Facing the Long History of Systemic Racism
The Kairos Center Presents:
Moral Policy in a Time of Crisis
DAY 2: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24
9.30-11am: Facing the Long History of Systemic Racism
Contending with the injustices of systemic racism from the first chapter of U.S. history to the present, with:
Ciara Taylor is a political educator and cultural organizer with the University of the Poor and Songs in the Key of Resistance (SKOR) — a monthly music exchange between artists, organizers, and community members. In 2012, Ciara co-founded the Dream Defenders, a youth-led human rights organization based in Florida that emerged after the killing of 17-year old Trayvon Martin.
Leonardo Vilchas is a co-founder of Union de Vecinos, a resident of Boyle Heights and has over 30 years of experience as a community organizer. He worked at the UFW as a Political Organizing Coordinator and at ACORN as Political Organizer. In the early nineties he worked at Dolores Mission with Christian Base Communities and was their lead organizer. He was trained in liberation theology in Costa Rica, is a popular educator, and conducted nonviolence trainings with Pace e Bene in Colombia and in various cities within the United States.
Jeanne Theoharis is the author or co-author of nine books and numerous articles on the civil rights and Black Power movements, the politics of race and education, social welfare and civil rights in post-9/11 America. Her biography The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks won a 2014 NAACP Image Award, the Letitia Woods Brown Award from the Association of Black Women Historians, and was named one of the 25 Best Academic Titles of 2013 by Choice.
Rosalyn Pelles has been a labor and freedom movement activist since the 1960s. She is currently the Vice President of Repairers of the Breach, a nonpartisan organization that seeks to build a progressive agenda and movement rooted in the moral values of justice, fairness, and the common good. She is also Senior Strategic Advisor to the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. With over 50 years of movement experience, her work has focused work over the last few years in growing poor people’s movements.
Wendsler Nosie Sr., long time opponent of Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and former Chairman and Councilman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.
Adam Barnes, PhD is the coordinator of the Rights and Religions program at the Kairos Center. Born in St. Louis, MO and raised in Colorado, he has lived in New York since 2006 and worked at the Poverty Initiative/Kairos Center since 2007. In 2016 he completed a PhD in Comparative Theology at Union Theological Seminary. His dissertation investigates the liberative theology and spirituality emerging from anti-poverty struggles in the US and in a Sufi-Muslim community in West Africa.