Richard Oakes Multicultural Center

New Blog

2011-09-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hello! This blog has been moved to www.richardoakes.wordpress.com

We hope you keep supporting and following the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center at our new virtual home!

Love

ROMC

Standing with the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers

2011-07-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Over 6000 prisoners in the Secure Housing Unit at Pelican Bay Prison are striking to protest inhumane living conditions, as described in this article:

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/07/thousands_of_ca_inmates_show_solidarity_with_hunger_strike.html

Here are some troubling statistics:

-The prison population has grown 400% over the past twenty years. (Critical Resistance)

-Between 1990 and 2006, prisoners in California grew by 73% (PPIC)

-People of color comprise 69% of the prison population (Critical Resistance)

-In June 2009, the number of new inmates in Indian country was 11, 357--nearly 5 times the national average. (BJS)

Keep updated on the ongoing Pelican Bay hunger strikes here at this blog.

Other resources...

Local Organizations:

All of Us Or None

Critical Resistance

California Coalition for Women Prisoners

Further Reading :

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness

Michelle Alexander

Prison/Culture: An Illustrated Introduction

Mark Dean Johnson

Critical Resistance to the Prison-Industrial Complex: A Special Issue of the Journal Social Justice

Primetime Prisons on U.S. T.V: Representation of Incarceration

Bill Yousman

(Available now at the ROMC Library)

Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California

Ruth Wilson Gilmore

Are Prisons Obsolete?

Angela Y. Davis

Assata: An Autobiography

Assata Shakur

(These books not yet available at the ROMC)

Happy Pride Week!

2011-07-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Now that you're all (hopefully) recuperated from celebrating Pride last week, time for some queer-friendly summer reading... Check out these amazing new titles that we just got in at the ROMC Library:

Until recently, immigration scholars have left out the experiences of gays and lesbians. In fact, the topic of sexuality has only recently been addressed in the literature on immigration. The Sexuality of Migration makes significant connections among sexuality, state institutions, and global economic relations. Cantú situates his analysis within the history of Mexican immigration and offers a broad understanding of diverse migratory experiences ranging from recent gay asylum seekers to an assessment of gay tourism in Mexico.

In this pathbreaking work, Jasbir K. Puar argues that configurations of sexuality, race, gender, nation, class, and ethnicity are realigning in relation to contemporary forces of securitization, counterterrorism, and nationalism. She examines how liberal politics incorporate certain queer subjects into the fold of the nation-state, through developments including the legal recognition inherent in the overturning of anti-sodomy laws and the proliferation of more mainstream representation.

The essays in Queer Globalizations: Citizenship and the Afterlife of Colonialism bring together scholars of postcolonial and lesbian and gay studies in order to examine from multiple perspectives the narratives that have sought to define globalization. Contributors include Joseba Gabilondo, Gayatri Gopinath, Janet Ann Jakobsen, Miranda Joseph, Katie King, William Leap, Lawrence LaFountain-Stokes, Bill Maurer, Cindy Patton, Chela Sandoval, Ann Pellegrini, Silviano Santiago, and Roberto Strongman.

Two Important Figures in Black History Remembered..

2011-04-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

As we gear up for Malcolm X Day in May, we remember two incredible and impactful lives, separated by several decades: Malcolm X and Dr. Manning Marable. While most in mainstream America today unanimously celebrate Malcolm's contributions to civil rights as we know them today, few understand how the roots of his activism were shaped by his childhood, or recognize his complicated, often controversial role amongst both enemies and allies. Dr. Marable's new book Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (Viking), released yesterday, April 4, 2011, provides new revelations about the man. An excerpt:

From where the Nation stood in late 1964, the benefits of killing Malcolm outweighed the potentially significant costs. His involvement in publicizing the individual paternity cases of Evelyn Williams and Lucille Rosary, and his success in establishing MMI's connections with internaitonal Islamic organizations, had created a new and threatening situation. (p.423)

Tragically, just 3 days before the release of this historic book, author Dr. Manning Marable, a renown scholar of African American history, passed away on April 1, 2011. Dr. Marable published numerous books on Black history, race, politics and economics over the years. Most famous of these was his 1983 text, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America which, though controversial, received widespread critical acclaim and helped to shape a "black capitalism" movement across the nation.

In memoriam, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (aka Malcolm X) and Dr. Manning Marable.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (Viking, 2011) is now available at the ROMC Library, located on the Terrace Level of the Student Center, through Room T-143.

2011-01-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

Any Discussion topics or question concerning the chapters we read for the Book Club?!

Post them here!

Cherokee Nation Court Rules in Favor of Descendents of Slaves

2011-01-20T13:16:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 18 2011, 12:47 PM ESTTags: Cherokee Nation

36Share

A Cherokee Nation judge ruled last week that descendants of freed Cherokee slaves can legally claim tribal membership. The issue stems from an 1866 treaty that was amended in 2007 to require tribal blood for membership.

Chris Casteel explains at The Oklahoman:

In the decision Friday, Cherokee Nation District Court Judge John Cripps wrote that the post-Civil War treaty signed by the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. government specifically addressed the status of freedmen — former slaves who had been owned by tribal members. The treaty provided that freedmen and their descendants “shall have all the rights of native Cherokees,” Cripps wrote.
The nation is still bound by the treaty, Cripps wrote. Though the French, Spanish, English and U.S. governments have violated treaties made with the tribe, Cripps said, “This does not mean that the Cherokee Nation should descend into such manner of action and disregard their pledges and agreements.”

More recently, some black members of Congress called for a Justice Department investigation and filed legislation that would have stripped the tribe of millions of dollars in federal funds.

Diane Hammons, attorney general for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, says that tribal leadership respectfully disagrees with the ruling.

“We believe that the Cherokee people can change our Constitution, and that the Cherokee citizenry clearly and lawfully enunciated their intentions to do so in the 2007 amendment,” Hammons told The Oklahoman. “We are considering all options, including our right to appeal to the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court.”

Article from Colorlines.com:

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/01/cherokee_nation_court_declares_freedman_are_members_too.html

For more reading on this issue, check out Blood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity In the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma by Circe Sturm available in the ROMC Resource Library.

2011-01-06T12:45:00.000-08:00

How many of you would be interested in joining the ROMC book club? We're starting one within the next couple of weeks...first reading would be Scalpel and the Silver Bear, by Lori Alvord.

Comment/message or email at romclibrary@gmail.com for more info, to get on the list, and to be updated on when we plan on starting up!

An evening with IITC...

2010-12-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

...in solidarity with Indigenous People Around the World

Wednesday, December 15 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

In Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples Around the World

La Pena Cultural Center - Berkeley

3105 Shattuck Avenue

Berkeley, CA

An evening with the International Indian Treaty Council

Peltier family accuses U.S. government of medical neglect

2010-12-08T13:53:00.001-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
15 November 2010
Contact: Delaney Bruce, Legal Team Liaison, Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106, USA; Telephone: 1-701-235-2206; contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info

Peltier family accuses U.S. government of medical neglect

“A man dies from prostate cancer every 16 minutes in this country. Why does my brother have to wait over a year to receive even a diagnosis?”

Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who maintains his innocence, was wrongfully convicted in connection with the shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1977. Imprisoned for 35 years—currently at the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania—Peltier has been designated a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, 55 Members of Congress and others—including a judge who sat as a member of the court in two of Peltier’s appeals—have all called for his immediate release. Widely recognized for his humanitarian works and a six-time Nobel Prize nominee, Peltier also is an accomplished author and painter.

Sister Betty Solano says Peltier began exhibiting symptoms commonly attributed to prostate cancer over a year ago. His age (he is 66 years old) and family history are risk factors for the disease. Pressured by Peltier’s attorneys, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) ran standard blood tests in June. Peltier received the results last week, over four months later. A physician only now says a biopsy is needed to make a diagnosis.

Prostate cancer affects 1 in 6 men in the United States. Medical experts agree that the cure rate for prostate cancer is high, but only if detected early.

Even if Peltier doesn’t have cancer, the symptoms indicate a serious medical condition and one that could lead to serious complications if left untreated.

