LT BIPOC Alumni & Community Discussion: African American Reparations & Cross-Racial Solidarity
Please join us for a discussion regarding African American reparations and cross-racial solidarity. We will have a panel of speakers from various allyships (Larry Gossett, Estela Ortega, Dr. Kyle Kinoshita, and Kim-Khánh Văn), followed by small group discussions. You will gain an understanding of why reparations are important, how we can collectively move reparations forward, how to build solidarity to meet each other’s needs, and have a larger impact to benefit all communities. We are more powerful together!
This event is organized by the LT BIPOC Alumni Group: Rodney Proctor, LT’88, Selina Chow, LT’89, Ida Hawkins, LT’96, Waithera Mbure, LT’96, Lolo Arévalo, LT’98, Myranda Miller, LT’12, Maria McDaniel, LT’14, Jennifer Greenlee, LT’14, Michael Martin, LT’17, and Rebeca Rivera, LT Staff
Panel moderator: Felicia Ishino, LT’21, Executive Director, Sankofa Impact and Vice-Chair of LT’s Curriculum Committee.
Event Details:
When: May 17th from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Where: 1301 5th Ave, Suite 1500, Seattle, WA 98101
Who: This event is for BIPOC alumni, class members, and community members.
Getting There: We are one block from the University Street Light Rail Station, and there is parking available in our building for $10 starting at 5:00 p.m.
Food: We will have light food and drinks.
Cost: Free (opportunity to donate to support LT alumni programming)
Speaker Bios:
Larry Gossett is the Convener of the Seattle African American Reparations Committee, which initiated Seattle’s reparations proposal. He is a 1971 graduate of the University of Washington, and founder of its Black Students Union. He served as executive director of CAMP, the Central Area Motivation Program for 15 years. He then represented District 2 on the King County Council for 25 years until his retirement in 2019.
Estela Ortega is the executive director of El Centro de la Raza (The Center for People of All Races), a community gathering place in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood that provides education, housing, job support, and social services for Latinos and other people of color. Born in Harris, Texas, on July 23, 1950, Ortega worked in the cotton fields as a child, an experience that honed her passion for social justice and human rights. In 1972, she moved to Seattle and participated in the peaceful occupation of the shuttered Beacon Hill Elementary School. After negotiations with city and school district officials, the protestors leased the building for $1 a year and El Centro de la Raza was created. Ortega’s husband Roberto Maestas was El Centro’s first executive director, a post he left in June 2009 due to health issues; Ortega succeeds him as executive director. During her tenure, she has directed the creation of additional services and outreach programs at El Centro, including a 112-unit affordable housing community.
Dr. Kyle Kinoshita is the current co-president of the Seattle Chapter Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). He is a career educator and affiliate faculty member in the University of Washington Leadership for Learning doctoral program. In 2019, he retired from Seattle Public Schools, where he was Chief of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of Teaching and Learning in the Marysville School District and principal in the Edmonds and Highline School Districts. Dr. Kinoshita earned a B.A.Ed. in Ethnic Studies from Western Washington University, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in Educational Leadership from the University of Washington, focusing on equity in schools. In 1993, he received the Christa McAuliffe-Excellence in Education Award from the state of Washington; in 2000, the Snohomish Region Distinguished Principal Award from the Association of Washington State Principals; in 2004 the Excellence in Educational Leadership Award from the University Council for Educational Administration; and in 2018, the Leadership in Science Education Award from the Institute for Systems Biology. Dr. Kinoshita grew up on south Beacon Hill in Seattle, in a family whose previous generations were unjustly incarcerated because of their ethnicity during World War II.
Kim-Khánh Văn, Renton City Council, is a lifelong optimist and believer in people. She learned at an early age that by working hard, being humble and thrifty, and trying to make a difference, you can affect someone else’s life. She is willing to dig in and be a part of the solution.
Kim-Khánh was born in Vietnam, raised by a mother who took her four children and left a dangerous country when Kim-Khánh was six years old and fled to a refugee camp in the Philippines. Eventually her family received sponsorship from a wonderful church, and civic and charitable organizations in the Seattle area. When she was able, she took advantage of leadership and tutoring programs made possible by non-profit organizations and worked throughout high school and college.
As the primary translator for her family, Councilmember Văn learned how the human services system was designed to help families and this led to her interest in law. After attending the University of Washington, she became the first in her family to graduate from a four-year-university. She then attended and graduated from the University of Dayton, School of Law. Her upbringing, combined with the kindness and generosity of charitable organizations has developed in her a passion for justice and “paying-it-forward”.
Since moving to Renton with her husband and their two children, Kim-Khánh has been an active member of the Mayor’s Inclusion Task Force, Renton Rotary, Northwest Immigrant’s Rights Project, Seattle Stand Down veteran’s group, Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Empowerment, Washington State Association for Justice and the American Immigration Lawyers Association among others.
Councilmember Văn’s priorities include working hard to keep Renton’s neighborhoods safe for all, efforts to lessen the burden for small businesses, as she sees them as the driving force of our local economy, and she would like to ensure that city policies and ordinances reflect Renton’s diverse population.
She states, “We are ‘Becoming Renton’ but we are not done. Even though you may see prosperity around you, all of us have a civic duty to bring out the best in our neighbors to continue to make Renton a great place to live, work, play and learn.”