Panelists

Michael McClanahan, Ph.D., Moderator
President, NAACP Louisiana State Conference

and 18 youth and college chapters all over the great state of Louisiana. As State Conference President, Mike travels the length of this state advocating for the voiceless, hopeless, jobless, fighting bigotry, hatred and discrimination. His opening greeting is “there is no rest for the weary.” Of all his many accomplishments, he is most noted for his service and countless efforts to the community as the Director of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. And in initiating and organizing the peaceful press conference and protest after the killing of Alton Sterling by the BRPD. Michael is a 1983 graduate of Zwolle High School, a 1986 and 1987 graduate of The Southern University and a 1990 graduate of The Southern University Law Center.

Laura Adderley, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Tulane University, Department of History

Cassandra Chaney, Ph.D. 
Professor Louisiana State University School of Social Work

Albert Samuels, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Southern University Political Science Department

Andrew Jolivétte, Ph.D.
Professor, UC San Diego Department of Ethnic Studies & Director Native American and Indigenous Studies

Sheryl Kennedy Haydel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Public Relations, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication

Crystal deGregory, Ph.D.
Research Fellow, Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Historic Preservation

Anitra Brown
Managing Editor, The New Orleans Tribune

Renette Dejoie-Hall
President and Publisher, The Louisiana Weekly

Cheryl Smith
Publisher of I Messenger News Group and Secretary of National Association of Black Journalists

Sheryl Kennedy Haydel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Public Relations, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication

Angel Jennings
Assistant Managing Editor for Culture and Talent, Los Angeles Times

Marc Spears
Senior NBA Writer, The Undefeated 

Gerron Jordan
Adjunct Instructor, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication; Anchor, WVLA-TV; Vice President, BRAABJ

Jarvis DeBerry
Editor, Louisiana Illuminator

Brandi Harris
Morning Anchor, WBRZ News 2

Sheryl Kennedy Haydel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Public Relations, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication

Jarret L. Carter Sr.
Founding Editor and Podcast Host HBCU Digest

Jarrett L. Carter Sr. is the Founding Editor of HBCUDigest.com, an online daily news blog dedicated to coverage of historically black colleges and universities throughout the United States. He is also the host of HBCU Digest Radio, a podcast covering societal, cultural and institutional issues at HBCUs. A native of Seat Pleasant, MD., Carter graduated from Morgan State University in 2003 with a Bachelor's degree in English with a journalism concentration. 

Tashara Parker
Anchor and Reporter WFAA News 8

Tashara Parker is an anchor and reporter at WFAA News 8 in Dallas, Texas covering traffic, breaking news and inspirational stories. Featured as one of WFAA's preeminent voices, the Daybreak anchor brings experience, vibrancy and authenticity -- capturing the attention of DFW viewers in an engaging and informative way, all the while creating loyalty. Coined as a "community-focused storyteller", Tashara is the go-to source for all things "community", as she blends her passion for underserved people and organizations with an unwavering spirit of empathy. As one of Dallas' influential voices, Tashara utilizes her platform to volunteer hundreds of hours to many organizations, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. With a dedicated following both on and off the air, the journalist is described by viewers as "someone who truly cares about people and this community." And with this mantra lighting her path, Tashara continues to carve her slate within the industry -- bringing both DFW and the best in community storytelling to the forefront. 

Justin Walters 
Sports Multi-Media Journalist WPIX-11

Justin Walters is a Sports Multi-Media Journalist at WPIX-11 in New York. As a native New Yorker, he accomplished a career goal in the Fall of 2019 by joining the sports team in the No. 1 market. This platform will allow him to cover some of the most storied sports franchises, where his passion for writing and storytelling will serve him well. Along with those responsibilities, Justin is also a sideline reporter for CBS Sports. His contributions are for both college football and college basketball. In 2016 he was presented with an offer he couldn’t refuse; he accepted the roles of Sports Director and Anchor for WRNN-TV/FiOS1 News in the Greater New York City area. There he covered all of the New York sports teams until Fall of 2019. Prior to those roles, Justin took a leap of faith in 2013 and moved to Jackson, TN for his first on-air job with WBBJ-TV. As Sports Director and Reporter, he covered everything from high school football to the Memphis Grizzlies as an MMJ. It was the experience he gained while working for NBC as an Affiliate Producer during the 2012 London Olympics and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia that prepared him for WBBJ-TV. Walters graduated from La Salle University with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism. He is an active member of The National Association of Black Journalists and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Charisse Gibson
Anchor and Host WWL-TV

Charisse Gibson is an Emmy-nominated journalist, anchor and host born and raised in New Orleans. She began her television career at WWL-TV in 2010 as a morning desk assistant. During her time in the newsroom she wrote for the WWL morning show, which encouraged her to pursue a full-time producer position along the Mississippi Gulf Coast at WLOX-TV. After two-years on the Gulf Coast, Charisse returned to her home state and was named Morning News Anchor at KSLA News 12 This Morning in Shreveport, La.

Charlie Stephens, Moderator 
Political Communication Student, Manship School of Mass Communication
Director, Louisiana Vote-By-Mail

Jay Dardenne
Commissioner of Administration, State of Louisiana 

Dardenne was appointed commissioner of the Division of Administration in January 2016 by Gov. John Bel Edwards. In this capacity, he serves as the state's chief administrative officer. Dardenne was twice elected as Louisiana's lieutenant governor. Previously, he served four years as secretary of state, 15 years as a state senator as well as three years as a Baton Rouge Metro Councilman. He chaired the Senate Finance Committee and, in 2003, was named National Republican Legislator of the Year.

Dardenne is an attorney and graduate of Louisiana State University and the LSU Law Center. He is a member of the Baton Rouge High School Hall of Fame, the Manship School Hall of Fame, the LSU Hall of Distinction and the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame. 

Brad Jenkins
Co-Founder, RUN AAPI
CEO, Enfranchisement Production

In 2021, Jenkins launched #TheNew voting campaign with RUN AAPI to engage and inspire Asian American voters. Before joining Will Ferrell's Funny or Die an managing director and executive producer, Jenkins spent four years serving as President Obama's Associate Director in The White House Office of Public Engagement. From The White House, Jenkins worked on the Emmy-award winning "Between Two Ferns" interview on the Affordable Care Act. At Funny Or Die and Enfranchisement, Jenkins produced over 50 social impact campaigns with PACs, organizations, IEs, and foundations including UNICED, Rock The Vote, and the Democratic National Convention. Through these partnerships, Jenkins has engaged more than 100 million voters. For his work with Funny Or Die and Enfranchisement, Brad was featured on CNN's History of Comedy, MSNBC's Story of Cool and has won numerous awards. In 2016, Jenkins served on the AAPI Board of Advisors for the Bernie Sanders campaign. 

