and the quest for transformation · music videos, award shows, and tours. shamell’s doctoral...

FIREAND THE QUEST FOR

TRANSFORMATION

5 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y

Watts RebellionCOMMEMORATION

A TWO-DAY ACADEMIC SYMPOSIUM ON THE WATTS REBELLION

OCTOBER 7-8, 2015

C A L I F O R N I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y , D O M I N G U E Z H I L L S

F I R E A N D T H E Q U E S T F O R T R A N S F O R M A T I O N

DAY 1OCTOBER 7, 2015 | LOKER STUDENT UNION, 2ND FLOOR

4:00-5:15 PM | SPEAKER PANEL AND DISCUSSION

KEYS TO THE WATTS REBELLION. SIGNIFICANCE AT THE TIME, AND CONTINUING IMPACTS. Session Moderator Dr. Justin Gammage Assistant Professor, Africana Studies California State University, Dominguez Hills Riot or Rebellion: Call it What It Is! Mr. M. Keith Claybrook, Jr. Lecturer, Africana Studies California State University, Dominguez Hills On the Fringe of Hope: In Search of Equity Ms. Brenda Riddick Director, Mervyn M. Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute California State University, Dominguez Hills Respondent Dr. Joyce Germaine Watts Acting Executive Director of The Village Nation Alumna, California State University, Dominguez Hills

5:30-6:45 PM | SPEAKER PANEL AND DISCUSSION

THE WATTS REBELLION AND CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, DOMINGUEZ HILLSKEYS TO THE DECISION TO LOCATE THE UNIVERSITY. THE UNIVERSITY’S MISSION. Session Moderator Mr. Gregory L. Williams Director, Archives and Special Collections California State University, Dominguez Hills

WELCOMEIn recognition of the pivotal role the Watts Rebellion played in shaping our history and mission, California State University, Dominguez Hills is commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the rebellion with a year-long schedule of interdisciplinary events and activities. At this two-day academic symposium, “Fire and the Quest for Transformation,” we honor the impact and legacy of the rebellion by exploring and examining conditions preceding and at the time of the 1965 Watts Rebellion, both nationally and regionally, and the status of race relations, socioeconomics, education and equality in America today.

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The Watts Rebellion and its Impact on the Role and Mission of California State University, Dominguez Hills Dr. Donald R. Gerth Past President California State University, Dominguez Hills The Effect of the Watts Rebellion on Site Selection and Curricular Development at CSU Dominguez Hills Dr. Judson Grenier Professor of History Emeritus California State University, Dominguez Hills Respondent Ms. Gertrude (Trudy) Goodwin Writer and Producer, Leimert Park Literary and Theatre Festivals Alumna, California State University, Dominguez Hills

7:00-9:45 PM | STUDENT WORKSHOP

WATTS REBELLION VIDEO: A STUDENT-FACULTY COLLABORATIONKNOW YOUR RIGHTS DURING ENCOUNTERS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT View Watts Rebellion video online at tinyurl.com/wattsfilm.

Session Moderators Dr. Justin Gammage Assistant Professor, Africana Studies

Dr. Vivian Price Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies / PACE / Labor Studies California State University, Dominguez Hills Featured Participants Representative from CSUDH Campus Police

Staff of the Youth Justice Coalition The Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) is working to build a youth, family, and formerly and currently incarcerated people’s movement to challenge America’s addiction to incarceration and race, gender and class discrimination in Los Angeles Coun-ty’s, California’s and the nation’s juvenile and criminal injustice systems. YJC’s goal is to dismantle policies and institutions that have ensured the massive lock-up of people of color, widespread law enforcement violence and corruption, consistent violation of youth and communities’ Constitutional and human rights, the con-struction of a vicious school-to-jail track, and the build-up of the world’s largest network of jails and prisons. We use direct action organizing, advocacy, political education, and activist arts to agitate, expose, and pressure the people in charge in order to upset power and bring about change.

