ISU Human Rights Celebration 2007 to run Jan. 15-25

On the theme “Honor the Past, Shape the Future,” the Idaho State University 2007 Human Rights Celebration, running Jan. 15-25, will feature a Human Rights March, keynote speaker Wilma Mankiller and a variety of films and presentations.

The celebration begins with the Martin Luther King Jr. March beginning at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at Holt Arena. The march will travel from the arena south on Memorial Drive to Martin Luther King Jr. Way, where it will head west to Caesar Chavez Way, ending at the ISU Pond Student Union Building where ISU student James Drake will speak in the PSUB Bengal Theatre.

Mankiller’s keynote address will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, in the PSUB Ballroom. Mankiller is an author, lecturer and former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She has presented more than 100 lectures at colleges and universities on issues ranging from contemporary issues of Native Americans to community development and women in leadership.

Other speakers and their topics include Dr. Allan Christelow, ISU history professor, “Human Rights Dilemmas in Darfur and the Greater Sahara Region”; a presentation by Dr. LaNada War Jack, executive director, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes; and a lecture by Susan Ray Schmidt, author of “His Favorite Wife:  Trapped in Polygamy.”

Movies to be shown include “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,” “Darfur Diaries: Message from Home,” “Alcatraz is Not an Island,” “Thunderbird Woman: Winona LaDuke,” “Crash” and “Tough Guise.”

These celebrations are sponsored by the ISU Human Rights Celebration Committee, ISU Student Unions and Involvement, ISU Leadership Program, Associated Students of ISU Program Board, Student Chapter NAACP, Native Americans United, Idaho Public Television and the Independent Television Service.

More information is available at www.isu.edu/union/human_rights/ or by calling 282-3451.

Here is a complete listing of events:

• Monday, Jan. 15, 1:30 p.m.  ¬– Martin Luther King Jr. March. See details above.

• Tuesday, Jan. 16, noon – Dr. Allan Christelow, ISU history professor, lecture “Human Rights Dilemmas in Darfur and the Greater Sahara Region” in the PSUB Heritage Room. Christelow will discuss the conflict in Darfur in the western Sudan, and placing it in the context of other problems facing the Greater Sahara region, which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Christelow has experience in both Algeria and Nigeria and is a founding member of the Saharan Studies Association.

• Tuesday, Jan. 16, 5:30 p.m. – Documentary movie “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” (2006, NR, one hour), PSUB Bengal Theater. This groundbreaking Public TV series pays tribute to hip-hop while challenging the rap music industry to take responsibility for glamorizing destructive, deeply conservative stereotypes of manhood.

• Tuesday, Jan. 16, 8 p.m. – Documentary movie, “Darfur Diaries: Message from Home,” (2004, NR, 57 minutes), PSUB Bengal Theater. This film focuses on the people who are living through what has been termed as “genocide.”  It presents the Darfurians as a people with full lives, culture, and heritage. They are people with homes that they desperately want to return to, people undergoing traumatic loss but who demonstrate inspiring strength and resilience.

• Wednesday, Jan. 17, noon – Presentation by Dr. LaNada War Jack, executive director, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes at noon in the PSUB Bengal Café. While earning her baccalaureate at the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1960s, War Jack was a leader in the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island, which brought public attention to Indian treaties and in the creation of Native American Studies at U.C. Berkeley. War Jack was one of the founding members and on the Executive Board of the Native American Rights Fund, a national Indian legal organization representing tribes across the country. In addition, she continues to be involved in the legal and political affairs of her tribes, the Shoshone and Bannock of Idaho.

• Wednesday, Jan 17, 8 p.m. – Documentary movie “Alcatraz is Not an Island” (2000, NR, 70 min.), PSUB Bengal Theater. In November 1969, thousands of Native Americans began the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island, retaking “Indian land” for the first time since the 1880s.  This documentary examines the personal sacrifices, tragedies, social battles, political injustices, and near-genocide many Native Americans experienced under the U.S. government policies of assimilation, termination, and relocation.

• Thursday, Jan. 18, 7 p.m. – Wilma Mankiller, author, lecturer and former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, will speak in the PSUB Ballroom. She has presented more than 100 lectures at colleges and universities on issues ranging from contemporary issues of Native Americans to community development and women in leadership. In l987, she was elected to serve as the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 1991. She brought about important strides for the Cherokees, including improved health care, education, utilities management and tribal government.  Her influence on the Cherokee people, and women in general, has been profound.  Her stands include the self-sufficiency of the Cherokee people and the preservation of their culture, traditions, and the world’s natural resources. She has been honored with many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A book signing and reception will immediate follow the lecture.

• Thursday, Jan. 18, 8 p.m. – Documentary movie “Thunderbird Woman: Winona LaDuke “ (2003, NR, 70 min)  in the PSUB Bengal Theater. This film is a relaxed and intimate portrait of Winona LaDuke, who is a leading figure in the struggle for Native American land rights and sovereignty, and an environmentalist, anti-nuclear activist, vice-presidential candidate and novelist.  

• Friday, Jan. 19, 8 p.m. – Movie “Crash” (2005, Rated R, 107 min), PSUB Bengal Theatre. “Crash” takes a provocative look at the complexities of racial tolerance in contemporary America. Diving headlong into the diverse melting pot of post-9/11 Los Angeles, this compelling urban drama tracks the volatile intersections of a multi-ethnic cast of characters’ struggles to overcome their fears.

• Saturday, Jan. 20,  6:30 p.m. – Africa Night, PSUB Ballroom. Come and experience an extraordinary Africa Night; a night full of culture, soul food, and a live band. African Students Association and friends are going to display a fashion show, musical numbers, poetry, dances and drama. Tickets purchased in advance are $5 for students, $7 for ISU faculty/staff and $9 for the public. Tickets are a dollar more at the door. For more information, contact Tarisai Githu at githtari@isu.edu.

• Tuesday, Jan. 23, 6:30 p.m.  – “Tough Guise” movie and panel discussion, PSUB Salmon River Suites.  This film examines the relationship between images in popular culture and the social construction of male identities in the United States – of which media messages play a large role. Following the film, local experts will further explore this relationship and discuss how this social construction may lead to violence against both men and women.

• Thursday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m. – Lecture by Susan Ray Schmidt, author of “His Favorite Wife:  Trapped in Polygamy,” PSUB Salmon River Suite. Schmidt will share her inspirational story of how she, as a courageous 15-year-old girl, became the sixth wife in a polygamous marriage. In her book she reveals how a group of kind-hearted, sincere people are led to embrace this controversial lifestyle in their pursuit of the highest degree of glory.  

A book signing and reception will follow the lecture.