On Monday Feb. 12, Dr. Lisa Brock will give the speech “Black in Two Americas,” at noon in the Redwood Room of the University Union.

Brock will speak on the issue of African-American and Cuban ties and the Hands Off Assata Campaign.

The speech, presented by Sacramento State’s Multi-Cultural Center, in honor of “The Year of Unity” and Black History Month, will compare and contrast the African-American experience both here and in Cuba.

“She will come and share the similarities and differences, based on social issues, the locality of both locations as another dimension, as well as the government systems, and the history of the two places,” said Leonard Valdez, director of the Multi-Cultural Center.

“She has spent some time in Cuba so she is pre-knowledgeable not only historically, but in a recurring sense,” Valdez said.

Brock is an activist and an associate professor of African history and Diaspora studies at the School of Art Institute of Chicago.

Since the early 1990’s, Brock has been researching and writing primarily on African-American and Cuban relations.

“Given that this is the Year of Unity and we are looking at issues not only in terms of bringing people together but understanding differences as part of it are the topic areas,” Valdez said. “Dialog is one way of starting off the process of getting people to feel comfortable with issues.”