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DAY 2OCTOBER 8, 2015 | LOKER STUDENT UNION, 2ND FLOOR, BALLROOM C

8:00 AM | ON-SITE REGISTRATION Loker Student Union, 2nd Floor, Ballroom Reception Area

8:30 AM | SESSION I

Session Moderator Dr. Keith O. Boyum Special Assistant for Strategic Initiatives to the President California State University, Dominguez Hills

Opening Remarks Dr. Willie J. Hagan President, California State University, Dominguez Hills Session Moderator Dr. Justin Gammage Assistant Professor, Africana Studies California State University, Dominguez Hills WATCHING WATTS: REMEMBERING THE FUTURE OF RACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA Dr. Darnell Hunt Professor, Sociology Director, Ralph Bunche Center University of California, Los Angeles Featured Comment Dr. Justin Gammage Moderated Audience Interaction with Dr. Darnell Hunt 10:00 AM | BREAK Loker Student Union, 2nd Floor, Ballroom Reception Area

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10:30 AM | SESSION II

Session Moderator Dr. Keith O. Boyum Special Assistant to the President California State University, Dominguez Hills WATTS AND THE POLITICAL POWER OF PROTEST: THE INFLUENCE OF MINORITY ACTIVISM ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Dr. Daniel Gillion Associate Professor of Political Science University of Pennsylvania Featured Comment Dr. Raphael J. Sonenshein Executive Director, The Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs California State University, Los Angeles Moderated Audience Interaction with Dr. Daniel Gillion

11:45 AM | LUNCH Loker Student Union, 2nd Floor, Ballroom Reception Area

1:15 PM | KEYNOTE SESSION

Session Moderator Ms. Brenda Riddick Director, Mervyn M. Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute California State University, Dominguez Hills WATTS: REVOLUTION AND COUNTERREVOLUTION Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley Distinguished Professor of History and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in United States History University of California, Los Angeles

Featured Comment Ms. Brenda Riddick Moderated Audience Interaction with Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley Concluding Remarks and Adjournment Ms. Brenda Riddick

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SPECIAL ACTIVITIESSymposium attendees may choose from several activities.

2:30 PM | FILM SCREENING AND FILMMAKER Q&A

“CALIFORNIA STATE OF MIND,” A 90-MINUTE DOCUMENTARY ON EDMUND G. “PAT” BROWN Extended Education Building, Room 1213 Ms. Sascha Rice Award-winning Filmmaker; Granddaughter of Pat Brown Cosponsored by the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State L.A.

2:30 PM | GUIDED TOUR

“WATTS THEN AND NOW” PHOTOGRAPHY AND ARCHIVES EXHIBITION Tour departs from Loker Student Union, 2nd Floor, Ballroom Reception Area and takes place in University Library Cultural Art Center, LIB 1940 Mr. Gregory L. Williams Director, Archives and Special Collections California State University, Dominguez Hills Ms. Ellie Zenhari Assistant Professor, Art and Design California State University, Dominguez Hills

2:30 PM | STUDENT WORKSHOP

FROM WATTS TO THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT: GET INVOLVED. LEARNING HOW TO BE AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT Loker Student Union, Multicultural Center, Room 110 Mr. M. Keith Claybrook, Jr. Lecturer, Africana Studies California State University, Dominguez Hills Mr. Miguel Cruz American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California Mr. David C. Turner III Ph.D. student, University of California, Berkeley Black Lives Matter, Western Region Ms. Shamell Bell Ph.D. student, U.C.L.A. Black Lives Matter, Los Angeles

4:00 PM | LECTURE AND DISCUSSION

A CONVERSATION WITH TIM WATKINS University Library Cultural Art Center, LIB 1940 Mr. Tim Watkins President and CEO, Watts Labor Community Action Committee

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr. Robin D. G. KelleyDistinguished Professor of History and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in United States HistoryUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley is the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of U.S. History at UCLA.

His books include, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (Free Press, 2009); Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (Harvard University Press, 2012); Freedom Dreams: The

Black Radical Imagination (Beacon Press, 2002); Yo’ Mama’s DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America (Beacon Press, 1997); Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (UNC Press, 1990). [A twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Hammer and Hoe, with a new Introduction by author just appeared in August 2015].