Ashley Shelton
Executive Director, Power Coalition

Shelton serves as the executive director of the Power Coalition. The Power Coalition uses a broad-based strategy that combines community organizing, issue advocacy, and civic action all while increasing the capacity of community organizations throughout the state to sustain and hold the work. The Coalition's integrated voter engagement approach has changed policy at the municipal and state level as well as move infrequent voters of color to vote at the same levels as chronic voters in the communities. 

Shelton was the former Vice President of Programs at the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, now the Foundation for Louisiana. In her role at the Foundation, Shelton managed a system of integrated, value-added programs in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Furthermore, she designed, initiated and coordinated a comprehensive policy strategy, which led to a systemic, multi-pronged approach to equitable policy development on a local, state and national level. 

Victoria Wenger, J.D.
Skadden Fellow, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 

Wenger's work centers primarily on civic participation and voting rights. In 2020, she was on the legal team of Harding v. Edwards which led to the successful expansion of absentee-by-mail and early voting opportunities in Louisiana during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2019, Wenger graduated from New York University School of Law where she was a Furman Public Policy Scholar and the recipient of the Vanderbilt Medal for outstanding contributions to the law school community. During law school, Wenger participated in NYU's Civil Rights Clinic as well as clinics with the Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the ACLU. She was awarded the Ann Petluck Poses Memorial Prize for outstanding clinical work.  

Prior to law school, Wenger worked as a communications association at the national office of Advancement Project where she focused on voting rights and police accountability. In 2014, She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a joint degree in African American Studies and Government. 

Allie Young
Co-Founder, Protect the Sacred

Allie Young is a citizen of the Diné Navajo Nation from the Northern Agency of the reservation in northern New Mexico. She is a storyteller on a mission to increase the authentic representation of Native Americans in TV, film and mainstream media by sharing the stories and traditions of her people that helped them persevere in a world where they are largely invisible, underrepresented and misrepresented. 

Young founded Protect the Sacred, a grassroots organization that focuses on educating and empowering the next generation of Navajo and Indian Country leaders, including powerful initiatives like Ride to the Polls ahead of the 2020 election. Through Protect the Sacred, she makes certain the Native voice is at the table and in every conversation, especially the voices of Indigenous youth and women. It is her objective to ensure that the stories of her people are no longer the fabricated American narrative perpetuated in textbooks and Hollywood Westerns. Instead, they will be authentic and from the original people, the original storytellers of this land. 

Albert L. Samuels, Moderator, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Southern University Political Science Department

A native of Shreveport, Dr. Samuels is the Jewel L. Prestage-Kellogg Professor of Political Science and the Chair of the Department of Political Science and History. Since joining Southern in 1999, Dr. Samuels has taught courses in American government, state and local government, constitutional law, civil liberties, the American presidency, race relations, Louisiana politics, black politics, politics and religion, international relations and comparative government. 

Dr. Samuels is the author of Is Separate Unequal: Black Colleges and the Challenge to Desegregation, which received the Best Book Award from the Race and Ethnicity Section of the American Political Science Association. He is a frequent commentator on national, state and local politics and has served as an elections analyst for local radio and television stations.

Dr. Samuels holds a B.A. in political science and M.A. in social sciences, both from Southern University. In 1998, he earned a Ph.D. in political science from Louisiana State University. 

Jelani Favors, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History
Clayton State University, Department of Humanities 

Dr. Favors is an associate professor of history at Clayton State University. He has received major fellowships in support of his research that includes an appointment as a Humanities Writ Large Fellow at Duke University as well as being an inaugural recipient of the Mellon HBCU Fellowship at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke. His essay entitled "Race Women: New Negro Politics and the Flowing of Radicalism at Bennett College, 1900-1945," won the R.D.W. Connor Award as the best article published in the North Carolina Historical Review for that year. 

In 2019, Dr. Favors released his first book entitled Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism, published by the University of North Carolina Press. Shelter in a Time of Storm was the recipient of the 2020 Stone Book Award presented annually by the Museum of African American History in Boston, the. 2020 Lillian Smith Book Award and was one of five finalists for the 2020 Pauli Murray Book Prize.

Monica T. Leach, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Vice Chancellor
North Carolina Central University, Enrollment Management & Academic Affairs

In 2014, Dr. Leach joined North Carolina Central University (NCCU) as the first leader in the division of enrollment management after it was structurally realigned within the Department of Academic Affairs. Before arriving at NCCU, Dr. Leach served at N.C. State University for almost 20 years in a variety of leadership roles, including assistant dean for academic affairs, tenured associate professor and assistant vice provost for enrollment management. 

Dr. Leach is a 2016 participant of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Women in Education Leadership program. She earned a B.S. from Louisiana State University as well as a M.A. and Ph.D. in education from N.C. State. 

Dereck Rovaris, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Diversity
Chief Diversity Officer, LSU Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

On top of being Vice Provost for Diversity and Chief Diversity Officer at LSU, Dr. Rovaris serves as a member of the Provost's Executive Staff and serves as a principal advisor to the President as well as the campus community on matters involving equity, diversity and inclusion. He also has supervisory responsibilities for the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Women's Center and the African American Cultural Center. 

Dr. Rovaris earned a B.A. from the University of Kansas with a triple major in Psychology; Human Development and Family Life; and Crime and Delinquency Studies. He earned an M.A. in Guidance and Counseling from Xavier University and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Illinois. Dr. Rovaris has served as an educational consultant, conducted workshops, and has been a featured speaker on the local, national and international level.

Danae Faulk, Moderator
Ph.D. Candidate, Critique, Image & Politics
Syracuse University, Religion

Originally from Baton Rouge, Faulk earned her M.A. in Religious Studies with a minor in Women and Gender Studies from the University of Missouri in 2015 with her thesis "Specter of Otherness: Essays at the Intersection of Religious Studies, Feminist Theories, and Alterity." She earned a B.A. in Anthropology and Religious Studies from Louisiana State University in 2012. With interests in affect, embodiment, race and transnational feminist critique, her current research examines the relationship between misogynoir, religion, and excess that animate fat oppression, health moralism, and theories of materiality in the 20th and 21st century U.S.

