Presenter Bios

Traces of the Trade: A Story of the Deep North

Katrina Browne, Producer/Director/Writer, is the seventh generation descendant of Mark Anthony DeWolf, the family’s first slave trader. Before launching this film and family process in 1999, Ms. Browne served as Outreach Planning Coordinator for the film adaptation of Anna Deavere Smith’s critically acclaimed play about the LA riots, Twilight: Los Angeles. She consulted with race relations and media experts to plan a national outreach campaign to use the PBS broadcast and video distribution as the basis for community dialogue on race, ethnicity and equity. She came to that work and to filmmaking from writing a Masters thesis comparing the role that Greek tragedies played in civic life in ancient Greece to the untapped potential of film to catalyze civic dialogue today. She wrote this thesis while earning a Masters in Theology at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Prior to her graduate studies she worked as a senior staffperson at Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program now operating in 15 cities that she co-founded in 1991 in Washington, DC to recruit more young people and people of color into nonprofit careers. She held responsibilities in national start-up, site program development, evaluation and fundraising. She has a B.A. from Princeton University, where she studied cultural anthropology with a focus on oral history, and wrote a senior thesis on France’s role in the Holocaust.

Workshop Session I

Naked Face: Exploring a Photo Series

I graduated HSU in 2007 with a B.S. in self designed interdisciplinary studies (areas of focus, zoology, business, and communication) and a double minor in scuba diving, and francaphone studies. Since leaving I've been around the world and done a year of service with Habitat for Humanity NYC. My year in NY really solidified my passion for art especially film both still and moving.

American Indian Resilience: Past, Present and Future

Born and raised in Bakersfield, California. My Father’s family comes from the Ft. Tejon and San Luis Obispo Areas of Southern California. Since 1993, active practitioner of my traditional Chumash language, songs, regalia and ceremonial knowledge. Since 1998, drug and alcohol treatment counselor for children, youth and families in Humboldt County. Current Faculty Member/Staff Therapist, HSU Counseling and Psychological Services.

Transforming Rape Cultural: Safety, Consent and Accountability

The workshop facilitators are three recent HSU graduates in Women’s, Liberal and Ethnic studies, active in organizing to end sexualized violence and integrating form oppression into all struggles for liberation. We believe community building is an integral strategy for resisting oppression. We are also inspired by and seek to do more radical anti-violence work such as survivor support, community accountability, creating safe(r) spaces, and talking about consent. We have organized locally as Creative Unity for Non-Violent Transformation, a grassroots group that seeks to use our creativity to intervene in and transform rape culture. We were successful in mobilizing dozens of volunteers and created an event that brought hundreds out to explore what autonomy looks like and how we might dismantle the oppression that divides us, while creating intentionally safe(r) spaces. We work with and among many other local grassroots projects such as Accion Zapatista, Bar None, Redwood Curtain Copwatch, and A.R.M.D.

Black Song—An interactive His/Herstory of Blacks in America

A black womanist poet who exists in uncertainty. Born and raised in Los Angeles but a constant wanderer daring to hope for some thing beautiful. She is a 2005 Humboldt State Journalism graduate with a minor in Ethnic American Literature as well as a Masters in Cultural Anthropology. She is currently a part of the Los Angeles Southwest College faculty.

Activist Pop Culture

DJ Rekha is a pioneer in the South-Asian community who single-handedly spearheaded New York’s Bhangra scene, mixing traditional Punjabi music with international hip hop and dancehall beats. She is a devoted activist for her community and serves on the board of Breakthrough, a human rights organization, and Pop and Politics. She has been recognized by Newsweek as being one of the most influential South Asians in the U.S. and has received accolades from the New York Times, CNN, and a variety of international publications. Her beats are poly-cultural, transnational, and impossible not to dance to.

The Activist Educator’s Guide to Global Citizenship: From Human Rights to Human Duties

I am a lecturer in HSU's Anthropology Department. My academic areas of interest are Globalization and Economic Development, specifically in South Africa. I have conducted extensive research on Community Based Development and the impact of HIV/AIDS on South African society. I am a passionate educator who strives to inspire in my students a sense of global awareness and social responsibility.

Towards Equal Rights: A Study of Marriage Equality

I've been involved in social justice issues since the 1970s. I began my work as a community organizer working against the war in Vietnam, and have since worked actively on issues of racism, and the environment. I spent 20 years working against violence against women and children as the director of a battered women's shelter in southeastern Michigan. As a lesbian, I've also been involved and interested in civil rights for LGBTQI folk. Last October, I was seriously involved in organizing against Proposition 8 here in Humboldt County. I am the coordinator of Pride Parents, a Humboldt organization of LGBTQI parents, teach community organizing and LGBTQI issues in the schools at HSU, and work part time at Arcata House with the homeless. My beloved partner of 15 years and I were married in October. We have two kids age 11 and 9. I am passionate about social justice, about change and about organizing people to create change.

