 Good afternoon, I'm Sandra Bass and I do want to extend my thanks to Shizue too, so you know to be able to share a stage with artists I am an academic So I'm kind of like, you know sliding in trying something new and I was when I was speaking to Shizue. She's been so wonderful about Helping me think about new voices. So Really a pleasure to be here So I grew up in suburbs of San Jose I've spent the last decade living in San Francisco and I work at UC Berkeley and my job is Really, it's an amazing blessing to have this job as I work with our next generation of social justice leaders and So this last year as you can imagine it's been interesting over in Berkeley I have physically been in the middle a lot of the things that have happened both our building, but also my physical body and So the piece that I wrote I'm going to do read a condensed version is called what grows in our garden Barrier black folks are all too familiar with a type of nimbyism that lives in progressive places This parochialism rests in the dogged belief that our region has somehow escaped the isms that plague the rest of the country Over the years friends colleagues even random strangers have assured me that discrimination does not exist in fill in the city The organization or the industry That my experiences of bias or disrespect were isolated events or misunderstandings on my part and That we really me We're fortunate to live in a place that embraced difference and where moving up in life came to those who had earned it Racism not here not in our backyard Then the 2016 presidential race took us all down the rabbit hole into this country country's foundational hatreds and Landed squarely in the Bay Area That the Bay Area is not in fact a post-racial paradise Came to light when Trump's campaign stopped in San Jose inciting a street Malay between his supporters and opponents Then within weeks of the election Student Republicans at UC Berkeley decided to test the university's free speech policy by inviting hard-right pundits to speak on campus So here's what's true Despite the extensive media coverage the motley mix of white supremacists neo-nazis and proud boys in Berkeley and other Extremist rallies around the country were vastly outnumbered by opposing protesters at every turn What is also true? Many of the right extremists were homegrown Californians White nationalism is on the rise throughout the state and hate crimes just one measure of the growth of this movement We're up in several major cities last year In this beautiful place with its beautiful people a Strange and bitter crop is unfurling its twisted leaves under the welcoming heat emanating from the White House Yet despite this extremism My hope is not waned What looks like new growth is more likely the last desperate attempts of an old and dying order and Besides authentic hope is not untempered optimism or a belief in a preordained happy ending But a practice that grows in strength as we rise up together to right wrongs and cultivate new realities. I See this in my work every day with Cal students Planted in their hearts are the possibilities for co-creating a society centered on radical inclusiveness systemic transformation and communal responsibility and So we are faced with a choice Will we continue to deny the existence of old yet persistent injustices? We will allow will we allow this current fury to sustain itself on alienation and fear or Will we act to ensure that what grows in our garden is what we love Let's till the soil with our collective imaginations nurse seeds of change and bolster fledgling shoots with ageless wisdoms compassion and courage Not because we're certain of a quick harvest But because it's through daily acts of loving and serving with and for each other that we grow into our boundless sacred humanity Constant gardeners. We must be ever preparing the earth and ourselves for rich and abundant life. Thank you