A physician who conducted an independent review of Peltier’s medical records in 2000 concluded that Peltier’s overall medical treatment is below a reasonable standard of care. Decades ago, Peltier suffered a stroke which left him nearly blind in one eye—damage physicians say could have been prevented had he been treated sooner. In the 1990s, there was international outrage after the BOP botched surgeries to correct a jaw problem. Only then was Peltier transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for treatment. Subsequent procedures were recommended by a specialist, but never performed by the BOP.

“Last week, at the United Nations, the United States claimed that it is unequivocally committed to the humane treatment of all individuals in detention, including criminal detention. Delaying tests, avoiding a diagnosis, and preventing proper medical treatment for a potentially life threatening disease is not humane by anyone’s definition,” a spokesperson for the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee said.

“Unfortunately, this situation isn’t unique to Mr. Peltier. Many U.S. prisoners die prematurely because treatment is delayed or denied.”

Family members want the government to release Peltier who was denied parole in 2009. His North Dakota tribe has twice passed a resolution asking the government to transfer Peltier into their custody. Peltier’s many supporters believe his release from prison is the only way Peltier will receive humane treatment.

Can we help you with your finals?

2010-12-08T13:27:00.001-08:00

Need a new place to study? Looking for books for your research paper?

Come to the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center during Study Week! The ROMC, located on the Terrace Level of the Student Center, will be open to students during Study Week (Dec 6-10) as a quiet study space.

The ROMC Resource Library features books and publications on:

o American Indian Studies

o African-American Studies

o Raza Studies

o Asian/Pacific-Islander Studies

o Women and Gender Studies and

o Other historically oppressed communities.

Although our books are not yet available for check out, we welcome students to visit us during Study Week, where books from the collection will be available for students to bring into the ROMC study space for research and reference.

ROMC & ROMC Library Study Week Hours

Monday, Dec 6: 11am-3pm

Tuesday, Dec 7: 10am-7pm

Wednesday Dec 8: 11am-7pm

Thursday Dec 9: 10am-3pm

Friday Dec 10: 10am-5pm

The ROMC Resource Library & Archive is located on the Terrace Level of the CCSC, through the Computer Lab in T-143.

"Sin by Silence"

2010-12-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

You can send a message to the governor here.

Reading for World AIDS Day

2010-12-01T13:55:00.000-08:00

Latino Gay Men and HIV by Rafael Diaz seeks to uncover why Latino gay and bisexual men are suffering from AIDS at epic proportions. He takes a close, personal look at the intersections of homophobia, poverty, racism and machismo in creating this problem.

Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited: AIDS and its Aftermath by Andrew Holleran is a republication of Andrew Holleran's original collection of essays written and published in 1988, during the first years of the AIDS crisis. This new collection includes important insights and reflections of the last 20 years since its first publication.

Both of these books are available at the ROMC Resource Library & Archive.

Some thoughts on Pigford v Cobell

2010-11-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

I recently received an email petition from a friend, forwarded from colorofchange.org which asked me to sign to support black farmers' lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture in the much delayed Pigford II settlement. Interestingly, nowhere in the petition did it mention how in recent news, Pigford II has been publicly linked by Obama to the equally long-standing Cobell settlement involving mismanagement of Indian trusts. At face value it seems that the two cases bear similarities: one involving black farmers whose rights to farming land have been denied through systematic discrimination in preferential loaning by the USDA; the other involving thousands of Indians whose rights to their personal property have been denied through federal mismanagement of trusts. Yet since Obama's public declaration linking these cases, there has been outcry from both sides insisting on the necessity for the cases to be considered separately; in fact, prominent figures in each camp have pointed fingers at the other, suggesting that linking the two cases has prevented their own settlement from moving forward.

How do we make sense of these complicated legal battles? One journalist has argued that Obama's call to consider the cases jointly is a result of mistaking the Cobell case for Keepseagle, another settlement involving Indian farmers, and that the actual terms of each case require individual consideration. It might also be argued that any contestation over property rights with the U.S. government by any other group can never be considered on the same terms as Native people.

At the same time, is there also something to be said for the loss of potential coalition-building between the two groups, despite the specificities of each case? As Carol Estes points out in her article, one major factor stalling the progress of Pigford II was the counterintuitive decree requiring each individual farmer to provide evidence of discrimination in separate "mini-trials," evidence nearly impossible to come by since it involved white farmers willingly providing information on loans they received. In a case like this that deals with systematic discrimination, it seems counterintuitive to rely on a legal process hinged on isolated judgements of individual cases. Bringing the matter back to Cobell and Pigford II, does a complete separation of the cases further support the bureaucratic nightmare of the federal process? Or is the integrity of each case lost in strategic alliance as is sometime inevitable in the coalition-building process?

-CK

Cited:

Estes, Carol. June 30, 2001. "Second Chance For Black Farmers" YES! Magazine. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/reclaiming-the-commons/second-chance-for-black-farmers

Letter of appreciation from President Corrigan

2010-11-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

New DVDs in the Library

2010-10-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Come check out the latest additions to our DVD collection! Introducing three incredible, acclaimed documentaries that challenge our understanding of our own histories as it has typically been told to us. Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School uncovers the dark history of the U.S. government's atrocious boarding school policy for Native children. The film, produced by Rich-Heape Films, won Best Feature Documentary at the International Cherokee Film Festival.

The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy is another multiple award-winning documentary by Native-owned production company, Rich-Heape Films. Told from a Native American perspective, the film explores the brutal history of the Cherokee Nation's forced relocation from their native homelands under the federal Indian Relocation Act of 1830.

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a critically-acclaimed documentary series by Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee. The documentary explores the disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the lives affected in New Orleans. Spike Lee asks hard-hitting questions about race, federal policy and inaction and the value of human life in this deeply political yet heartwrenching documentary.

New titles coming soon: Don't Get Sick In June: American Indian Healthcare by Rich-Heape Films

Exciting new community class in Oakland!

2010-10-19T11:24:00.001-07:00

This class will show history-based films, provide additional readings
and ALL participants will receive copies of the book "Urban Voices". A
Native American historian, Melinda Micco (Seminole/Creek/Choctaw)will
facilitate discussions following the films, which will allow community
members to share their own knowledge of their tribal histories and
process their reflections in a supportive environment.

Please Jessica LePak at jessical@nativehealth.org with any questions or concerns.

2010-10-15T11:44:00.001-07:00

Open Mind, Open Library.

Clear your calendars and save the date! Whatever you have to do to try and make it to the ROMC's celebration of Cesar Chavez Student Center's 35th anniversary.

For more info, contact us.

Indian Country Today Interviews Madonna Thunder Hawk

2010-10-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Indian Country Today features an article on famed Red Power activist and woman warrior, Madonna Thunder Hawk. She talks about her experiences during the 1973 Wounded Knee standoff and her lifetime of organizing:

Thunder Hawk described Red Power as a movement, not an organization. It involved entire families and communities, including children and elders who anchored the movement. "We were people-based. That's why we were effective." (Indian Country Today, Wednesday, October 13, 2010)

Come to the ROMC Resource Library to read the latest issue of Indian Country Today...

Rigoberta Menchu...

2010-10-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

is going to be speaking in Oakland on November 15,
clear your calendars and save the date for this amazing opportunity.

Here's the website for more info and to get your tickets:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/134367

New Journals added to ROMC library!

2010-10-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

The University of Chicago brings you...

Critical Inquiry, Volume 36 Number 4

A journal that is considered a "leading journal within literary studies," within the field of critical theory.

& Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Volume 36, Number 1

Feminists theorize International Political Economy.

Both of these great contributions to our library.

To read more about them, come visit us at T-143, through the computer lab.

National Coming out Week!

2010-10-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

ROMC Library has many books pertaining to Sexuality Studies!

Here's a list of a few of the books we offer.

Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America

2nd edition John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman

0-226-14264-7 1

Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco

Josh Sides 0-19-537781-1 1

Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men

Lori B. Girshick; Foreward: Jamison Green

1-58465-645-X 1

Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People (with a new preface), Why Darwin Was Wrong About Sexual Selection Joan Roughgarden 0-520-26012-2 1

Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation

Edited by Tommi Avicolli Mecca 0-87286-497-9 1

The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts

Claude J. Summers ed.