Workshop Session II

Art as Rebellion

Ines Ixierda is a queer woman of color multi media artist and activist. She is a graduate of the Ethnic Studies Program at Humboldt State University and has collaborated on contributing art, stencils, screen prints and wheat paste to community organizing efforts and social justice causes as a way of renegade information sharing, a tool for fundraising, and general form of inspirational subversion. Recent projects include art attacks with the Bay Area chapter of Incite! Women of Color against Violence and the New Jersey 4 Coalition. She currently works at an American Indian youth center in Oakland, California.

Todos Somos Hip Hop

BRWN BFLO is shaking up the music industry. In a world of black and white, they represent four brown storytellers of the diverse Chicano experience and the struggles of indigenous people worldwide. Combinging ridiculous flows, jaw-dropping lyrics and golden era meets hyphy beats, GIANT, Jacinto, SOMOS ONE, and Big Dan are the perfect mix of old school and new school. The group keeps their focus through deep community roots and a strong dedication to their personal testimony as block educators turned musicians. Additionally, BRWN BFLO offers Multi Workshops on Violence-Prevention, Youth Organizing, Creative Writing/Visual Arts and Music Production.

Community Empowering Community: Using Art to Address the Unawareness of the Need to Change

Dr. Winnie Moore LaNier is a cultural proficiency and leadership development specialist. She feeds her passion by using interactive, experiential principles to help people increase self-awareness and move from animosity to curiosity about differences. She is the Coordinator of Campus Life and a Professor in Leadership Development at Cosumnes River College. Dr. LaNier started the Mosaic Ohana program as an approach to challenge barriers to creating culturally proficient learning environments on college campuses. Participants in Mosaic Ohana use theatrical techniques to raise awareness and acceptance of differences. Dr. LaNier’s leadership includes over a decade of experience in higher education through leadership positions for ethnic-specific and multicultural university and community based organizations. Dr. LaNier received a Doctor of Education degree in Organizational and Educational Leadership, from the University of LaVerne, conducting research on the contribution of cultural proficiency to leadership in higher education.

The Political Art Poster   Community Service Connections

Stacy Becker has Single Subject Art, Multiple Subjects and CLAD (Cross Cultural and Language Development) credentials and has worked over 25 years in art studios, nonprofit agencies, HSU Upward Bound and public schools from Kindergarten to college level as an art, social studies and environmental education teacher. At all levels, she strives to inspire and connect students with creative approaches to community service by sharing historical precedents and current local community resources. She is currently serving her ninth year as a staff member for the Volunteer Center of the Redwoods, a nonprofit program that connects volunteers with community needs and hundreds of local organizations.

Dance Therapy—An Approah to Healing in Progress

A black womanist poet who exists in uncertainty. Born and raised in Los Angeles but a constant wanderer daring to hope for some thing beautiful. She is a 2005 Humboldt State Journalism graduate with a minor in Ethnic American Literature as well as a Masters in Cultural Anthropology. She is currently a part of the Los Angeles Southwest College faculty.

The Camera: A Tool for Change

I graduated from HSU in 1976 with a degree in Liberal Arts and an elementary teaching credential. I have been a professional freelance photographer for the past 27 years. Photography is both my passion and my profession. The area of photography that excites me the most is documentary, with the emphasis on addressing social issues. Photographs are powerful tools for educating people and helping to bring about change.

The intersection of Parallel Lines: Environmentalism & Ranching in the American West

Aaron A. Abeyta is a Colorado native and professor of English at Adams State College. For his previous collection, Colcha, Abeyta received an American Book Award and the Colorado Book Award. He is also the recipient of a Colorado Council on the Arts fellowship for poetry. He lives in Southern Colorado where he can remain close to his family and culture, both of which greatly influence his work. Abeyta was born in 1971.

South Asian Pop Culture

DJ Rekha is a pioneer in the South-Asian community who single-handedly spearheaded New York’s Bhangra scene, mixing traditional Punjabi music with international hip hop and dancehall beats. She is a devoted activist for her community and serves on the board of Breakthrough, a human rights organization, and Pop and Politics. She has been recognized by Newsweek as being one of the most influential South Asians in the U.S. and has received accolades from the New York Times, CNN, and a variety of international publications. Her beats are poly-cultural, transnational, and impossible not to dance to.