Stephen C. Finley, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and African & African American Studies
Louisiana State University

Dr. Finley received his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Rice University in 2009 shortly after joining the faculty at Louisiana State University in 2008. He has a joint appointment to the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and the Program in African & African American Studies.

Dr. Finley specializes in African American religion. His courses revolve around African American religious cultures, African American religious thought, and theory and method in the study of religion. His research expands upon these themes with an emphasis on African American religion and embodiment.

His ongoing research for book projects is in three primary areas: 1) African American Latter-day Saints; 2) Malcolm X and Gender; 3) African American Religion, Esotericism, and UFOs.

Biko Mandela Gray, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Religion
Syracuse University

Dr. Gray received his B.A. from Xavier University as well as his M.A. and Ph.D. from Rice University in the Department of Religion. Prior to Syracuse, he was a lecturer at the University of Houston. Dr. Gray's work operates at the nexus and interplay between continental philosophy of religion and theories as well as methods in African American religion.

His research is primarily on the connection between race, subjectivity, religion and embodiment. Exploring how these four categories play on one another in the concrete space of human experience. He is also interested in the religious implications of social justice movements. 

Dr. Gray is currently working on a book project that explores how contemporary racial justice movements, like Black Lives Matter, demonstrate new ways of theorizing the connection between embodiment, religion, and subjectivity.

Lori Latrice Martin, Ph.D.
Professor of African & African American Studies and Sociology
Louisiana State University

Dr. Martin earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Albany, a M.A. in Applied Public Affairs from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York and a B.A. in Sociology from Fordham University. 

At Louisiana State University, Dr. Martin has served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Sociology and Director of African & African American Studies. She is a member of the Roger Ogden Honors College Faculty Advisory Board and the Communicating Across Curriculum Advisory Board. 

She was honored with the Africana Service Award, Black Girls Rock Certificate of Achievement, LSU Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award, African American Culture Center Umoja Award, and multiple Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization awards. She is the author of more than 15 books and published a host of articles and book chapters on racial wealth inequality, race and education, and race and sports.

Roxanne Franklin Lorio, Moderator
Managing Director of Programs
E Pluribus Unum

Lorio is the managing director of programs for E Pluribus Unum including overseeing the organization's signature leadership program, UNUM Fellows. She previously served as a Leadership in Government Fellow at the Open Society Foundations, a senior project manager and advisor on criminal justice, economic and equity strategies for the city of New Orleans, and a strategic equity & research consultant both in the Unites States and United Kingdom. A licensed social worker and attorney, Lorio lives in New York City with her husband. 

Cashauna Hill
Executive Director
Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center

Since 2015, Hill has served as the executive director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center. She leads a team working to fulfill the organization's mission to end discriminatory housing policies and practices through litigation and policy advocacy, along with fair housing trainings and foreclosure prevention counseling. Hill's background includes successful resolution of fair housing and lending claims through administrative and court processes. Hill has written extensively about housing segregation and civil rights, and has testified before the United States Congress as a fair housing expert.

Hill is a graduate of Spelman College and Tulane Law School. In 2017, she was the inaugural recipient of the Tulane Law School Public Interest Law School. 

Davante Lewis
Director of Public Affairs and Outreach
Louisiana Budget Project

As director of public affairs and outreach for Louisiana Budget Project (LBP), Lewis focuses on higher education policy, monitoring legislative developments and working with advocacy groups and coalitions partners in forging a common agenda and action plan to advance LBP's policy agenda. 

Prior to joining LBP, Lewis was an elementary school teacher in the Coweta County School System in suburban Atlanta. He is a graduate of McNeese State University with a B.A. in political science and a minor in communications. While there, he served as a two-term Student Body President, the Chair of the Louisiana Council of Student Presidents and a Board Member of the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.

Denese Shervington, Ph.D. 
President and CEO, Institute for Women and Ethnic Studies;
Professor of Psychiatry, Tulane University School of Medicine

Dr. Shervington has an intersectional career in psychiatry and public mental health. As President and CEO of the Institute for Women and Ethnic Studies (IWES), Dr. Shervington directs a federally funded trauma-informed Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program as well as the community-based post-disaster mental health recovery division she created after Hurricane Katrina. At Tulane, she provides psychotherapy supervision for psychiatry residents. She has an illustrious career in public mental health, with posts at the national, state and local level. She also has extensive clinical expertise in PTSD and trauma-informed response.

Priska Neely
Managing Editor, Gulf States Newsroom

Priska Neely is the managing editor for the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between NPR and member stations in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Previously she worked at Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and KPCC in Los Angeles, where she reported extensively on maternal and infant mortality in the Black community. Before that, she worked at NPR in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Kamolika Das
State Policy Analyst, ITEP

Kamolika joined ITEP in February 2020 as a State Policy Analyst. Kamolika monitors trends in state tax policy and provides analysis to advance policies that help achieve equitable state tax systems. Before joining the team, Kamolika worked at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, where she primarily focused on local affordable housing policies but also supported efforts to scale back ineffective tax incentives. She also spent nearly three years at Prosperity Now tracking legislation, synthesizing policy research, and organizing webinars to highlight advocacy strategies. Kamolika earned a BA from Vassar College and an MPP from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

Cashauna Hill
Executive Director, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center

Cashauna Hill has served as Executive Director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center (formerly the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center) since 2015. Cashauna leads a team working to fulfill the organization’s mission to end discriminatory housing policies and practices through litigation and policy advocacy, along with fair housing training and foreclosure prevention counseling. Cashauna’s background includes successful resolution of fair housing and lending claims through administrative and court processes. She has been interviewed by CNN, NPR, and countless other national and local media outlets. Additionally, Cashauna has written extensively about housing segregation and civil rights, and has testified before the United States Congress as a fair housing expert.

