Help Launch the National Liberated Ethnic Studies Coalition!
Fight Zionist and Rightwing Attacks!
Participate in the Free Minds, Free People Conference!
This year’s virtual Free Minds, Free People Conference starts Friday, July 9, and runs through Sunday, August 1. The theme for July 31/August 1 is Ethnic Studies and Transnational Solidarity and the Save Arab American Studies Coalition is collaborating on that weekend. At the People’s Assembly on Sunday, we’ll launch a National Liberated Ethnic Studies Coalition. In the face of escalating attacks on teaching Palestine and Critical Race Theory, we can’t hold back. We need your experience, your voice, and your energy!
Register to join us here. (Note: There is a minimal fee to participate in FMFP).
For the People’s Assembly only (no charge) register here.
Free Minds, Free People Ethnic Studies/Transnational Solidarity Weekend
Saturday, July 31
Plenary: “Ethnic Studies Without Borders: On the Move and Under
Attack”
9 am PDS/10 MTN/11 CTRL/noon EDT
(Note: Event times on the FMFP schedule are East Coast time zone!)
International Panel: “Building Transnational Solidarity”
Noon PDT/1 MTN/2 CTRL/3 pm EDT
Interactive Workshops
2 pm PDT/3 MTN/4 CTRL/5 EDT
“Fighting for Ethnic Studies Amidst Zionist & Rightwing Attacks”
“Teaching Solidarity Through Ethnic Studies”
“Teaching Arab American Studies”
“Ethnic Studies in Elementary Grades”
“Insurgent Education in Iowa: The Fight for Youth-Led Ethnic Studies”
Sunday, August 1
People’s Assembly: “Organizing Nationally for Decolonial, Anti-Racist,
Liberatory Ethnic Studies”
9-1 PDT/10-2 MTN/11-3 CTRL/12-4 EDT
Speaker List
Plenary: “Ethnic Studies Without Borders: On the Move and Under Attack”
9 am pdt/10 mtn/11 ctrl/noon edt
Moderator: Awo Okaikor Aryee Price, educator, organizer, and founding steering committee member for Black Lives Matter at School. Okaikor is executive director of Education for Liberation.
With:
Lupe Carrasco Cardona, ethnic studies educator in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Lupe chairs the Association of Raza Educators (Los Angeles Chapter) and is co-founder of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition.
Jason Ferreira, associate professor in the Department of Race & Resistance Studies in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. Jason is currently working on the social history of the 1968 Third World Strike at San Francisco State.
Jesse Hagopian, award-winning educator and a leading voice on issues of educational equity, the school-to-prison-pipeline, standardized testing, the Black Lives Matter at School movement, and social justice unionism. He is an editor for Rethinking Schools magazine, an author, public speaker, organizer, and Ethnic Studies teacher at Seattle’s Garfield High School.
Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center and faculty member at San Francisco State University in the College of Ethnic Studies. Lara is from Beit Iksa and Aqir, Palestine, and was born and raised in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
Ashlyn So, youth ethnic studies activist
International Panel: “Building Transnational Solidarity”
Noon pdt/1 mtn/2 ctrl/3 pm edt
Moderator: Raquel Saenz, has taught in Boston, Texas and Nicaragua. Originally from New Mexico, Raquel is a Program Director for a Boston-based nonprofit.
With:
Giovanna de Paula Guimarães (Brazil). Giovanna is black woman from Colatina – Espírito Santo, Brazil. As a researcher-teacher she aims to produce antiracist education within pedagogy praxis, drawing on academic and activist experiences. Her interests include public and educatio policy, inclusion, ethnic-racial relations education, LGBTQ+ and gender studies, and formal and informal education.
Noncedo (Cedo) Madubedube (South Africa). Noncedo is a queer, black womxn from the Marxist-Feminist tradition. She is the standing General Secretary of Equal Education, a youth-led social movement focusing on the right to education in South Africa.
Nichola McCall (New Zealand). Nichola is of Ngāti Whatua descent, a tribe in the North Island, is currently one of eight Deputy Principals of the largest co-ed, multicultural secondary school in Aotearoa. Her areas of interest include decolonizing education, creating and supporting spaces where Māori Indigenous knowledge and practices are validated and legitimised in order to re-frame and re-claim positive Māori self-representations.
Edgar Pérez Ríos (Mexico). Edgar is a professor and activist in the field of Indigenous education in Mexico. He situates his work in the state of Oaxaca, where he specializes in language rights, environmental justice, and community responsive teaching in the rural communities of Mexico, working specifically with Zapotec Indigenous communities.
Interactive Workshops
2 pm pdt/3 mtn/4 ctr/5 pm edt
“Fighting for Ethnic Studies Amidst Zionist & Rightwing Attacks”
Theresa Montaño is Professor of Chicano/a Studies at California State University- Northridge and a leader of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Institute.
Themontano52@gmail.com
Amira Mattar is the Michael Ratner Justice Fellow at Palestine Legal.
amattar@palestinelegal.org
Jody Sokolower is co-coordinator of the Teach Palestine Project at the Middle East Children’s Alliance.
jody@mecaforpeace.org
“Teaching Solidarity Through Ethnic Studies”
Anita Fernandez is Director of the Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing and Chief Diversity Officer at Prescott College.
“Teaching Arab American Studies”
Samia Shoman is Manager of English Learner & Academic Support Programs for the San Mateo Union High School District, co-coordinator of the Middle East Children Alliance’s Teach Palestine project, and a co-leader of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Institute.
“Ethnic Studies in Elementary Grades”
Christina Alaniz is a descendant of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and would like to acknowledge the lands of her ancestors, the Cahuilla and Serrano. She has been teaching at the elementary level for 11+ years and is currently working with Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum writers on elementary curriculum.
Jeremy Aponte is a grade 5-6 Ethnic Studies teacher in Boston. He is also lead organizer of the Boston Black Studies Collective, which seeks to develop curriculum materials for Black Studies K-12.
Wendy Lucia Lozano is a Chicana LA Unified School District/United Teachers LA elementary educator who advocates for Ethnic Studies to be integrated throughout the K-12 curriculum. She creates her own Ethnic Studies lessons aligned with state standards to engage her students in multiple subjects.
“Youth-Led Organizing for Ethnic Studies”
Monique Cottman is a 15-year-veteran elementary school teacher and member of Black Lives Matter at School-Iowa who advocates for students and teachers of color in Iowa CIty.
Lisa Covington is the Director of the Ethnic Studies Leadership Academy with Sankofa Outreach Connection and BLM at Schools-Iowa( @blmatschooliowa). In 2020, Lisa received the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Iowa Department of Human Rights.
Cecile Bendera is a youth activist.