News Release
____________________________________________________________
December 16, 2005
Boise State Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr./Human Rights Celebration with Week of Events
 |
 |
 |
|
Top,
Charlayne Hunter-Gault; middle and bottom, The Princely Players (Click to enlarge images) |
 |
Boise State will celebrate its annual
Martin Luther King Jr./Human Rights Celebration with a week full of
speakers, screenings, classes and more. The celebration will run from Jan.
16-21 at various locations at Boise State and in the community.
• “kNOw Hate Exhibit.” 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Jan. 13-Feb. 10, Student
Union Gallery. Free. Derogatory and exploitive imagery found in everyday
objects and material culture has left a residue of negativisim about race
and class. With items assembled from local collections and recent purchases,
this exhibit examines the origins of ethnic stereotyping; the reasons why we
are offended or not, and asks each viewer for his or her own point of view.
• March and Rally. 10 a.m. Jan. 16, Student Union Jordan Ballroom,
then Idaho Statehouse. Free. Live a moment of history. Join hundreds of
supporters as they make rally signs at the Jordan Ballroom in preparation
for the march to the Capitol steps later that morning. Activities will
include a live performance by the St. Paul’s Baptist Children’s Choir and
documentaries about historical human rights issues. Poster-making materials
will be provided at the Jordan Ballroom. The rally at the Capitol steps will feature Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, and will include appearances by ASBSU
President Joe Holladay, Martin Luther King Jr./Human Rights Celebration
Chairman Rodney Curley, the student essay winner, ASBSU Sen. Dang Du, and a
performance by rapper and Boise State student Kritik.
• “It’s s Day On, Not a Day Off” service fair. Noon, Jan. 16,
Statehouse Rotunda. Learn about how you can make a difference through
service organizations. Educator Will Rainford will be the keynote speaker
and will talk about community service. Refreshments will be available.
• Poetry Slam for Justice II. 7-10 p.m. Jan. 16, Balcony Club (corner
of 8th and Idaho streets). $4 general, $3 students. Students and the
community are invited to come together to celebrate the meaning of human
rights through poetry. Official slam rules will apply as poets compete for
cash prizes (students) or equivalent prizes (non-students). Sign up at the
Student Union Information Desk or online at http://poetryslam4justice2.com.
• Drum group. Noon-2 p.m. Jan. 17, Student Union Dining Room Stage.
• “Negroes with Guns” screening. 5:30-7 p.m. Jan. 17, Student Union
Hatch Ballroom. Free. Credited with inspiring the Black Power movement,
Robert Williams led his North Carolina hometown to defend itself against the
Ku Klux Klan and challenge repressive Jim Crow laws. “Negroes with Guns”
follows Williams’ journey from Southern community leader in exile in Cuba
and China, a journey that brought the issue of armed self-defense to the
forefront of the civil rights movement. Part of the Diverse Perspectives
series. Sponsored by ITVS Community Cinema and Idaho Public Television.
• “Negroes with Guns” screening. 5:30-7 p.m. Jan. 18, second floor
lounge of BSU West. Free.
• “Roots,” parts I and II screening. Noon-3 p.m. Jan. 18, Student
Union Cultural Center. Free. A saga of African-American life based on Alex
Haley’s family history. Kunta Kinte is abducted from his African village,
sold into slavery and taken to America. He makes several escape attempts
until he is finally caught and maimed. He marries Bell, his plantation’s
cook, and they have a daughter, Kizzy, who is eventually sold away from
them. Kizzy has a son by her new master, and the boy grows up to become
Chicken George, a legendary cock fighter who leads his family to freedom.
Throughout the series, the family observes notable events in U.S. history,
such as the Revolutionary and Civil wars, slave uprisings and emancipation.
-With special guest speaker Lamin Kinteh. Kinteh is
from the third household of Kintehs in Juffuruh, Gambia. Lamin Kinteh
is seventh generation Kinteh and hails from the same household as Kunta
Kinte. Juffuruh is about three miles from James Island, where many slaves
where taken after capture. In 1969, Alex Haley visited Juffuruh to research
his roots, and Lamin Kinteh remembers meeting him.
