March 30: Eqbal Ahmad Lecture by #BlackLivesMatter Co-founders

The lecture keynotes a weeklong symposium at the College, March 29 through April 3, organized by the Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center and its ASK (Attitudes, Skills, and Knowledge for Social Justice) planning committee in response to, and as a call to action in the face of, anti-Black racism.

Eqbal Ahmad Lecturers:

Artist and organizer Patrisse Cullors is the founder and executive director of Los Angeles-based Dignity and Power Now, dedicated to protecting incarcerated people and their families. She recently led a think tank on state and vigilante violence for the 2014 Without Borders Conference, and produced and directed a theatrical piece entitled POWER: From the Mouths of the Occupied. Cullors is a Fulbright fellowship recipient and was named 2007 Mario Savio activist of the year.

Alicia Garza is special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She has received multiple awards for organizing in Black and Latino communities and fighting gentrification and environmental racism. When she led People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in San Francisco, POWER won free local public transportation for youth, beat back local policies targeting undocumented people, and organized against police violence in Black neighborhoods.

Opal Tometi is executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), which educates and advocates for immigrant rights and racial justice with African-American, Afro-Latino, African, and Caribbean immigrant communities. The organization’s most recent campaign helped win family reunification visas for Haitians displaced by the 2010 earthquake. She helps shape the strategic work of the Pan African Network in Defense of Migrant Rights and the Black Immigrants Network (BIN). Essence Magazine named Tometi a “New Civil Rights Leader” in November 2014 for her movement-building work.

The annual Eqbal Ahmad Lecture honors the teaching, scholarship, and activism of the late Eqbal Ahmad, who was a longtime Hampshire College professor. Previous Eqbal Ahmad lecturers include Michelle Alexander, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Edward Said, Arundhati Roy, Kofi Annan, Seymour Hersh, Amira Hass, Mustafa Barghouti, and Noam Chomsky.

Tometi, Cullors, and Garza have also submitted articles for community members to read in advance of the event:

From the Huffington Post: Black Future Month: Examining The Current State Of Black Lives And Envisioning Where We Go From Here by Opal Tometi

From the Guardian: Ferguson protests to #FergusonNext: 5 paths to progress, after non-indictment by Patrisse Cullors and Darnell Moore

From the Feminist Wire: A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement by Alicia Garza

The lecture is being given as part of the 12^th Annual ASK for Social Justice program. This year, ASK is urging participants to recognize and counteract the ways in which they contribute to anti-Black racism. A schedule of events will be posted that includes engaging workshops, lectures, film screenings, and performances to the public.

For further information about the Eqbal Ahmad Lecture, please email mfahey@hampshire.edu. For information about the ASK program, please email mscheidfrantz@hampshire.edu.