Race and Identity in the Democratic Party
Thursday
September 27, 2007
7 PM
GSU Conference Auditorium
The Boston University College Democrats Host a Panel on RACE AND IDENTITY IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Four guest speakers will discuss the topic of Race and Identity in the Democratic Party in a special panel being held in the GSU Conference Auditorium. The speakers are Kevin Peterson, Setti Warren, Jeremy Liu and Dr. Ravi Sakhuja.
KEVIN C. PETERSON is founder of the New Democracy Coalition which is in residence at Boston University. Peterson is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He previously served as a researcher at the William Monroe Trotter Institute in Boston and was a Senior Director for Community Investments at the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. Mr. Peterson has held a fellowship at M.I.T. in the Urban Studies Department. He has published journal articles, book reviews and opinion editorials on the subject of civic engagement. He has appeared on national programs such as Nightline, National Public Radio and in the New York Times, The Boston Globe and Time Magazine in articles related to politics. He serves on the Board of Directors of MathPower and the Roxbury YMCA in Boston and the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Alabama.
SETTI WARREN is Senator John Kerry's deputy state director and is considering running for Mayor in Newton, MA. Although he has never run for public office, Warren has made politics his profession. The Newtonville resident served in the Clinton White House, and was appointed in 2002 the regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for New England. Warren joined Kerry's crew in 2003, serving as the senator's trip director and press secretary before becoming his deputy state director in late 2005. In his current position, Warren works with municipalities on economic development and constituent issues across the state.
JEREMY LIU is the Executive Director of the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC). He has managed a wide range of initiatives including community organizing, neighborhood planning, over $120 MM of housing and commercial real estate development, technology development projects, youth and leadership development, and cultural heritage preservation. Over the past 13 years he has worked for and with communities of color, seniors, and youth, to creatively confront issues of social and environmental equity, affordable housing, and community empowerment. From 2004 to 2005, he chaired the groundbreaking and successful campaign of Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon who was the first person of Asian descent to ever run for and also to ever win elected office in Boston. He continues as the Chairperson of the Committee to Elect Sam Yoon, and is an advisor to the Councilor.
DR. RAVI SAKHUJA is the first Indian American in the history of Massachusetts to win a seat and serve on a school committee. On 6 March 2006, in a very tight race, Mr. Sakhuja unseated an incumbent to win one of the two open seats on the Lexington Town School Committee. 39% of the town's registered voters cast ballots in this election, which was higher than usual. It was only recently that an Indian American had been elected to the Lexington Town Meeting, a 200 person legislative body that administers the town. Mr. Sakhuja is also president of the Indian American Forum for Political Education, a Town Meeting member, and has served on various committees in Lexington. He earned a Ph. D in Energy Conservation from MIT, and was the Founder and CEO of Tecogen and Utilitynets.
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Michael O’Leary
Communications Director
Boston University College Democrats
mkoleary@bu.edu