Workshop Session III

Yes We Can! Making Music to Strengthen our Community One Note at a Time

I graduated from HSU in May 2007 with an M.A. in English and currently work at Food for People in Eureka and the organization's Fund Development Director. My passions are music and community building/ organizing, and I enjoy ways of combining musical performance and collaboration with strengthening my community. For example, during the summer of 2008, Food for People incorporated local musicians into the monthly, farmer's market-style free produce distribution. Adding music made the experience more like a community event or festival; folks attending the produce distribution expressed that the music & performers made them feel more at ease. My goal in the future is to create a more interactive music experince (during produce distribution) for Food for People's clients with the intention of (hopefully!) removing some of the stigma of seeking assistance, especially during these challenging economic times.

Reclaim the Airwaves

Humboldt Free Radio Alliance is a collective operating a pirate radio station in Humboldt County. Tom Helme is a former KHSU and Clear Channel DJ. Tom began the Hip-Hop on Lockdown radio show and pen pal project with men imprisoned at Pelican Bay State Penitentiary. Ashley Gregory is a youth worker in Oakland, California interested in community radio and audio archiving as a means of social transformation.

Ba-Rock—Hope You Can Hold Onto

Education (K-12) reform; Current HSU study majoring in Psychology & Ethnics; 2008 Social Justice Summit Co-Coordinator.

Present Your Revolution

I'm interested in art music justice revolution the black new world.

Rags to Riches: Black Power vs. Black 'Bling"

Considering Foucault's notion that where there is power, there is resistance, Professors Tim'm West (Ethnic Studies/English) and Dr. Joseph Dieme (French and Francophone Studies) will examine Hip Hop artists who represent resistance to capitalist structures while needing to rely on its currency in order to produce these critiques. How much does it cost to "fight the powers that be" as Public Enemy asserts? Have the Black Arts Movement and Negritude informed contemporary artists? This workshop promises to offer visual and musical accents to a provocative discussion about rapping to revolt.

Fighting Against the Police State and Prison Industrial Complex

Redwood Curtain CopWatch, based in the north coast of California, is part of a larger movement of self organized CopWatch groups throughout the US. Our local efforts seek to intervene in the drastic rise of the presence, militarization, and violence of the police, and build support networks based on self-determination, caring, and concrete needs.

The Revolution Will Be Amplified: Music as a Catalyst for Change

I have completed the Political Science program and added another major in Economics which is in progress. Also I have a history minor which is nearly complete. I am a self-described Scholarly Revolutionary seeking to use knowledge to challenge existing power structures. My passion is to remove the wool pulled over the eyes of the general public via an incomplete biased portrait of history. I have hosted on a panel for Focus the Nation, conducted workshops for both the Leadership Conference and Social Justice summit. For activism at HSU I have been involved with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Books Building Bridges (helped teach a 1-unit class focusing on media and the timeline of response to the Gulf Coast), 911 Truth, and I'm an honorary member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. In student government I served on 5 committees before being elected as Legislative VP, a position from which I was illegally removed. Subsequently I was then restricted from AS presidency mid-election via a retaliatory kangaroo court by the administration which the ACLU has gotten involved in. Also for an act of civil disobedience on a flight from Boston this past summer I was arrested for stickers with the political message 911 was an inside job! prisonplanet.com. This was a violation of my rights since disorderly conduct cannot inhibit free speech and the case was dropped after character assassination via national media. In short I am uninhibited by unjust authorities and seek to hold integrity for my ideals.

A Hard Straight: Film Screening & Discussion

Josh Meisel is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Minor at Humboldt State University. Josh teaches in the area of Crime and Delinquency as well as research methods. His research interests focus on the intersection of crime and social inequality.

Keynote Presentation: Raymond “Boots” Riley

Raymond “Boots” Riley, frontman of The Coup, is a hip-hop artist, activist, & self-proclaimed Communist. He is famous for combining his two passions, music & activism, in a new medium he has dubbed “Raptivism;” hip-hop for social justice. He has performed with the likes of Dead Prez, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, and Janeane Garofalo. Boots Riley's activism, from local issues to international ones, has set the standard for political organizing among hip hop artists. The focus of Boots' lectures uses a revolutionary class analysis to examine the relationship between the commercialization of hip hop music and culture and U.S. economic imperialism and racism. Boots takes audiences on an international journey through the less orthodox histories and movements of hip hop.