North Central College students host Anti-Hate Week keynote Oct. 28

Started by North Central College students in 1998, Anti-Hate Week is a weeklong campaign designed to educate and raise awareness about various forms of oppression and discrimination.

This year’s campaign features a keynote address by Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, Ph.D., at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in North Central’s Smith Hall at Old Main, 30 N. Brainard St. Jones will discuss the “6 Rules for Allies,” helping individuals work toward accountability, understanding and transformation. Admission is free and open to the public.

An artist/scholar, Jones is an associate professor of performance studies in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her theatre for social change work has been conducted through workshops for the Forum on Governance and Democracy in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Theatre of the Oppressed training for Educafro in Sao Paulo, and facilitation for the Austin Project—women of color who use art for reimagining society. The work of the Austin Project is documented in “Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia and the Austin Project.”

Publications about her theatre for social change include “Diasporic Collaborations” in The Journal of the Institute of Cultural Studies at Obafemi Awolowo University; “Performance Ethnography: The Role of Embodiment in Cultural Authenticity” in Theatre Topics; and “Re-Presenting Blackness” in Text and Performance Quarterly.

Other activities are planned during North Central’s Anti-Hate Week and are sponsored by various campus groups. These events are free and open to the public.

Monday, Oct. 26: Oxfam Hunger Banquet begins at 6 p.m. in the Harold and Eva White Activities Center, 325 E. Benton Ave. At this interactive event, the place where you sit and the meal you eat are determined by the luck of the draw. Just as in real life, some of us are born into relative prosperity and others into poverty. The banquet is sponsored by the offices of International Programs and Multicultural Affairs.

Tuesday, Oct. 27: A student panel discussion, “Unpacking Political Correctness,” starts at 7 p.m. in the Harold and Eva White Activities Center. The discussion will be interactive and focus on current issues of political correctness and microaggressions. The panel is sponsored by the student-led multicultural organization Mosaic.

Wednesday, Oct. 28: Keynote speaker Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, Ph.D.

Thursday, Oct. 29: A community panel discussion, “Steps Toward Religious Understanding,” will take place at 12:30 p.m. in the Harold and Eva White Activities Center. The panelists represent Muslim, Sikh and Christian faith organizations and community and political leaders. They will dispel popular myths and look toward interfaith solutions to peaceful, productive lives together. The panel is sponsored by the Office of Ministry and Service.

Thursday, Oct. 29: A theatre-based workshop led by several College theatre alumni begins at 7 p.m. in the Harold and Eva White Activities Center. Participants will tackle issues of daily microaggressions (comments or acts that communicate negative messages and target others based on their group) in a fun manner and gain tools to fight injustice and oppression by playing with resolutions.

For more information contact Dorothy Pleas, director of multicultural affairs, at 630-637-5156 or djpleas@noctrl.edu.