The Seattle Race Conference is being held Saturday, May 12th at Seattle University. The Seattle Race Conference began to create a shared understanding and language about the nature of racism, refine definitions of its modern day forms and identify the tools that can be used to end it. Using this as a foundation, the objective was to cultivate a “movement” for racial justice in Seattle that includes components of sustainable action. This year’s theme is “Building Community to End Environmental Racism: Learn, Connect, Flourish”

There will be workshops, presentations, and resources. This is a chance to connect with the racial justice work in the Seattle and King County communities.The morning keynote speaker is Yalonda Sinde, Former Executive Director of the Community Coalition of Environmental Justice and current Executive Director of the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs. An afternoon playnote will be performed by The New Wilderness Project, an entertaining presentation of the issues and opportunities around stewardship, leadership, the human connection to nature and each other, and embracing diversity in our communities. And the conference Closing and Call-to-Action will be led by Jourdan Keith, Founder and Director of Urban Wilderness Project. She believes that connecting to the natural world is critical to restoring communities, reducing domestic violence, building relationships, and acknowledging and healing historical injustices.

Interactive Workshops Include:

*A Diet for Social Justice: Eating Local & Organic is a Race Issue presented by Consider This

*Bridging Community Needs with Tools and Resources for Action presented by The US EPA

*Building a Culture of Inclusion: Removing Racism from Organizational Culture presented by Nesby + Associates, Inc. and Weyerhaeuser Inc.

*Communicating Environmental Justice presented by The Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition

*White Folks in the Environmental Justice Movement presented by The Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites

**And many more!

Meet and Greet (4:30p-5:00p) entertainment provided by the Franklin High School Jazz Combo

To register go to: www.seattleraceconference.org

Pre-registration until May 1, 2012

Regular – $25; Youth (under 21) – $15 (Lunch is included)

Late and on-site registration – $35 (Does not guarantee lunch)

Additional pre-ordered lunches available for $15

Limited number of partial scholarships available: For an  application and information contact: Eleta Wright at ([email protected])

Seattle University and Mount Zion Baptist Church are partnering to bring awareness to social justice issues, with a major community event. In keeping with SU’s mission of empowering leaders for a just and humane world. David (Sonny) Lacks will join a conversation about his mother, science and other issues addressed in the book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” This conversation will feature a discussion with David (Sonny) Lacks, as he speaks about the book and the impact of the phenomenon surrounding his mother’s cells. The discussion will be moderated by Vivian Phillips, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications for the Seattle Theater Group and Adjunct Professor in Fine Arts. Rachel Katzenellenbogen, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, will give a brief summation on the current state of cervical cancer research.

Soon to be made into an HBO movie by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball, this New York Times bestseller takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers filled with HeLa cells, from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia, to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of. Author Rebecca Skloot

This event is free, open to the public, and appropriate for all ages.

Thursday, April 19, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1634 19^th Ave.

To assist with planning, please make reservations at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/228483

For more information about Seattle University’s Center for the Study of Justice in Society, please visit: http://www.seattleu.edu/csjs or e-mail us at [email protected].