In 2017, she was the inaugural recipient of the Tulane Law School Public Interest Law Foundation’s Practitioner Service Award. Cashauna is a graduate of Spelman College and Tulane Law School, and an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Tiffany Jeanminette
Policy & Equity Director, Louisiana Public Health Institute

Tiffany Jeanminette is the new Policy & Equity Director for the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI). Looking over her resume and job experience, one can notice a theme – Louisiana is part of the title of most of the organizations that she has worked at. She has a purpose and passion for serving her state and has found herself most interested in capacity building focused on leadership and community empowerment. She has most recently served as the Executive Director for 504HealthNet, a non-profit established in 2008, post-Katrina, to improve access to community-based primary care and behavioral health care services across the Greater New Orleans (GNO) Region for everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

She also serves as a part-time organizational development consultant for the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control Office of Smoking and Health. Previously, Jeanminette served as the Director of Health Policy and Governmental Affairs for the Louisiana Primary Care Association. From 2012 – 2016, she served as the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program - Primary Care Capacity Project Manager with the Louisiana Public Health Institute where she led the design and implementation of the program and provided tailored technical assistance to FQHCs in Mississippi and Florida. Jeanminette is a certified Project Management Professional with over 13 years of experience in Public Health programming that includes strategic partnership management, health equity and healthcare system transformation. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from Louisiana State University and a Master of Public Administration, concentrating in Nonprofit Organizational Development, from Louisiana State University’s E.J. Ourso College of Business. 

Mary Smith
Moderator, Political Science Senior, Southern University

Mary Smith is a Southern University senior majoring in political science. She serves her student body through various organizations on campus, one of which she serves as the Chief of Staff for the Pre-law Society. Mary is also a Fall 21’ Fellow for Louisiana Progress, where her role is to analyze state legislation regarding MJ Awareness and Redistricting in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Angela A. Allen-Bell
Associate Professor, Southern University Law Center

Brian J. Costello, O. de M. III
Tertiary, Historian, Genealogist and Author

Phoebe Ferguson
Co-founder and Executive Director, Plessy and Ferguson Foundation

Keith Plessy
Co-founder and President, Plessy and Ferguson Foundation

Dr. Albert Samuels
Chair, Department of Political Science, Southern University

Sherry Liang
Moderator, Former Editor-in-Chief, The Red & Black, University of Georgia

Sherry Liang is a senior at the University of Georgia studying entertainment & media studies and international affairs. She is currently an intern at CNN and previously served as editor-in-chief for her student newspaper, The Red & Black.

Priyanka Bhatt
Staff Attorney, Project South

Priyanka Bhatt, born in Kenya, grew up primarily in Brooklyn, New York and central New Jersey. She also lived in the Midwest and South, and completed her undergraduate studies in Georgia. Priyanka is a recent graduate from Ohio State University where she received her Juris Doctorate and Masters of Arts in Public Administration. During her time in law school, Priyanka was a Public Service Fellow with Dean’s Special Recognition. She served on the executive board for the Moritz Chapter ACLU and Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, and was the staff editor for the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. She also frequently volunteered with the Legal Aid Society of Columbus where she participated in criminal record expungement, naturalization, and homeless shelter pro bono clinics. In 2015, Priyanka was a legal extern with the Ohio Public Defender’s Office Wrongful Conviction Project where she helped with innocence claims. Priyanka was also a summer family law intern with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society in 2016 where she primarily helped domestic violence survivors in different legal proceedings. In addition, Priyanka was a legal extern for the Minority Caucus of The Ohio House of Representatives in 2017. Through her master’s program, Priyanka did extensive research on different restorative justice models and completed her capstone on food deserts’ negative impact on women. Prior to law school and graduate school, Priyanka engaged in community building efforts in Atlanta and also volunteered with several Atlanta based non-profit organizations.

Keva Bui
PhD Candidate in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego

Keva X. Bui is a writer, educator, and scholar of Asian American studies, U.S. militarism, and the politics of scientific knowledge production. Currently they are a PhD Candidate in Ethnic Studies with a graduate certificate in Critical Gender Studies at the University of California, San Diego, a lecturer in Gender and Women's Studies at Pomona College, and a community organizer with VietUnity-Southern California. Keva's research focuses on the history of science, the military-industrial complex, and cultural critiques of U.S. imperialism in Asia and the Pacific during the Cold War. Their teaching spans ethnic studies, feminist and queer theory, science studies, and cultural studies, with an eye towards developing critical theoretical and practical tools for understanding how difference and power shape our global society. Keva's writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from academic publications such as Journal of Asian American Studies, MELUS, Canadian Literature, and Amerasia. Currently, they serve as the student representative on the Board of Directors for the Association for Asian American Studies.

Dr. Natasha Chen Christensen
Associate Professor of Sociology, Monroe Community College

Natasha is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Monroe Community College. She earned a B.A. at Baylor University in 1993 and a PhD at University of California, Los Angeles in 2002. Her specialties include intersectionality, critical race theory, gender, social stratification, and sexuality.

Eunice Kim
Program Manager, Stop AAPI Hate

Eunice Kim (she/her) is the program manager at Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that addresses anti-Asian racism and xenophobia amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Eunice received a Bachelor of Arts in Asian American Studies from SF State in 2017, then received a Master of Public Administration degree from SF State in 2020. Eunice identifies as a first-generation Korean American and was born and raised in Monterey Bay. She currently resides in Oakland, California.

Liz Koh
9News This Morning Anchor, WAFB

Liz Koh is a proud second generation Korean American. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea. Her parents taught her to speak Korean and English while growing up. Liz moved to Baton Rouge just before the August 2016 flood. Her second story ever at WAFB was wall-to-wall (nonstop) live coverage as the flood began. On her second day of work at Channel 9, she and her photographer James Degraauw became stuck on I-12 while heading to a shelter to cover flood recovery operations. Despite getting trapped on a flooded interstate, Liz says she wouldn't change a thing about her experience. During our continuous flood coverage in the days and weeks to come, she met many viewers who showed strength, empathy and the willingness to help others in a time of need. Since then Baton Rouge has become home to her. In October 2020, Liz took on the challenge of replacing former 9News This Morning anchor Lauren Westbrook. She, along with the Morning Show team, won an Emmy Award for their severe weather coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Liz has a heart for the people who make the Red Stick a better place to be - the creators, artists, makers and community leaders. Liz also adopted her sweet puppy Beau here after a coworker found him abandoned in the WAFB parking lot.