Kelley also co-edited (with Stephen Tuck), The Other Special Relationship: Race, Rights and Riots in Britain and the United States; (with Franklin Rosemont) Black, Brown, and Beige: Surrealist Writings from Africa and the African Diaspora (University of Texas Press, 2009); (with Earl Lewis) To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (Oxford University Press, 2000); and (with Sidney J. Lemelle), Imagining Home: Class, Culture, and Nationalism in the African Diaspora (Verso Books, 1995). He is currently completing a biography of journalist, social critic, adventurer, and activist Grace Halsell (1923-2000), for which he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Kelley’s essays have appeared in several anthologies and publications, including The Nation, Monthly Review, Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada, The Voice Literary Supplement, New York Times (Arts and Leisure), New York Times Magazine, Color Lines, Counterpunch, Lenox Avenue, African Studies Review, Black Music Research Journal, Callaloo, New Politics, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noir, One World, Social Text, Metropolis, American Visions, Boston Review, Fashion Theory, American Historical Review, Journal of American History, New Labor Forum, Souls, Metropolis, and frieze: contemporary art and culture, to name a few.

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SYMPOSIUM PARTICIPANTS

Ms. Shamell BellPh.D. student, U.C.L.A.Black Lives Matter, Los Angeles Shamell Bell is a mother, community organizer, choreographer and PhD student in Culture and Performance at UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures/Dance. Bell received her M.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and B.A. with Honors in American Studies and Ethnicity specializing in African American Studies at the University of Southern California. Involved in the original formations of the #blacklivesmatter movement, she is a core organizer with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. She is also a co-founder of the Black Infinity Complex, a

liaison organization building coalitions and an united front between those fighting against Black premature death and state-sanctioned violence. Shamell’s work on what she refers to as “street dance activism” situates dance as political action from her perspectives as a dance and performance scholar, a dancer, and an active member and choreographer for the Black Lives Matter movement. Shamell has a long history and experience with street dance movements and as a dancer in David LaChapelle’s documentary “Rize,” in addition to featured roles in various music videos, award shows, and tours. Shamell’s doctoral research currently extends this work with a performance studies lens and historio-geographical analysis of street dance movements in South Central Los Angeles. Her passion is to create a dialogue between the street dance community, activist community, and the academy that includes the street dancer’s actual presence at academic institutions in the form of dancing, speaking, teaching, and writing. When she is not occupying the police station or leading chants at demonstrations with BLMLA, she can be found playing with her 4 year old son, Seijani aka “Johnnie”, and even including him in peaceful demonstrations.

Dr. Keith O. BoyumSpecial Assistant for Strategic Academic Initiatives to the PresidentCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

Dr. Keith Boyum has served since August 2012 as Special Assistant for Strategic Academic Initiatives to the President of California State University, Dominguez Hills. A member of the president’s cabinet, he has led successful campus task forces on improving administrative structures and processes and on comprehensively internationalizing the campus. From2004 to 2008 Boyum was Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the California State University, where he led the Academic Affairs division in the Office of the Chancellor.

He worked closely with trustees, system and campus senior administrators, faculty, and others in developing and implementing education policy for more than 400,000 students at 23 university campuses.

Dr. Boyum has authored five books and served as editor-in-chief of the Justice System Journal. His master’s degree and doctorate are from the University of Minnesota.

Mr. M. Keith Claybrook, Jr.Lecturer, Africana Studies California State University, Dominguez Hills

M. Keith Claybrook, Jr. is a full- time Lecturer in the Department of Africana Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills. His teaching has included classes on culture, literature, political thought, leadership, and Hip Hop in the African World Experience. He is a doctoral candidate at Claremont Graduate University, where he is writing a dissertation entitled Cultural Politics, Student Engagement, and the Black Students Movement: A Case Study in Los

Angeles, 1965-75 in which he examines student activism as a service learning endeavor. His interests include Black Power Studies, Hip Hop Studies, African Philosophy and Spirituality, Pan African Education, Gender Equity, and Service Learning as Activism. He recently published an article entitled Black Power, Black Students, and the Institutionalizing of Change: Loyola Marymount, 1968-1978.

