Speak Out : Speakers & Artists

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Artists and Speakers

Tom Ammiano
California State Assemblyman, Advocate for Schools, Health Care & Civil Rights
• Gays in Government and Education: From the Frontline
• The Debate Over Marijuana Reform: Decriminalization and Taxation of Marijuana

Amiri Baraka
A Vanguard in the Black Arts Movement
• One of the nation’s most influential and prolific African American artists
• Author of over 40 books of essays, poems, drama, music history and criticism.

Khalil Bendib
Award-Winning Political Cartoonist
• Featured in over 1,700 newspapers across the country.
• Bringing a Muslim/Arab, progressive, non-Eurocentric perspective to the media.

Medea Benjamin
Co-Founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace
• Long-time Human Rights Activist and Author
• Founding Director of the human rights organization Global Exchange

Jello Biafra
Musician, Spoken Word Artist, Green Party Activist
• Former leader of the punk band the Dead Kennedys
• Ran for the Green Party Presidential Nominee in 2000 & active in Ralph Nader's 2004 & 2008 Campaigns

Linda Burnham
Activist & Writer for Women's Rights & Racial Justice
• Founder and Former Executive Director of the Women of Color Resource Center

Angela Davis
Author, Educator and Activist
– Author of numerous books on the prison industrial complex including Abolition Democracy and Are Prisons Obsolete?
- Leader in the movement for economic, racial, and gender equality

Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Leading Labor, Racial Justice and International Solidarity Leader
• Co-author of Solidarity Divided, The Crisis in Organized Labor and A New Path Toward Social Justice
• Founder of the Center for Labor Renewal and past president of TransAfrica Forum

Andrew Jolivette
Accomplished Educator, Writer and Social/Cultural Critic
• Topics include Rethinking Identity: Mixed Race, HIV/AIDS and People of Color, Indigenous Rights and Cultural Survival, LGBT/Queer Community of Color Identity
• Author of Cultural Representation in Native America and Louisiana Creoles: Cultural Recovery and Mixed Race Native American Identity

Van Jones
Globally Recognized Pioneer in The Green Collar Economy
• Author of the bestseller The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Solve Our Two Biggest Problems
• Former Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

Winona LaDuke
Internationally Renowned Activist working on Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Environmental Justice in Native America
• Author of numerous books including Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations and a novel, Last Standing Woman
• Executive Director of the Honor the Earth and founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project

Roberto Lovato
One of the Nation’s Leading Latino Writers and Commentators
• Associate Editor with New America Media and frequent contributore to numerous magazines and websites
• Speaks and writes on growing Latino power and influence, immigration, media, politics, race and human rights

Clarence Lusane
Author, Scholar and Journalist on Race, Human Rights and Electoral Politics
- Expert on comparative race relations, international human rights, social movements and electoral politics
- Author of several books, including a major work, The Black History of the White House, forthcoming this fall

Adam Mansbach
Dynamic Novelist with a Hip-Hop Aesthetic
- Author of the bestsellers Angry Black White Boy and The End of the Jews
- His dynamic presentations address the complexities of identity, hip hop, history, literature, and popular culture

Ben Manski
Executive Director of the Liberty Tree Foundation
• Former co-chair of the Green Party and past National Director of Campus Greens USA
• Efforts focus on building a new democracy movement in the U.S. and democratizing education

Rev. Irene Monroe
Lesbian Theologian, Scholar, Writer and Activist
• Popular columnist for New England Blade, The Advocate Magazine, Black Commentator and Huffington Post
• Sought-after speaker on race, women's spirituality and gender issues.

Carlos Muñoz Jr.
Prominent Political Scientist, Historian and Public Intellectual
• Author of Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement and the forthcoming Diversity and The Challenge for a Multiracial Democracy In America
• Founding chair of the first Chicano Studies department in the nation

Greg Palast
Award-Winning Investigative Reporter
- Author of the bestsellers, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Armed Madhouse
• DVDs include Palast Investigates: On the Trail: From 8-Mile to the Amazon with Investigative Reporter Greg Palast

Loretta J. Ross
Women's Rights & Human Rights Leader
• National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
• Co-author of Undivided Right: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice

Molly Secours
Writer & Filmmaker for Racial Equity and Social Justice
- Advisory Board Member of Fisk University’s Race Relations Institute and a leading voice on white privilege
- Films include “Faces Of TennCare,""College On The Brain," and "Welcome To My Hood"

Bob Wing
Senior Organizer with Southern Coalition for Social Justice
- Race, Elections and the Changing Electorate
- Crossing Race and Nationality: the Racial Formation of Asian Americans

Tim Wise
One of the Country's Leading Anti-Racist Writers and Activists
• Author of Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity and Between Barack and a Hard Place: Challenging Racism, Privilege and Denial in the Age of Obama, among other titles
• Available for lectures, workshops and trainings

Helen Zia
Award-Winning Journalist and Scholar
• Author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People and co-author of My Country Versus Me
• One of the "most influential Asian Americans of the decade," her speech topics include "From Minority to Majority, Invisible to Envisioning"