|| Aoki Center Updates ||

Aoki Center Faculty Affiliate Highlights

Professor Irene Oritseweyinmi Joe will receive the 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award at Celebrating King Hall on Thursday, March 7 at the Mondavi Center. Read more.

Professor Aaron Tang wrote an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times headlined “Trump wants a pause on his Jan. 6 trial. The Supreme Court should barrel ahead.” Read the article here.

Professor Mary Ziegler has been selected by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum to join a committee of scholars to help guide the museum's efforts to capture the experiences of women in the United States. Read the news release here.

Next Monday: A Conversation On Israel and Palestine

The California International Law Center and the Aoki Center will host a moderated discussion by Professors Chimène Keitner and Raquel Aldana based on pre-recorded conversations by Professors Omar Dajani and Mira Sucharov.

Thursday, February 22 | 12:00 to 1:00 PM | Room 1301

Next Thursday - Feb. 29: Free Chol Soo Lee Documentary Screening and Panel

Please join the Aoki Center and Department of Asian American Studies at UCD for a special screening of Free Chol Soo Lee! The documentary depicts the wrongful incarceration of a young Korean immigrant who was wrongfully convicted for a murder he did not commit and the pan-Asian social movement that arose in NorCal to free him. The screening will be followed by a reception and panel of activists, lawyers, and advocates of Chol Soo Lee! Join us and our co-sponsors for a powerful event.

Thursday, February 29 | King Hall 1001 | 4:30 - 8:00 PM | RSVP

Third Annual Michael A. Olivas Writing Institute Program To Be Hosted at King Hall

Have you considered teaching or pursuing scholarship you are passionate about?

The late Professor Michael Olivas dedicated his career to diversifying the legal academy by supporting and mentoring faculty of color. Honoring his legacy, the Michael A. Olivas Writing Institute provides a venue for providing constructive feedback on drafts of scholarship of junior legal scholars. Funding for the Third Annual Olivas Writing Institute comes from the Mabie/Apallas Public Interest Chair. The Institute is co-sponsored by the Aoki Center.

This year, the Olivas Writing Institute will experiment with a hybrid in-person and

virtual format in order to promote participation while also allowing in-person interaction. Live events will be held at the UC Davis School of Law. In-person attendance is strongly encouraged. Full remote participation will be possible so long as technology permits.

June 20-21, 2024 | UC Davis School of Law, Martin Luther King Jr. Hall

REGISTER HERE | More Information

Catch Up On Our Blog Posts and Newsletters

• The Gender and Name Change Project (GNCP) is a student led initiative dedicated to supporting trans and non-binary community members through identity affirming name and gender change assistance. In doing so, they have created a project of solidarity and true community. Read the post here.
• We have our newsletters for the 2023-2024 on our blog! Don't skip a beat and catch up on our newsletters here.
• Our Blog has plenty good content on various subject matters! Browse our content here.

|| King Hall Updates ||

C-SPAN's "Lectures in History" to Feature Professor Mary Ziegler

As part of an ongoing series featuring faculty members in classrooms across the nation, C-SPAN will film Professor Mary Ziegler giving a lecture at King Hall. She is one of the world's leading authorities on the legal history of struggles over reproduction in the United States. Professor Ziegler will trace the history that brought us to this moment and preview the challenges to come. Less than two years after the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court is poised to hand down two major decisions on abortion.

Professor Ziegler is an expert on the law, history, and politics of reproduction, health care, and conservatism in the United States from 1945 to the present. She is a 2023 Guggenheim fellow.

Wednesday, February 28 | 12:15 - 1:15 PM | Room 1001 | Lunch Provided

Register for In-Person | Register for Livestream

|| Main Campus Events ||

A Conversation With Experts on Islamophobia and Antisemitism

The UC Davis Departments of Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, and Middle East / South Asia Studies are hosting a conversation with experts Sahar Aziz and Ethan Katz on Islamophobia and Antisemitism.

Thursday, February 29 | 4:00 PM Reception | 4:30 PM Lecture

International House, 10 College Park, Davis, CA

Exhibit - STILL: Racism in America, a Retrospective in Cartoons

The UC Davis Design Museum explores racism through cartoons in the installation “STILL: Racism in America, A Retrospective in Cartoons.” Showcasing the work of pioneering father/daughter cartoonists the late Brumsic Brandon, Jr. and Barbara Brandon-Croft, the exhibition runs Jan. 23 through April 21, 2024.

Brandon, Jr. (1927– 2014) and Brandon-Croft (1958– ) chronicled the nation’s cultural landscape in their comic strips through the lens of racism. The elder Brandon, who created Luther in the late sixties, and was later syndicated by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate until 1986, was also known for his blistering editorial cartoons. Where I’m Coming From is the work of his youngest daughter, the nation’s first Black woman cartoonist in the mainstream press; it debuted in 1989 in the Detroit Free Press. Universal Press Syndicate later distributed her provocative feature until 2005. For six decades, their respective pens lay bare the truth: Nothing has changed. This retrospective reveals how vividly the specter of racism remains in America… “STILL. ”

January 23 12:00 PM - April 21 04:00 PM | Cruess Hall | Learn More

|| Community Events ||

Citation Defense Clinic

The Citation Defense Clinic is a National Lawyers Guild project created to alleviate the oppressive and excessive criminalization of our city's most vulnerable unhoused members. Citations pile up against them for simply sitting on the streets, trying to cook food, having an open container, having a dog, having no bathroom - the list goes on and on. In addition, citations turn into “failures to appear” and warrants that may prevent access to social services, housing, and work opportunities.