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Mr. Miguel CruzAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Southern California

Miguel Cruz is chapter manager at the ACLU of Southern California. Since April 2010, after previously working for ACLU SoCal from 2006 to 2009, he has coordinated and facilitated activities hosted by all regional volunteer chapters at ACLU SoCal and builds a base of supporters at colleges and universities through the formation and associations of campus clubs.

Miguel assists in projects from the Community Engagement and Policy Advocacy (CEPA) Department which include a community and political grassroots organizing component. As part of CEPA, Miguel works to support existing activist networks and disseminates materials and public education information to chapters and campus clubs on priority issues/legislation/initiatives, plan and mobilize chapter members for public events/rallies and higher level actions such as lobby visits.

Miguel offers direct support to all activists involved in the network of chapters in Orange County, Pasadena/Foothills, Palm Springs, San Fernando Valley, Santa Barbara, Ventura County and the Westside as well as campus clubs at Bell Gardens High School, Chapman University, Claremont Colleges, Loyola Law School, UCLA Law School, USC Law School and Whittier Law School.

Miguel previously worked as a youth organizer for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) and as a political campaign coordinator for Straightening Our Lives (SOL).

Dr. Justin GammageAssistant Professor, Africana StudiesCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

Dr. Justin Gammage is a Assistant Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He earned a B.A. in Africana Studies from CSU Dominguez Hills. He holds a Masters and Ph.D. degree in African American Studies from Temple University.

Dr. Gammage’s research interests are African American political economy with a focus on the history of social movements, past and present, that address factors challenging the social, political and economic security of people of African descent. In addition, his research explores models of economic development in African American communities.

Dr. Donald R. GerthPast President California State University, Dominguez Hills

Dr. Donald R. Gerth is a past president of California State University, Dominguez Hills, and President Emeritus of California State University, Sacramento. In 1958, Dr. Gerth joined San Francisco State as an associate dean and member of the government department, where he assisted then-San Francisco State President Glenn Dumke in negotiations that resulted in the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Subsequently, in 1963-64, in a Chancellor’s Office assignment he assisted in the establishment of a campus on the Palos Verdes peninsula – an

institution that was subsequently moved to Dominguez Hills. In a prestigious career across forty-five years in the California State University, Dr. Gerth also served as a professor and administrator at California State University, Chico, before serving as President of California State University, Dominguez Hills (1976 – 1984) and President of California State University, Sacramento (1984 – 2003). Dr. Gerth is the author of The People’s University: A History of the California State University (Berkeley Public Policy Press, University of California, 2010). He earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

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Dr. Daniel GillionAssociate Professor of Political ScienceUniversity of Pennsylvania

Dr. Daniel Q. Gillion completed his Ph.D. at the University of Rochester. He later went on to serve as the Ford Foundation Fellow and the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Scholar at Harvard University. His research interests focuses on racial and ethnic politics, political behavior, public policy, and the American presidency. Professor Gillion’s first book The Political Power of Protest: Minority Activism and Shifts in Public Policy (Cambridge University Press) demonstrates the influential role of protest to garner a response from each branch

of the federal government, highlighting protest actions as another form of constituent sentiment that should be considered alongside public opinion and voting behavior. The Political Power of Protest was the winner of the 2014 Best Book Award from the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. Professor Gillion’s recently completed book Governing with Words: The Political Dialogue on Race, Public Policy, and Inequality in America (forthcoming with Cambridge University Press) demonstrates that the political dialogue on race offered by presidents and congressional members alters the public policy process and shapes societal and cultural norms to improve the lives of racial and ethnic minorities, illustrating that mere words are a powerful tool for combating racial inequality in America.

Professor Gillion’s research has also been published in the academic journals Electoral Studies and Journal of Politics as well as in the edited volumes of Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior.

In addition to being a faculty member in the political science department at Penn, Professor Gillion is an affiliate faculty member with the Department for Africana Studies and the Center for Asian American Studies Program.

Ms. Gertrude (Trudy) GoodwinWriter and Producer, Leimert Park Literary and Theatre FestivalsAlumna, California State University, Dominguez Hills

Trudy Goodwin is foremost a community activist in the areas of dismantling mass incarceration, racial oppression, gentrification, and other social justice issues of dire importance to Black people. An original member of the Black Panther Party of Los Angeles, Trudy is a co-founder of the Committee for Racial Justice in Santa Monica and a member #BlackLivesMatterLA.