1-57344-191-0 1

For a complete listing of our books you can visit our website or visit us in person at T-143, through the computer lab!

For more updates you can always visit our other sites @:

Website: http://www.romclibrary.org/index001.html

Blogger: http://richardoakesmulticulturalcenter.blogspot.com/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/romclibrary

Twitter: http://twitter.com/romc4allvoices

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/romc4allvoices/page2/

COMMEMORATING 518 YEARS OF INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE!

2010-09-27T17:57:00.001-07:00

Remember to get your tickets out to Alcatraz for the Sunrise Ceremony on Oct 11, Indigenous Peoples day. 5am-9am

The annual sunrise gathering on Alcatraz Island commemorating 518 years (1492-2010) of Indigenous Peoplesʼ resistance to colonization of the Americas. Tobacco and prayers will be offered to the fire, give thanks for those who came before us, for Mother Earth and for coming generations. Everyone is welcome.

NEWS UPDATE!!

2010-09-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

The new Indian Country Today newspaper is in!

Article of the Day:

"New Yorkers Support Honoring Indian Treaties"

A Zogby poll was taken within the middle of New York, results showed that 68.4% of voters in this poll believe new and even OLD treaties should be honored!

If you want to read more about this visit the ROMC library in T-143 through the computer lab!

(Located on page 3 of the newspaper)

Wilma Mankiller, beloved leader and friend, passes on (1945-2010)

2010-04-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

Wilma Mankiller
1945-2010

The Richard Oakes Multicultural Center (ROMC) at the Cesar Chavez Student Center honors the life and legacy of Dr. Wilma Mankiller. Dr. Mankiller was an SFSU hall of fame alumna, scholar, Native American activist and women's rights heroine. She served as the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma from 1985-1995. Mankiller passed away at age 64, on April 6, 2010.

Among Mankiller's many successes, she oversaw the substantial revitalization of the Cherokee Natino of Oklahoma, including several new free-standing health clinics, and an $11 million Job Corps Center, greatly expanding services for children and youth. She also lef the team that developed the core of what's now known as Cherokee Nation Enterprises. In 1969, she participated in the Alcatraz Occupation. In 1998, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

Dr. Wilma Mankiller touched the lives of people all over the world with her wisdom and guiding vision. Her exemplary Cherokee leadership, her strong Native American advocacy, and her expansive work in the women's rights movement have inspired us all. Her spirit of determination, grace, humility, and decisiveness will always be remembered.

Visit the ROMC Resource Library & Archive and check out Indian Country Today's article on Wilma Mankiller. (At the Cesar Chavez Student Center on SF State campus. Terrace Level.)

We've also posted on Facebook (including preview of Indian Country Today's article).

The 17th Annual African American Community Health Fair

2010-03-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, April 20, 2010, the campus community will come together to celebrate the 17h Annual African American Community Health Fair! Students, staff, and faculty are invited to interact with on and off-campus social service and healthcare agencies, community groups, and individuals from the African American community. Free screenings including HIV antibody testing, cholesterol testing coupons (students only) glaucoma screenings, and nutrition assessments along with valuable information regarding health and self-care will be available from 10 am to 2 pm on the main lawn of the SFSU campus.

Please join us on this very special day!

For more information, please contact Albert Angelo at 415-338-3039 or at aangelo@sfsu.edu

nterviews with people involved during the Occupation of Alcatraz

2010-03-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

COMING SOON: Full interviews will be available at the library.

Interviewees:

- Clyde Bellecourt (Ojibwe). Co-founder of AIM (American Indian Movement). Veteran of the Occupation of Wounded Knee (1973).

- Tony Gonzales (Seri/Chicano). Indigenous Rights worker. Leader of AIM West. Community leader and organizer

- Bill Means (Oglala Lakota). Co-founder of IITC (International Indian Treaty Council). Wounded Knee veteran. Co-founder of U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

- Lenny Foster (Dine'). Prisoner Rights activist. Wounded Knee veteran. IITC board member. Veteran of the occupation of Alcatraz and BIA. Spiritual advisor.

- Dr. Betty Parent. Former Chairperson of the American Indian Studies Department at San Francisco State University.

- Tom Goldtooth (Dine'/Dakota). Executive Director of IEN (Indigenous Environmental Network). Grassroots organizer and educator

-Ann Marie Sayers (Ohlone). Activist/educator. Leader of the Indian Canyon Band of Coastonoan/Ohlone Indians

- L Frank (Tongva) Artist/educator/activist.

Please check back for updates on the full interviews that will be available at the library!
www.romclibrary.org

"We Are Still Here"

By Mark Nicely in collaboration with Larry Sillaway

Located in the West Plaza of the Cesar Chavez Student Center at SFSU.

The mural depicts community activism, self determination, resistance and survivance of Native American people and the defense of native lands. It also makes a connection between the SF State Strike of 1968-69 and the occupation of Alcatraz.

16th Annual Cesar Chavez Celebration

2010-03-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

Celebration in Honor of the continued struggle for immigrant workers' Rights

Thursday, March 25, 2010

12p-2p: Malcolm X Plaza
-speakers
-food
-music

2:30p-5p:Richard Oakes Multicultural Center
-Panel discussion on the relevance of Cesar Chavez's struggle, in the current political atmostphere.

All events are free and open to the public

Intersection for the Arts presents: "Open Process Series: Manufactured Manipulation"

2010-03-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Intersection for the Arts presents

Open Process Series:
Manufactured Manipulation

Tueseday, March 16, 2010
7pm
FREE

Amal Kouttab, Director of Community Initiatives at San Francisco Women Against Rape, will facilitate an interactive presentation in which participants learn to critically examine how the media promotes a “rape culture” and how this impacts our relationships with each other and with ourselves. The presentation will frame issues of sexual violence within the larger context of systems and institutions, while exploring how various forms of oppression intersect to create and sustain a cultural climate that normalizes sexual violence. This presentation is ideal for educators and anyone looking for tools to engage in creative dialogue about these issues.

San Francisco Women Against Rape provides resources, support, advocacy and education to strengthen the work of all individuals, and communities in San Francisco that are responding to, healing from, and struggling to end sexual violence. At SFWAR, they believe that no single individual, organization, foundation, or business alone can stop the epidemic of sexual assault, but by responding as a whole community, we each bring our piece of the solution. SFWAR provides a 24-hour free and confidential rape crisis hotline at 415-647-7273. SFWAR invites you to join them for their 5th Annual Walk Against Rape on April 24th culminating with a festival in Dolores Park. For more information or to register for the Walk Against Rape please visit their website at www.sfwar.org.

Amal Kouttab is a registered drama therapist, teacher, mediator, and filmmaker. She has used drama, art and writing to facilitate therapeutic groups in mental health settings, nursing homes, hospitals and drug rehabilitation centers in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. She obtained a bachelor's degree in the performing arts and women's studies from the University of Virginia in 1997, and a master's degree in psychology and drama therapy from New York University in 2001. For the past four years, she has facilitated therapeutic workshops with Palestinians and Israelis and other groups in conflict in the Middle East and the Bay Area. She has taught graduate psychology classes entitled Drama Therapy for Social Change at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she developed part of the curriculum focused on internalized oppression. She co-founded the Araceli Theater Project based at San Francisco General Hospital, which rehearses and performs original educational theater pieces for people with cancer.

*

This event is held in conjuntion with:

'The Bodies Are Back' by Margaret Harrison

Wed, Feb 10 - Sat, Mar 27 12pm - 5pm FREE

Margaret Harrison, renowned British artist and pioneer of feminist art, revisits the themes of her very early work exploring notions of the human body as an object of sexuality, consumption, and gaze. The Bodies Are Back consists of works on paper that Harrison produced in the late 1960's/early 1970's displayed alongside new works created for this show. In 1971, Harrison's work was instantly met with controversy and antagonism (the London police shut down her first solo exhibition the day after it opened feeling that its contents were too controversial). This controversy caused Harrison to abandon the issues and themes of this series. Now an established artist with work in the permanent collections of major international institutions, she is critically re-engaging with this body of work, continuing the dialogue that she began four decades ago.

