by Ashleigh Sanchez
Daily Lobo
A UNM symposium aims to clear up misconceptions on the civil rights movement, an organizer of the event said.
"When you think civil rights, you think of the African-American movements of the '60s, but they aren't the only ones," Bernadine Hernandez said. "This is going to include groups who also fight for civil rights but have been underrepresented."
The theme of the symposium is "40 Years of Community Activism, 1967-2007: Civil Rights Reform Then and Now."
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It starts at 8:30 a.m. today in the SUB and continues until
Friday.
Hernandez said marginalized groups, including women, gays and Hispanics, fought for civil rights and should be included in any discussion of the
movement.
UNM faculty members identified the need to include those groups in civil rights discussions, said Michelle Hall Kells, an organizer of the symposium.
"There is a perception voiced among faculty that we need to visit the idea of inclusion and civil rights," she said. "There was a concern that this generation doesn't remember and isn't connected to the civil rights movements of the past in a way past generations were."
The event will feature panels of speakers on topics such as community health, language rights, sustainability, issues faced by American-Indian students, women's issues and literacy.
Arthur Kaufman, chairperson for Family and Community Medicine, is on a panel to discuss community health and human rights.
"In my area, we have grave disparities in health status reflective of ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in our society," he said. "A university, especially a public institution with a public trust, should be an incubator of ideas for how to address these state and national challenges."
There will be an open microphone for students to engage in the panel discussions.
"We have the most brilliant minds in their fields on the panels," Hernandez said. "We want to encourage students to engage the speakers. It's about the conversation."
Hernandez said that students have a lot to gain from listening to the panelists.
"Speakers like these, you normally have to register and pay to get in and hear them speak," she said. "This event is totally free to everyone. It's an amazing
opportunity."
A complete schedule of events and biographies of the speakers and panel members can be found at CivilRights.unm.edu.