She is a writer and MFA of Creative Writing fellow at Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles. Formerly the director of the North Orange County Arts Council, Trudy is a producer of the Leimert Park Literary Festival and the Leimert Park Theatre Festival. She produces social justice and cultural programs in greater Los Angeles.

Dr. Judson GrenierProfessor of History Emeritus California State University, Dominguez Hills

Dr. Judson A. Grenier is Professor of History Emeritus of California State University, Dominguez Hills. He was the founding Chair of the Department of History at the campus, arriving in 1966 and eventually teaching there for 27 years. During his time at the university he co-directed the California State University Oral History Project, and devoted considerable professional attention to the history of Los Angeles. The winner of many professional honors and awards, Dr. Grenier was the first Lyle E. Gibson Distinguished Teacher at CSUDH. The award was

bestowed in 1974. Among other books, monographs, scholarly articles and oral histories, Dr. Grenier is author of The Rainbow Years: the First Quarter-Century of California State University Dominguez Hills (California State University, Dominguez Hills Foundation, 1986).

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Dr. Darnell HuntProfessor, SociologyDirector, Ralph Bunche CenterUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Darnell Hunt is Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also directs the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, and serves as chair of the Department of Sociology. Dr. Hunt is the co-editor (with Ana-Christina Ramon) of Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities (New York University Press, 2010), and author of Screening the Los Angeles “Riots:” Race, Seeing and

Resistance (Cambridge University Press, 1997), among many other books and scholarly articles. As Director of the Bunche Center, Dr. Hunt oversaw the preparation and release of the 2014 Hollywood Diversity Report: Making Sense of the Disconnect, which chronicled the continuing, severe underrepresentation of minorities in television and film alongside the finding that diversity sells in an increasingly diverse America. The work of the Center continues in 2015-16 with a new research project examining UCLA’s racial climate in the aftermath of California Proposition 209, numerous public lectures, book signings and other events scheduled that explore a wide range of hot topics in African American Studies. Dr. Hunt’s Ph.D. is from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Vivian PriceAssociate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies / PACE / Labor StudiesCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

Dr. Vivian Price is a filmmaker, professor, and activist in labor and community issues. She received her doctorate in Politics and Society at UC Irvine, and is presently Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Coordinator of Labor Studies. Her publications include, “Headloads: the technologizing of labor and gendering of work,” a chapter in Gender and Globalization in Asia (Kathy Ferguson and Monica Mirnonesco, University of Hawaii Press, 2008), “Race, Affirmative Action, and

Employment in the US Highway Construction Industry,” (Feminist Economics (2),87-113, 2002), and “Support for Women’s Employment in the Building Trades: Affirmative Action and the Century Freeway in Los Angeles,” chapter in Women in Construction, Netherlands: Reed Publications, 2004, and an article co-authored with students, “Service-Learning with Students of Color, Working Class and Immigrant Students: Expanding a Popular Pedagogical Model,” (Currents in Teaching & Learning, 2014, 7(1). Her films include Hammering It Out (2000), Transnational Tradeswomen (2006), both distributed by Women Make Movies, and Harvest of Loneliness (2010), co-directed with Gilbert Gonzalez, which documents the historic Bracero Program, distributed by Film and Media.

Ms. Sascha RiceAward-winning Filmmaker; Granddaughter of Pat Brown

Sascha Rice is an award -winning filmmaker, public speaker, teacher, and the granddaughter of California’s former Governor Pat Brown. Her Emmy-nominated documentary “California State of Mind” garnered a Grand Jury Prize for Cinematic Vision and has made waves across the country with screenings in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and throughout California. She serves on the Board of Advisors of the Pat Brown Institute, which is a non partisan public policy institute at Cal State LA. Ms. Rice is also the program director for the Young Writers Workshop at Ivanhoe Elementary. Ms. Rice studied at the American Film

Institute and received a B.A. from Hampshire College.

