San Francisco State University’s College of Ethnic Studies is turning 40 and celebrating this week by kicking off a four day international conference and gala event, “Ethnic Studies 40 Years Later: Race, Resistance and Relevance.”
In 1968-1969, S.F. State students, staff, faculty and community allies walked out of their classrooms and offices and demanded the establishment of four new departments devoted to the creation of access to relevant education by and for people of color: La Raza Studies, Asian American Studies, African American Studies and Native American Studies. The now famous SF State Strike produced the College of Ethnic Studies—but not until thousands of students, staff and faculty put everything on the line so that we could all now enjoy an education based on greater truth and relevance for all aspects of humanity.
We have those heroes to thank in addition to the current faculty of Ethnic Studies who are heroes in their own right—moving forward and adding to the powerful vision initially created in 1968-69. This week is a great opportunity to think about how your own education would have been different without what they did. Even if you have never taken an ethnic studies class you have benefited by the revolution in education itself that started here at SF State with the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies in 1968-69. Without that revolution, what truths about diverse communities of people would have been missing? What kind of impact would that have on the work you now do—your very framework for seeing the world and your role and responsibility within it?
Really. Think about it.
The College of Ethnic Studies and the Department of Sexuality Studies share many commonalities. Both are committed to social justice and operate within an anti oppression framework, both teach thousands of students each semester, both offer master’s degrees that no other university in the nation offers, both formed out of resistance to their erasures within academia and both have become international leaders in ensuring that they never be erased from academia again. Both also share common enemies and naysayers—those people who argue that the very existence of ethnic studies, women’s studies and sexuality studies is irrelevant or those who say that the relevance has played its time out because traditional academic disciplines now completely and successfully integrate race, sex and gender. They don't. These people share much with those who tried to shut down the strike—and they are still wrong. Dead wrong. Ignorance about ethinic studies, women’s studies and sexuality studies actually kills people—literally.
As Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders, M.D. says, “The U.S. is in a sexual health crisis and ignorance is no cure.”
This week, the international conference is offering dozens of panels, discussions, workshops, films and displays. On Friday there will be a panel titled Moving Queers: Sexuality and the Field of Ethnic Studies, which will explore the contributions of queer and LGBT people within the field of ethnic studies.
I asked Amy Sueyoshi, a professor appointed in both Ethnic Studies and Sexuality Studies (who is a panelist in the Moving Queers presentation) what her thoughts were in general about ethnic studies and sexuality studies, race and sex and she said, “race, gender and sexuality will always be inseparable” and that “the College of Ethnic Studies, over the decades, has done a great job of including sexuality and gender”. I couldn’t agree more—all you have to do is take a look at the faculty within the College of Ethnic Studies to see that gender and sexuality are high priorities. For example, you see names like Rafael Diaz and Tomas Almaguer—powerhouse academic researchers and community activists whose work focuses on sexuality and race.
Last summer, NSRC’s Summer Institute focused on race, gender and sexuality—Amy was one of the lead faculty—and students from all over the country engaged in extremely challenging and rewarding discussions on race, sex and gender. NSRC also obtained funding to specifically provide scholarships to students of color who are marginalized within the academic field of sexuality itself, which led to the largest number of students of color ever at one of our Summer Institutes. This past summer I worked with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation to advise on new research looking at the intersections of race, sexuality and gender for LGBT people. Last year, I also attended the Racial Justice Institute at the Creating Change Conference as well as The Fellowship meeting in Atlanta....In other words, our work on race and sexuality intersects ongoingly.
At NSRC, our vision for sexual literacy involves amplifying the voices of people of color, people with disabilities, low income people, older adults etc…within sexuality education/research/policy, where their voices have traditionally been absent or downplayed. We all lose out because of their silences and we all have a responsibility to do something about it. In that sense, we too are following the model laid out by the founders of the College of Ethnic Studies—we are making visible and relevant the knowledge that we do not yet have and desperately need for the survival and wellness of entire communities of people.
Resistance. Relevancy. Access. Revolution.
As Amy Sueyoshi says, it is clear that race and sexuality always have been and always will be linked.
I look forward to exploring the space that links us even closer as we move forward over the next 40 years in both fields. We have so much to continue to learn from one another.
But for now, it’s time to celebrate, learn and express our gratitude to the College of Ethnic Studies in every way that we possibly can!
See you at the conference!
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If you can’t attend the conference in person, you can follow the conference happenings and participate in Active Voices, the conference’s live twitter event: www.twitter.com/ethnicstudies40
