On the evening of Feb. 20, hundreds of LMU students filled Burns Back Court for “An Evening with Jessie Williams,” the main event in this year’s campus-wide First Amendment Week. Sponsored by both ASLMU and The Los Angeles Loyolan, the American actor and activist spoke about inequality, dialogue and the power of protest in America today. The memorable night was an important part of LMU’s 17th annual First Amendment Week, which aims to raise awareness and appreciation for the freedoms provided to students by the First Amendment.
“It was inspiring to see how Williams uses his platform to bring awareness to issues surrounding the black community and underrepresented groups,” said Brenda Quintanilla, ASLMU vice president, who interviewed Williams during the event. “We all talk about having freedom of speech, but we rarely talk about freedoms like assembly and protest, so it was really powerful to listen to him speak how important these can be if we want to do our part.”
Other events during the week included a premier of ROAR Studio’s documentary “Generations of Activism,” and a conversation with the author of LMU’s Common Book, Eboo Patel on his book “Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America.” Jacob Cornblatt, current editor-in-chief of The Loyolan, noted that the student organizations designed the events this year to allow students to engage more fully with dialogue and debate. “It’s really easy to say we understand the First Amendment, but it’s a different thing to implement that.”
Cornblatt and his team hope that their efforts to promote an understanding of campus culture can be the first step towards a more understanding world. “We cannot live in a highly polarized society forever,” said Cornblatt, “but if we don’t make an effort to reach out and understand people we don’t agree with, we’re not going to get very far.”
First Amendment Week speakers in years past include ESPN’S Jemele Hill and University of Southern California professor Diane Winston. For years, ASLMU and the Loyolan have worked together to make the week an important part of the LMU experience. The Los Angeles Loyolan is LMU’s student-run newspaper, located on the second floor of the Del Rey Theatre. ASLMU’s office can be found on the first floor of the Malone suite on campus.