 Thank you everyone for being here today My name is Judith Plank and we're all very excited about our program and We're thrilled to have you here to share it with us We're going to start with a welcome and a few words by someone who needs little introduction in this town Mayor Joe Cravoza. Thank you very much, Judith Wonderful to be here and actually I think I need my Sheet I need my sheet to recognize other elected officials First because she helped out from the Davis School Board Sheila Allen, and I think we have Tim Taylor here as well Sheila and Tim Also from the school board Winford, Robinson who'll be on Winford be on the panel in just a little bit My colleagues My colleagues on the city council. We have Lucas Frerichs here and Dan Wolk is with us as well our mayor pro tem Delighted to have state senator Lois Wolk with us. Where's Lois Lois? Ellie fair clause here representing Mike Thompson. Ellie. Great to have you All right. Well, that's the end of me right there John Garmini. Thank you and She has been vertically integrated. Okay, very good quit while I'm not too far behind Okay. Thank you all for joining us today I'm pleased to welcome everybody to our annual celebration of Martin Luther King's legacy I'm also particularly pleased to welcome Dana Vickers Shelley. Who's here from the Southern Poverty Law Center. I've been humbled I've been humbled to follow the work of Morris D's who is the great civil rights litigator who founded the Southern Poverty Law Center And so to have Dana here today is very special I want to thank the organizers of the this event Certainly Judith and the Human Relations Commission And I want to thank the high school students for being here today to report out on their research among us I want to begin by recognizing three individuals that have left us in this past year first Nelson Mandela of course who brought his people together and healed the nation and he also had a significant impact worldwide nationwide on the struggles of all for the development of Justice and certainly influenced my own personal ethos We also lost a great friend in Terry Turner and we're going to recognize Terry as this program continues on today And also I want to recognize a very dear friend of mine a Davis site that some of you knew and many of you didn't He was a world famous illustrator His name was yawn Nasha Benny and yawn grew up. I passed away in February in Mexico Yawn grew up with every material advantage That you might imagine he was the son of two huge industrial families in Italy and France But he largely grew up alone and his art reflected the great need to Connect children and welcome children into society and that's a theme that I'm going to talk about a little bit in my short remarks here Now as I thought on this year's King celebration I kept thinking of the letter from the Birmingham jail in college a friend of mine gave me a recording of King from the jail as he recorded it King had been arrested for civil disobedience. He was in jail and he was trying to explain to the local clergy Why he had done what he had done and when he was in the jail and as he wrote that letter He delivered his kind of great quote in justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and we all know that But it followed with something that's not repeated quite as much and that is we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality Tied in a single garments of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly so as your mayor and In the connection with our local government it makes me wonder What can I do? What can we do as a city government to support the mutuality that we all must have to build a better society and I'm very proud to say That we do that in the city of Davis. There are all kinds of different pieces We have our human relations commission and now we have their wonderful Breaking the silence of racism event that inaugurated this past December We have our embudsman at the police department to make sure that those who think they were wronged by the police Have a fair hearing immediately and quite frankly on the city's dime We have our golden heart and our win awards to make sure we recognize those Reaching out to others in our community and fighting for justice and certainly we have this MLK day as well We're also joined on an institutional basis by our school district We have schools in Cesar Chavez Kormatsu and homes named for those who fought for justice We have our wonderful race and social justice program at the high school, which we'll hear from today We have the Black Student Union at the high school on campus We have the UC Davis cross-cultural center which does so much to connect students on campus and connect them to the community But I also want to recognize that it's not governmental institutions that truly create our fabric Truly create the mutuality that we all need that rests on all of you and the great work that you do in so many different organizations So we have our international house and our international festival to celebrate the diversity of our community We have Becca the blacks for effective community action that are active We have our interfaith rotating winter shelter and all of the wonderful work of Davis community meals and others to take care of those Who have less in our community? We have the Davis peace coalition. We now have the Phoenix coalition We have the Concilio of Yolo County, and we have the Yolo interfaith immigration network We have a very very strong network creating the Mutuality that King all called upon us to advance and they bring us to the great King quote then That everybody can be great because everybody can serve and so many in this community do exactly that Three years ago on this occasion January of 2011 I had the privilege of making my first public address as the mayor of Davis Reflected on attending President Obama's first inauguration How the historical echo of Dr. King's message on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was coming alive on the inaugural stage? What we've learned from Obama and his years in office is that the arc of justice Will be long It won't be achieved by one president no matter how articulate and no matter how well positioned But when someone like President Obama comes into our world and he calls for the best in all of us We need to seize the opportunity and move our community and our nation forward We have that power to continue the legacies left to us by Nelson Mandela and by Terry Turner and the example Provided by Barack Obama all of whom have made Dr. King's echo Louder and louder as we go forward and that is our challenge here in Davis in the mutuality of our collective actions We must do what we all can to amplify Dr. King's echo. Thank you all very very much. Thank you to Judith again It's great to have everybody here. I can't wait