Social Media for Social Justice
Social Media for Social Justice
A Conversation on Hashtag Activism with Patrisse Cullors, Mónica Ramírez, and Myrla Baldonado
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 | 6:30 p.m. | Playa Vista Campus
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About the Event
On Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, LMU students, faculty, and community members gathered at LMU's Playa Vista campus, along with activists from #blacklivesmatter and #timesup, to explore the promises and challenges of using social media for social change. A panel discussion was moderated by Sarah Jackson, Ph.D., associate professor of communication studies at Northeastern University and co-author of "#HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice."
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Press and Media Coverage
- Bellarmine News: "Social Media for Social Justice at the Playa Vista Campus"
- The Los Angeles Loyolan: "Social Media for Social Justice: The Role of Celebrities"
- The Los Angeles Loyolan: "Social Media's Place in Activism"
Sponsors
Thank you to our co-sponsors: the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Office, Dean of Students Office, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, History Department, Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles, Marymount Institute for Faith, Culture, and the Arts, Department of African American Studies, Department of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, and Academy of Catholic Thought and Imagination.
About Loyola Marymount University
LMU is a private Catholic university with 6,000 undergraduates, 2,200 graduate students and 1,100 law students from diverse backgrounds and many perspectives. Our seven colleges and schools boast best-in-the-nation programs in film and television, business, education and more. Our stunning campus in West Los Angeles is a sun-soaked oasis overlooking the Pacific coast and a model of sustainability. We're rooted in the heart of Los Angeles, a global capital for arts and entertainment, innovation and technology, business and entrepreneurship. Our mission is grounded in a centuries-old Jesuit educational tradition that produces extraordinary men and women dedicated to service and social justice. We're proud of more than 85,000 LMU alumni whose professional achievements are matched by a deep commitment to improving the lives of others.
Myrla Baldonado
Before immigrating, Myrla was a peace, theater, human rights and environmental activist for three decades. She worked primarily on grassroots national and international campaigns focused on the closing of US military bases and seeking US government responsibility for the environmental clean-up of toxic waste left behind. She is a survivor of the Marcos dictatorship, was disappeared, water tortured and detained.
Afterwards, Myrla struggled to integrate and settle in the US. She worked as a home care worker, and suffered from the abuse and poverty wages rampant in the unregulated domestic work industry. She began to speak out about her experiences and is now an organizer of household workers for Latino Union of Chicago in its multi-racial program, the Chicago Coalition of Household Workers. Myrla has also organized nationally for Caring Across Generations and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, addressing issues of long-term quality care, workers’ protection, and inclusion of domestic workers in the immigration reform bill. For this, Myrla was recognized by the White House in 2013 as a Champion of Change. Through telling her story for the Caring Across Generations campaign, she contributed to winning a new federal regulation including 2M home care workers in minimum wage and overtime pay after 75 years of exclusion from labor laws. Myrla is currently focused on domestic worker organizing to win support for the Illinois Domestic Worker Bill of Rights.
Patrisse Cullors
Patrisse Cullors is an artist, organizer, and freedom fighter from Los Angeles, CA. Cofounder of Black Lives Matter and founder of Dignity and Power Now, she is also a performance artist, popular public speaker, and a New York Times bestselling author. She’s received many awards for activism and movement building, including being named by the Los Angeles Times as a Civil Rights Leader for the 21st Century and the Sydney Peace Prize for her work with Black Lives Matter. Patrisse recently completed an international tour for her new book "When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir." This year Patrisse teamed up with digital media company Blackpills to produce "RESIST," a docu-series following her Los Angeles grassroots community’s efforts to stop a $3.5 billion jail expansion plan. In August 2018 Patrisse announced her new role as an adjunct professor at Arizona’s Prescott College where she will teach a course she created that examines, social practice, cultural work, and art impact on community organizing as part of the Social Justice & Community Organizing (SJCO) Master’s degree program. Patrisse is also completing her studies as a 2019 MFA candidate at the University of Southern California.
Sarah Jackson
Mónica Ramírez
Mónica Ramírez is the daughter and granddaughter of migrant farmworkers hailing from a rural community in Ohio. She has been an activist on behalf of women, workers, Latino community members and immigrants for more than two decades. Mónica is a civil rights attorney, a skilled public speaker, and an author. She is also a nationally recognized subject matter expert on gender equity, specifically on behalf of Latina and immigrant women, including ending gender based violence in the workplace and closing the gender wage gap. Mónica is the founder of several major initiatives and projects, including Esperanza: The Immigrant Women’s Legal Initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center, The Bandana Project and the Latina Impact Fund (LIF). She is the President of the Board of the National Farmworker Women’s Alliance (Alianza Nacional de Campesinas) and a Board member for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). Mónica is the Deputy Director for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA).Program
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Playa Vista Campus
6:30 p.m.
Opening Remarks
Panel Discussion
Q&A
Book Signing
This event is free and open to the community. Follow #BCLActivism