Student-led 1FEST promotes civil rights

A civil rights festival designed to allow students from across the state to express their opinions and support for marriage equality and other civil rights will be held on Sunday.

The festival, called 1FEST, was organized by David Valk, a fourth-year political science and sociology student, who said he thought something was wrong while attending a Proposition 8 protest earlier this year.

“I was upset that the young people were neglected from the campaign,” Valk said. “I thought we needed an opportunity for young people to speak on their own terms.”

Called “The Day We Came Together” by organizers, 1FEST will be held in Wilson Plaza from 1″“6 p.m.

“We’re trying to bring students together,” said Brian Rocha, a third-year economics student and organizer of 1FEST. “We want to get everyone together, take action and get momentum going.”

In addition to speeches from human rights activist Cleve Jones and Dolores Huerta, cofounder of the United Farm Workers Union, the festival will also feature student speakers from across the country.

These speakers include James Neiley, a 17-year-old student from Vermont who spoke to the Vermont Senate in favor of the same-sex marriage bill and LaGloria Wheatfall, a student civil rights journalist from Clark Atlanta University.

Another highly advertised aspect of the event is the all-day music performances from bands such as Blackcowboy, the Elevaters and Electric Valentine.

Stage manager Robyn Ong, a first-year business economics student, said that many of the bands needed little persuasion.

“The bands were really willing and would play for free because they support the cause,” Ong said.

The festival will also include Action Booths, where students can voice their concerns about various civil rights issues, as well as HIV testing at the AIDS Healthcare Mobile Testing Unit.

“Not enough people are getting tested, and it’s prevalent for this movement,” Valk said. “We need to stand up for issues we truly care about.”

As the executive director for 1FEST, Valk and his team have been preparing for this event every day for the past three months.

To gauge interest in the festival, they spoke at the recent on-campus screenings of the film “Milk.”

“We got lots of support,” Valk said. “We have a lot of organizers who are so persistent.”

This persistence goes beyond flyering on Bruin Walk or even reaching out to the greater L.A. community.

In addition to advertising on social networking sites such as Twitter, 1FEST organizers have reached out to other universities for support, including UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside and UC Davis, as well as private universities and high schools. A group of 1FEST organizers also traveled to San Francisco to spread the word about the rally.

“We’ve gotten lots of support from organizations outside of UCLA who want to repeal Prop. 8,” Valk said.

Valk added that he was recently contacted by people from British Columbia who had read about 1FEST online and were planning to carpool to UCLA to participate.

Funding for this event has come from the Undergraduate Students Association Council, as well as outside organizations like the Center for American Progress.

With the assistance of the Center, which seeks to improve the lives of Americans through ideas and action, the student speakers will be able to fly to Los Angeles and stay in hotel rooms free of charge, Valk said.

Several student groups have also been involved with the planning and sponsorship of the festival, such as Bruin Democrats, Students for Justice in Palestine, Students for Israel and Queer Alliance.

Despite the differences among these groups, Valk said the fact that they are coming together for 1FEST is remarkable.

“They’re working together at 1FEST because they believe in equality,” he said. “They want direct actions.”

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