for the program and the freedom march to follow Thank you mayor crevosa I just want to remind everyone that tomorrow night at 6 p.m. In the community chambers Mayor crevosa will give the state of the city address And it will be covered by Davis media access as as always So one of the aspects of this event today That is very important to us is making sure that we include the the voices of young people in our community In addition our entire program today focuses on education of minority youth Luckily with Davis high schools race and social justice class we have high school students who are learning about social justice issues Each year today. We're going to hear from a group of seniors who completed a research project as part of that class Please join me in welcoming Sydney Carrera Robin Hansen every last year postner Emily patch willa and Christina Puente To share with us their research on socio-economic class and academic achievement Hi, so um, this is our presentation on socio-economic class and academic Decided to define socio-economic class as the way in which society is Divided in certain classes based upon similarities in social economic or educational status The problem that we are trying to address through this presentation is if an individual socio-economic class Affects their academic achievement in school our motivation to solve this problem Is that we have noticed unequal wealth distribution has limited people's opportunities to excel? And we hope through this presentation to help create ways for the less fortunate to reach their full academic potential So we did some research of some evidence of how socio-economic class Achievement through our country's history So some factors that we found about socio-economic class academic achievement Is one the school their peers relationships between teachers and their family background Starting off with one's peers is if they hang out with a good group of friends Not going down like a bad path not getting in the trouble and staying on a good path That'll impact their future and relationships between teachers and their family is A lot of times if you have a good relationship with your teachers You're more motivated to do better and really try to achieve that high grade And then the other way is if you don't have a good relationship You might not try to do as well and maybe slack off a little and with your family background If you have like a good upbringing and have a good relationship with your parents and siblings You're more likely to try and succeed in school And so these certain aspects or these certain factors that we found could determine one future after school and their potential jobs So as the Great Depression hit America many educational institutions Simply disappeared education became many families lowest priority As you can see the overall dropout rates increased to 76% and it's not because these kids didn't want to go to school It's because these educational institutions were no longer available makeshift schools were created but these makeshift schools did not have the same Type of education that regular schools did in schools that the more wealthy kids went to And like I said on the other side of the spectrum a lot of these wealthy kids Just can't need to go to school because they had more opportunities more resources and more time and money to continue their education and not have to worry about Maybe finding jobs or money or having food for their family During the Great Recession the middle class was the most affected the poor stayed poor and the wealthy stayed wealthy But it was the middle class that was hit the hardest the grades of students in the middle class were greatly affected They drop and they dropped dramatically during the recession test scores dropped on an average of 6% And the test scores of students that had high test scores and were already accepted into college dropped about 20% So there have been a lot of studies recently that have addressed this problem and one such study was done by Sanford University And what that study found was that the achievement gap has increased between 30 and 40 percent now compared to how it was in the 1970s and that there's an increasing income distribution gap between the 90th and 10th percentile and They offered some theories for why this may be occurring and some of those were that Those that are wealthier have a lot more resources like money time to invest in their child's education so that tends to take a priority and they also those that are wealthier generally more educated and so they put a lot of focus on education for their children and those that are what are children from wealthy families tend to Receive a lot of pressure from their parents to succeed in school So that plays into effect how they do whereas those who are not as wealthy Tend to their parents may not put as much focus or have as much time Into their education as you can see on the screen The classes that we surveyed were both sophomore and junior English classes. We tried to make our surveys as Very as possible ranging from radio or English 10 to American literature honors Okay, as you can see this is the survey that we distributed to the different English classes We wanted qualitative and quantitative data for our quantitative data We asked students what grade they were in what they estimated their GPA to be and what socioeconomic class They thought they were in we did not give the definition of Socio-economic class to these students because we wanted to see where they thought they fell on the on the ratio Some for a quantitative or qualitative data some students said They said how Their class affected their academic achievement one student said I feel like I cannot participate in everything Because I want to because of financial difficulty Another said I'm able to hire a good tutor if needed and I can get all the materials I need like a computer and a good calculator, etc Another said my socioeconomic class helps me in school many Academic activities rely on money out of the eight students that we surveyed who self-identified as being a part of the low socioeconomic class You can see that the GPAs range Greatly, and I want you guys to pay close attention to the purple square or the purple Quarter of this pie graph because it is will disappear in the next couple slides and that Means that they have a GPA less than a 1.9 155 students identified themselves as being in the middle socioeconomic class as you can see the percentage of students with the GPA of the 3.0 or higher has increased dramatically since the last slide and the percentage of students with A lower with a GPA lower than a 2.0 has decreased showing that students have much more academic Resources than the other class So of the students who identified as being in the high socioeconomic class They generally did