Assistant News Editor
Legalize Dreams. We Are One. You Can Do It!
These are a few of the spontaneous sidewalk-chalk sentiments shared as students came together to take action through art.
Last spring, CSU Bakersfield students pulled together on social media to win a pop-up art activism event for the school from Brown Issues, an immigrant and minority student civic engagement and support organization. That event, sponsored and presented by Associated Students, Inc., happened at noon on Saturday, September 29 on the lawn outside the Student Union.
Brown Issues is a multi-campus organization with chapters all over the country, including Delano, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. According to CSU Los Angeles chapter president Cynthia Alonso, the organization is dedicated to helping minority and immigrant students become involved in both college and civic life, and to become leaders within their communities. Various events and presentations available through the organization include documentary screenings with panel discussions and presentations by college students who have faced incredible odds to achieve their educations.
Brown Issues members also reach out to affiliated students all over the country to make sure their members are adjusting well, feeling strong, and reaching their full academic and personal potential. “With Brown Issues, that’s one of our goals,” says Alonso. “We have check-ins with each other. ‘How are you doing?’ ‘How’s classes?’… because sometimes you don’t have that support system.”
For two weeks before the pop-up, ASI posted flyers announcing the event around campus. These flyers are decorated with Brown Issues’ icon and mascot, the monarch butterfly. Alonso explains the symbolism. “The butterfly represents the struggle and the beauty of migration. Especially with what’s going on right now, it’s just a reminder that yes, even if you are migrating from any country around the world, your experience matters. Your story matters.”
ASI Director of Educational Events Sonny Medina is the lead coordinator of the pop-up event and the designing force behind the plan to bring a Brown Issues chapter to CSUB. “Before we even had the Brown Issues pop-up, there was a lot of, I call it ‘roar,’ or noise from the Central Valley in regards to having this organization come and do a pop-up here,” says Medina. “I’m seeing this [starting the chapter] as a great foundation, not only for minority students, but for students in general to learn about advocacy and civil engagement, as well as what it means to create a positive community not only within CSUB, but within our Kern County community as well.”
Wendy Melendez, ASI Director of Diversity Affairs, expresses both excitement and astonishment at the university’s fortune and ASI’s smooth coordination in winning and planning the event. From the beginning of the semester, the push was on to make it happen. It all came together in three weeks. “We were just talking about it… and here it is,” Melendez marvels while noting how many students chose to attend a campus event on the weekend. “I can’t believe it. I’m so excited! This is great.”
The art activism pop-up (“Artivism,” say Medina and Melendez) featured food, t-shirts, activities and games, as well as interactive art stations, and a community handprint banner in observance of October being Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. ASI Director of Arts and Humanities Candice Livingston tells The Runner that ASI intends to display the handprint banner inside the Student Union for the rest of the semester to raise awareness.
University President Lynnette Zelezny also attended the pop-up event to take pictures with organizers, students, and guests. When asked what she thought of the effort and turnout, Zelezny gave all credit to the students and the CSUB community. “They inspire me. They always inspire me.”
ASI expects to have the CSUB chapter of Brown Issues fully launched by the end of this semester. Students who would like to join or for more information about Brown Issues may contact Sonny Medina by email at [email protected].
