Global activists emphasize historic human rights movements

Chapman’s Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Peace Studies presented a virtual seminar titled, “Working for Racial Justice and Human Rights.” Left to right: Ahmed Younis, Claudia Fuentes-Julio, Rozell “Prexy” Nesbitt.

Kaitlyn Pasillas spent her entire life growing up in a white household despite being biracial. But now Pasillas, a Chapman freshman history major, has decided it’s time to become more in touch with her Hispanic side.

“It's become more apparent that it’s a part of who I am,” Pasillas told The Panther. “Part of that is learning that a lot of that heritage has been pain and suffering, so it's become something I've needed to care more about because it has occurred in my own family, whether I knew them or not.”

Pasillas was one of about 50 in attendance for a Nov. 2 virtual event titled, “Working for Racial Justice and Human Rights,” hosted by the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in conjunction with the Department of Peace Studies. Rozell “Prexy” Nesbitt, Claudia Fuentes-Julio and Ahmed Younis were hosted as guest speakers who each offered their insight into racial issues and international politics.

“In a time that seems so out of control, it’s nice to have a discussion about these things,” said Will Kramer, a senior creative writing major. “As a white person, also as a white male, I have a lot of privilege and it's important to be aware of that privilege and learn what the proper way to be an ally is in these situations.”

Nesbitt has fought for racial justice across the world, from working to end colonialism in Mozambique and Zimbabwe to supporting the civil rights movement in the United States. He told the audience Nov. 2 that he began his journey as an activist on the West Side of Chicago at a YMCA program, where he worked with young men from gangs.

“It exposed me to a lifestyle that I feel is far too common in cities across the world, where people who have nothing have to scrape by to make a living,” Nesbitt said. “I found that was a great eye-opener for me to put to work my principles and values that my family had given me, with a group of people who only knew violence as a way to express themselves.” 

Fuentes-Julio, a human rights expert, added to the conversation by speaking about surging rates of poverty, violence and political repression toward Afro-descendants in Latin America. She recalled the assassination of Afro-Brazillian human rights activist and politician Marielle Franco, who overcame a marginalized background to become one of the few Afro-descendants to hold a political position in Latin America.

“(It was) one of the saddest days during my time in Brazil,” Fuentes-Julio said of Franco’s death. “Marielle represented everything that for me is important when it comes to the struggle for human rights.”

Younis, a speaker and author on Muslim Americans and Islamic law, continued the discussion’s theme of violence in the context of racial justice and then shifted the conversation toward religion and Muslim genocide in communist China. 

“There are up to 300 concentration camps where the government takes young men and boys to ‘reeducate’ them,” Younis said. “Muslim majority societies receive silence from the United States. Why? Because of the economic interest, but it is a genocide that exists today.”

By presenting an academic discussion about serious examples of human rights violations, the seminar encouraged Chapman students to become involved, educated and responsible global citizens. 

“Especially now that I’m a new voter, I’ve started paying more attention, asking questions and having difficult conversations with family and friends,” Pasillas told The Panther. “I've been trying to figure out ways that I can personally do something about it as an 18-year-old student, where I don’t have as much leeway and reach as politicians do.”

Kramer serves as Chapman’s Peace Studies Union student organization secretary, working on outreach and coordinating events with other clubs. Their goal is to provide a more global context in news articles pertaining to the U.S.

“We need to work on unifying the world and the way to do that is to openly address (its) issues,” Kramer said. “There’s a lot of things in our racial history that I don’t think we’ve done a good job of talking about.”

Nesbitt advised the future generation of leaders to look at those who have the least and make them the reference point when engaging in racial justice and human rights activism. 

“Learn this country from the bottom up,” Nesbitt said. “Whatever emerges from this period is going to require us knowing it with a depth and a sensitivity that historically, we don’t have.” 

All three speakers agreed the responsibility is in the hands of the current generation of students to fight for the change they want to see – not only nationally, but globally. 

“The generation that has come forward now, is a generation that will not retreat,” Nesbitt said. “The young people today give me tremendous hope and encouragement that they’re in it for the long haul.”