very very well in school 92% had above the 3.0 Which we would generally identify as being successful in school and when we for our qualitative data a lot of them Said that their parents Valued higher education a lot and that they pushed them to be successful in school And they gave them all the things they need to succeed in school like tutors Prep classes things like that which allowed them to be successful so you can see our Three graphs put together and if you look at the low socioeconomic class class, which is on the bottom left 62% have above the 3.0 and then if you go to the middle, which is on the right It bumps up to 86% and then if you look at the high socioeconomic class it bumps up to 92% You can see like the variation in the amount of children who are succeeding and then you if you also look at the purple which Represents less than a 2.0 It starts at 25% for the low and then it goes to a little over 1% and to non-existent in the high class And the high socioeconomic class Which shows that those that are wealthy are getting the opportunities and the things they need to succeed where as those who are Not as wealthy or may not be getting those same opportunities so in conclusion to our research we found that These opportunities are not presented equally to the lower classes as they are to the higher classes Therefore that is why these higher or the kids the students that associate with the higher Socionatic classes tend to get higher GPAs So for solutions to this issue We promoted the academic center which is on campus and its offers free tutoring as well as free technological resources We did this advertising by putting up posters and flyers as well as passing out of a PowerPoint presentation to the teachers To show to their students our presentation We kind of took a look at the Davis community and thought of ways that our community was allowing students to Not be given the same opportunities and one of those ways we found was with the gate program which allows if parents have the same of have financial resources to Have their child privately tested which is allowing those with money to have access to a program Which has where those who do not have the same resources they can't so Which isn't right Overall our outcomes we were hoping that students will become more informed about the resources available to them and hopefully the academic Achievement gap between the high and low classes will lessen. Thank you. Thank you so much. That was just fantastic Let's give another hand round of applause Fabulous Now we're going to turn our attention to additional voices in the community in a panel discussion on education issues Fellow human relations commissioner David Greenwald will be moderating the panel which includes Ken Barnes Who works at the UC Davis internship and career center and who is also a trustee for a Robla school district in Sacramento? And I don't know if Lorelle Cato is here Lorelle Cato a Davis high school student Esther a boy he and Mariah Watson both UC Davis students and last but not least Winford Winford-Robertson They say that right who is the superintendent of the Davis joint unified school district David. I'll turn it over to you Like to welcome our panel. Hi. My name is David Greenwald. I'm a member of the Davis human relations commission for the next 20 minutes or so we're going to Have a panel discussion on education and minority youth and because we have four panelists and Limited time. I'm going to cut you off pretty quickly so Winford The first question is for you and try to keep it to about two minutes or so What factors are? affecting the achievement gap among students of different cultural and social economic backgrounds particularly African-American students at DJ USD Product today the schools not appreciate the work research that they have done. In fact, they they lay it out much of what I wanted to talk about They've identified what the achievement gap is and that's this this observed long disparity between the performance the evaluation of performance of students, especially those In the nation shift to social economics as well as race and ethnicity We first became aware of this in 1966 when the federal government issued our commission the Coleman report They identified the two factors what takes place at home and what takes place at school So those are the two factors that that have contributed to the to the gap. So right now we the economics We cannot ignore Also in school, there are conditions that need to be a gap There's lots of research out there. Some of that done by mole as well as Gonzales that looks at the funds of knowledge some of the things that we can do is begin to Get to know our students and not know about them, but to learn from them deal Dilford and our research looking at other people's children Talks about the disparity of power the distribution of power Who has the power? the mainstream Setting the bar for what power looks like given that power out and so in The book funds of knowledge by Gonzales. She does some some very profound research Showing teachers going into the homes of students learning about their rich culture the The cognitive resources that are in that home not just learning about them, but learning from them We're talking about a distribution of power shared power versus empowerment Winford I gotta cut you off here So the next question is going to be for both Esther and Mariah How have you navigated being an African-American in a predominantly white and Asian-American institution? So what Esther, could you go first? Hello, um Okay, I don't have time to really give an introduction, but I kind of feel the need to I'm a second year student at UC Davis currently the majoring in human development and econ I have to go into law and public health in the future and Mariah and I are both involved in student government Mariah is a senator and I'm a commissioner on ethnic and cultural affairs commission and to answer your question Being at Davis the demographics of UC Davis are not too far off from the demographics at my high school And middle schools that I went to so in terms of like primary education through secondary and higher education Not really there wasn't much of a change So coming to Davis the biggest thing I did was kind of reach out for my people reach out for my community by joining organizations I joined a scholars program right off the bat that targeted African-American students and scholars on campus and I think that was a awesome formidable experience for me Just to see people who look like me who understand my struggles I'm going to send what it's like to be the 3% on campus and That's probably the biggest the biggest way I kind of Navigated through the campus, but it wasn't like a culture shock. It wasn't this dramatic experience for me as a freshman Okay Hello, everyone as Esther