• “Into the West," parts
I and II screening. Noon-3 p.m. Jan.
18, Student Union Gipson Room. Free. Executive producer Steven Spielberg
explores one of the most powerful and defining chapters in American history.
As the desire for adventure, wealth and a better life inspires thousands of
white settlers to risk their lives traveling across the West, American
Indian inhabitants of the land see their way of life compromised. This
powerful epic adventure unfolds through the struggles, triumphs and
heartaches of two families as they journey in search of the American Dream.
• “American History X” screening. 7-9 p.m. Jan. 18, Student Union
Hatch Ballroom. Free. A former neo-Nazi skinhead tries to prevent his
younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did. “American
History X” is a profound and stirring drama about the consequences of
racism.
• “Roots” parts III and IV screening. Noon-3 p.m. Jan. 19, Student
Union Cultural Center. Free.
• “Into the West” parts III and IV screening. Noon-3 p.m. Jan. 19,
Student Union Gipson Room. Free.
• “Distorted Images: Indian Romance, Stereotype, and Exclusion in the
United States.” 1:40-2:55 p.m. Jan. 19, Student Union Bishop Barnwell Room. Free.
Lisa Brady, history, and Bob McCarl, anthropology, will present this
session. This session will present for discussion two primary areas of
American Indian/Non-Indian relations in the United States. The first focuses
on the “Ecological Indian” as both a stereotype and a rationale for land
acquisition, environmental exclusion and treaty abrogation on the part of
the United States government. The second are will focus on issues of
paternalism, blood quantum, the popular consumption of America Indian
stereotypes, current practices of DNA and biological and musical copyright
infringement against American Indian peoples.
• “Natural Rights: Human Rights and Environmental Change.” 3:15-4:30
p.m. Jan. 19, Student Union Bishop Barnwell Room. Free. Lisa Brady, history,
and John Ziker, anthropology, will give this presentation. Prejudice, racism
and environmental degradation often go hand-in-hand. This session will
present for discussion two methods of understanding the dynamic relationship
between human rights and the natural environment. Major issues to be
examined are collective action, resource use, conservation, environmental
justice and globalization. Ziker will tackle these questions from an
anthropological perspective; Brady will present historical examples.
• “Heterosexism: What It Is, Where It Is Found, and How to Begin Stopping
It.” 4:40-5:55 p.m. Jan. 19, Student Union Farnsworth Room. Free. Jim
Smith, biology, will present this session. The session will start with a
simple quiz that reverses the role of heterosexism to raise awareness of its
ubiquity. Specific and general examples of heterosexism in our society will
be discussed. Some simple means of encountering and stopping heterosexism
when it is found will be demonstrated.
• “Blacks in Idaho.” 6-7:15 p.m. Jan. 19, Student Union Bishop
Barnwell Room. Janet French of the Idaho Black History Museum will
incorporate current research for Phase III of the Idaho Black History Museum
from 1969-present.
• “Crash” screening. 7:15-9:15 p.m. Jan. 19, Student Union Hatch
Ballroom. Free. “Crash” takes a provocative, unflinching look at the
complexities of racial intolerance in contemporary America. Diving headlong
into the diverse melting pot of Los Angeles, this compelling urban drama
tracks the volatile intersections of a multi-ethnic cast of characters
struggling to overcome their fears as they careen in and out of each other’s
lives.
• “Roots” parts V and VI screening. Noon-3 p.m. Jan. 20, Student
Union Cultural Center. Free.
• “Into the West” parts V and VI screening. Noon-3 p.m. Jan. 20,
Student Union Gipson Room. Free.
• “Using a Human Rights Organizing Framework.” 1:40-2:30 p.m. Jan.
20, Student Union Farnsworth Room. Free. Presented by Amy Herzfeld, Idaho
Human Rights Education Center. This interactive session will examine the
implications and critical importance of using a human rights lens in our
political analysis, including an overview of the history of human rights, a
working definition of human rights, current discourse in the human rights
movement. Herzfeld also will discuss case studies and provide a how-to on
implementing the human rights framework in organizing and advocacy
strategies for social change.
