links between such themes as hip hop, global citizenship, empowerment, feminism, and cultural activism through her storytelling and live musical performance. Part of the Cultural Arts and Equity Hip…

Keneshia Grant is an associate professor of political science at D.C.’s Howard University, where her research and teaching focus is on state and local governments and Black voters. She is the author of The Great Migration and the Democratic Part: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century (2020). Hosted by the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service. The event will be streamed on YouTube Live.

This panel will explore the racial segregation and resistance to discrimination in the Mid-Columbia region. The panel coincides with the publication of Bauman and Franklin’s new book Echoes of Exclusion and Resistance: Voices from the Hanford Region, published by the WSU Press. Hosted by the WSU Tri Cities College of Arts and Sciences. Registration is required to attend. Registrants will obtain the Zoom link through registration.

Ryka Aoki is a transgender woman and Japanese-American poet, composer, teacher, and the author of several volumes of poetry. She has performed her work widely, and she was honored by the California State Senate for her “extraordinary commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people.” Aoki is currently a professor of English at Santa Monica College. Hosted by the WSU Visiting Writers Series and live-streamed via YouTube Live.

In this filmed lecture, distinguished historian John H. Bracey Jr. offers a provocative analysis of the devastating economic, political, and social effects of racism on white Americans. In a departure from analyses of racism that have focused primarily on white power and privilege, Bracey trains his focus on the high price that white people, especially working-class whites, have paid for more than two centuries of divisive race-based policies and attitudes. Through an array of examples, Bracey's central point is that…

What does it mean to be against The Black? The question serves as a reminder that Black people—in particular Black boys and young men struggle to exist as humans within a world where there is such a disdain with Blackness. When so many people struggle to love Blackness, how do Black boys and young men find ways to cultivate and sustain their mattering, well-being, futurity, and joy? Black Boy Joy is a spiritual Life Force and a liberatory emotional expression that satisfies Black…

When you write a memoir, whether it be three-paragraphs or book-length, you are necessarily the hero of the story. But, as Susan Shapiro notes, qualities that make you likable and popular in real life like confidence, beauty, success, and intelligence can put off readers. By the same token, stories of abject victimhood can also make readers turn away. With reference to Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime and other successful memoirs, DJ Lee (English) will offer strategies for how to tell…

Attendees at this Virtual Trivia Night will have their knowledge tested on the life and legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as learn more about the civil rights icon in a relaxed atmosphere. Hosted by Global Connections as part of their MLK programming. Register at https://connections.wsu.edu/calendar/mlk-trivia/