As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Center for the Study of Culture Race and Ethnicity (CSCRE) and reflect on the 50-year anniversary of the establishment of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, we cannot help but notice the centrality of struggle to the origins and maintenance of both.
Born out of struggle to create a space and place by and for students and faculty of color, Ethnic Studies programs have constantly been under attack and their funding threatened. The most recent example of this can be seen in the demise of the Ethnicity Race & Migration program at Yale University as 13 professors withdraw their labor to protest the University’s lack of support for the Program.
This year’s discussion series, Roots and Routes: Reflecting Toward Change will be both a celebration and a movement. A celebration of who we are and those who helped us get to where we are and a movement toward what we can become. Presenters and participants will help us reflect on our origins by exploring movements, takeovers, struggle, community, organizing and other components necessary to imagine what is possible.
In addition to outside presenters, invited guests for this year’s Series will include members from our own campus community. Their vision is responsible for the CSCRE as well as students who have demanded we stay true to our mission of creating a space where everyone can be unapologetically themselves.