The Oregon Students of Color Coalition attracted nationally known speakers and activists who talked about the continuing struggle against racial profiling during its fifth annual conference at the University last weekend.
The three-day conference, which hosted more than 200 students from various Oregon universities, began Friday and featured speeches from former Oregon State Representative Jo Ann Bowman and activist Ras Baraka. Lawyer and author Opio Sokoni also premiered his documentary “Meth Around,” which addresses what could be the next major drug crisis in the United States.
OSCC founded the conference in 2002 as a way to strengthen connections between students of color across the state and raise awareness on issues affecting communities of color.
During last weekend’s conference, students worked with regional organizers, community members and professors in workshops addressing minority issues. Speakers focused on racial profiling, the theme of this year’s conference.
“People think racial profiling is just the police attacking you, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Baraka, who is an accomplished poet and is now a vice principal at a public school in Newark, N.J.
“Racial profiling is an attack on democracy,” he said.
Baraka said profiling affects school and job placement and becomes institutionalized through books, laws and the media. There are more black men in jail than in college, Baraka said.
“It’s easier for some of us to go to jail than it is to go to college,” he said.
Another issue discussed at the conference was the recruitment and retention of students of color to college campuses, said Irene Schwoeffermann, who is the diversity project director for the United States Student Association in Washington, D.C.
“Racism is still alive,” she said, adding that issues of race and race relations can make it more difficult for students of color to stay in college.
They have two sets of issues to deal with, Schwoeffermann said. They are not only people of color, but they are also students.
“When a student goes to college and they don’t see faces like theirs, they are likely to leave. There are likely to transfer, and we want them to stay,” said Stephanie Patricio, state OSCC co-chairwoman.
Speakers at the conference urged students of all backgrounds and races to come together and fight issues of racism.
“The only thing that has ever brought significant change to this county has been when black people, brown people, yellow people and white people organized together and said, ‘This is not acceptable, we want change and we want change now,’” said Bowman, who is currently the associate director of Oregon Action, an organization fighting for social and economic justice.
In his speech, Baraka also encouraged students to become active.
“The problem with the left is that we talk to each other a lot,” he said. “We forget that there is an enemy that we need to dismantle.”
“It’s important to put all of these issues together,” Baraka said.
“We need it more now than we ever did before.”
University sophomore and co-director of the University’s OSCC Mai Vang said there are not enough support groups on campus for students of color.
Vang said her involvement at the University’s OSCC kept her in college because she was able to connect with other students of color.