The Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice at Hofstra University

On April 25, 2022, I had the honor to be invited by the Department of the Romance Languages and Literatures, the African Studies Program, and the European Studies Program to deliver a session at Hofstra University on my proposal to grant Spanish nationality to former colonial subjects in Africa . It was a real pleasure to share and discuss it with the students of the course on “Borders, human mobility, and migratory experiences across the Spanish-speaking world”, offered by Professor Benita Sampedro, and to be joined by other students and faculty on campus and via Zoom. The idea that was the focus of this presentation was first advanced in 2014, when the Spanish government was preparing a law that offered Spanish nationality to Sephardic Jews who were living in different parts of the world. The reason for this was to give some kind of reparation to the descendants of those people who—having refused to convert from Judaism to Christianity—were expelled from the old kingdoms of Castill...

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 and is the nation's oldest civil rights organization. W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells formed the organization with efforts to advance justice for African Americans. The association fought injustices such as denial of voting rights, racial violence, discrimination in employment and segregated public facilities. The NAACP Chapter at Hofstra University is dedicated to educating, uplifting, and improving the community. The Chapter is a multicultural organization at Hofstra University alongside other organizations that are deemed a safe space for students of color such as the Black Student Union, Hofstra's Organization of Latin Americans and African Students Association. The Chapter has done a great job in making students feel included. One example of this is when the Chapter hosted a cook-out in the beginning of the year in efforts to welcome students to ...

As the pandemic hit full swing, we saw the intense separation between political parties, the “pro/anti-vaxxers,” the “pro/anti-maskers,” and those who were finding ways to disagree with anything they could think of. Along with that, racial and social tensions grew especially with the topic of wearing a mask. The lack of knowledge on the efficacy of masks led to some wearing them incessantly and others being adamant about not wearing them. In the midst of the arguing, I thought to myself how this could potentially be affecting different people of color. A plethora of studies has since been conducted from different types of fields with regard to the pandemic and how it has changed people’s lives and perspectives. Two studies that stood out to me, in particular, were a couple that sought to find out whether or not people of color were experiencing more bias because of their need to wear masks. These studies went past whether or not people of color made others seem uncomfortable, and loo...