stated, I am an ASUCD senator I am a second-year international relations major emphasizing in peace and security as well as Middle Eastern South Asian studies And I would like to be a lawyer and go into the State Department one day fingers crossed So Esther definitely echoed a lot of the things that I was going to say which helps with this two-minute period to get all this through One thing that I do and I know a lot of other students do it as I refuse to let my race or my ethnicity Or the way that people perceive me stop me from achieving what I want, you know running for Senate was huge You know as Esther stated we are less than 3% on our school and a lot of times people talk about these voting blocks Like I'm gonna have this finite amount of people who are guaranteed to vote for me and things of that nature and it's just being able to be in different spaces and Get good grades. I've been on the Dean's List every single quarter I have almost a 4.0 I mean and I attribute this to the fact that I refuse to let these Preconceived notions of what I'm supposed to be at this campus. It's a difference between It's the difference between surviving and thriving and it's getting yourself out there It's getting out of your comfort zone It's looking back and saying yes I am alone in the classroom most of the time and there is no one who looks like me But I'm gonna push out of that box and push those barriers and show them that I am just as capable I am just as brilliant and I will be successful in this university. And so that's how I navigate Thank you Ken Barnes What do you think is essential in attracting and then retaining students of color and particularly African-Americans within our post-secondary educational system in two minutes Two separate questions. I'll try to be brief and I'll give accolades to the high school students that did the research on this When it comes to attracting students When it comes to attracting students I'll break it down to how's this Okay, when it comes to attracting students, I'll break it down to two categories real briefly first is Attracting high school seniors who are ready to go to college For them, I say making UC Davis relevant to them these students. They Listen to the news. They know the reports about the job market. So they know that it's going to be tough when they graduate So we need to make their education relevant make sure that when they come here and they get an education They have the tools to get an advanced degree and then once they graduate they have the tools to be competitive with the other students out There that are going to Berkeley and Stanford and all the other campuses. So making that education relevant What is it about UC Davis that is unique enough to give them that competitive vision when they graduate? So that's the first part. The second part of that is getting students prepared for education That isn't the K-12 system and I am a school board member on elementary school district I like focusing on that area because that is a very key area, especially up until third grade But studies show that if a student isn't performing at Advanced or or near advanced by third grade the chances of getting in the college are very slim And actually if they're performing below Proficiency and far below efficiency the chance that doesn't get into State institution that they don't want to get into as far more likely So we need to dedicate more resources there to making sure that our students are prepared at an early age Or on track to get into college and the common core California common core centers seems to be Going in that right direction, but it's a very new system So we're going to have to monitor that and see if that's actually very actually successful That's not going to have to make changes go long the way perfect All right back to Winfred What is being done to track effectiveness of programs and policies designed to close the achievement gap? teachers and Administrators are as often as possible through collaboration There are great levels where they come together to examine student data data through our CSPs as well as Assessments that have been conducted in the classroom to see where students are performing Counselors have an opportunity to take a look at grade point averages as as well as the number of students that are going into college applying to college to determine are we Effectively giving all of our students access to the courses as well as materials that are going to set them on a pathway for college and career readiness. So also our teachers as well as the school district has a With the CSTs going away and the star going away Which is a new change taking place in education with the introduction of the Common Core We have an opportunity to find other ways that we want to begin to track and look at the success of our students So this is a great opportunity for us Okay And we go back to Esther and Mariah for another question Have you had Experiences in the Davis community either on campus or in the city that you feel were discriminatory or made you feel uncomfortable as an African-American and if the answer is yes, could you please provide an example Esther well the answer is definitely yes It's it's hard to pinpoint just one and I feel like that's probably the most Disappointing thing about people asking that question is when you have to figure out Well, am I gonna talk about that time in the classroom? am I gonna talk about that time when I was driving home late at night and I was pulled over and We're not even gonna get into that one or do we talk about the experiences with our other students? It happens and it's real and a lot of people when you report these things you talk to hire like Admin or things of that nature who don't necessarily understand they brush it off or they say things that oh, it's okay It's just this is an isolated incident and it's like no when you go into a party and Racial slurs start coming up or these things called microaggressions where people use a certain type of language or certain type of tone With just you and not other people who don't look like you and it's it's even those little things that make me feel very Uncomfortable on campus. It's when I am called racial slurs It's when I am in a classroom and I feel like I can't voice my opinion about a slide or a presentation or something That is showing my race in a very very negative light when that is not the whole picture And I feel like we get fed that so much that this is what you look like This is who you need to be afraid of and being the only person in the classroom feeling so uncomfortable that I called my mother Crying once I left saying I don't know what to do That that's it's real and it happens and there are multiple instances of it You can just ask pretty much anyone on the campus And I'm just gonna leave it at that did