*

INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS is San Francisco's oldest alternative art space and provides a place where provocative ideas, diverse art forms, artists and audiences can intersect one another. At Intersection, experimentation and risk are possible, debate and critical inquiry are embraced, community is essential, resources and experience are democratized, and today's issues are thrashed about in the heat and immediacy of live art.

We depend on the support of people like you. Please help ensure Intersection's future and become a Member today. To become a Member, simply click here to our secure server . For more information, please visit www.theintersection.org

Intersection for the Arts
446 Valencia Street (btwn 15/16), Mission District
San Francisco, CA 94103
http://www.theintersection.org/

The Art of Protest Reception at the CCSC Art Gallery

2010-03-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

The Art of Protest: Reception, Thurs, February 11, 2010, 5p-8p

The Art of Protest Reception at the Art Gallery was a huge success!!! There was good food, a great band, and many visitors!!!

for more photos from the event, visit us on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47800946@N03/

didn't get a chance to go to the reception? There is still a chance to visit the Art of Protest:
Running Dates: January 25, 2010 − March 11, 2010

A TWO-PART EXHIBIT, “The Art of Protest” will feature historic prints from the College of Ethnic Studies Strikes of 1969 (Part I) and current student work of all media created in response to the budget and education crises threatening our campus (Part II). The gallery doors will open on January 25, 2010 with a display of archived silkscreen prints that convey the spirit of the times and serve as a reminder of the importance of creative expression. On February 11, 2010, from 5 to 8 p.m., a gallery reception and public forum will take place, at which time the silkscreens from the past will be replaced by the current student work. These new works of protest will acknowledge the victories of the past while keeping focus firmly on concerns of the present—lending a voice to the anger felt statewide.

Gallery Hours:
Monday – Friday:
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
(or by appointment)

the art gallery is located on the Terrace Level of the Cesar Chavez Student Center

Gallery Manager:
Molly Cox
415.338.2580
artgallery@sfsustudentcenter.com
www.sfsustudentcenter.com/artgallery

CHECK OUT T.V. REED'S NOVEL "THE ART OF PROTEST" AT THE ROMC RESOURCE LIBRARY & ARCHIVE RM T-143 (inside the computer lab)

Lisa Lowe, author of Immigrants Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics writes:
"This impressive study shows that culture matters to social movements, and that social movements affect cultural and aesthetic practices. From the transmission of southern spirituals into freedom songs during the civil rights era to political theater in antiracist struggles, from poetry as a site of feminist consciousness-raising to mural painting within the Chicano movement, from rock music and the 1980s anti-apartheid student movement to performance art in ACT UP, Reed vividly demonstrates that cultural work has been a vital medium for imagining and acting for social change."

Safiya Bukhari Book Release-The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther...

2010-03-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

The War Before:
The True Life Story of
Becoming a Black Panther,
Keeping the Faith in Prison,
& Fighting for Those Left Behind

Foreward by Angela Davis
Afterword by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Edited, with an Introduction by Laura Whitehorn

Bay Area Release Event
with
Safiya Bukhari's Daughter, Wonda Jones
Editor, Laura Whitehorn
Former Panther, Kiilu Nyasha and other guests

Thursday, March 11, 7 pm
Women's Building - 3543 18th Street
San Francisco

endorsed by All of Us or None, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Freedom Archives, Friends of Marilyn Buck, It's About Time & Out of Control

http://www.feministpress.org/books/safiya-bukhari/war

Safiya Bukhari Website to view other Bay Area and National events and read reviews:
http://safiyabukhari.com/

http://www.freedomarchives.org/Safiya_event.html

Book celebration of Marshall Ganz's "Why David Sometimes Wins"

2010-02-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Check out the book celebration of Marshall Ganz's "Why David Sometimes Wins"

Location: Los Angeles, CA
July 2009

One of out SCGB students, Sam Brown, Chair, Student Fee Advisory Committee, attended this inspiring talk.

Book Celebration For Marshall Ganz Part 1 from Sandy Chung on Vimeo.

Book Celebration For Marshall Ganz Part 2 from Sandy Chung on Vimeo.

for more info on his new book, check out vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/5813182

The Black Rock: The Untold Story of the Black Experience on Alcatraz

2010-02-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

The Black Rock: The Untold Story of the Black Experience on Alcatraz

DATE:
Friday February 12

TIME:
8:00 PM-10:00 PM

Location Details:
Artists' Television Access
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Event Type:
Screening

The Black Rock: The Untold Story of the Black Experience on Alcatraz

Friday, February 12, 2010, 8:00 pm, $6
Dir. Kevin Epps in person

The Black Rock aka Black Alcatraz chronicles the role ofAfrican-Americans in the history of Alcatraz, the first super-maximumsecurity prison. The film identifies and examines the lives of a fewAfrican-American prisoners who were important figures in the history of“The Rock” from the 1930s to the 1960s. Some people believe that allcriminals are treated equally, and many are deceived by the notion thatall individuals receive equal treatment under the law. The Black Rockaka Black Alcatraz highlights the truth about the perseverance,sufferings, and resilience of African-Americans who experiencedAlcatraz during this time of racial prejudice and discrimination.Interviews with historians, archival footage, as well as photographsand re-enactments are used to present an entirely new perspective onthe most feared prison of its time. Dir. Kevin Epps (US 2009, 60m)

About the Director:

Kevin Epps documentary “Straight Outta Hunter’s Point” (2002) won bothlocal and national acclaim, establishing Epps as a leader in digital,independent film and new media. Epps’ other work, Rap Dreams (2006)about the struggles of upcoming rappers, received recognition as well.His most recent works, ranging from topics of gun violence to blackfatherhood, can be seen nationwide on Current TV, a network founded byAl Gore. Epps is the founder of Mastamind Productions as well as amember of Digital Media Advisory Council, and works with many communityorganizations including Conscious Youth Media, BAVC, the Hunters PointYouth Park. He is a frequent speaker on many panels and forums ondigital filmmaking and new media. http://www.blackalcatraz.com

TRAILER:

Thank you Author John C. Hammerback for his generous donation to the ROMC Library!

2010-02-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

Thank you John C. Hammerback for your donation of the publication "The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez" to the ROMC Library & Archive! A bookplate was created in your honor of your donation.

About John C. Hammerback:
John C. Hammerback is head of the department of communication at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and past president of the Western States Communication Association.Richard J. Jensen lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hammerback and Jensen separately and together have written some fifty scholarly articles and chapters and have collaborated on two other communication and rhetoric books.

The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez
by John C. Hammerback & Richard J. Jensen
Synopsis:
Cesar Chavez urged the farm laborers of America to say "Yes, we can!" An indefatigable speaker, writer, and non-discursive communicator, Chavez developed a well-thought-out approach to his rhetorical discourse and placed his speaking and writing at the very center of his career. By merging thought and character in his themes, arguments, and explanations, he identified with the character of his listeners. Award-winning scholars John C. Hammerback and Richard J. Jensen offer a thorough examination of how Chavez developed his speeches and writings to further his agenda for union activism. They analyze his world view, the rhetorical approaches he took, and many of his own texts, showing that although born into one of the least powerful segments of American society, Chavez led the farm-labor movement to unprecedented heights.

For more information about donating to the library, please visit:

http://www.romclibrary.org/romc_donate.html

Bookplates are created in honor of of donators.

The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez
by John C. Hammerback & Richard J. Jensen

Bay Area Indian Calendar-Jan 20,2010

2010-02-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

Bay Area Indian Calendar - January 20, 2010

Thanks to American Indian Contemporary Arts for the calendar. More detailed calendar info on these and other events is linked to the Bay Native Circle page at kpfa.org.

http://ical.mac.com/WebObjects/iCal.woa/wa/default?u=janeenantoine&n=BAIC%20Calendar.ics

To have events included in the calendar send TEXT info to janeenantoine@mac.com or post on http://groups.google.com/group/bay-area-native-american-indian-network.

Bay Native Circle airs on kpfa 94.1 Wednesdays from 2 – 3 p.m. Hosts rotate weekly with

1) Lakota Harden

2) Janeen Antoine

3) Morningstar Gali or Ras K’Dee

4) Gregg McVicar.

BNC is live at 94.1 -- and podcast, and online, everywhere, anytime at kpfa.org. It is archived for 2 weeks from original air date.