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Ms. Brenda RiddickDirector, Mervyn M. Dymally African American Political and Economic InstituteCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

Brenda Riddick grew up in the communities of Watts, Compton, Carson and San Pedro as well as various military bases across the country and overseas. She has seen and experienced the challenges and struggles of minorities attempting to overcome the stigma of racial inequalities in a society plagued with an undercurrent of discrimination, bigotry, and authoritative hostility just seeking to live the dream of what was constitutionally promised to all Americans. She has never forgotten her roots and the communities that contributed to and

influenced the person and academic she is today. Ms. Riddick teaches in the disciplines of public administration, public policy, and political science at the university and is the Director for the Mervyn M. Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute here at CSUDH.

Ms. Riddick has authored and presented research on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and subsequent legislation facing disenfranchised voters in the southern and eastern United States. Additionally, she has written on transactional and transformational leadership in higher education. She is an advocate for women’s rights and the fair and equal treatment of communities of color.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management from Saint Mary’s College, a Master in Public Administration from California State University, San Bernardino and she is currently working on her dissertation at the University of La Verne with a lens on patterns of institutionalized racism that have impeded the federal, state, and local resources for improving communities like Watts, California.

Dr. Raphael J. SonensheinExecutive Director, The Pat Brown Institute for Public AffairsCalifornia State University, Los Angeles

Dr. Raphael J. Sonenshein is the Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CSU Los Angeles. Previously, he was Chair of the Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice at CSU Fullerton. He received his B.A. from Princeton, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale. He is the author of three books on Los Angeles politics and government. Dr. Sonenshein served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles (Appointed) Charter Reform Commission. He served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Review Commission.

He was Best Educator and Distinguished College Faculty Member at CSUF. He received a Wang Family Excellence Award. He was the first winner of the campus wide Carol Barnes Award for Teaching Excellence and one of two co-winners of the Haynes Foundation Research Impact award. He was the fall 2008 Fulbright Tocqueville Distinguished Chair in American Studies at the University of Paris 8.

Mr. David C. Turner IIIPh.D. student, University of California, BerkeleyBlack Lives Matter, Western Region

David C. Turner III is a Ph.D. student in Social and Cultural Studies in Education and a Eugene Cota-Robles fellow at the University of California, Berkeley from Inglewood, California. His research focuses on Black youth resistance, participatory action research, youth empowerment, and civic engagement.

David’s undergraduate research focused on African American males and their relationships to education in Los Angeles. His senior project, “Do They Really Care About Us”: Investigating Masculinity with Black Male Student Teacher Relationships at an Urban High School” received second place at the 8th annual CSU Dominguez Hills Student Research Day Competition. The study found that relationships cultivated out of trust and positive identity development led to transformative Black masculinities.

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As a master’s student at the University of Pennsylvania, David worked as a research assistant on two research projects, PLAAY (Preventing Long-Term Anger and Aggression in Youth) and the Steppingstones Scholars Data Collection Practices project. While at Penn, he also served as a graduate associate to the W.E.B. Du Bois College House and a graduate assistant to Civic House: Penn’s student-led hub for community service-learning.

David currently holds an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Africana Studies with a minor in Sociology from California State University, Dominguez Hills. David was a Ronald. E. McNair scholar at CSU Dominguez Hills and he participated in the Leadership Alliance Summer Research Program at Vanderbilt University in 2012. In a professional capacity, David was the Educational Equity Program Coordinator for the Social Justice Learning Institute for a good part of his undergraduate career. He has worked to develop the sociopolitical identities of Black and Latino students in school and community settings in Compton, Inglewood, South Central Los Angeles, and East Los Angeles, which influenced his scholarly interests. His work with Black Lives Matter has included working with the LAPD encampment with Black Lives Matter LA, raising critical consciousness with Black youth in LA, and facilitating workshops on beginning Political Education programs in Black communities.