you want to add something I was gonna say Mariah brought up an awesome point about administration and students feeling these Feelings of discomfort on campus and as you're standing here as black women. There are other people who are not represented This is MLK. This is an MLK commemoration But when we talk about like racial slurs or injustices on campus that affects a lot of people of color And a lot of the time administration doesn't recognize that and that it's really unfortunate But it's important to validate that some people may feel discomfort on campus in classes at parties Whatever the case may be and that contributes to how we feel about UC Davis Personally, I have had a lot of negative experiences and it doesn't really help to get into that get into that like headspace, but From that like I do really think solidarity, especially within our community is huge because when stuff like that happens I can find Mariah who I work with or I find my friends People that I see on a daily basis who understand my own struggles and we can kind of work things out together And that has happened a lot in the past year and I find that so commendable within the black community at UC Davis that we can band together when you know injustices happen or you know Scandals happen and we can kind of find like strength with one another So I mean to kind of like throw this and flip it around You know, that's a positive side of it that we can find solidarity in our community in that way and for Ken Barnes What are the racial factors affecting employment for African-American graduates? Again in two minutes That's a tough question to answer I say probably very similar to the fact of the affecting employment in other areas and right now I'd say one the job market is very tough and two Are we matching what the students are studying to whether jobs are and right now? I'd say we're probably not doing a very good job at that if you look at where the jobs are the jobs Right now are in STEM science technology engineering and math and right now predominantly you don't see a lot of African-Americans gravitating to that area and I say I've got a question why do we not see a lot of students a lot of students gravitating to those areas part of that has to be has to deal with the preparation or First at the K-12 level and then also at the Davis level and I've seen I'm on a committee that that looks into the retention of African-American students at Davis and I have to say that some of the things that brought to life are pretty shocking like first-year students who are told by their academic advisors that they need to take 1618 or more units in very hard science classes and just as the high school students here I'm showing their research if you don't have those resources and the parents behind you pushing you You're not gonna be very good in those areas So we have students that are being told say 16 to 18 units of hard core science courses in their first and second quarters here And they don't do very well And so then they get behind not only in their grades but also in their minimum progress So they have two strikes against them in their first year and then they're on their way out So we're not preparing them for the job market by not preparing them for the the jobs that That are actually out there by making sure that they're successful while they're here Thank you So really quickly. I want to go across the panel in just one minute each I want want you to lay out what you think the biggest challenge for African-Americans in in your respective field So starting with Winfrey Students Some students come to school students from middle-class families come with academic language they come already prepared with that this course the Also, yes, and I'll go back to and hopefully bring some credit to the former statement about us really getting to know and learn from our students So it is typically students come we part the knowledge to them We said and let them know what they should know and why they should know it Our students come to us with rich cognitive skills that we as an institution have not happened to or recognize So it begs for us to get to learn from our students to learn the rich culture as well as the Cognitive skills that they have incorporate that into how we began to teach our students and began to share this Cut you off there Esther biggest challenge for an African-American student That's a pretty loaded question I can only speak for myself in my own experience and how I feel about being a student at UC Davis I think well the first thing that came to mind was the amount of students on campus and there aren't a lot of us on campus sometimes kind of nice because We have that I guess Mysterious like oh and then when you meet you know another black person It's like oh, hey, and it's like we have this like awesome close tight-knit community because of it We don't really have a choice though, you know, I mean less than three percent of us So we have to be close and tight-knit, but I do think it'd be awesome if I saw more black faces on campus More black scholars on campus like I'm inspired by all the upperclassmen. I know it's really incredible to like have that What's the word example to look up to especially when I was an incoming freshman and I had no idea what college was really like And you know as Ken Barnes brought up stem majors I do know a lot of send me it is it might not seem like there are a lot in the Community, but I know a lot of stem majors, and they're all incredible And just great scholars. So when it comes to like having black students on campus That's probably my biggest my biggest qualm with our demographics of students But I think currently I'm I'm pretty content I feel like with that, but I know that's a huge issue That's been brought up with the UC system in general And we both want to cut you off Right Goodness gracious It's interesting when you said field. I was thinking about my profession. I wasn't thinking about myself as a student So bringing it back Biggest issue I'm just gonna have to echo some of the same things that Esther said and it's Encouragement I feel like is one of our biggest things and sometimes encouragement isn't a pat on the back or oh you can do this It's having people in the positions that you want to Eventually get to having them there and looking at it as simple as I can be there, too You know when President Obama was elected. I I don't know how it was for everyone else But I was sitting there crying just baffled that I could one day hold that office I could one day be there and it's just seeing someone there who looks like you who has possibly had shared Experiences in those spaces that just gives you a whole another level of like Empowerment to get there and work there because if they made it then maybe by some chance some Opportunity I can make it