The Citation Defense Clinic is a legal clinic that directly represents unhoused folx at no cost in criminal matters in which they are not entitled to an attorney from the Public Defender’s Office. This is led by a group of lawyers, law students, paralegals, frontline service providers, unhoused community members, and organizers.

Every Monday | 6:30 PM | Register Here

Webinar: How Reasonable Accommodations Can Help Unhoused People with Disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act can help unhoused people with disabilities through the "reasonable accommodation" process. Reasonable accommodations are changes, exceptions, or adjustments to a program or service. People with disabilities who are forced to move by an encampment sweep, live in a shelter, or come in contact with law enforcement may be able to request reasonable accommodations so they do not experience discrimination or harm.

This training will explain the legal background for reasonable accommodations and how to ask for a reasonable accommodation. This training is for attorneys, advocates, unhoused outreach workers and service providers, and unhoused people who want to know more about the reasonable accommodation process. *MCLE: 1.0 hours ethics credit

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm PT | February 20, 2024 | Register Here

Presenters:

Erin Nguyen Neff, Staff Attorney, Disability Rights

Education and Defense Fund

Michelle Uzeta, Deputy Legal Director, Disability Rights

Education and Defense Fund

City of Davis Housing Office Hours Event

Do you rent in Davis? Tenants can meet one-on-one with a City of Davis staff person during a 15-minute appointment to share their rental experiences and ask questions.

To book your 15-minute appointment, email Patti Bryant at rentalresources@cityofdavis.org.

Feb. 21 at 11 AM to 1 PM | By Appointment | rentalresources@cityofdavis.org

Modern Migrations, Black Interrogations Forum

This webinar, moderated by Acacia Center for Justice's Trustee, Prof. Jaya Ramji-Nogales, promises an engaging exploration of the "unasked question of blackness" in modern migration and movement. The panelists will delve into the impact of migration on Black communities throughout history. The event will not only dissect the structures that reinforce white supremacy but also address the complexities of Black im/mobility in the context of immigration policies, citizenship, and inclusion.

Academics, expert practitioners, and community leaders will examine blackness, borders and border practices, and displacement and tie these issues to the state of the modern immigrants’ rights movement in the United States. 

Panelists include:

• Janay Cauthen, Executive Director of Families for Freedom.
• Haddy Gassama, Esq., National Director of Policy and Advocacy, UndocuBlack Network.
• Dr. Regine O. Jackson, Dean of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Media & Arts Division and Professor of Sociology at Morehouse College.
• Guerline Jozef, Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance.

Monday, February 26th - 3 PM ET/ 12 PM PT | Register Here

Screening of And Then They Came for Us to Commemorate the Day of Remembrance

The City of Davis Human Relations Commission, UC Davis Asian American Studies, and Davis Asians for Racial Equality are co-hosting a free showing of award-winning documentary, And Then They Came for Us to commemorate the Day of Remembrance.

Seventy-eight years ago, Executive Order 9066 paved the way to the profound violation of constitutional rights that resulted in the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans.

Featuring George Takei and many others who were incarcerated, as well as newly rediscovered photographs of Dorothea Lange, And Then They Came for Us brings history into the present, retelling this difficult story and following Japanese American activists as they speak out against the Muslim registry and travel ban. Knowing our history is the first step to ensuring we do not repeat it. And Then They Came for Us is a cautionary and inspiring tale for these dark times.

Monday, February 26 | Davis Veterans Memorial Theater

Doors open at 5:30 pm. Program begins at 6:00 pm.

Honoring Toni Morrison - Virtual Public Reading of The Bluest Eye

Join Literacy Partners on Feb 28 & 29th for a free virtual reading of "The Bluest Eye" to honor the legacy of Toni Morrison this Black History Month with an amazing cast of readers including Angela Davis and Kimberlé Crenshaw.

February 28 and 29 | 7 PM EST and 4 PM PST | Register Here

||Podcast Recommendation||

Race, Migration, and Decolonisation with E. Tendayi Achiume

African Arguments hosts the Curated Conversations podcast which examines the past, present, and possible futures of migration within and from the African continent. It approaches migration with a critical and philosophical lens, drawing on the expertise of leading experts, thinkers, and practitioners in a series of in-depth interviews and discussions about migration histories and policy regimes. 

This episode features Professor Achiume, who while reflecting on her tenure as UN Special Rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, and addresses the curious absence of race in the sphere of migration policymaking. At the root of “racial aphasia”, she argues, is a refusal to acknowledge the historical legacy of colonialism, on which today’s international regime of global mobility is built. Listen here.