On March 25th and 26th, 2022, WSU SJCON presented its third annual conference on social justice, co-sponsored by WGSS and others. The theme was, “Re-Storying Social Justice: Constructing Coalition at the Interactions of Theory, Community, Positionality, and Practice.” SJCON 2022 hosted three keynote speakers: Dr. Wayne Au from the University of Washington Bothell’s School of Educational Studies, Thomas Lopez Jr. also known as LandBackBaddie, and Roben White, a Lakota-Cheyenne organizer and member of Vancouver’s NACAB.
Dr. Wayne Au is a former public high school social studies teacher and now Professor in the educational studies department at the University of Washington in Bothell. In his keynote, “rethinking activism,” Au addressed topics of social justice activism in the style of Q&A, cultivating an engaging environment for deep and thoughtful conversation and insight to new approaches and ways of being an activist. If you are interested in watching his talk, follow this youtube link, and if you would like to follow his work, you can find Dr. Au on Twitter @profwayneau.
Thomas Lopez Jr., a Mexica Otomi, Sicangu Lakota, and activist, has been involved with the International Indigenous Youth Council, working to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, and working as a mentor with IIYC 5280 and Future Coalition. To learn more about Thomas’ work, you can follow them on Instagram @LandBackBaddie.
Roben White is the co-creator of CSEJ’s The Thin Green Line which is a People’s History project that features a digital archive and teaching tool that contains oral history interviews and many records of the PNW fossil fuel resistance and climate justice movement. *In addition to the three keynote speakers, the conference featured several presenters, including former high school teacher Ursula Wolfe-Rocca and Professor Emeritus and documentary filmmaker Jan Haaken, who each addressed topics relating to coalitions, intersections of theory, positionality, and community. If you are interested in learning more about this and future events, visit WSU SJCON’s website here