Thanks to our listeners for your support! UPCOMING Shingle Springs Tribal TANF Community Meeting invites community input and participation about the upcoming TANF program, including jobs, services and timeline.

Wednesday, January 20, 5:30 pm

SNAHC, 2020 J St. Sacramento.

FMI: 530.698-1433.

Arthur Manuel from the Olympic Resistance Network speaks against the Olympics on Native Land to rally supporters and educate the people on the issue of appropriated Native land and how to combat corporate privatization.

He speaks:

Wednesday Jan 20 at 7 pm,

Station 40, 3030 B 16th Street,

San Francisco.

Thursday, Jan 21 at 7 pm

East Conference Room, Memorial Union, UC Davis. $5-10 sliding scale, (no one turned away FMI: Cristina Fernandez, SeventhGenerationNation@yahoo.com, 831-320-8284.

Coast Miwok, Kashaya Pomo Basketmakers Julia and Lucy Parker present a Weaving Workshop Saturday, Jan 23, 10am – 4pm at NAS Studio, 1401 Hart Hall , UC Davis. Students prepare seasoned red willow to make a medium-sized gathering basket utilizing the weaving technique of twinning. Free but limited to 15 participants! To reserve your place email: cngorman@ucdavis.edu. La Cultura Cura Fundraiser benefit includes an art show.

Dedication and Unveiling of the Native American Mural "We Are Still Here"

2009-12-14T14:34:00.001-08:00

The Native American Mural was commissioned by the Cesar Chavez Student Center Governing Board and was dedicated on November 20, 2009. The mural depicts community activism, self determination, resistance and survivance of Native American peoples.

The mural themes include:

* The connection between the SF State Strike of 1968-69 and the occupation of Alcatraz.
* Self-determination and political struggle
* Ohlone tribal nation and other nations indigenous to the Bay Area
* Intertribal council of male and female leadership
* Genocide and Holocaust
* Exploitation and destruction of the land
* Survivance

Speakers:
MCs: Dianna Baldwin, (Osage/Kaw/Cherokee) President, S.K.I.N.S
& Philip M. Klasky, Department of American Indian Studies (AIS)
Opening Blessing by Ann Marie Sayers (Ohlone)
Dr. Kenneth Monteiro, Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies
Dr. Jake Perea, Dean of the College of Education
Dr. Melissa Nelson (Anishinaabe/Métis [Turtle Mountain Chippewa])(AIS)
Dr. Andrew Jolivette (Creole/Opelousa/Atakapa)(AIS)
Dr. Elizabeth Parent (Athabascan)
Aimée Zenzele Barnes, Richard Oakes Multi-Cultural Center
Jackie Mendez, Chair, Native American Mural Committee
Mike Preston (Winnemum Wintu)
Frank Kellum (Choctaw/Chickasaw)
Hector Heredia (Apache/Dine’/Yaqui)
April McGill (Yuki/Wappo/Wailaki/Little Lake)(AIS/S.K.I.N.S)
Michele Maas (Anishinaabe)(Native American Health Center)
Mural Artists, Marc Nicely and Larry Sillaway (Yurok)

Cultural Presentations:
Dr. John Carlos Perea (Mescalero Apache)(AIS)
Kanyon Sayers Roods (Ohlone)
Pomo Dancers
Eddie Madril (Pascua Yaqui)

Special Guests:
The Richard Oakes Family

Primary Artist: Marc Nicely in collaboration with Larry Sillaway

check out SFSU [x]press' article on the Native American Mural Dedication:
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/news/014070.html

check out a multimedia on the Native American Mural Unveiled here:
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/specials/2009f/MURAL/soundslides01/

check out American Indian Dances at the Mural Unveiling on [x]press' website under "[x]press multimedia":
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/

PICTURES FROM THE MURAL DEDICATION COMING SOON!!!

New Books and Magazines at the ROMC Resource Library & Archive!!!

2009-11-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the Books and Magazines that have arrived at the ROMC Library!

for more information, check out our facebook:

Magazines: News from Native California Vol. 22 No.4, Summer 2009

Vol. 23 No.1, Fall 2009

http://www.heydaybooks.com/news/

Books:

The Future of Indiegenous Peoples

Strategies for Survival and Development

Edited by Duane Champagne & Ismael Abu-Saad

0-935626-58-1

This collection of articles is the outcome of an international gathering of scholars to discuss the future of indigenous peoples throughout the world. The contributors examine contemporary conditions of indigenous peoples, explore future possibilities for social, economic, and political survival and development, and offer strategies for shaping future nation-state relations with indigenous peoples. Particular attention is given to the nation-state structure that preempted land rights and autonomous cultural, social, economic, and political development in the Americas, the Middle East, and China.

Native American and Nixon

Presidential Politics and Minority Self-Determination 1969-1972

Jack D. Forbes

0-935626-06-9

A study of how the Nixon administration dealt with Indian demands.

College of Ethnic Studies turns 40

2009-10-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

The College of Ethnic Studies here at SF State is turning 40 this year, and is celebrating with a fabulous conference.

We are participating by hosting a Twitter event.

By TwitterIcon.com

Follow the updates about the conference by following the Twitter account

@EthnicStudies40.

Please join in, and use #COES40 in your Tweet.

More books and films have arrived at the library!

2009-09-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here are more books and films that have recently arrived at the library!

American Indian Policy In the Twentieth Century

Edited by Vine Deloria, Jr. A paperback reprint of the important collection of essays on federal Indian policy originally published (cloth) in 1985 by the U. of Oklahoma Press.

Everything You Know about Indians is Wrong

Paul Chaat Smith

A highly entertaining and, at times, searing critique of the deeply disputed role of American Indians in the United States. Smith walks a tightrope between comforting and dangerous, offering unrepentant skepticism and, ultimately, empathy: “This book is called Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong, but it’s a book title, folks, not to be taken literally. Of course I don’t mean everything, just most things. And ‘you’ really means we, as in all of us.”

Tribes Treaties, & Constitutional Tribulations

Vine Deloria Jr. & David Wilkins

"Federal Indian law . . . is a loosely related collection of past and present acts of Congress, treaties and agreements, executive orders, administrative rulings, and judicial opinions, connected only by the fact that law in some form has been applied haphazardly to American Indians over the course of several centuries. . . . Indians in their tribal relation and Indian tribes in their relation to the federal government hang suspended in a legal wonderland."

In this book, two prominent scholars of American Indian law and politics undertake a full historical examination of the relationship between Indians and the United States Constitution that explains the present state of confusion and inconsistent application in U.S. Indian law. The authors examine all sections of the Constitution that explicitly and implicitly apply to Indians and discuss how they have been interpreted and applied from the early republic up to the present. They convincingly argue that the Constitution does not provide any legal rights for American Indians and that the treaty-making process should govern relations between Indian nations and the federal government.

The Art of Protest: Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to the Streets of Seattle T.V. Reed

Imagine the civil rights movement without freedom songs and the politics of women's movements without poetry. Or, more difficult yet, imagine an America unaffected by the cultural expressions and forms of the twentieth-century social movements that have shaped our nation. The first broad overview of social movements and the distinctive cultural forms that express and helped shape them, The Art of Protest shows the vital importance of these movements to American culture. In comparative accounts of movements beginning with the African American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and running through the Internet-driven movement for global justice ("Will the revolution be cybercast?") of the twenty-first century, T. V. Reed enriches our understanding of protest and its cultural expression. Reed explores the street drama of the Black Panthers, the revolutionary murals of the Chicano movement, the American Indian Movement's use of film and video, rock music and the struggles against famine and apartheid, ACT UP's use of visual art in the campaign against AIDS, and the literature of environmental justice. Throughout, Reed employs the concept of culture in three interrelated ways: by examining social movements as sub- or countercultures; by looking at poetry, painting, music, murals, film, and fiction in and around social movements; and by considering the ways in which the cultural texts generated by resistance movements have reshaped the contours of the wider American culture. The United States is a nation that began with a protest. Through the kaleidoscopic lens of artistic and cultural expression, Reed reveals how activism continues to remake our world. A comprehensive introduction to the culture of progressive movements in the United States.