Craig Santos Perez
Professor of English, University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa

Dr. Craig Santos Perez is an indigenous Chamoru from the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam). He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the U of San Francisco and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the U of California, Berkeley. He is the author of five books of poetry and the monograph, Navigating Chamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization. He is a professor in the English department at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, where he teaches poetry and Pacific Islander literature.

Xavier Kent
LSU Student, Moderator

Xavier Kent is from Marrero, Louisiana. He is rising junior at LSU majoring in marketing. Xavier is involved in LSU’s Student Government as the Chief of College Councils. Through this position, Xavier hopes to establish a trustworthy relationship with all students and their deans for the upcoming school year. He also serves as the Political Action Chair for Louisiana's NAACP Youth and College Division. Xavier has been able to ensure that more youth in the state of Louisiana are knowledgeable on political issues that affect all groups of people. He also is a consistent volunteer with the local nonprofit the Bridge Agency and assists the Bridge Agency in community building projects.

Dr. Erica Frankenberg
Director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights, Penn State University

Erica Frankenberg (Ed.D., Harvard University) is a professor of education and demography in the College of Education at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests focus on racial desegregation and inequality in K-12 schools, and the connections between school segregation and other metropolitan policies. At Penn State, Dr. Frankenberg teaches classes on education policy and politics. In 2014, she coordinated the Civil Rights and Education conference at Penn State, and is co-editor of a 2016 book from this conference. With Liliana Garces, Dr. Frankenberg directs a civil rights and education center at Penn State. One of the foci of Dr. Frankenberg’s research has examined how demographic patterns relate to school segregation. An example of this was a mixed-methods study of suburban racial change, funded by the Spencer Foundation, which examined the extent to which suburban districts are becoming more diverse, how they conceptualized of this change, and what responses districts and communities adopted. Additionally, she has examined the relationship between housing and school segregation. An emerging related area of research is examining the way in which de facto segregation has evolved and its impact. Another aspect of her work has examined how districts respond to the Supreme Court’s 2007 voluntary integration decision. One aspect of this work, funded by a Spencer Foundation small grant, examines the eleven school districts that received federal funding in 2009 to redesign their student assignment plans. This research, with Kathryn McDermott and Elizabeth DeBray, examines how school districts define diversity and what policies they adopt to pursue diversity. Finally, Dr. Frankenberg’s research has examined how the design of school choice policy affects racial and economic student stratification. This has included examining the segregation trends in charter schools as well as analyzing state and federal policy to understand why such patterns of segregation exist in charter schools. In addition to her teaching and research, she has been active with Division L of the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Frankenberg is involved with the National Coalition for School Diversity, including the group’s Research Advisory Panel. She is also a fellow of the National Education Policy Center.

Dr. Albert Samuels
Chair of Department of Political Science, Southern University

Dr. Albert L. Samuels is a native of Shreveport, LA. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and a M.A. in Social Sciences (both from Southern University) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Louisiana State University. He has taught political science at Southern University since 1999 and is the Chair of the Department of Political Science and History. During the Spring Semester of 2014, he was elected by his faculty colleagues to the office of Vice President of the Southern University Faculty Center. In the Spring Semester of 2018, he was elected by faculty colleagues to be President of the Faculty Senate. His research interests include American politics, black politics, Louisiana politics, educational policy, and voting rights.

A.P. Turead, Jr.
Board Member, Plessy & Ferguson Foundation

A. P. Tureaud, Jr. Is a native of New Orleans and grew up in the 7th Ward. After graduating from J. S. Clark High, he sued LSU and was the first person of color to attend the undergraduate school in 1953. Due to a legal technicality, he was forced to withdraw from LSU. His dismissal was appealed by his father, civil rights attorney, A. P. Tureaud, Sr., and the U. S. Supreme Court allowed him to return until his case was decided by a three-judge court. Due to extreme prejudice and isolation experienced by A.P. Jr., he refused to return and entered Xavier University in New Orleans, from which he graduated in 1957. The following spring, he received a master's degree from Columbia U., in rehabilitation counseling. For ten years he taught in public schools in New Orleans, Washington, DC and White Plains, NY. For the next twenty-six years he was the director of special education in the White Plains School, retiring in 1996. In addition to adjunct teaching at Hunter U, College of New Rochelle and Pace U., Mr. Tureaud received a sabbatical grant to study special education programs in Africa and Europe. He is currently a freelance educational consultant, artist, public speaker and author. His book, co-authored with Dr. Rachel Emanuel, A More Noble Cause, published by the LSU Press in 2011, chronicles the civil rights struggle in Louisiana. In May 2011 Mr. Tureaud was awarded an honorary doctorate from LSU. 

Shelina Davis
Moderator, Chief Executive Officer, Louisiana Public Health Institute

Shelina Davis, MPH, MSW, has spent the last 15 years as a public health social worker who centers all of her work in racial justice and health equity; and serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Public Health Institute – a statewide community-focused nonprofit organization that leads and partners to ensure everyone has just opportunities to be healthy and well. Shelina has had the honor of serving the state of Louisiana through community service. She was appointed to Governor John Bel Edwards’ COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force; and also serves on a number of local and national nonprofit boards. Shelina is a proud Louisianan and HBCU graduate.

Lucy Ogbu-Nwobodo, MD, MS, MAS,
PGY-4, Psychiatry Residency MGH/McLean

Lucy Ogbu-Nwobodo, MD, MS, MAS, is a fourth-year resident and the MGH Administrative Chief Resident, in the MGH/McLean Psychiatry Program. She relocated to Boston following the completion of her Master’s degree and medical education at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. In her role as the Chair of the Resident and Fellow Committee (RFC), she is actively engaged in different initiatives around MGH, advocating for the creation of a more nurturing climate and culture, whereby trainees of color’s personal and professional development can thrive, as well as fostering culturally sensitive community outreach engagements. She is a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Fellow, with a project focused on the development and implementation of a psychoeducation and skills-based curricula for high school students with underrepresented identities. She also serves as a Co-Editor of the Racism and Mental Health Equity column with Psychiatric Services, the monthly publication of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). As a health professional, she wants to use her life experiences and medical training to bring attention to issues facing those from marginalized communities, while advocating for policies promoting equitable access to care, particularly mental healthcare. 

