Cultural Strategies for Environmental Justice
Visiting Hip-Hop Artist Will See
January 21-25, 2019
Will See is a hip-hop artist, poet-MC, environmental justice (EJ) activist, and cultural worker from Detroit. He brings attention to issues of environment, race and class through his art and activism. He worked as Co-Director of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council and served as a local coordinator for the 2010 US Social Forum among other activist projects in Detroit and across the region. He presently collaborates with the national Climate Justice Alliance. Will recently finished touring with the Earthwork Music Collective and co-convening the national Black 2 Just Transition Assembly and Training. His solo hip-hop CD The Basics includes EJ anthems such as “Water Power” and “Take tha House Back.” His second project is a spiritual mixtape called SOL SWGGR. In his third project, #Detroitdiplomat, he “brings Detroit to the world and brings the world to the D.”
From January 21-25, 2019, UCI Community Resilience Projects and co-sponsors welcomed Will See as a visiting artist to share his work and methods with UCI students, faculty, staff, and community collaborators. Will’s visit incorporated environmental justice into our campus’ MLK week activities. On January 23, our campus also hosted Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the Iraqi-American pediatrician whose research uncovered the lead poisoning of Flint, Michigan’s drinking water supply. Will’s visit provided a synergistic community perspective from neighboring Detroit about their fight for community access to clean water and other public goods such as affordable housing, food sovereignty, and community-driven climate resilience. Combined, the two concurrent campus visits from Michigan spoke to issues at the core of several UCI collaborations with surrounding communities working for environmental justice. As African-American Studies Professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard reflects:
Will’s organizing through art and music across the country is keyed into a vision for a healed planet and reflects what Dr. King’s legacy has empowered us to do. Will See’s focus on environmental justice results from Detroit and Flint communities’ desire to deal with and transform a set of conditions that ought not to be the baseline of our vision of the Beloved Community.
Event Description:
Events
Please join us. Events are free, accessible, and open to the public. If you are coming from off campus, please consider public transportation; UCI has pay parking. The schedule is subject to change and will be updated here regularly. Scroll down for additional event descriptions and be sure to RSVP.
Tues., Jan. 22, 8-9:30 pm Performance (Dance Studio 120)
Wed., Jan. 23, 3:45-4:45 pm EJ Discussion with Students (GSRC)
Thurs., Jan. 24, 5-6:30 pm Spoken Word Workshop (HG 1030)
Fri., Jan. 25, 6-9 pm Santa Ana Performative Exchange
Related Videos and Readings
New Video: Water Power by Will See
East Michigan Environmental Action Council on Just Transition
See also: Detroit Interviews: Charity Hicks on environmental racism in Detroit and Will See’s Take Tha House Back music video
Readings:
- William Copeland, From Climate Oppression to 21st-Century Leadership: What Will the New Black Economy Look Like?Huffington Post (Feb. 2, 2015, 10:35 am), https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-copeland/from-climate-oppression-t_b_6594692.html
- William Copeland & Dorthea Thomas, From Promised Land to Sacrifice Zone, Black Activism: Building a National Black Liberation Assembly Blog (Nov. 5, 2017), https://www.blackactivism.org/single-post/2017/11/06/Detroit—From-“Promised-Land”-to-“Sacrifice-Zone”
- East Michigan Environmental Action Council, Black 2 Just Transition: A Recap, Climate Justice Alliance Blog (Nov. 21, 2018), https://climatejusticealliance.org/black-2-just-transition-recap/
Visiting Artist Snapshots
Interview with KUCI’s Black Talk Radio
Resources
Interact with Will See during his campus visit through the following anticipated activities:
- Campus Performance
- Spoken Word Workshop on Cultural Strategies for Environmental Justice
- Environmental Justice Discussion with Students
- Performative Exchange in Santa Ana
The schedule is posted to the left.
UCI host committee (to date): Navjyot Gill, Esmeralda Hic, Alana LeBron, Manny Preciado, Abigail Reyes, Karen Valladares, Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, Salvador Zarate
UCI Co-sponsors (to date): Community Resilience Projects; Africana Institute for Creation, Recognition, and Elevation; Campus Climate Council; Cross-Cultural Center; Department of African American Studies; Department of Chicano/Latino Studies; Department of Criminology, Law, and Society; Department of Dance; DREAM Center; FRESH Hub; Global Sustainability Resource Center; Illuminations; MFA Program in Poetry; Program in Global Cultures; Wellness, Health, and Counseling
Community Co-sponsor (to date): Orange County Environmental Justice