Social Justice

Award-winning screenwriter, playwright and novelist La'Chris Jordan, (BA, Communications, 2001), tells a timely and personal story in her debut short film.

“Something I hear all the time is that those who are closest to the pain and to the solution are furthest from the power to make the change,” says De’Sean Quinn, a Tukwila City Councilmember.

“It’s important to take stock of what we’ve accomplished so we can remember that our collective activism, past and present, isn’t in vain,” says LaShawnda Pittman, an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies.

“Institutions move slowly,” writes sociology professor Alexes Harris, guest editor of Viewpoint Magazine. “But we are at a moment for change and we need to apply and support constant pressure and expect certain outcomes.”

During the pandemic, many people have leaned into art and hobbies to ease the stress of everyday life. For Chanhee Choi, a multidisciplinary interactive artist and Ph.D. candidate in the University of Washington Digital Arts and Experimental Media department, art became a way to reflect on her experience with discrimination and racism as a Korean in America during the pandemic.

When people ask Lin Hongxuan why he studies the history of a community he’s not part of, his answer can be very simple: the history hasn’t been told. But there’s a more complicated answer, too. It’s dangerous for people within this particular community to tell their history.

Everyone seems divided on issues like race, identity, economics, law and order, and public health, and it feels like we’re fractured beyond repair. But take heed, worried nation, we’ve been here before. Sort of. Margaret O’Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

“2020: The Course” gives students an opportunity to hear from UW professors and special guests who will discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, race in the United States, the state of the environment, the economic recession, civic participation, citizenship and this election season and outcomes.

The University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights plans to file public records requests with local governments and law enforcement agencies to monitor immigration enforcement and activity in the state.

How the country has arrived at its current circumstances and what can be done to move forward as a nation were the main themes of an Oct 21 lecture Francis gave called “Protests for the Soul of a Nation.”

The 2020 election is fast approaching, and with the protests against police brutality still continuing throughout the country, race is one of the hot issues for voters. It’s been talked about in all of the presidential and vice presidential debates; there have been Tweets and speeches made about the division of race and the current need for unity. In response to the importance of the issue of race, the history department organized a webinar with UW professors to discuss it.

Named one of Puget Sound Business Journal's "40 under 40," as the chief strategy officer and chief of staff for Seattle Foundation, Michele Frix (BA, International Studies, 2007) lead the Seattle Foundations efforts after Covid-19 made its way to the region.

Named one of Puget Sound Business Journal's "40 under 40," as the chief strategy officer and chief of staff for Seattle Foundation, Michele Frix (BA, International Studies, 2007) lead the Seattle Foundations efforts after Covid-19 made its way to the region.

Louie Tan Vital (MPA, 2019 | BA, Political Science and Comparative History of Ideas, 2016) discusses her own experience with generational differences in Asian American voting trends. 

After Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016, people in liberal areas were in shock — and wondering what a Trump presidency would mean for the country. A week after the election, we asked academics to write their thoughts. With hindsight being 2020, KUOW revisits the most prescient of those pieces, including those by 10 UW faculty members.