On June 4th, 130 students and adults from Gardena, Crenshaw, Dorsey and King-Drew Medical Magnet High Schools, in addition to Audubon and Horace Mann Middle Schools, participated in a Youth Media Education Symposium sponsored by the Women of Color Media Justice Initiative (WCMJI), with generous support from the California Women’s Foundation, the Gardena High School Healthy Start Collaborative and the Harbor Gateway Neighborhood Council. The event was held at California State Dominguez Hills’ Loker Student Union. Students and youth advocates presented on such issues as media literacy and advocacy which focused on analyzing media representations of young women and men of color, addressing violence against women of color in music and video, developing positive images of masculinity and male responsibility, and dissecting media stereotypes of LGBT communities of color. King-Drew Medical Magnet students opened the sessions with a presentation on academic stereotypes of South L.A. students. Women’s Leadership Project intern Diane Arellano and students Jeimy Noguera, Veronica Serrato, Clay Wesley and Jatoya Jackson from Gardena High School presented a workshop that examined the similarities in the history of media imagery of African American women and Latinas. Shaunelle Curry and Kelley Nicole of Mother’s Day Radio, D'Anthony Allen from Peace Over Violence, and riKu Matsuda from KPFK and the L.A. County Human Relations Commission also gave presentations to an engaged audience of diverse youth. Musician Nailah Porter provided inspirational words and songs on socially responsible music for the closing debrief session. The conference was moderated by WCMJI co-founder Sikivu Hutchinson.
http://womenofcolormediajustice.blogspot.com
