Program

LEAD Summit XII
Friday, September 29, 2023
Santos Manuel Student Union - South, CSUSB

“¡Ya Basta! - Enough is Enough!: Education and Violence in the Context of our Schools, Community Safety, and Law-Enforcement"

Tentative program schedule: times may be subject to change.  Check back for updates.

LEAD Summit XII: Watch Via YouTube Live

Program Detail

Vendor / Exhibits Fair (lobby, all-day) 
Featured Exhibit: "Policing the Inland" (lobby, all-day)
Healing Lounge: “A Judgement Free Space where you are Seen + Heard” (available all-day) 

LEAD Summit VII Official Program

8:00 AM: Check-In / Live Music / Web Cast Live Interviews

• Continental Breakfast – Distribution of Packets – Optional Course Credit Registration
• Red Carpet Interviews - Aaron M. Sanchez and Jeannette Sandoval
• Live Entertainment / Saludo Artistico - Aztlan Underground

8:45 AM: Opening Ceremony

• Land Acknowledgement / Invocation / Supplication - Hon. James C. Ramos, Serrano/Cahuilla, California State Assemblymember representing the 45th Assembly District, Chair - California Native American Legislative Caucus, Chair - Select Committee on Native American Affairs
• Color Guard Presentation / Pledge of Allegiance
• Air Force Junior ROTC, West Covina High School
  Jesus Acuña-Perez, Capt. (ret) USAF, Senior Aerospace Science Instructor, West Covina High School
  David R. Moroyoqui, MSgt (ret.) USAF, Aerospace Science Instructor, West Covina High School
• National Anthem - Evan Espinosa, Freshman, Riverside City College

9:00 AM: Procession – "The Injustice Never Leaves You"

Welcome to the 12th year anniversary of our annual Latino Education and Advocacy Days Summit - LEAD. Our network is made up of the broad spectrum of researchers, teaching professionals and educators, academics, scholars, administrators, independent writers and artists, policy and program specialists, students, parents, families, civic leaders, activists, and advocates. In short, those sharing a common interest and commitment to educational issues that impact Chicano - Latinos. Read more about this year's LEAD Procession and In Memoriam tribute.

  
Watch "Watch "The Injustice Never Leaves You" on Youtube

9:15 AM: Welcome Remarks / Bienvenida

• Dr. Tomás D. Morales 
  President, California State University, San Bernardino
• Dr. Chinaka S. DomNwachukwu
  Dean, James R. Watson and Judy Rodriguez Watson College of Education, California State University, San Bernardino

9:45 AM: Morning Featured Speaker - Dolores Huerta, President and Founder, Dolores Huerta Foundation and 2023 LEAD Summit Honorary Chair / Madrina de Honor *

• Introduction / Moderator - Assembly Majority Leader Emeritus Eloise Gómez Reyes, Representing the Communities of Inland Empire, District AD 50
• Featured Speaker: Dolores Huerta, President and Founder, Dolores Huerta Foundation

*Presentation made possible through a working partnership with the Dolores Huerta Foundation for Community Organizing, whose mission is to inspire and organize communities to build volunteer organizations empowered to pursue social justice.

10:20 AM: Break / Un Cafecito & Vendor / Exhibits Fair

• Red Carpet Interviews
• Coffee Provided

10:35 AM: Panel - Violence, Learning, and Generational Trauma (and Healing)

Intergenerational historical trauma is the endurance of historical oppression usually brought on by a preponderance of negative and systemic environments.  As a result of much of the trauma, needs have not been met and this void leaves people stunted in their growth.

The panel will discuss intergenerational trauma in the African American, Native American and LatinX cultures. Research has suggested that we cannot learn to our potential until we have healed and grown, to reach our potential. Differences and similarities in these three cultures suggest that as collectivists groups, they are more prone to suffer from intergenerational trauma.

This session will focus on the healing process and the implementation of strategies that directly and systematically address the needs that have not been met. It is by deepening our understanding that we can begin to move the conversation to actual practices, that can help students grow and achieve their maximum potential. The panel will discuss possible solutions for educators that include strategies relevant to healing and cultural constructs such as relational, relevance, and value laden curriculum, as well as real-life application value for self and community.

• Chair / Moderator - Dr. Carmen Beck, Assistant Professor, California State University - San Bernardino
• Dr. Angela Clark-Louque, Professor, California State University - San Bernardino
• Dr. Hannah Kivalahula-Uddin, Elder - Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Assistant Professor, California State University - San Bernardino
• Dr. Teresa Frausto, Medical Director - San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health*

*Dr. Frausto's participation made possible through a working partnership with the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health.

11:15 AM: Panel –  From the Massacre at El Porvenir to El Paso to Uvalde: State and Hate Violence against Latinos in America

Although violence affects all communities, Chicanos/Latinos/Indigenous ("Raza") face it at disproportionate levels. In fact, state-sanctioned and hateful violence has been continuous, of long duration, and largely forgotten in U.S. history. This is to say that although mass shootings involving the Latina/o community have been in the nation’s headlines, targeted violence, —have been a consistent part of our collective history, including the violences of physical pain, of family separation, of cultural and linguistic erasure, of perceived cultural deficits, of subtracted schooling, and of lack of equal access to social opportunities.

