The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s annual Social Justice Week welcomes a variety of activities, including formal sessions, thematic workshops, panel discussions, art and performing arts, and more–April 11 through 15.
This year’s Social Justice Week keynote speaker is Sybrina Fulton–mother of Trayvon Martin.
Fulton will be speaking from 6 until 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 12 at the Alumni Welcome and Conference Center.
This year’s theme, Working Together for Social Change, is very important, said Sylvia Carey-Butler, assistant vice chancellor for academic support of inclusive excellence at UW Oshkosh.
Fulton“It’s important because true transformation in terms of having an inclusive society is not going to happen unless we do our part in helping to transform our current state of affairs,” she said.
Fulton is “dedicating her life to transforming family tragedy into social change,” as stated in the American Program Bureau. Since her son’s death, she has become a spokesperson for those advocating on social justice topics throughout the country. Martin was 17 years old when he was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in February 2012. Zimmerman was acquitted of the crime in July 2013, which sparked racial turmoil throughout the country.
Carey-Butler said Fulton is perfect speaker for Social Justice Week at UW Oshkosh because she represents the many parents–who don’t necessarily have the opportunity to have the national stage–who have lost a child to a senseless murder.
“Her son was murdered because of someone’s else’s perception of that son,” Carey-Butler said. “She [Fulton] is the right person at the right time to bring forth the message of working together. We have to eradicate perceptions that people have of each other, of races, of gender–whatever that difference is, in order to really move forward, so that we live in a more justice and inclusive society.”
Carey-Butler said Fulton did not want to be a celebrity–she was forced into this because of circumstance.
“She is like any mother or parent who hopes for the best for their child,” Carey-Butler said. “She was forced into this public conversation about what’s happening in our communities because of what happened to her son. I hope people first see her as a mother, and second, understand and are respectful.”
Carey-Butler said she is excited and appreciates having Fulton speak at UW Oshkosh.
“Kudos to Ameerah McBride for getting Trayvon Martin’s mother here because I think she’s going to be a beacon of light and a reminder that all of us could succumb to the very thing that she has, and that if we don’t work together, more of us will,” she said.
Ameerah McBride, campus Title IX coordinator, said she extended the invitation out to Fulton because she wants to bring attention to something that is nationally relevant to the UW Oshkosh community.
“Certainly the Black Lives Matter movement within the past couple of years as it relates to unarmed men of color being killed by police officers is something that is very relevant to our community and relevant to our national discourse,” McBride said. “I wanted to bring someone on campus who could speak personally about their experiences. [Fulton] turned that tragedy into a platform of advocacy and for social justice.”
Fulton’s situation hit close to home for McBride. Her brother was killed in 1993 on a college campus. McBride said her mother took that experience and transformed it into social change by starting nonprofit, grassroots organization called Mothers Against Violence. She became a game-changer by advocating for gun control and regulations in her own community.
“I hope that students understand how close situations as these can hit home,” McBride said. “This can happen to anyone at any given time. I want students to take her experiences and realize that tragedy can be changed into social change–you can use your experiences that have been tragic and establish change on a local or national level. ”
There are a variety of events occurring throughout Social Justice Week at UW Oshkosh, including the Ally March by the LGBTQ Resource Center, speaker Jackie Cruz from Orange is the New Black and many more.