Films:

The Salt Song Trail

The Salt Songs (Asi Huviav Purukain) are the sacred songs of the Southern Paiute (Nuwuvi) people. The songs are used in memorial ceremonies, for cultural revitalization and as a spriritual bond for the thirteen bands of Southern Paiutes living in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.

Through the beautiful landscape of the Colorado Plateau, desrts and river valley, the salt song trail traces the journeys of ancestral peoples to historic and scared sites, and collection sites for salt and medicinal herbs. This film documents a historic gathering—a former Indian boarding school where Indian children were forcibly taken from their homes and forbiddent to practice their traditional cultures. Salt Song singers and dancers return to the school years later to sing for the children who never came home.

This film is a collaboration between The Cultural Conservancy, a non-profit indigenous rights organization, and The Salt Song Trail Project of the Souther Paiute Nation.

The ROMC Resource Library will officially open October 1st 2009.

Come check out all of our new publications and films on multiculturalism.

Please check back for updates on when our virtual library will be available.

New books at the ROMC Library as of Sept. 2009!

2009-09-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

New Books have arrived at the ROMC library! The ROMC Resource Library has recently purchased over $1000 worth of books on Multi-culturalism. Most of the books purchased are on topics such as Richard Oakes, Malcolm X, the occupation of Alcatraz, and many more multi-cultural based books. Many of the books purchased were suggested by students and staff from the ROMC Resource Library Sneak Preview event, so please feel free to email us on Facebook if you have any suggestions on what you would like to see at the ROMC Resource Library.

Other multicultural studies that will be housed at our library:

-African American

-Asian American

-Latino/Chicano

-Native American

-Race, Class, & Gender,

-Politics and Society

-Women's studies

Not only are we working on housing various types of multicultural publications at the ROMC library, our staff is also working on a virtual library. Our virtual library will allow greater access to materials about Richard Oakes in particular, and about multiculturalism more broadly.

The ROMC Resource Library will officially open October 1st 2009.

Please check back for updates on when our virtual library will be available.

Here are some of the books recently purchased:

American Indian Activism: Alcatraz to the Longest Walk

Edited by Troy Johnson, Joane Nagel, and Duane Champagne

The American Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island was the catalyst for a more generalized movement in which Native Americans from across the country have sought redress of grievances, attempting to right the many wrongs committed against them. In this volume, some of the dominant scholars in the field chronicle and analyze Native American activism of the 1960s and 1970s. The book also provides extended background and historical analysis of the Alcatraz takeover and discusses its place in contemporary Indian

activism.

Like A Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee

Paul Chaat Smith & Robert Allen Warrior

It's the mid-1960's, and everyone is fighting back. Black Americans are fighting for civil rights, the counterculture is trying to subvert the Vietnam War, and women are fighting for their liberation. Indians were fighting, too, though it's a fight too few have documented, and even fewer remember. At the time, newspapers and television broadcasts were filled with images of Indian activists staging dramatic events such as the seizure of Alcatraz in 1969, the storming of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building on the eve of Nixon's re-election in 1972, and the American Indian Movement (AIM)-supported seizure of Wounded Knee by the Oglala Sioux in 1973. Like a Hurricane puts these events into historical context and provides one of the first narrative accounts of that momentous period. Unlike most other books written about American Indians, this book does not seek to persuade readers that government polices were cruel and misguided. Nor is it told from the perspective of outsiders looking in. Written by two American Indians, Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane is a gripping account of how for a brief, but brilliant, season Indians strategized to change the course and tone of American Indian-U.S. government interaction. Unwaveringly honest, it analyzes not only the period's successes but also its failures.

Heart of the Rock: The Indian Invasion of Alcatraz

Adam Fortunate Eagle

In 1969, Richard Oakes and Adam Fortunate Eagle, then known as Adam Nordwall, instigated an invasion of Alcatraz by American Indians. From the mainland, Fortunate Eagle orchestrated the events, but they assumed an uncontrollable life of their own. Fortunate Eagle provides an intimate memoir of the occupation and the events leading up to it. Accompanied by a variety of photographs capturing the people, places, and actions involved, Heart of the Rock brings these turbulent times vividly to life.

Red Power and Self-Determination: The American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island

Troy Johnson

The occupation of Alcatraz Island by American Indians from November 20, 1969, through June 11, 1971, focused the attention of the world on Native Americans and helped develop pan-Indian activism. In this detailed examination of the takeover, Troy R. Johnson tells the story of those who organized the occupation and those who participated, some by living on the island and others by soliciting donations of money, food, water, clothing, and other necessities.

Johnson documents the unrest in the Bay Area urban Indian population that helped spur the takeover and draws on interviews with those involved to describe everyday life on Alcatraz during the nineteen-month occupation. In describing the federal government’s reactions as Americans rallied in support of the Indians, he turns to federal government archives and Nixon administration files. The book is a must-read for historians and others interested in the civil rights era, Native American history, and contemporary American Indian issues.

Mestizaje: Critical Uses of Race in Chicano Culture

Rafael Pérez-Torres

Focusing on the often unrecognized role race plays in expressions of Chicano culture, Mestizaje is a provocative exploration of the volatility and mutability of racial identities. In this important moment in Chicano studies, Rafael Pérez-Torres reveals how the concepts and realities of race, historical memory, the body, and community have both constrained and opened possibilities for forging new and potentially liberating multiracial identities.

Informed by a broad-ranging theoretical investigation of identity politics and race and incorporating feminist and queer critiques, Pérez-Torres skillfully analyzes Chicano cultural production. Contextualizing the history of mestizaje, he shows how the concept of mixed race has been used to engage issues of hybridity and voice and examines the dynamics that make mestizo and mestiza identities resistant to, as well as affirmative of, dominant forms of power. He also addresses the role that mestizaje has played in expressive culture, including the hip-hop music of Cypress Hill and the vibrancy of Chicano poster art. Turning to issues of mestizaje in literary creation, Pérez-Torres offers critical readings of the works of Emma Pérez, Gil Cuadros, and Sandra Cisneros, among others. This book concludes with a consideration of the role that the mestizo body plays as a site of elusive or displaced knowledge.

Moving beyond the oppositions—nationalism versus assimilation, men versus women, Texans versus Californians—that have characterized much of Chicano studies, Mestizaje synthesizes and assesses twenty-five years of pathbreaking thinking to make a case for the core components, sensibilities, and concerns of the discipline.

Rafael Pérez-Torres is professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is author of Movements in Chicano Poetry: Against Myths, Against Margins, coauthor of To Alcatraz, Death Row, and Back: Memories of an East LA Outlaw, and coeditor of The Chicano Studies Reader: An Anthology of Aztlán, 1970–2000.

Want to plan an event at the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center?

2009-08-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

ROMC event planning is open to all students, student organizations, faculty, and staff of San Francisco State University. Attendance is open to everyone.

Past events at the ROMC include an American Indian Film Festival, a Save the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) rally, SF State 1968 Strike Lectures, a Filipino Community Mural celebration, Youth & Aids panel, speakers such as Dolores Huerta, Dr. Tommie Smith, Emory Douglas, Black History & Women's History month events, conferences, and workshops.

If you cannot find the type of event you're looking for among the diverse mixture of schedules events at the ROMC, then plan an event yourself, collaborate with other organizations and let our friendly and knowledgeable staff assist you in event planning.

How to apply:
Download the form at www.sfsustudentcenter.com and turn it into the Student Center Business Office C-134 located on the Lower Conference level.
Complete the Call for Programs Application (CFP) or download form at
www.sfsustudentcenter.com and turn into the Student Center Business Office C-134 located on Lower Conference.

For more information on the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center please visit our CCSC website:
http://www.sfsustudentcenter.com/programs/romc.php

Spring 2006
In celebration of Black History Month, Bantaba, an African American group consisting of seven performers and two dancers, performs at Jack Adams Hall. The group's aim is to share knowledge of African culture through music and dance.

