Black Lives Matter Speaker Series

This webinar features Dave Steece, former leader of a white supremacist prison gang who, after a lifetime of hate, has dedicated his life to fight for equality. He will discuss hate, overt racism and redemption.

From the time Sojourner Truth declared “Ain’t I a Woman” to the day Patrisse Cullors tweeted that “Black Lives Matter”, Africans in America have used a variety of rhetorical devices to advocate for their humanity and the need for anti-racist structural and cultural change. In the presentation Say it Loud, Black Lives Matter: Rhetoric and the Power of Language in the Social Politics of African Americans, I will present a brief history of how language was central to the impact and success of African American social and political advancement from the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Lives Matter Movement. More specifically, I will analyze the rhetorical devices of leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Angela Davis, James Baldwin and various leaders and writers from our present BLM era like Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, Alicia Garza, Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D., Angela Rye and Marc Lamont Hill, Ph.D. In presenting their rhetorical devices and evidencing their efficacy on structural and cultural change, I hope to encourage the students, faculty and staff of the University of Idaho that any change they seek to implement and maintain is intimately attached to the language they use.

Most historically and predominantly white institutions (HPWIs) now desire some number of Black students on their campuses. However, theoretical scholarship suggests that HPWIs’ desire for and willingness to embrace Black students is predicated on their racial palatability. Professor Thornhill will discuss his recent study which found that white admissions counselors are more responsive to deracialized and racially apolitical Black students than they are to those who reveal a commitment to antiracism and racial justice (e.g., the Black Lives Matter movement). He will conclude by considering what his findings mean for not only college admissions and higher education, but the practices of white-administered organizations more broadly.

Using a sociological perspective, this presentation highlights the historical, cultural economic and political contexts behind the differential impact that COVID-19 has had on communities of color.

Edward Onaci, Associate Professor in the History Department and in the African American/Africana Studies Program at Ursinus College, presented this webinar titled, "Free the Land! The New Afrikan Independence Movement and the Biographical Consequences of Social Movement Activism," as the Keynote Address celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The webinar was held on Thursday, Jan. 21 and was sponsored by the University of Idaho Office of Multicultural Affairs, the UI Equity and Diversity Units and the UI Black Student Union.