Ruth Shim, MD, MPH,
Luke & Grace Kim Professor in Cultural Psychiatry UC Davis School of Medicine

Ruth Shim, M.D., M.P.H., is the Luke & Grace Kim Professor in Cultural Psychiatry and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Davis. She also serves as Associate Dean of Diverse and Inclusive Education at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. Dr. Shim’s research focuses on mental health disparities and inequities, and she provides clinical psychiatric care in the UC Davis Early Diagnosis and Preventative Treatment (EDAPT) Clinic. Dr. Shim is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Association for Community Psychiatry. She serves on the Research and Evaluation Committee of the California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. Additionally, Dr. Shim serves on the editorial boards of JAMA Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, Community Mental Health Journal, and American Psychiatric Publishing. She is co-editor of the books, The Social Determinants of Mental Health, and the recently published, Social (In)Justice and Mental Health. Dr. Shim is a former fellow of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program, and an at-large member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders. Dr. Shim received a Master of Public Health specializing in health policy from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and an M.D. from Emory University School of Medicine.

Kennedi Smith
Moderator, Co-Founder of Black Women Graduate Collective & Master's Candidate, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication

Cici Battle
Activist, Speaker, Organizer, & Former Executive Director of Young People For

Dr. Tristan Cabello
Associate Director of the Master of Liberal Arts Johns Hopkins University

Sara Mora
Storyteller, Speaker, Digital Strategist, Activist & Founder of Population MIC

Davante Lewis
Moderator, Director of Public Affairs & Outreach of Louisiana Budget Project

Dr. Alexander Camardelle
Director of Workforce Policy, Joint Center for Political & Economic Studies 

Dr. Cassi Pittman Claytor
Climo Junior Professor, Co-Director of African & African American Studies Minor Case Western Reserve University

Elsa Dimitriadis
Chief Impact Officer & Managing Partner Conversation Starters

Dr. Traci Parker
Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Dr. Traci Parker is an Associate Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago. Parker is the author of Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights (University of North Carolina Press, 2019). She is currently working on her second book, Beyond Loving: Black Love, Sex, and Marriage in the Twentieth Century. Parker’s research has received support from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, among others. She teaches courses on African American women’s history, nineteenth and twentieth century U.S. history, race and racism, class, labor, capitalism, and consumer culture.

Charity Williams 
Moderator, Vice President, LSU National Association of Black Journalists; Senior, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication

Charity Williams is a third-year senior from Atlanta, GA majoring in Political Communications and a minor in political science. During her time at LSU, she has participated in several on-campus organizations such as serving as treasurer for the Tiger Prison Project, Vice President of The National Association of Black Journalists, working on the Student Government Black Caucus and The National Residential Hall Honorary. Also, she served as a resident assistant on campus beginning in her sophomore year. Charity has had the opportunity to complete several law and policy-related summer internships during my undergraduate journey, including the Law School Admissions Council PLUS Program and the Sidley Austin LLP Prelaw Scholars Program. Charity has attempted to demonstrate this commitment to change through not only academic and professional pursuits, but also in service to the community around her. Much of this work has consisted of organizing workshops and panels on career development, general body meetings to gauge black student needs and working on the Manship Diversity Committee to promote accessibility, recruitment and retention for students of color. Another form of this commitment to change has been through Charity’s research exploring how media representation affects black civic engagement among college aged individuals. This work is unique in that it explores frequent misrepresentations and omissions of social and political issues that affect African Americans on cable news. After graduating, Charity plans to attend law school to work as a criminal defense attorney and later transition into public policy reform.

Denise Abdul-Rahman
Special Project Manager, The Chisholm Legacy Project Environmental Climate Justice Program Chair, Indiana State Conference of the NAACP

Denise Abdul-Rahman is the Special Projects Manager, serving the Ohio Valley /Great Lakes region for The Chisholm Legacy Project. In addition, for 9 years has built the environmental and climate justice program for the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP. She holds a BS in management, MBA in healthcare management, and a health informatics designation from Indiana University School of Informatics, an Environmental Leadership Program Senior Fellow and a Black Women, Foreign War, Veteran of Operation Desert Storm. Abdul-Rahman leads the support for building equitable clean energy projects; models for PowerUp Clean Energy Jobs to infuse the Black Green Pipeline initiative, Just Transportation and Equitable Goods Movement, and equitable clean energy policy and practices that is ramping up minority and women business enterprises, fair chances, and geographic imperatives. Among her body of work accomplishments are the successful launch of the PowerUp initiative in Evansville, Indiana as published and distributed to 750,000 members of IBEW and the successful organizing of an “Our Youth Scientists” and “Our Community Scientists” initiative deployed in East Chicago Indiana. A City with 3 zones declared as a superfund site by the US EPA, with over 91,000 parts per a billion of lead.  Abdul-Rahman serves the Environmental Resilience Institute Advisory Board, is the Vice President of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association Board, People’s Solar Energy Fund and serves the United States Speakers Bureau. She has served in many other capacities, former Vice Chair of the City of Indianapolis Air Pollution Control Board, as well as a Delegate to Glasgow COP 26 , Paris COP 21 and Global Climate Action Summit.   

Timothy Hardy
Partner, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P

Timothy W. Hardy is a Partner in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P. His area of concentration is Environmental Law. He serves as part of the firm's Environmental Law Practice Group. He previously served as the top advisor on environmental affairs for a former Louisiana governor, as Assistant Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and as a Division Director for the Louisiana Department of Justice. He was formerly a Partner of the Roedel Parsons Koch Blache Balhoff & McCollister law firm. Prior to attending law school, he held several technical laboratory and research positions.  He currently serves on the Board of Supervisors for the Louisiana Community & Technical College System, having served on the Board since 2010. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), an education organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community and technical colleges in the United States. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Southern University Law Center, teaching Environmental Law for more than 20 years. His professional career also includes, in 2003, being named as an Executive Vice President of the Shaw Group, one of only two Fortune 500Companies based in Louisiana at that time. He holds a B.S. Degree in Chemistry and was named a Distinguished Alumnus by the Southern University Department of Chemistry in 2008. He was also named a Distinguished Alumnus by the Southern University Law Center in 2009 and was named to the Southern University Law Center Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2020, he was appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards to serve as a member of the Governor's Climate Initiatives Task Force. He was also named as co-chair of the Manufacturing and Industry Committee, and as a member of the Legal Advisory Group, both established by the Task Force. 

