Fall 2021 Teach-In: October 28 and 29
Keynote Speaker
Tak Toyoshima is the artist/creator of the comic strip Secret Asian Man. Starting as a two-page monthly in a Boston-based arts magazine, Secret Asian Man became a weekly comic strip for the next six years. In the fall of 2006, Secret Asian Man was scouted by United Features Syndicate (Peanuts, Dilbert, and Boondocks) and developed to launch in July of 2007 as the first Asian American comic strip since the days of Bruce Lee and Charlie Chan. Toyoshima has worked on many comic art related projects and publications in support of marginalized communities, including: Secret Identities: An Asian American Superhero Anthology; New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei; APB: Artists Against Police Brutality; and, most recently, Kwok, a self-published short story fundraiser to assist Asian seniors in the wake of the surge of anti-Asian violence. He also teaches a weekly comics and sequential arts class to middle school aged kids in Massachusetts' south shore area. Toyoshima was born and raised in New York City's Tribeca on the borders of SoHo, Chinatown, and Little Italy. This breeding ground for creativity and multi-cultural experiences provided a solid foundation for him to become the confused artist he is today.
Watch the Panels
If you missed the Fall 2021 Teach-In, do not worry—a few panels are available to watch on YouTube.
Thursday, October 28
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST | Panel 1: Stop The Violence: Combating Anti-Asian Hate
It’s wrong and it’s racist. Why is that so hard to understand?
Panelists:
Isabel Moon, Asian Students in Alliance (A.S.I.A.)
Vincent Kunawicz, Asian Students in Alliance (A.S.I.A.)
Angie Liou, exec. director, Asian Community Development Corp.
Jo Malicdem, Asian Students in Alliance (A.S.I.A.)
Moderator:
Katherine Yeh ‘21, Emerson staff
5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST | Panel 2: Critical Race Theory: Tell Us More
What exactly is Critical Race Theory? Why is it controversial? Is it really taught in schools?
Panelists:
Frank Rudy Cooper UNLV Law School
Jade Brown, BU Law School
Kimberly A. Truong, PhD, MGH Institute of Health Professions
Moderator:
Brian Gilmore, University of Maryland Law and Society Program
7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST | Panel 3: Race on Stage and Screen
How do theater and film artists address race in their work? What are the advantages and/or disadvantages? What audiences do they hope to reach?
Panelists:
Ougie Pak, filmmaker, Assistant Professor, Emerson College
Keith Mascoll, Boston-based actor and producer
Rae Shaw, filmmaker, Assistant Professor, Emerson College
Moderator:
Jessica Chance ‘00, actor, Emerson staff
Friday, October 29
9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. EST | Acknowledgments & Keynote Address: Drawing Social Justice
Acknowledgments:
SkinTones
Bill Gilligan, Interim President of Emerson College
Introducer:
Tak Toyoshima
Keynote:
How Your Art Can Help Change the World by Tak Toyoshima, creator and illustrator of the Secret Asian Man comic strip.
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST | The POWER You Hold
A student-led panel discussing different methods of collective organizing and accountability, followed by an open audience forum detailing what people want to see from us and the school.
Organized by Student Advocacy Group POWER.
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST | Panel 4: Social Justice, Archives, and Elders with the Elma Lewis Center
Radical Archiving As Black Feminist Time Travel | Conversations with veteran Black community organizers, mutual aid workers, social justice and civil rights activists. What has changed? What work still needs to be done?
Panelists:
Coco Rosenberg, Social Justice Archive Network
Priscilla Andrade, MFA ‘14, Social Justice Archive Network
Helen Dreher Credle, Elma Lewis Living Stories Archive
Moderator:
Tam Marko, Director, Elma Lewis Center
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST | Panel 5: Race in Storytelling and Art
How do authors and visual artists address race in their work? What are the advantages and/or disadvantages? What audiences do they hope to reach?
Panelists:
Jenn De Leon, Boston-based author, editor, professor
Susan Muaddi Darraj, author of Farah Rocks series and other books
Erin Genia, Boston Artist-in-Residence, prof of ceramics at Tufts
Moderator:
Zoe Tokushige, MFA '16, author
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST | Panel 6: Teaching and Learning as a Human Right: College in Prison in Massachusetts
Does everyone deserve access to education? Why? Why not? What is prison for? How might we reimagine justice?
Alumni Panelists:
Mneesha Gellman, EPI Director & Associate Professor, Emerson College
Stephen Shane, Program Coordinator & Senior Lecturer, Emerson College
Moderator:
Kimberly McLarin, Professor, Emerson College