Photo by:
Julia Robinson
Golden Gate [x] press staff photographer

New ROMC partners in 2008

2009-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

New ROMC partners in 2008 include:

-South Asian Studies Department

http://southasia.sfsu.edu/

-College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

http://bss.sfsu.edu/bss/

-Black Faculty & Staﬀ at San Francisco State University

-CSU Employees Union

http://www.csueu.org/

-Ruth Goldman Family Fund

http://www.goldmanfamilyfund.org/

-Center for Teaching & Faculty Development

http://ctfd.sfsu.edu/

-Counseling Student Association

http://www.csasf.com/

-Lambda Theta Nu Sorority, Inc.

http://nuchapterlambdas.org/chapters.php

-ECO-Students

http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~ecoforce/index.html

-Indian Graduate Student Association

http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~isadesi/mainpage.htm

-SF State Neighborhood Taskforce

http://www.sfsu.edu/~govrel/taskforce.html

-SF State Counseling Department

-International Exchange & Education Committee (IEEC)

http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~ieec/index.html

Thank you to all our new partners who have generously contributed to the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center. Our accomplishments, projects and daily activities would not be successful without the partnership of these various organizations. We not only appreciate their support, but we also value their partnership with us as we move forward with our mission.

Tote Bag giveaway

2009-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

The Cesar Chavez Student Center (which runs the ROMC) has some awesome tote bags that we are giving away.

We have 5 bags to give away. To be entered in the draw, please tell us your favorite website for 'alternative' news. Or, do you prefer mainstream websites? Or do you read newspapers?

Leave a comment below and you'll be entered in our drawing.

Leonard Peltier-Political activist and member of the American Indian Movement

2009-08-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

"Leonard Peltier is a political activist who has protested the mistreatment of Indians and whose controversial imprisonment has drawn worldwide criticism. An active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) , Leonard Peltier has become, for many Indians and non-Indians alike, a symbol of injustice. Many believe that he received drastically unfair treatment from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the American judicial system." (1)

"He was convicted and sentenced in 1977 to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the murder of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who were killed during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. There is considerable debate over Peltier’s guilt and the fairness of his trial." (2)

A Prayer Vigil was held on July 28, 2009 6:00 AM - 3:00 PM in the Old Federal Building in San Francisco.

Leonard received a parole hearing on July 28, 2009. The decision is pending and expected in mid- to late-August.

1. http://www.enotes.com/salem-history/leonard-peltier

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peltier

For more information on Leonard Peltier, visit:

-Leonard Peltier Trial

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Peltier.html

-Leonard Peltier defense commitee

http://www.leonardpeltier.net/

-CNN/Time Leonard Peltier Transcript

http://www.aics.org/LP/transcript.html

-biography

http://www.ipoaa.com/leonard_peltier_biography.htm

-American Indian Movement

http://www.aimovement.org/

-prayer vigil

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/28/18612869.php

Job Posting at Center for Young Women's Development

2009-07-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Center for Young Women's Development (CYWD) is one of the first non-profits in the United States run and led entirely by young women. Our mission is to empower and inspire young women who have been involved with the juvenile justice, foster care, and/or underground street economy to create positive chance in their lives and communities.

The Sister’s Rising Employment Training Program is a 9- month paid internship run for young women who have lived and worked on the streets and/or who have experienced the juvenile and criminal justice system. This program serves to develop each young woman’s sense of herself, belief in her potential, and ability to reach her goals. We support each young woman in her process of healing and transformation while helping her develop the hard skills necessary to achieve long-term job stability.

Position Description:
The Program Coordinator is responsible for the supervision of all 17 interns, ensuring the curriculum is relevant and current & successful transition of each intern into meaningful employment upon completion of program

For more information about the Program Coordinator Position contact:
Shirlese Garrick,
832 Folsom Street # 700 San Francisco, CA 94107
Email: Shirlese@cywd.org
Fax: 415-703-8818

DEADLINE: JULY 21, 2009

Q & A with the ROMC logo graphic designer: Chris Delbuck

2009-07-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

The ROMC logo is a very important part of the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center. It is a graphical representation of an environment that promotes and enhances discourse to foster a multi-ethnic, culturally conscious University that affirms the human and intellectual heritage of all peoples. WIthout Chris Delbuck and the fabulous designers in the Student Center's publicity department, the ROMC logo would cease to exist. These young adults who were responsible for the creation of the ROMC logo were not only CCSC staff— they were also students. They were required to study before and after grueling office hours, while working at the Cesar Chavez Student Center. So thank you to these amazing young adults that made the ROMC logo come to life.

Here is a quick Q & A with the ROMC logo graphic designer, Chris Delbuck:

When were you at SF State? What did you study?

I studied at SFSU from 2004 to 2007. I graduated with two BA's, one in Conceptual Information Arts, and the other in Industrial Arts (focus of Visual Communication).

What was your inspiration in designing the ROMC logo? My inspiration for the logo and identity came from Richard Oakes necklace that he is wearing in the infamously stoic photograph we have of him. I believe the necklace represents elements of nature, the sky, sun and earth but I'm not certain about that.

What were the most important criteria for you when you were making the design?

It was important to capture something personal about Richard Oakes in the design, and hopefully something that made people ask what it represented. The colors of the necklace were bold and it was such a symbolic element, so it made perfect sense to utilize it for the ROMC identity.

What did you like most about working at the Cesar Chavez Student Center/ with the ROMC?

What I loved most about working at the CCSC was the people I was surrounded by, and their stories of life and culture that I was exposed to. There is really something magical by being surrounded, and engaged by such a diverse group of people on a day to day basis. It is something I will always appreciate, and strive to find in future career and social environments.

Book donations from Project Connect to the ROMC Resource Library

2009-06-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

On behalf of the ROMC Resource Library and its staff, we would like to thank CCSC's Project Connect for their generous donation of several multicultural books to the new ROMC Resource library. Their commitment to helping build the new library in our community is sincerely appreciated.

Each year the ROMC continues to advance its mission of promoting a multi-ethnic, culturally conscious University, affirming equally the human and intellectual heritage of all peoples. We hope that we will continue to spread multiculturalism throughout the community through this new program.

With the help of donations from supporters such as Project Connect, we will continue to see improvements in the new ROMC Resource Library.

Here are some of the books that were donated by Project Connect:

Race, Rights, and the Asian American Experience

Angelo N. Ancheta

American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom

Hanes Walton Jr., Robert C. Smith

Culture, Crisis, and America's War on Terror

Stuart Croft

THANK YOU PROJECT CONNECT!!!

Associate Students Project Connect offers a FREE book loan service to SFSU students with low income and/or AB-540 students. Loans are given on a first come first served basis, so apply early! Check out their myspace for more information, or go to room T-139 in the Cesar Chavez Student Center and pick up an application.

Contacts:

Monday- Friday 9am-5pm

Student Center T-139

Phone: 415.405.4048

Fax: 415.338.0522

myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/asprojectconnect

15th Annual Malcolm X Celebration

2009-06-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

The 15th Annual Malcolm X Celebration was incredibly successful this year.

Check out some of the photos from the event:

Check out more photos on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36658939@N02/

for more information on the event, please read the following article:

http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/news/013228.html

Native American Mural Project

2009-06-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Student Center is now accepting proposals for the Native American Mural project. To download the guidelines for submitting a proposal, click on the link below

http://sfsustudentcenter.com/native_mural.php

ROMC Resource LIbrary Sneak Preview Day 2

2009-06-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

The 2nd ROMC Resource Library Sneak Preview event was held on May 20th in the ROMC and the ROMC Resource Library. The event was targeted towards the CCSC staff members and students. Guests were introduced to the new Resource library and given information on our mission statement and the library. The sneak preview event allowed guests to give feedback on how to improve the the ROMC Resource Library.

Please check out our pictures on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36658939@N02/page3/

-photos by Caroline Papp!!!

2009-06-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

The ROMC Resource Library has recently purchased over $1000 worth of books on Multi-culturalism. Most of the books purchased are on topics such as Richard Oakes, Malcolm X, the occupation of Alcatraz, and many more multi-cultural based books. Many of the books purchased were suggested by students and staff from the ROMC Resource Library Sneak Preview event, so please feel free to email us on Facebook if you have any suggestions on what you would like to see at the ROMC Resource Library. Here are some of the books recently purchased:

"Alcatraz: Indian Land Forever"

-Troy R. Johnson

"Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee"

-Paul Chaat, Robert Allan Warrior

"Native American and Nixon"

-Jack Forbes

A study of how the Nixon administration dealt with Indian demands

Drumroll please

2009-05-26T11:22:00.001-07:00

We are all excited to announce our new 'Donate a Book' campaign.