too And Ken to wrap it up It's already been said I'll say that one of the biggest challenges facing African-American students now is knowing knowing That students have resources knowing what those resources are when you need them And this is from the K-12 level and at the college level at the K-12 level Our parents definitely need to know what resources the district offers and how to tap into those resources to make sure that their Children are succeeding and then at the university level Students need to know that they have resources and that when they start to get the trouble And as soon as they start to get into trouble Whatever that trouble is that they can access those resources and get the help that they need a lot of time Students don't feel that they do have access to resource or know what they are and by the time you get around to helping them It's too late. They're already on their way out. We could have helped them far before Thank you very much. I'd like to thank our panel for their participation Let's give another round of applause to the panel. Okay, and thank you David for facilitating Now, yeah, thank you David for facilitating Now before I introduce the keynote speaker, I have a little bit of an announcement Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada is here with us today. Welcome and what she has brought with her is a certificate of recognition from the California Legislature Assembly to the city of Davis human relations Commission For in commemoration of the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. This is a wonderful Plackard plaque here, and we appreciate it so much. Thank you so much assembly woman Yamada and I want to read what it says that quote from from Martin Luther King It says the arc of the moral universe is long But it bends towards justice Wonderful Okay on that note and without further ado. We're in for a special treat For those of you who are not familiar with it the Southern Poverty Law Center located in Montgomery, Alabama Is one of the country's most famous and successful nonprofit civil rights organizations? They fight hate and bigotry and work throughout our nation's schools to promote tolerance They're unrelenting pursuit to ensure that our next generation of leaders in bodies. Dr. King's dream Is just one of the reasons we are so excited to have Ms. Dana Vickers Shelley of the center here with us today Miss Shelley is the public affairs director for the Southern Poverty Law Center in this role She uses her skills and strengths as a communicator to put the center's messages of tolerance and their fight against Bigotry to work Her career is long and impressive. You can read about several of her past efforts in the program She has traveled the country to share a message of acceptance Tolerance and equality and today we are so very fortunate to have her travel to us here in Davis Please join me in a hearty welcome to to miss Dana Vickers Shelley and most importantly happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I really appreciate this invitation and the opportunity to talk with you about a lot of the issues that we've begun today one of the things I think in talking about Dr. King and thinking of education as the civil rights issue of our time is the challenge I would put forward that in addition to thinking of how individuals Can change what they do to improve educational outcomes and opportunities for themselves and their families but to also think about and I'll talk about this a little bit this morning the systemic issues that affect kids of color communities of color and Disinvested communities because many of the things that we have talked about today that the young students have shared with us that the Future presidents ambassadors and secretaries of state have shared with us today Are that are that it's up to an individual to make a contribution in her or his life But we also have to address Again those institutional and those structural barriers to those individual success and opportunities The work that this community has done and that many communities are doing Focusing on eliminating hate and discrimination is so important as we mark the holiday in honor of Dr. King And I think this morning there were over a hundred and seventy nine million Google hits on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2014 Would it surprise you to know That schools in the United States are more segregated today than they have been in four decades According to a recent study from the civil rights project of UCLA Millions of non-white students are locked into what's called dropout factory high schools where huge percentages of them don't graduate and few are well prepared for their future in the US economy American schools are forty four percent non-white as Minorities rapidly emerge as the majority of public school students in the US in Latino and African-American populations two of every five students attend Intensely segregated schools for Latinos as increase in segregation reflects growing residential segregation For blacks a significant part of the reversal Reflects the ending of desegregation plans in public schools throughout the nation way back when When Brown v. Board of Education the Supreme Court concluded that the southern standard of separate but equal was Inherently unequal and did irreversible harm to black students. It later extended that ruling to Latinos in This context again our conversation about education particularly access to quality education as it pertains to Public schools and later access to college is an important civil rights issue past just ten years after Brown v. Board the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race color or national origin in Programs or activities related to and that include federal funding this includes housing transportation and of course education and over the next year you'll be hearing a lot about the Markers of the civil rights movement because we're in 2014 marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act the 50th anniversary of the summer of freedom the 50th anniversary of Dr. King earning the Nobel Prize a Core belief of our democracy is the notion that it is right and fair that all children regardless of skin color should have the opportunity for an education The opportunities for education that I've been fortunate to to receive come as a result both of that history as well as my personal family history where Born the daughter of a high school English teacher and an elementary school librarian I had no choice but to think of education as something important and essential to my success One of Dr. King's first comments on education written many years ago when he was a student at Morehouse University in Atlanta Quote it seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society Remember it was 1948 the one is