Changing Demographics lecture and discussion

On April 17th the Office for Equity and Diversity will host a Sesquicentennial Lecture: "Changing Demographics: Snapshots of a New Minnesota and a New America." AA&AS professor Rose Brewer will be one of the speakers, highlighting findings from her book, The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, that clearly indicate the persistence of an economic color line in 21st century America.

Obama's March 18, 2008 speech

On March 18, 2008, Barack Obama delivered a speech about race in the United States. The blog "Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast" offers an abridged and highlighted version of key points in the speech.

religion in Nigeria

The March 2008 issue of The Atlantic magazine has an interesting article about religion in Nigeria, and the online version has web-only multimedia features, such as a slideshow. "God's Country" intructs us on how "[u]sing militias and marketing strategies, Christianity and Islam are competing for believers by promising Nigerians prosperity in this world as well as salvation in the next. [It is a] report from the front lines."

Chat with Suzan-Lori Parks

SIT DOWN & CHAT WITH SUZAN-LORI PARKS!

Calling all undergraduate students interested in meeting a Pulitzer Prize- and Obie- winning playwright: Topdog/Underdog and Venus author Suzan-Lori Parks will join undergraduates at 9:00 am on March 27 for an informal question and answer session at the Rarig Center. Parks will talk and read from her work at 7:30 pm, March 26, in Ted Mann Concert Hall, and students are very much encouraged to attend that free event as well. NOTE: If you are an undergraduate student and would like to meet one of American theater's brightest lights, please RSVP to Terri Sutton at sutt0063@umn.edu or call 612.626.1528.

Black Paris seminar (extended deadline)

In May, Professor Trica Keaton will lead a Global Seminar in Paris, France. The application deadline has been extended to March 17, 2008, and a $500 scholarship will be offered to each admitted student.

Paris is considered one of the most beautiful and exciting places in the world, and for over three centuries, diverse African American artists, intellectuals, musicians, writers, and everyday people have pursued various dreams in the "City of Light," particularly when denied opportunities in the U.S. African Americans are often held up as evidence of racial tolerance in France, even as the lived-experiences of other African diasporic peoples have challenged that very representation and the principles of inclusion upon which it is built. Through stimulating reading, workshops, tours, guest lectures, films, and residence in Paris, this seminar will acquaint you with the life, adventures, and times of those who comprise "Black Paris," as we seek to explore the many questions and paradoxes specific to the African diaspora in this fascinating and complex global city.

The application deadline for this seminar has been extended to March 17, 2008, and a $500 scholarship will be offered to each admitted student.

national student conference

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign National Student Conference will he held on campus March 14-16, 2008.

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is committed to uniting the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty. It works to accomplish this through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication, and a living wage job.

Major details of the conference:

• Where: University of Minnesota Human Rights Center
  
• When: March 14th, 15th, and 16th
  
• Cost: $250.00 (limited scholarships available)
  
• Why: Because if we're going to end poverty in this country we need the leadership of our youth!

For more information, call 612.82.2364, or email deeqppehrc@yahoo.com or heavenppehrc@yahoo.com.

Barack Obama's turn?

The Minneapolis StarTribune recently posted a commentary about whether a White woman (Hillary Clinton) or a Black man (Barack Obama) should be elected President ("Whose Turn Is It?"). See also an article from The Atlantic about how Obama may transcend divisive political battles.