Black Lives Matter co-founder will speak on campus Tuesday

Alicia Garza addresses social injustice and change in “Black Lives Matter: From the Local Streets to a National Dialogue”

Courtney Fong

Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, will kick off the Green and Gold Speaker Series Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the University Union Ballroom.

Garza’s talk, “Black Lives Matter: From the Local Streets to a National Dialogue,” will focus on societal change, social injustice, police misconduct and systemic racism in America, according to a Sacramento State press release. The presentation is free, but Eventbrite tickets are required.

“I am very pleased to welcome Alicia Garza to Sacramento State,” Sac State President Robert Nelsen said in a news release. “We are honored that she has agreed to come to our campus to continue the critical and difficult discussions that are necessary to move us forward as a community and to create understanding.”

The Centers for Diversity and Inclusion is presenting the speaker series with campus sponsors — including the Division of Criminal Justice, which university officials said was a strategic move in order to “encourage better communication and understanding.”

Garza confirmed that she would be in attendance with a tweet.

Garza is also scheduled to speak at Black Lives Matter Sacramento’s event Cop Expo Shut Down Tuesday, which the organization described as an event that will “be disrupting the norm of a policing culture which lacks accountability and transparency.”