We love the idea of opening a book in the ROMC library and seeing a graduate's name and major celebrated right there on the front cover.

Friends and family can donate some money to the library, and we can buy new materials (or process older materials) for the next generation of students and community members. (Go to www.sfsustudentcenter.com/DonateABook)

We invite you to head on over to the webpage and celebrate your favorite grad!!!

!!!!CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL GRADUATES!!!

And if you have any suggestions for books for the library, please let us know by leaving a comment.

Suggestions and Feedback

2009-05-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

We held our second preview event on Wednesday. We again enjoyed showing people the library and sharing their excitement and suggestions.

We posted the following questions up on the wall, and had visitors fill out index cards with their ideas.

Questions:
• What does a resource library mean to you?
• What books, films, or other publications would you recommend for the ROMC resource library?
• Why would you use the resource library?
• How would you collaborate with the ROMC library?

And here's some of the feedback.

• A resource library implies a library/ resource center with access to line local and national databases; I would recommend information on various tribes and cultural groups native to the bay; I would use the resource library to research for personal, educational, or work related projects.
• A resource library is a place where people can come and learn about multicuturalism, different people’s experiences, as well as a place where they can donate—be it a book, an experience, or a narrative; I would like to learn more about Richard Oaks and his family today.
• A place to study and do research. It is a source that will help and promote my learning and growth as a person; I would recommend more docs regarding various minorities and religions groups to eliminate discrimination. I would encourage doing research concerning cultures and ethnic groups.
• How about an ROMC Resource library book club! A monthly discussion among faculty/ students about a relevant piece in the library; I would also love to collaborate the ROMC resource library and our office’s leadership in Action programs.
• Cross reference with LEAD leadership library in the future.
Suggestions:
• Resources on how to write papers and do research. If they are first year students, then it might be there first time writing research papers.
• T-143 should be a lounge when the computer lab is moved. Since students cannot check out books and media, they should be able to have more space to do research and read.
• A copier for the resource library would also help as well since books cannot be checked out.
• Blank CDs for sale just in case students would like to scan and save literature that they would like to read at home.
• More books on Richard Oaks would be great.
• The Autobiography on Malcolm X is one of the greatest books. It is a bit lengthy so having a lounge area would be great.
• There is a new resource center in the ethnic studies building as well as the Behavioral and Social Sciences building. Get in touch with both directors who have their own connections from their resource library.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you have any of your own? Post a comment and let us know.

Preview - The ROMC Library

2009-05-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Last week was a huge week for us. The computers in the library are up and running. We're moved the materials that have already been donated and that we have gathered from the Student Center's archives.

And we've hosted a preview for various staff, community members and students.

So, we'd like to share it with you too, our blog readers. Head on over to Flickr and check out our photos of the event.

Libraries on the web

2009-04-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

We're working hard on the Reference Library and Archive project at the ROMC.

One aspect of the library is to have materials online, as a 'virtual branch' to allow greater access to materials about Richard Oakes in particular, and about multiculturalism more broadly.

There's a huge project making global materials available globally at the World Digital Library.

For example, this is the 1720 map of California, created by Nicholas de Fer. Just one of 133 items from North America, including letters, photos, posters and books.

There's also 157 items from the Middle East and North Africa to explore, to mention just 2 regions.

Footage of Richard Oakes

2009-03-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

We had a great meeting last week with Alex Cherian, a film archivist with the SF Bay Area Television Archive at the Library at SF State.

He has some amazing footage from the Occupation of Alcatraz from various new outlets at the time. We're going to be working with him to make more of it available online.

In the meantime, here's 6 minutes of interviews from KQED, including Dennis Turner, Richard Oakes and LaNada Means.

Getting the word out.

2009-03-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

We're lucky enough to work with a fabulous team of SF State students at the Cesar Chavez Student Center's Publicity Department. Like 80% of the staff at the CCSC, they are all students enrolled at SF State, producing their wonderful images while attending lectures, completing classes etc. etc.

Here's their latest visual for the ROMC.

15th Annual Cesar Chavez events

2009-03-13T11:47:00.001-07:00

Aimee has been busy arranging the music, discussions and food in honor of Cesar E. Chavez, the amazing man that the Student Center is named after.

This is the 15th year we've taken the time to remember his work and legacy and be inspired again by his powerful activism.

Join us for some great events on Wednesday, March 15!

(The details are on the poster.)

February is Black History Month

2009-02-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

ROMC has been busy co-sponsoring events in honor of Black History Month.

Did you do anything special? How is Black History Month marked in your area? in your life?

The NY Post cartoon

2009-02-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

Rupert Murdoch finally published an apology about the New York post cartoon that visually connected President Obama and a chimpanzee.

Here's one example of a group spreading the word of the racist history of this visual image. Color of Change sent an e-mails encouraging people to write to the NY Post in protest.

The story has made international news, on the BBC News in the UK, for one.

Another example of why the ROMC does the work that it does.

"New Boy" short film nominee for the Oscars

2009-02-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

Have you watched the short film "New Boy" nominated for an Oscar?

If not, take 10 minutes out of your day, to do so here.

Steph Green examines the first day at a new school of a 9-year old who has just emigrated from Africa to Ireland.

Green went to High School in Marin, and she examined issues of immigration and multiculturalism in another short film "Push Hands."

She agrees that she has used both films to explore such issues. "I think I share with Roddy (Doyle) an interest in this new multicultural Ireland," Green explained. "When I first moved there, you wouldn't see a dark face. It was a very homogenous country. That is changed ever so rapidly.

"I'm fascinated with the pace of adjusting that the country is doing, and in most cases extremely well," she continued. "In America, I learned a lot about multiculturalism from a retrospective point of view, looking back at different waves of immigration. So it was interesting to literally be present as this massive change is happening."

(from Marin Independent Journal)

Did you enjoy it?

Accountability

2009-02-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

Mary Keller, the Assistant Director Program Services at the Student Center, shared this website with us, recovery.gov . It has been set up by President Obama as a website "that lets you, the taxpayer, figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going."

What do you think?

Since the Student Center - and therefore the ROMC - is mainly funded by 'Student Dollars' (the 'Student Body Center Fee' charged each semester. Currently $82), staff are very aware that we must be accountable to students who give us their precious dollars in exchange for our services and building.

You can see a breakdown of Student Center revenues and expenditures in these pie charts.

Since the ROMC was award a $20,000 grant from the SF Foundation, we are also looking to be accountable for this money too.

What do you think is the best way to do this?

A recent project - helping with the Palestinian Community Mural

2009-02-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

One of the highlights of being a part of the Cesar Chavez Student Center is seeing the amazing murals on the building.

The most recent was unveiled on November 2, 2007, in honor of Edward Said. ROMC's Program Development Officer, Aimee Barnes, was lucky enough to sit on the Student Center's Art Committee and be involved in the project.

Here's a great multimedia piece about the mural put together by the SF State student newspaper.

The timeline to the right shares some of the - lengthy - process involved in creating the mural. These histories are important as they are the reality of working on a multicultural campus and in a building that seeks to recognize the multiple heritages of the communities around us.

The lead artist himself discusses each element in the mural if you roll the mouse over the picture.

The 'learn about the mural' link on the bottom left has slides of the mural being painted and you can listen to students explaining the significance of the mural.

Enjoy!

Where are we?

2009-02-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

More basic information to start us off.

Where are we located?

We're on the top floor (known as the Terrace Level) of the Cesar Chavez Student Center, right at the center of the SF State campus.

If you're in the neighborhood, the Student Center has local vendors where you can eat, get a coffee or find a comfortable chair to relax in.

Our first post

2009-02-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

Where to start?

Since the profile tells you who we are, perhaps the goals are a good next step.

The goals of the ROMC include:

Help break down the wall of separatism
Drawing in people from off-campus for multicultural events
Openness to all members of the SF State community
Provide a place where the stereotypes are broken down
Influence the formal curriculum of the university
Reflect changing demographics, both on and off campus