Isaias Hernandez
Environmental Educator and Founder of QueerBrownVegan

Isaias Hernandez is an Environmental Educator and creator of QueerBrownVegan where he creates introductory forms of environmentalism through colorful graphics, illustrations, and videos. He seeks to provide a safe space for like-minded environmentalists to advance the discourse around the climate crisis.

Charles Lee
Senior Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Charles Lee is widely recognized as a true pioneer in the arena of environmental justice and helped to give birth to the environmental justice movement in the United States some forty years ago. He was the principal author of the landmark 1987 report, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, organized the historic 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, and helped to spearhead the emergence of federal environmental justice policy, including Executive Order 12898, EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), and the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice. Mr. Lee is currently the Senior Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has served in multiple capacities, ranging from creating the United Church of Christ’s environmental justice program to directing EPA’s environmental justice office. He was a charter member of the NEJAC, where he chaired its Waste and Facility Siting committee, and served on the National Academy of Science/Institute of Medicine Committee on Environmental Justice as well as numerous other panels. Mr. Lee has authored numerous papers, reports, journals, and articles on environmental justice over the past four decades, most recently on “Confronting Disproportionate Impacts and Systemic Racism in Environmental Policy” (Environmental Law Reporter, vol. 51, no. 3, March 2021). He has taught or presented at numerous schools and conferences, including the seminal academic conference on “Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards” at the University of Michigan. 

Quenton Buckhalter

Moderator, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Master's Graduate

Quenton Buckhalter is a recent Manship School graduate and a sickle cell advocate. 

Tanisha Smith, NP

Clinical Coordinator for the Our Lady of the Lake Sickle Cell Clinic 

Tanisha Smith is a nurse practitioner who serves as the clinical coordinator for the Our Lady of the Lake Sickle Cell Clinic. Tanisha has been passionate in her care of adult patients in the sickle cell population. She has served in this role for 8 years and prior to this worked as a hematology/oncology inpatient nurse. She graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She later decided to pursue a career in nursing and graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and later a Master of Science in Nursing. Tanisha is a certified Adult Nurse practitioner by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board.  Tanisha recently became the 2022 Nightingale Award Winner of the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse of the Year awarded by the Louisiana Nurses Foundation. She is also a member of the Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the Louisiana Sickle Cell Commission. Tanisha enjoys traveling with her husband and two children. She is a lover of music and enjoys reading. 

Ernest DeJean

Program Manager, Tulane University School of Medicine 

Ernest is a native of New Orleans. He received an undergraduate degree from Xavier University of New Orleans and a graduate degree in Social Work from Southern University of New Orleans. Ernest has been involved in numerous medical and neuro-cognitive researched based studies that have brought about sickle cell initiatives throughout the state. One of his main focus is to ensure that individuals with sickle cell disease in Louisiana receive adequate, appropriate, and timely medical and social services.

Dr. Corey Hébert

NBC Chief Medical Editor 

Dr. Corey Hebert is an Assistant Professor at both LSU Health Sciences Center and Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana and has been the Principal Investigator on over 60 phase 1, 2 and 3 FDA-regulated clinical trials on various nutritional and pharmacotherapeutic agents. Dr. Hebert is an award-winning medical broadcast journalist, working as on-air Chief Medical Editor for the NBC television affiliate in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region of the United States for over 15 years as well as the Chief Medical correspondent for Black News Channel. He has made hundreds of appearances on national television networks and outlets such as CNN, CBS, National Geographic, Good Morning America and the Today Show. He has served as the Chairman of the Executive Advisory Council of the National Health Service Corps and was previously on the CDC advisory board on Influenza. He has been the author on dozens of peer-reviewed journal publications, most recently in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. He is currently the Principal investigator on multiple Covid-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibody trials. He is the Chief Medical Officer of Dillard University and Chief Technology Officer of Dolphin Medical Imaging.

Dr. Renee Gardner

Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at Children's Hospital

Dr. Renee Gardner is a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at Children's Hospital. With more 35 years of experience, certified by the American Board of Pediatrics for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. Dr. Gardner received her medical degree at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, then went on to complete her residency training at Buffalo Children's Hospital. She then completed a fellowship program in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Gardner serves as a Professor of Pediatrics at LSU Health New Orleans. On the importance of a solid physician/patient relationship, Dr. Gardner stated, "I love the interactions with patients and their parents and there is great joy when successful outcomes are seen." "I can see the results of my efforts to bring about cure. The patients are wonderful, special and treating them is gratifying and incredibly satisfactory. I want to do good that can be seen and measured but I also know that there will be some patients for whom the impact of our treatment may be intangible and yet so very positive." Dr. Gardner sees the practice of medicine continue to be rewarding and challenging, as new innovations or advances makes it possible for use to see improved survival in children with cancer or hematological disorders. Dr. Gardner is fluent in English and Spanish and sees patients in New Orleans and Lake Charles.

Sherell Jones

Sickle Cell Warrior

Sherell Jones is a Community Health Worker with the Sickle Cell Association of South Louisiana.  She completed training as a Sickle Cell Educator in 2004 from the University of South Alabama Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center and the Sickle Disease Association of America Mobile Chapter.  She also has a B.S. degree in Business Administration from UL Lafayette.

Adamaris Chavez

Moderator, Reilly Center Intern, Manship Student Ambassador 

"Adamaris "Adam" Chavez is a student at the Manship School of Mass Communication. She is majoring in public relations and minoring in Spanish and international studies. Adam is known for doing all things Manship, including being an Ambassador who represents her senior college with class, and now as an intern with the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs. 

Adam is involved with several organizations around LSU's campus, but all with the intention of leaving her mark on this institution. When she is not running around the Journalism building, she can be found in the Latinx center overseeing her Mariposa Book Club. Above all, Adam finds inspiration and strength from the people closest to her."