The panel will first address two general social dispositions that explain racialized relations in this history; first, that some Whites often act as distant cultural foreigners who are prone to objectifying and demonizing persons they do not understand; and second, some Mexicans often seek authentic social incorporation by establishing moral authority as dignos, or worthy subjects of recognition and acceptance.

The cultural distance and the real or feigned misunderstandings that some White nationalists have been advancing allow for the violent exploitation and oppression of Mexicans without the social and emotional cost of admitting responsibility. Unsatisfied with their social incorporation on an unequal and violent basis, Mexicans have historically insisted on their human worth and advanced righteous claims on moral and constitutional grounds. The panel will use Porvenir, El Paso, and Uvalde to illustrate these opposing habits of mind that disorient and rehabilitate.

Further, this panel will also elucidate and discuss historical, cultural, and racial responsiveness and revitalization, as collective trauma necessitates a collective response for community healing. From a Liberation Psychology perspective, this means taking action in collective advocacy and activism. From the wisdom of our people this is the understanding of “Amorydolor” and "creation-resistance”. We must remind ourselves of the rootedness we have in this society as indigenous inhabitants of these lands. By focusing on our identity, family, and spirituality as key aspects of our wellbeing we facilitate healthy development of self-image and positive cultural identity. Given this perspective "empowerment" is reframed, reconceptualized, and expanded to include cultural sovereignty, thereby re-connecting with cultural and ancestral wisdoms that have always been present.

• Chair / Moderator - Dr. Angela Valenzuela, Professor, Director of the TCEP & Associate Vice President for School Partnerships, University of Texas at Austin
• Domingo A. Garcia, Attorney At Law - Law Office of Domingo Garcia, P.C., National President – League of United Latin American Citizens
• Dr. Emilio Zamora, Professor of History at the University of Texas-Austin, Clyde Rabb Littlefield Chair in Texas History
• Tlazoltiani Jessica Zamarripa, Cultural Educator, Mental Health Advocate, Co-director & Co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology based in Austin
• Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa, President of the National Latinx Psychological Association, Co-director and Co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology based in Austin

12:00 PM: Buffet Lunch & Networking - Vendor / Exhibits Fair

• Red Carpet Interviews - Aaron M. Sanchez and Jeannette Sandoval
• Live Entertainment / Saludo Artistico - Aztlan Underground
• Lunch Provided (Events Center - Rear)

12:45 PM: Panel – Missing and Murdered Indigenous People: Addressing the MMIP Crisis

American Indian and Alaska Native peoples are at a disproportionate risk of experiencing violence. These communities struggle with high epidemic rates of assault, abduction, or going missing and make up a significant portion of the missing and murdered cases. This crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) is not new and is much more than an epidemic. Rather, it is part of the spectrum of violence experienced by Native peoples as a whole.

Moreover, there is a particularly high incidence of risk against American Indian and Alaska Native women, where more than 84 percent report having experienced violence. Homicide of Indigenous women is three times higher than non-Native women, and murder rates 10 times higher than the national average. The cases of murdered and missing Indigenous women are the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women, are 7 times less likely to be solved than any other demographic, and compel the importance of understanding the connection between domestic, dating, and sexual violence, murder, rape, and violent crime.

Community advocates characterize the MMIP crisis as the legacy of forced removal, land seizures and violence inflicted on Native peoples, one deeply rooted in colonization and genocide. And among many factors, can be attributed to the lack of legal protections as a result of the systematic erosion of tribal sovereignty stretching back for many generations and hundreds of years. In response to the crisis of MMIP, a groundswell of grassroots advocates, family members, and tribal leaders from across the nation continue to call for public attention and accountability to adequately and substantially address these crimes.

The panel will share what is being done to address this crisis in the state of California, being that California has the largest population of Native Americans, more than any other state in the country. The panelists are individuals who have been working to educate, address, and advocate for protective and preventive measures to reduce and eliminate the harmful effects of MMIP on and within Indigenous communities. In particular, Assemblymember James Ramos (45th Assembly District), the first Californian Indian elected to the CA State Legislature was instrumental in introducing the state to the "Feather Alert," a program overseen by the California Highway Patrol. Much like the Amber or Silver alert, the alert will help reduce the disproportionate number of missing Indigenous persons in the country by allowing for different agencies to cross share information about missing and murdered Indigenous women.