Mr. Tim WatkinsPresident and CEO, Watts Labor Community Action Committee

Timothy Watkins is the fourth President and CEO of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. Watkins also serves as the President and CEO of the Greater Watts Development Corporation (GWDC), a WLCAC Corporate subsidiary, and as the founder of the Greater Watts Transportation Corporation (GWTC). Watkins’ focus is on sustainable community development through social enterprise, environmental policy, and industrial sector initiatives. During his presidency at WLCAC, Watkins launched the Watts Renaissance Project with other local leaders to provide community-based perspective on local planning

initiatives and priorities. He also formed the Watts Public Policy Institute to serve as an institutional resource for grass-roots policy research and development.

His drive for local participation in the redevelopment of Watts led to an unprecedented master plan for the Central Avenue Corridor. His commitment to develop a 2 ½ acre urban farm on 103rd Street in the heart of Watts serves as a model for other community development corporations to follow. To this day, Watkins declares himself a proud resident of Watts; a little community with the biggest name in the world, mostly misunderstood, often neglected, always hopeful for a better way of life.

Dr. Joyce Germaine WattsActing Executive Director of The Village Nation Alumna, California State University, Dominguez Hills

Dr. Joyce Germaine Watts is an educator who has served at every level from elementary through grad school. She launched her career through a two-year internship in Teacher Corps at CSUDH, earning a BA in psychology and African American Studies. She became a classroom teacher and instructional advisor for multicultural and bilingual education and returned to the university to complete an MA and specialist credential in bilingual/cross-cultural education.

Dr. Watts grew up in L.A. and was profoundly affected by the Watts Rebellion and the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. She was particularly inspired by the powerful emancipatory effects of awakening political and cultural consciousness that unified youth from rival street organizations as leaders and activists confronting injustice.

Currently, Dr. Watts is Acting Executive Director of The Village Nation, an educational nonprofit recognized nationally as a facilitator of school transformation with a focus on African American youth. By incorporating many liberatory, healing and empowering approaches from the “movement era,” students at Village Nation schools demonstrate unprecedented academic, social and cultural achievement.

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Dr. Watts served on faculties in the School of Educational Leadership and Change at Fielding Graduate University and Africana Studies at CSUDH, as well as Claremont Graduate University and CSULA. Her doctorate is in multicultural education and she is honored to have studied with Alma Flor Ada, Asa Hilliard, Paulo Freire and Lewis M. King. Dr. Watts has traveled on five continents, and was an NGO delegate to the UN World Conference Against Racism. As a youth and community organizer, she contributed to the formation of African Youth in Action and African and Latino Youth Summit (“allies”).

Mr. Gregory L. WilliamsDirector, Archives and Special CollectionsCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

Greg Williams directs the archives at CSU Dominguez Hills and has been an archivist for three decades. He has curated exhibitions, published collection guides, and served as photograph editor for three coffee-table books.

His publications include Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1993), Filming San Diego: Hollywood’s Backlot, 1898–2002 (2002), and California

State University, Dominguez Hills (2010). CSU Dominguez Hills Archives hold materials on the campus itself, the South Bay, and the California State University system.

Ms. Ellie ZenhariAssistant Professor, Art and DesignCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills

Ellie Zenhari joined the Art & Design Department at California State University, Dominguez Hills as an Assistant Professor in 2012. She previously taught photography and web design at Santa Monica College. Ellie earned her MFA in Interactive Media & Game Development at Savannah College of Art and Design, with emphasis in Interactive Design and new media.

Since joining CSUDH, she completely redesigned and launched the new Art and Design Department website. She also developed a virtual camera application that could promote the understanding of the abstract photography concepts for her photography classes. In 2012 and 2013, she tested the prototype in her photography classes, and based on feedback results, the students found the virtual camera application to be effective in helping them to better understand photography concepts. She also developed a minor in photography and the curriculum for advanced interactive design class that was offered in Fall 2014.

Since 1995, she has maintained a freelance practice, producing photography, multimedia and interactive projects. Her client list includes Technicolor, Weston Mason Marketing, Corbis Images and Santa Monica College Photography Department.

Professor Zenhari currently teaches photography, motion graphics, 3D animation and interactive design classes at CSU Dominguez Hills.

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1000 E. VICTORIA STREET | CARSON, CA 90747 | WWW.CSUDH.EDU/WATTS

and the quest for transformation · music videos, award shows, and tours. shamell’s doctoral...

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