Alejandro Cortazar, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Latin American Literature and Culture at LSU

Dr. Cortazar Obtained his PhD (1997) from The University of Iowa and his MA (1992) and BA (1989) from Arizona State University. He is currently an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures at LSU, and serves as a Spanish Graduate Advisor. He specializes in literature and culture of nineteenth-century Hispanic America, Mexican Literature and culture from pre-colonial to present times, and 20th and 21st Century Hispanic Women Writers. Some of his publications include “Departing from reality. Perico’s coming of age and his ‘natural’ farewell to the hacienda during the Porfiriato” (2024), “Perico (1885). En los márgenes del porfiriato: Percepción y realidad de los subalternos” (2023), “Narrando la nación: virtudes republicanas y justicia de Dios ante el desencanto positivista del siglo XIX” (2022), “Notas sobre los insólito y conceptos de antropología en Borges y Carpentier” (2019), “El antihéroe de ‘necio quijotismo’ en Tomochic de Heriberto Frías” (2013), “Lenguaje, Arte y Revoluciones Ayer y Hoy: New Approaches to Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Studies” (2011), and “Emancipación, romanticismo y consolidación de las letras criollas: el caso de ‘El criollo’ (1837) de José Ramón Pacheco” (2009).

Gabriela Spears-Rico, Ph.D.

Cultural Anthropologist, Assistant Professor of Chicano Latino Studies, University of Minnesota Twin Cities 

Dr. Gabriela Spears-Rico is a cultural anthropologist and an Assistant Professor of Chicano Latino Studies with a joint appointment in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She is currently working on Mestiza/o Melancholia and the Legacy of Conquest in Michoacán, a book which offers an ethnographic analysis of the Days of the Dead and the Virgin of Guadalupe pilgrimages in Mexico to examine how ‘going native’ or ‘playing Indian’ functions in Mexico. She authored “Decolonial P’urhepecha Maternalista Motherwork as Pedagogy,” in The Chicana Motherwork Anthology and “In the Time of War and Hashtags: Rehumanizing Indigeneity in the Digital Landscape” in Indigenous Interfaces: Spaces, Technology and Social Networks in Mexico and Central America both published in 2019 by the University of Arizona Press. Recent scholarship can be found in Transnational Perspectives on Ana Castillo (University of Pittsburg Press, 2021) and in Dancing With Life: Recontextualizing Mexican Masks (University of Texas Press, 2023).

Lorena Márquez, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Chicano/a Studies, University of California at Davis 

Dr. Lorena V. Márquez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chicana/o Studies at the University of California at Davis. Born to Mexican migrant farmworkers, Dr. Márquez has never forgotten her roots. Her recent book, La Gente: Struggles for Empowerment and Community Self-Determination in Sacramento, traces everyday peoples' activism/participation in the Chicana/o movement. 

William Camargo

Photo-Based Artist, Lecturer in Photography, University of California San Diego 

William Camargo is a photo-based artist and educator born and raised in Anaheim, California. He is a lecturer in photography at the University of California San Diego and Cal State Fullerton. He attained his M.F.A from Claremont Graduate University, a BFA from Cal State Fullerton, and an AA at Fullerton Community College. William is the founder and curator of Latinx Diaspora Archives, an archive Instagram page that elevates communities of color through family photos. He uses photography, installation, public interventions, and archives to address gentrification, police violence, and Chicanx/Latinx histories. William has held residencies at the Latinx Project at NYU, Light Work in Syracuse, NY,  TILT institute for Contemporary Image in Philadelphia, and the Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY. He was a runner-up for the Aperture Portfolio Prize 2021 and was included in the Latinx edition of Aperture Magazine in the Winter of 2022. In addition, his most recent publication We Been Here a risograph published by Seaton Street Press has been collected by SF MOMA, Harvard University, CUNY New Paltz, the Huntington Library, among others.

Sara Martin

Graduate Student in Political Science, Southern University and A&M College

Sara Martin is a graduate student at Southern University's Nelson Mandela College of Government and Social Sciences. She obtained her bachelor's degree in political science from Southern University and A&M College. There she served as a two-term Vice President of the Student Government Association where she worked to reinvigorate student voter participation. A Denham Springs, Louisiana native, Sara grew up serving as a junior leader on the boards for local and parish chapters for the Voter's League and The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Presently, Sara's research interests explore introspection of the changing political landscape in the age of information technology and vulnerabilities from racial attitudes. In between studying democracy, race and equity issues in American and foreign politics, Sara is in constant pursuit of the world's best espresso.

Albert Samuels, Ph.D.

Chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography, Southern University and A&M College

Dr. Albert L. Samuels is a native of Shreveport, LA. He holds a B.A. in Political Science, a M.A. in Social Sciences (both from Southern University) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Louisiana State University. He has taught political science at Southern University since 1999, he is the Jewel and James Prestage Professor of Political Science and he is the Chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography. During the Spring Semester of 2014, he was elected by his faculty colleagues to the office of Vice President of the Southern University Faculty Center. In the Spring Semester of 2018, he was elected by faculty colleagues to be President of the Faculty Senate. His research interests include American politics, black politics, Louisiana politics, educational policy, and voting rights.

Ashley Shelton

Founder, President and CEO, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice 

Ashley K. Shelton is the Founder, President and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, a statewide 501c3 table in Louisiana. The Power Coalition uses a broad-based strategy that combines community organizing, issue advocacy, and civic action to build pathways to power for historically disenfranchised populations. Mrs. Shelton has led both C3 and C4 strategies to move more than one million voters throughout the state of Louisiana having significant impact in elections statewide and in the major metros including New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. Our integrated voter engagement approach has changed policy at the municipal and state level as well as move infrequent voters of color to vote at the same levels as chronic voters in the communities where we run a full get out to vote program. Shelton received two bachelor’s degrees from Louisiana State University, one in Mass Communication and the other in Broadcast Journalism.

Jarret Luter

Political Action Chair, NAACP Baton Rouge Branch

Jarret Luter serves as the NAACP Baton Rouge branch's Political Action Chair, where he actively participates in voter registration drives and hosts local candidate forums. Luter graduated from Southern University and A&M College, where he currently works as a professor of history, with a bachelor’s degree in History and a master’s degree in Social Sciences. Since 2021, he has been instructing the subject of History, including World History and American History. He is dedicated to educating and emphasizing the importance of History to students while understanding and adapting to the challenges of the modern scholar. 

Sara Carter

Equal Justice America Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice 

Sara Carter is an Equal Justice America Fellow in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where she focuses on voting rights and elections. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, she served as a law clerk to the Hon. William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Carter earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an Executive Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and a Research Assistant for Professor Laura Weinrib. While in law school, she interned with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU Voting Rights Project, Legal Services Alabama, and the ACLU of Georgia. Carter grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and earned her B.A. from the University of Maryland with highest distinction.