• Chair / Moderator: Hon. James C. Ramos, Serrano/Cahuilla, California State Assemblymember representing the 45th Assembly District, Chair - California Native American Legislative Caucus, Chair - Select Committee on Native American Affairs
• Panelist: Geneva Mojado, Vice Chairperson Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians
• Panelist: Bennae Calac, President at Onoo Po Strategies, Board President, Strong Hearted Women's Coalition

1:20 PM: Afternoon Featured Speaker - Emilio Rivera, 2023 LEAD Summit Honorary Chair / Padrino de Honor *

• Introduction / Moderator - Cindra Weber (Lakota, Wiyaka Wastera), SBCUSD Title VI Indian Education, Native American / Education Specialist (VI)
• Featured Speaker: Emilio Rivera, Film and Television actor and stand-up comedian

*Presentation made possible through a working partnership with the Indian Education (Title VI) Program of the San Bernardino City Unified School District, whose vision is a a robust community built upon respect between the school district and its students and families that incorporates the value of life-long education while maintaining their culture and honoring the traditions of the American Indian peoples of the United States of America.

1:50 PM Featured Panel – Gun Violence Prevention: Students Need Safe Environments to Learn, Live, and Grow*

To effectively address gun violence in schools, this country needs concerted efforts at the national, state, and local levels. Educators of all types have a key role to play in ensuring that schools and communities are safe from gun violence and that efforts to counter gun violence enhance educational opportunities and outcomes, instead of hardening schools and fomenting racial injustice. 

Premised on the understanding that safe, just, and equitable learning environments must rely on evidence-based behavioral practices centered in the philosophy of restorative justice over the criminalization and policing of students, the National Education Association (NEA) is engaged in a national initiative to ensure that all students, educators, schools, campuses, and communities are safe from gun violence. The Association is the largest labor union in the country, representing 3 million educators of all types in 14,000 different communities. 

This panel will explore, among other topics, NEA’s concerns about and approach to ending gun violence, how to create safe, supportive environments while countering gun violence, and the impact and needed follow-up from the many recent events of gun violence in our schools, including the tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. 

*Presentation made possible through a working partnership with the National Education Association (NEA), with more than 3 million people—educators, students, activists, workers, parents, neighbors, friends—who believe in opportunity for all students and in the power of public education to transform lives and create a more just and inclusive society.

2:25 PM: Break / Un Cafecito & Vendor / Exhibits Fair

• Red Carpet Interviews
• LEAD Cake and Coffee Provided (Lobby)

2:40 PM: Capstone Presentation – Police Use of Excessive Force / Raza Database Project  

Indigenous Black-Brown communities not only experience higher rates of violence, but they also experience greater incidents of law-enforcement brutality, harassment, and deaths. Currently there is no accurate count of killings of Chicanos/Latinos/Indigenous ("Raza") by those in a law enforcement capacity in the United States. Simply, there is no good official data.

There is neither any law enforcement accountability nor is there any justice for the families that have experienced these horrors. This is further compounded by the fact that Brown peoples are rarely mentioned when discussing violent police treatment. We need to understand that the police often have near 100% impunity and are so rarely held accountable for killings; all they have to say is that they feared for their life. 

Several years ago, the Raza Database Project was initiated to document the invisibilization of the violence/killings against Brown peoples in the United States. The preliminary report was issued in 2021 which found that such violence was endemic in Indigenous Black-Brown communities and that such killings were highly undercounted and miscounted. Additionally, in the past three years, per the Washington Post’s Fatal Force Report, the number of killings of Brown peoples has actually been similar to the high number of killings of Black peoples. The reason this is not widely known is because many of the killings of Brown peoples are ensconced in the unknown and white racial categories. This results in both invisibilization and silencing from the government and the mainstream media.

The final report will be issued at this (LEAD) Summit in the fall of 2023. Aside from exposing the widespread killings primarily of Indigenous-Black-Brown peoples, the hope is that it in fact does lead to a national directive to end the killings and the near 100% impunity that has always accompanied them. Such a directive would be similar to the directives the White House issued this past May that address gender-based and anti-Semitic violence. However, such an initiative that examines racially profiled and/or motivated killings would have to go much further because this violence with impunity is perpetrated not by vigilantes but by law enforcement agencies themselves.

More than leading to wide media exposure or a national directive, the panel hopes that this assists in the efforts to prevent this violence in the first place.

• Chair / Moderator: Ivette Xochiyotl Boyzo, Mental Health/Patient, and Civil & Human Rights Advocate
• Dr. Roberto (Cintli) Rodriguez (†), Emeritus Associate Professor - University of Arizona, and Survivor and Winner of 2 Police Brutality Trials
• Jesus Garcia, Demographer Statistician, LEAD ArcGIS Raza Database Project
• Yaotl Mazahua, MSW, LA County DCFS, Tutcint Advisory Council, Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, and lead singer of Aztlan Underground
   

3:10 PM: Concluding Remarks & Acknowledgements / Despedida

* Sessions schedule subject to change.  Please check back to see the most up to date schedule of events.

• Master of Ceremony (Stage): Dr. Enrique G. Murillo, Jr. Professor of Education, and LEAD Executive Director, California State University, San Bernardino
• Announcer (Expo & Lobby): Prof. Elias Escamilla, Assistant Professor, Counselor, Vice President Faculty Association Mt. San Jacinto Community College
• Webcast Director / Producer: James Trotter, Assistant Director, Academic Technologies & Innovation
• Stage Manager: Robert Garcia, Associate Director, Technology Services - Palm Desert Campus, Cal State San Bernardino