A white anti-racist writer and educator. A Puerto Rico native and first-generation high school and college graduate who teaches about U.S. Latinx Caribbean, Afro Latinx, and Afro Hispanic literature and culture. A renowned playwright who rose from the fields of Delano and worked with the United Farm Workers to Hollywood success. These speakers are set to launch the Stanislaus State Warrior Cross Cultural Center’s Diversity Speaker Series.
Tim Wise kicks off this year’s three-person lineup, all virtual, from 4-6 p.m. March 9, followed by Yomaira Figueroa-Vasquez from 2:30-3:30 p.m. March 10 and Luis Valdez from 4:30-6 p.m. March 24.
“One of the goals of the series is to highlight expert speakers,” said Carolina Alfaro, the center’s director. “It’s important that we continue to discuss what’s happening in regard to race, culture and identity on a national, local and international level.”
The series, funded for three years by the private Norris-Rocaberte Family Foundation, expands the Warrior Cross Cultural Center’s previous diversity talks on Instagram Live into a true speaker series.
“Part of the goals of this series is to promote critical yet healthy discussions as it relates to culturally and socially diverse conversations about our society,” Alfaro said.
Wise, a Tulane University graduate who received anti-racism training from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond in New Orleans, has dedicated himself to anti-racism work for 25 years. He opens the series with “Beyond Diversity: Steps for Uprooting Racism, Privilege and Institutional Inequities.”
“He’s going to explore the causes of institutional racial inequities,” Alfaro said. “One of the goals is to try to continue these conversations on the college campus. Where do we take these conversations in these types of organizational settings?”
Alfaro is anxious to see the reaction to Wise’s appearance in the speaker series.
“I'm thinking about our population, thinking about how much education needs to happen for folks that are resistant to understanding the realities of marginalized populations,” Alfaro said. “Anytime the message comes from somebody who is not of color, comes from a white scholarly perspective, it is received a little differently on our campus. That’s our culture.
“Because he’s somebody who’s been involved in anti-racist work nationally, he may help us explore topics that are sometimes hard to deal with such as privilege, racism, power and stereotypes,” Alfaro said. “I think at the core of this he’ll provide some tips and strategies of how we create those equities in our workspaces and throughout our institution.”
The speaker series continues the next daywith Figueroa-Vasquez, in part because the Michigan State University associate professor of global Afro-diaspora studies is about to begin maternity leave.
Figueroa-Vasquez, whose appearance in co-sponsored by the Ethnic Studies Department, will speak on “Decolonizing Diasporas in Higher Education.”
She plans to talk about her journey from first-generation high school graduate to professor, her background as an Afro-Puerto Rican writer, teacher and scholar, and her past and current research that includes her book, “Decolonizing Diasporas,” and her new project “The Survival of a People.” She also will discuss how her work is informed by community commitments, creative practices and public writing.
In addition to her teaching and writing, Figueroa-Vasquez has served on the Caribbean Philosophical Association since 2010 and was the project coordinator for the Women of Color Initiatives Project, organizing the 25th Anniversary Empowering Women of Color Conference at UC Berkeley. In spring 2016, she and a colleague founded the Women of Color Initiatives Project at Michigan State. Since then, they have organized a bi-annual speaker series, health and wellness programs and other related events for women of color and their allies.
The 2022 spring speaker series concludes March 24 with Valdez, who is regarded by some as one of the most influential American playwrights living today. His talk, “Farmworker Justice Then and Now,” is co-sponsored by the Cesar Chavez Committee, and highlights Stan State’s 17th annual Sí, Se Puede Celebration.
“We wanted to end the series with a farmworker activist who understands the Central San Joaquin Valley and the impact of farm workers,” Alfaro said. “Not only is Mr. Valdez an important part of the farmworker movement, but he is also the godfather of Chicanx theatre which continues to play an essential role in political and social activism.”
Valdez founded the internationally renowned and Obie award-winning theater company, El Teatro Campesino (The Farm Workers’ Theater) in 1965, during the height of the United Farm Workers (UFW) struggle and the Great Delano Grape Strike, when he worked with Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
Valdez wrote short plays to encourage workers to leave the fields and join the UFW, and he wrote mythic plays that gave Chicanos their own contemporary mythology. His breakthrough play “Zoot Suit Riots of 1943,” was the first Chicano play on Broadway and first Chicano major feature film.
Other films followed, including “La Bamba,” the story of Richie Valens.
“He delivers a great talk about the way in which economically, socially and culturally the farmworkers contributed then and what that looks like today,” Alfaro said.
Collectively, “the series is an opportunity to foster a campus environment that values diverse perspectives and viewpoints and identities and experiences and create a sense of belonging for students who may relate to some of these speakers or conversations,” Alfaro said. “We’re creating space whether that be virtual or in person to discuss topics and issues that are happening at the local, national and international levels that impact our students. Having a space where people come together and have those conversations and have those reflections, have that critical dialogue, is invaluable.”
Follow the links below to register for the speaker series:
March 9 - Diversity Speaker Series: Tim Wise
March 10 - Diversity Speaker Series: Yomaira Figueroa-Vasquez
March 24 - Diversity Speaker Series: Luis Valdez