utility and the other is culture Education must enable a man to become more efficient to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life as Dr. King and others fought for civil rights and Providing access to everyone regardless of what you look like where you come from or what you believe The Pew Research Center, which many of you may be familiar with Recently reported that fewer than half 45% of American surveyed last year said they believe the United States has made substantial progress toward racial equality since 1963 when Dr. King delivered as I have a dream speech How how disconcerting is that? Roughly half of Americans 49% said a lot more needs to be done to achieve racial equality So we all have our work cut out for us Broken down by race a higher share of blacks 79% than Hispanics 48% and whites 44% felt that way We've definitely made progress and yet so many young people don't enjoy the same basic rights as safety from violence When so many children lack the educational opportunities there they deserve there's a lot for all of us to do the civil rights movement that desegregated American schools may have happened several decades ago, but some say segregation and discrimination have slowly resurfaced over the years in a new form segregation based on race and income and again our panelists and the students research point in that direction as well At the Southern Poverty Law Center We were really heartened and pleased by the Obama administration's announcement a couple of weeks ago About the new guidelines that aim to stop what is called the schools to prison pipeline or push out of Children primarily black and brown children primarily black and brown boys from the classroom This schools to prison pipeline ruins the lives of thousands of children Who basically do a little more than act like kids in school? The reality is that in the deep south at least these policies carry the terrible legacy of Jim Crow While education was forbidden under slavery slaves risk life and limb to educate themselves. That's a part of American history Slaves who were discovered to have learned to have learned to read Were abused were beaten desegregation in elementary schools high schools was one of the core components of the civil rights movement and our focus on Education was a primary focus of reconstruction efforts that happened right after the civil war so this quest for quality fair education Access to educational opportunities has been something that many people have tried to keep The african-american community african-american students and children away from for hundreds of years During reconstruction more than three thousand Friedman schools were created across the country and the first colleges now considered Historically black colleges and universities Howard University in Washington DC Fisk University in Tennessee and Hampton in Virginia are all examples of this The end of reconstruction saw the gradual unraveling of education for african-american children in the south culminating in 1987's decision on Plessy v. Ferguson, which said separate by equal was great The doctrine further institutionalized inequality and the racial divide of the United States Paving the way for more dismantling of schools cutting off resources and more violence and today We still see that cutting off of resources to schools that are predominantly serving black and Latino children With the Brown v. Board decision the court recognized that with young people race-based segregation Quote generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone How can we treat our future leaders in this manner? Today their efforts across the country trying to repeal Brown v. Board in the south and in other parts of the country Legislatures are looking at opportunities to move resources in the south and in the south And in the south and in other parts of the country Legislatures are looking at opportunities to move resources out of public schools All of the evidence shows that african-american and latino children are far more likely than white kids To face suspension expulsion and even jail for misconduct That holds true also for children with disabilities Many of these disadvantaged children who need to be in the classroom Instead are being funneled into juvenile detention and worse adult jails Where many are exposed to brutality making them more likely to drop out of school Evidence and studies show us that the more times a child is suspended from school The more likely here she is to decide you know what you don't want me in school I'll drop out. That's not a way to help our country succeed. That's definitely not a way to help children and families succeed They are children like our client in iskambia county florida An african-american student from a poor household who attended a magnet school He went to the wrong lunch room one morning for the free breakfast that's offered to all the children black and white in that school But was arrested for trespassing and then suspended from school For eating breakfast in the wrong lunch room Or our 14-year-old client in meridian, mississippi Who was removed from school and spent several days in a juvenile detention facility Because he protected himself from a bully as his teacher had told him to do With zero tolerance policies a child can no longer Put their hand on someone who might be trying to hit them because that's considered That's considered physical contact and violence They're like the high school student in mobile alabama who was suspended for 50 days because his His shirt was untucked Again uniform policies policies related to uniform and attire mean that you have to be dressed a certain way In fact, this particular student was one of just one in this instance But earlier this year a principal in the high school in mobile alabama Suspended 97 children on the same day all for uniform violations And they are like the 11-year-old at a middle school in highlands ranch, colorado Less you think that all these issues are happening in the deep south Who took a lollipop from a jar on a teacher's desk and was charged with theft The boy was convicted of a misdemeanor and put on probation It would be funny if it were not all true and so sad for what this means for again america's future and our children There are countless other examples across america and i would dare say in the state of california And other places that you may be familiar with The vast majority of children thrown out of or arrested in school have done nothing to deserve such treatment Many times they have not even committed crimes, but rather violations of school policies In fractions that should be handled in the classroom not in the police station We can and must do better for our children Dr. King would expect no less of us At the southern poverty law center we're part of a national movement