Morris Sarafian has taken several tours of campus, but before Wednesday he never stopped to look at the 1965 plaque honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at the bottom of Janss steps.
The second-year political science student was surprised to learn that the plaque commemorates a speech Martin Luther King Jr. made in 1965 supporting the Summer Community Organization and Political Educational Project.
Uncovering the histories of people of color on campus is one of the goals of the UCLA People of Color Tour, which is taking place Thursday of this week.
Students from several cultural student groups and the Undergraduate Students Association Council General Representative 3 office are working together to add the People of Color Tour to UCLA’s regular campus tours, said Lizzy Naameh, USAC general representative.
The first People of Color Tour started in 1985 when Asian American studies professor Glenn Omatsu instructed his students to create a “political tour”
of their communities to learn about the history of activism in the UCLA community. Since then, the tours have been led informally by several cultural student groups.
During the tour, students stop at several locations on campus to talk about the sites’ historical significance to people of color and reflect on how past events have shaped UCLA today.
“The People of Color Tour shows the rich history of the campus and what we can obtain through organizing as students,” Naameh said. “It’s the history of students of color, activism, resistance and struggle.”
One of the tour’s stops is the location of a 14-day hunger strike by students and faculty members that took place outside Murphy Hall in June 1993. The strike helped persuade UCLA leaders to establish the César E. Chávez Chicana/o Studies Department.
Students also visit Campbell Hall where, in 2010, a memorial was held for Bunchy 5 Carter and John Huggins, two members of the Black Panther Party who were shot and killed in 1969, said Janay Williams, a third-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and Afro-American studies student.
Williams has given the People of Color Tour several times as a part of Admit Weekend and other events.
“I think that (the tours) give a different perspective and allow students to learn about the power we have to enact change in the larger UCLA community and their own communities as well,” Williams said. “We want students to understand their own power.”
If the People of Color Tour became more accessible to all students, Naameh said she thinks the narratives of students of color would be better recognized and celebrated.
Clinton O’Grady, a second-year sociology and disability studies student and a People of Color Tour guide, said it is important to educate students about the histories revealed in the tour.
“Students came (to UCLA) for education, but are not educated about the bricks they walk on,” he said. “We don’t acknowledge how much privilege we have.”
Naameh said that her office is currently in talks with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Janina Montero and with members of UCLA Admissions to integrate the People of Color Tour into the tours UCLA offers.
“It’s just getting started,” Naameh said. “But there is a lot of student support.”
She said she hopes to collect student input and form a group of student representatives from different cultural groups that would advise in the process of integrating the tour.
Members of cultural organizations such as Samahang Pilipino, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan at UCLA and the Afrikan Student Union are also involved in the process.
Since the People of Color Tour is still growing, organizers are still looking for student input and ideas to better shape and customize it.
Williams said she thinks the tour is relevant to every student, not just students from minority backgrounds.
“It allows us to see different times when UCLA really came together,” she said.
“Its just getting started,” Naameh said. “But there is a lot of student support.”
Good thing! Wasn’t this one of her MAIN platforms? It’s almost May – really happy to see that this is just getting started.
Hopefully SOMETHING can be accomplished by GR3 before the term is over (in what – three weeks?), but let’s not get too optimistic.
I feel that different cultural orgs have been pushing for this for a while now, perhaps she’s just getting started. But i am glad that this making progress, since i know that many different cultural orgs not just ASU, MEChA, and Samahang Pilipino have been working behind this.
It kind of seems like Let’s Act is just handing over work that’s already being done here at UCLA. People of Color tours have been a part of this campus for years and, even if the vice chancellor does not institutionalize the already institutionalized tour, they will continue to educate the youth and incoming Bruins for many more years to come. Selling out?
Jumping on things that have already been going on long before you came along. Yea someone is just trying to make themselves look good. Too bad its not fooling anyone.