Last week, Sacramento State’s Associated Students Inc. welcomed renowned activist Dolores Huerta and Al Striplen, a Docent of the Indian Museum in Sacramento, to speak on campus.

Both speakers discussed the constitution and how it continues to affect Americans today.

“I hope this helps students to want to read the constitution and get a background of what our country was founded on,” said Mike Sharif, Legislative Affairs Coordinator in the Office of Governmental Affairs.

Constitution Week kicked off on Monday, with the U.S. Constitution and Asian Americans: A History of Exclusion and Incarceration event.

James Sobredo, associate professor of ethnic studies, discussed the history of Asian Americans and how the Constitution affects their culture.

He argued it is a history marked by citizenship, immigration exclusion, and mass incarceration.

Ellen Hartigan O’Connor, associate professor in the department of history at U.C. Davis, spoke about the Constitutional status of American women from a historical perspective, on Tuesday.

Wednesday afternoon gave students a chance to show off their competitive side at the Constitution Quiz Bowl.

Teams of 3 tested their knowledge with trivia questions about the U.S. and California Constitutions.

The winners; Josef Preciado, Kevin Holland and Corey Ordonez were awarded a $50 gift certificate from Round Table Pizza for answering the most questions correctly.

Thursday night, Dolores Huerta, an influential labor activist of the 20th century spoke to an audience of about 800 people in the Ballroom located in the Union.

Huerta captured the audience by speaking out about equal rights for all and how women and historically underrepresented minorities have been affected by voting rights and equal pay for jobs.

“She mentioned that minorities and women not too long ago received the right to vote and that freedom does not exist for many around the world,” Harkeerat Sandhu, 22, international relations major said.

Huerta also discussed the importance of voting and civic engagement.

Huerta told her audience their votes count and someone can not change the system until they learn about the system, meaning, people can make a change if they become proactive voters.

Sandhu said her favorite part of the presentation was when Huerta ended her speech saying, “Who’s got the power?!” and the crowd responded loudly, “We got the power!”

On Sept. 19, Constitution Week wrapped up its events with a panel discussion between professor of ethnic studies, Brian Baker and Striplen.

The presentation focused on Tribal Sovereignty, the right for tribes to govern themselves in the U.S.

“You can’t legislate freedom, we’re not going to find identity in the law,” Striplen said.

Baker also discussed the Constitution and federal laws granting local sovereignty to tribal nations but not all sovereignty is granted to tribal nations as oppose to foreign nations.

“The constitution may grant freedom but not to all Americans,” said Sharif.

“Native Americans aren’t recognized the way that they are supposed to be. They don’t get the respect they deserve,” said Raman Gill, government major student, 24.

Sharif felt it is time for people to become more aware of the Constitution, nothing is perfect but it is up to us to help improve the imperfections.