• “Working in Idaho.” 2:40-3:30 p.m. Jan. 20, Student Union Bishop
Barnwell Room. Free. Presented by Jerry Peterson, executive secretary of
Southwest Idaho Building Trades. Peterson will talk about workers’ rights in
Idaho: right to work, minimum wage, the decline in resource-based jobs, the
decline in construction wages, at-will employment, legislation and what
people can do to help.
• “Amnesty International.” 3:40-4:30 p.m. Jan. 20, Student Union
Farnsworth Room. Free. Presented by Jackson Smith, Boise State Amnesty
International president. Amnesty International is one of the most widely
respected human rights advocacy organizations in the world. This session
will discuss Amnesty International’s history, how Amnesty International
works, what it does today and how people can get involved.
• Keynote speaker Charlayne Hunter-Gault. 8-9 p.m. Jan. 20, Student
Union Jordan Ballroom. Free tickets available at Student Union Information
Desk. Ticket will guarantee the holder a seat in the ballroom until 7:30
p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m.; non-ticketholders may begin seating at 7:30 p.m.
and the lecture will begin at 8 p.m. Hunter-Gault is CNN’s Johannesburg
Bureau chief and correspondent. She joined CNN in 1999 from NPR, where she
worked as the network’s chief correspondent in Africa. She joined NPR in
1997 after 20 years with PBS, where she was a national correspondent on “The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” During that time she also anchored the
award-winning television newsmagazine “Rights and Wrongs,” which focused on
human rights.
She began her career as a reporter for The New Yorker, then worked as
a local news anchor in Washington, D.C. She also worked at the New York
Times for 10 years, including two years as Harlem bureau chief.
Hunter-Gault’s awards include two Emmy awards and two Peabody awards,
Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black
Journalists, the Sidney Hillman Award, the American Women in Radio and
Television Good Housekeeping Broadcast Personality of the Year Award, and
many others.
- Hunter-Gault Reception and Book Signing.
9-10 p.m. Jan. 20, Student Union Bishop Barnwell Room. Free.
• Service Saturday for Justice. 9 a.m. Jan. 21, Student Union Brava!
Stage. Free. Come volunteer with one of six possible community agencies.
Meet at the Student Union Brava! Stage and enjoy breakfast before
volunteering. Service will last no more than three hours. Participants are
encouraged to dress warmly. Children are welcome to attend with an
accompanying guardian. For more information, call Taylor Newbold of the
Volunteer Services Board at 426-4248 or
vsbdirector@boisestate.edu.
• The Princely Players. 8 p.m. Jan. 21, Morrison Center Stage II.
Tickets $5-$10 at Select-a-Seat, 426-1449. The Princely Players is a vocal
ensemble telling the struggle by Africans for freedom in America,
culminating in the civil rights movement through the present. In the
tradition of the Fairfield Four and the Jubilee Singers, the Princely
Players have brought the music of emotion, hope and struggle to life on the
BBC, TNN and NPR. Through their musical expression they share an emotional
journey of survival, strength and inspiration of the human spirit.
-30-
Contact: Rodney Curley, Student Activities, (208) 426- 1242,
rodneycurley@boisestate.edu
Media Contact: Julie Hahn, University Relations, (208) 426-5540,
juliehahn@boisestate.edu
Boise State University is the largest institution of higher education in
Idaho with about 18,600 students and 2,200 faculty and staff. More than 190
undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and technical degrees are offered within
eight colleges. A metropolitan university located in the capital city, Boise
State is committed to life-enhancing research, teaching excellence and
public service.
The Office of Communications and Marketing
-
Boise State University
1910 University Drive -
Education Building, #726 -
Boise Idaho 83725-1030
208-426-1577
(fax)208-426-4001
email communications@boisestate.edu
Last reviewed on Wednesday, February 01, 2006