to stop these practices And institute new models of school discipline to keep children in the classroom out of streets and in jail and out of jail The administration's plan to address the school discipline guidelines is an important step A giant step in the right direction I hope that the department of education will make this a priority and follow through with its commitment This terrible pipeline isn't the only example of how children's civil rights for education are in peril School choice systems such as the voucher program championed by Louisiana governor bobby jindal have seen their fair share of support and criticism In august the justice department attempted to block a portion of the Louisiana program Claiming that the vouchers issued in some of the jurisdictions Impeded the desegregation process for districts that are still under federal desegregation laws Still under federal desegregation laws 50 plus years after brown v. Board The growth of school privatization charter schools and efforts now that limit or deny access to education for children of immigrants or children who are immigrants themselves All fly in the face of the civil rights act of 1964 Violating certainly the spirit if not the letter of the law The right to equal educational opportunities has been at the forefront of the civil rights struggle in the united states and remain so today So what would martin luther king jr. Do? I believe he would organize and ask others to join him in doing so. He wouldn't sit by and watch As these structural issues And policies affect the lives of so many and again And again, it's not simply the children of color the communities of color who are affected by this But all of us all communities are affected when people who could become contributing members of our society Instead of being educated and learning and growing to be successful Are pulled out of society and into the justice system I believe Dr. King would build coalitions of parents teachers administrators School board members and members of the community who support their public schools I believe he would look to communities like davis california To the southern poverty law center and to organizations like the dream defenders An amazing organization of black and brown young adults Who formed their group in florida? But are working all across the country to make a difference to demand fairness And equal opportunity. I believe that dr. King would demand true education for all children With all of us. I believe he would build a political movement So united and so clear in its purpose that every state capital and even in washington dc would be heard In dr. King's nobel prize acceptance speech in oslo again just 50 years ago Dr. King said this I have the audacity to believe that people's everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies education and culture for their minds And dignity equality and freedom for their spirits I believe that and I hope you do too. Thank you Thank you again. Dana vickers shelly from the southern poverty law center. Thank you so much And your message is outstanding food for thought For those of you who would like to talk to miss shelly A little more she'll be available after the freedom march in the hunt boy year mansion Two doors down from the theater Now we will wrap up our program with the freedom singers and a brief tribute to terry turner Who we lost last This year actually we lost him this year after a few songs follow the freedom singers out of the theater And they'll be led by bary melton and dick holdstock Follow them Excuse me follow them out of the theater to the ceremonial march around downtown But first of all we're going to start with john pamperon who will give a tribute to terry turner We were 1963 64 city champions in basketball. So I don't think that I can't walk anymore I I appreciate this Time to honor with all of you a terry and My new wife said don't cry And I just want to say that I thought of this morning that in 1968 the uh Experimental college had a course in negro history Terry did the teaching I did the assisting And we were to meet at our house on I remember Wednesday. I may be wrong and I had to call terry and said we have to change We're going to have to have changed tonight's Message and he said why? I said might move the king has just been killed and uh For both of us it was a shock that these kinds of Celebrations that we have about someone Are real Because some people Do not like what we're trying to do the other thing to say is that With your excellent guest speaker and with the children you see What needs still to be done and terry in his lifetime stayed the course So I'd like to point out not only in relationship to civil rights of all people He and his partner Went to el salvador Went to all the central america civil rights type of activities And saw that A person injured in another part of the world Is like injuring us in our part of the world And that was his message Of his life in which he was an artist And was able to put in his paintings sense Of fairness and justice Just one last thing is that dick and Cynthia and myself joined terry To campaign for obama in his home area in ohio Which is just one of the privileges of our life together Was to see the effect Of american politics and the next step of civil rights and justice for all so I Thank you for this opportunity Speaking too long But god bless terry God bless his family his partner ex-wife And grandchildren who he so dearly loved Thank you God bless you too john pamphlet. You're wonderful Well, how what let's give him a big hand He's there when you need him, but he's not up here to help me sing I thought you're going to be up here as this freedom singer, but god So yeah, we need to get all the freedom singers up here that we can And now come on anyone that wants to be a freedom singer can be one right now. I mean that's the way it works And I want you to give a great big hand for The most wonderful guy. I know it's barry melton The mr fish Woodstock another place So we're going to start off with a with a song That we sang in the south and and it's really important that we keep it alive and It's at the key of g And if you don't know the words don't worry because we don't know them either And the other part of it is that these are called zipper type songs So we're just going to keep on singing zipper songs until we're tired of them and walk right out We'll be a part of the march a very short march even I think with my Illness I can make it around because there's terrible cold that's going on. Isn't it awful anybody else had that so Okay This morning with my mind stay down freedom stay I'm freedom Walk out this morning with my mind Stay Freedom This morning with my mind Stay On justice We'll walk out this morning with my mind Stay Stayed on education Louder woke up Freedom