The Green Partys 2008 vice-presidential nominee Rosa Clemente talks about social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement in this article by Brynn Grimley on theolympian. Longtime activist and community speaker Rosa Clemente knows what it’s like to have a gun pointed at her by police officers. While peacefully participating in a community march this summer in Ferguson, Missouri, Clemente found herself face down on the pavement with guns pointed at her back. Reflecting on the incident in her writings, Clemente described it as “the most terrifying moment in my life” and her 20-year career of community activism. The self-styled “Bronx-born, black Puerto Rican woman” will speak in Tacoma Tuesday. Her local talk comes five months after she was in Ferguson in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown. Clemente went to the epicenter of nightly clashes between police and the community to connect with youth and report on what she saw. She has been involved in social justice activism since the 1990s, advocating on issues such as increasing voter engagement among youth of color, promoting immigrant rights and standing up to police brutality. She was the 2008 Green Party vice-presidential nominee and currently teaches at California State University, Los Angeles. Clemente will be the keynote speaker at the University of Puget Sound’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. She spoke with The News Tribune about how King’s message translates to social and racial issues today. Read more: theolympian/2015/01/18/3532068/qa-black-puerto-rican-activist.html?sp=%2F99%2F101%2F112%2F
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:16:13 +0000
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