Explore the Past Schedule and Featured Speaker Below!

The 21st annual conference was Saturday, March 2nd, 2024 from 10am-5pm at the College Nine and John R. Lewis College Multipurpose Room. Thank you to the African American Resource & Cultural Center and the Lionel Cantú Queer Resource Center for co-sponsoring the 2024 conference!

Scenes from PAC 2024

Featured Speaker

PAC '24 Keynote & Closing Speaker: MARIAH PARKER

Mariah Parker, PhD, is a linguistics scholar, a former Georgia County Commissioner, a rapper (under the stage name Linqua Franqa), and organizer with Raise Up the South, the Southern arm of the Fight for $15 and a Union workers movement.

Mariah first made headlines after being sworn in as an Athens-Clarke County Commissioner, at age 26, with their hand on a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X held by their mother. Photos of Mariah taking the oath went viral, highlighting the growing numbers of millennial Black people making their voices heard in local politics nationwide. As County Commissioner, Mariah focused on creating economic stability and racial justice as well as criminal justice reform and raising the minimum wage.

They recently resigned from that position to work as a labor organizer with Raise Up the South, a pivot that gives Mariah the opportunity to fight for social justice outside the constraints of political office. The move also coincided with the release of the music video for their single, “Wurk,” a powerful pro-worker, pro-union piece that once again thrust Mariah into the headlines when the song went viral.

They have performed the hit at union conventions and rallies as well as New York’s Lincoln Center, a performance RollingStone magazine called "explosive" and pointed to how the "queer, Black, nonbinary Southerner...dominated the stage, all sinewy limbs and kinetic energy and rapid-fire couplets. Those same tongue-twisting revolutionary rhymes and hyperliterate lyricism shine on their new album, "Bellringer," with lyrics on capitalism, police brutality, mental health, emotional turmoil, and workers’ rights smoothly cutting through the alternating slices of Southern hip-hop, neo-soul, indie-pop, and avant-garde electronic vibes that populate Parker’s extended musical universe."

Mariah's outspoken commitment to racial and economic justice has garnered the attention of other media as well including CNN, The New York Times, Teen Vogue, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, The Nation, Afropunk, The Root, and The Bitter Southerner, among others.

They are a popular speaker on campuses nationwide. Audiences describe Mariah as "charismatic,” “engaging,” “authentic,” and “inspiring.” Their electrifying live and virtual presentations call audiences to self-reflection and action in their lives and in their communities.

Digging Into The Radical Toots Theme

For our 21st conference, lead planners Ella Chapman and Shay Biggins-Capule wanted to set a theme — Radical Roots! Taking inspiration from Angela Davis, our planners hoped to inspire participants to get to know the root of the social justice issues we face and radically participate in practical activism, both at our conference and beyond. It’s a call to return to our roots, get grounded, and understand that these issues are complex, intricate, and all connected!

A special thank you to PAC Planner Glomarie Ramos for creating the wonderful tree graphics featured above and throughout the 2024 conference.

Workshop Schedule

Block 1 Workshops (12:00pm - 1:20pm)

• The Workers United! - Join us for a panel with student and community organizers discussing the skills to identify labor exploitation, find resources to join a union, and understand your rights.
• Deconstructing the War on Drugs - In a discussion with Professor Carlos Martinez, Professor Kent Eaton, and Denise Elerick from Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County, learn about how America’s longest war continues to devastate communities and what we can do to stop it.
• Foster-Care: Educating on Life After Care - Join us in a discussion about the barriers current and former foster youth face when accessing their post-secondary education, and learn ways that you can help! Hear from a UC Santa Cruz Renaissance Scholars panel and their first-hand experiences and triumphs.
  
• U.S. Imperialism - Check out this panel featuring UCSC student and faculty activists as we learn more about the historical context of U.S. Imperialism and current examples in the U.S. and globally.

Block 2 Workshops (1:35pm - 2:55pm)

• Generational Trauma: Empowering the First-Gen Experience - Be empowered by a panel of first-generation individuals, a presentation about caring for your mental health in university and combatting generational trauma, and a segment dedicated to connecting with your identity and culture!
• Share Your Dreams: Exploring the Immigrant and Undocumented Experience through Art - Gain perspective on the immigrant and undocumented experience as we learn about creative modes of expression, before creating a collective artistic project!
• Racism in Health, Disability, and Size - Join our speakers as they share personal experiences with racism in health, disability, and size before breaking out into groups to practice a thought exercise on how we have seen these forms of discrimination play out in our own lives or the lives of those around us.

Activist Activities

• Demolition of Fast Fashion - Join the movement towards sustainable fashion at UCSC by learning all about the environmental and social impact of fast fashion, before checking out clothes available from C9/JRLC’s own Thrift Annex!
• How to Protest - Want to protest for a cause you care about but don’t know how? We'll go over the steps on how to organize with and without a permit, First Amendment rights, upcoming protests and student organization groups to get involved with.
• Intro to the Left - UCSC is renowned for having an incredible array of activist organizations. Come learn more about these orgs and how you can get involved in making positive differences here on campus!
• Letters to Reps - Come write letters to local Santa Cruz representatives and Chancellor Larive as you learn about the importance of contacting your representatives on pressing issues! 
• Social Media Unveiled: Tackling Misinformation - Learn about the harms of misinformation and how it spreads on social media then learn some useful fact-checking tips and test your ability to spot misinformation with a fun game to earn some prizes!

Introduction Of Our New Conference Schedule!

This year, we introduced our redesigned conference schedule to allow for longer workshops and the ability to immediately dig deeper into conference topics after our workshops to explore tabling orgs and participate in activist activities!