Third World Liberation Front + Black Student Union Movement Panel

Event Description

On June 16, 2026, UC Berkeley partners hosted their fourth annual High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI) Summer Institute. Gathered within the Native Community Center, the Institute kicked off with this panel and breakout group activity, specifically examining the visions and interwoven threads between the UC Berkeley Third World Liberation Fronts (TWLF/twLF) and the SF State Black Student Union Movement. The panel brought together organizers, strategists, and creatives, all with ties to these historical periods. After a rich panel conversation, the session transitioned to an interactive breakout group activity, where educators were grouped together to brainstorm with one of the esteemed panelists. Focusing on a core tenant of Ethnic Studies, they were asked,

How can these concepts actually show up in your classrooms, and beyond in the work that you want to do, towards realizing this vision of the future we can create together?

Only the panel conversation portion was recorded, however, takeaways/summaries from the breakout group activity can be found below.

Panel Questions

What was the larger vision/dreamscape when you were struggling for liberatory education here in the Bay Area?
Speaking to the educators here, how do you think the project of Ethnic Studies can be held accountable to large core concepts like solidarity, struggle, community, and liberation, both in the classroom and beyond?

Ethnic Studies, there's nothing sacrosanct about that. There's no critical arena that it should not broach.

Dr. James Garrett [00:46:18]

Panelist Bios

Dr. James Garrett

Dr. James 'Jimmy' Garrett has been involved in struggles for the human rights and self-determination of African peoples and all humanity for more than 50 years. As a member of both SNCC and CORE, he was an early activist in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. He is regarded as a co-founder of the modern Black Student Union Movement, Black/Ethnic Studies Programs, and the Modern Black Arts Movement. Dr. Garrett has published numerous essays, speeches and interviews and has presented more than 100 scholarly presentations at conferences and commissions. He is also a co-founder and President of Global Community Advancement Centers (GCAC), a non-profit/NGO, with projects in the US, Southeast Asia, and Namibia. Established in 2008, GCAC focuses on the use of sustainable technologies (Solar, Wind, WAVE, Biodiversity) and mass community education/training to support major development and humanitarian projects. Dr. Garrett continues his involvement as an organizer, strategist, and legal consultant for social, education and political projects in stakeholder communities in the US, Africa, Caribbean nations and Asia.

Learn more about some of Dr. Garrett's movement work here.

Clementina Duron

Born and raised in Salinas, California, Clementina Durón transferred from Hartnell Community College to U.C. Berkeley in the fall of 1968. It was with her participation in the TWLF student strike in January 1969 that Clementina found her voice and passion. She became a public school teacher and principal for 30 years in the Bay Area public schools. In retirement, she served as a school board member in Albany Unified and continues to jam California legislators on their whitewashing of the high school Ethnic Studies requirement.

Hear from Duron and other women organizers of the TWLF here.

Jesus Barraza

Jesus Barraza, is a socially engaged artist, print maker, community leader, and Ethnic Studies lecturer. As a co-founder of Dignidad Rebelde, Barraza is best known for his prints & posters and has worked closely with numerous community organizations to create prints that visualize struggles for immigration rights, housing, education, and international solidarity. Printmaking allows Barraza to produce relevant images that can be put back into the hands of his community and spread throughout the world. He received his BA in Raza Studies from San Francisco State University, and participated in the 1999 UC Berkeley twLF strike.

Learn more about Barraza and Dignidad Rebelde here.

Vicci Wong

Victoria ‘Vicci’ Wong is a 1969 TWLF UC Berkeley Student Striker, UC Berkeley alum, and co-founder of the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) that originated the term and concept of Asian American. She is the co-founder of the first Salinas chapter of the United Farmworkers Union. While a community and labor organizer, she was elected Manager of the Chinatown Co-op, the first workers-owned garment factory in the world, in the International Hotel. She is also the co-founder of the May 4th Singers, the first Asian American anti-imperialist cultural group, and was the lead singer of several revolutionary rock bands like Repeat Offenders, and toured with Rock Against Racism USA. Besides being a reporter and editor for several movement publications, her books include Chinese Working People: A Pictorial History of Chinese Working People in America; Stand Up: An Archive Collection of the Bay Area Asian American Movement 1968-1974; What Have Women Done?; and Pacific Basin Reports: The Global Struggle for Oil.

Hear from Wong and other women organizers of the TWLF here.

Zora Uyeda-Hale

Zora Uyeda-Hale is a recent 2026 UC Berkeley graduate with a dual degree in Society & Environment and Ethnic Studies, with a minor in Human Rights. She was born and raised in the East Bay, where she developed a passion for anti-racist education, organizing for curriculum reform and diverse storytelling in Albany Unified School District. At Berkeley, she merged this experience with environmental justice work, deeply informed by Dr. Eve Tuck’s conceptualization of desire-centered research. As an alum, Zora will be continuing her work as a Programs Coordinator at the American Cultures Center, as well as developing a Black x Nikkei Entangled Histories Walking Tour in SF Japantown as an awardee of the 2026 Stronach Baccalaureate Prize.

When thinking about movement vision, multi-generational longevity and preparation are essential

[00:09:09] “Vision was to capture a beachhead on on a predominantly white college campus, seize that space, and then recruit people from young, young people from the community, bring them on to that space, and then use that space as a base for the training and consciousness development to prepare a serious intergenerational communities of young people who would then go back into the community with skills, capacities, and a lifelong commitment to spend their lives in service to those communities.” - James

[00:14:38] “But the strike at San Francisco State was not about creating an atmosphere to build for Black Studies. It was to protect and sustain a program that had already been in existence formally in the university for a couple of years.” - James

[00:20:07] “...My vision or my feeling is that the empire, the the beast that we're in, is going to come down, but it's going to take a long time… You're the vanguard of the movement today, and and your students will then be the next generation.” - Clementina

[00:21:26] “So I think what I started to understand that there was a struggle that I was a part of, and it was a long struggle. So I think for me, the way I think about it is that we continue that tradition of struggle and taking space.” - Jesus

[1:03:06] “How did you prevent people from selling out? Right. And we had a structure where it was equal students, community and staff. They are the ones who determine what's happening in each Department of Ethnic Studies.” - Vicci

Struggles never consist of a single event; rather, a cultivated trajectory that contends with power

[00:24:29] “It wasn't just about like, let's go do this, you know, let's get some students and do a hunger strike. No, it was like a coordinated effort that lasted years to get to that point.” - Jesus

[00:32:39] “The Third World Strike was not an isolated incident. And it’s no accident that it happened here and not in New York or LA…The world central, epicenter of student protest and the youth movement had shifted to Berkeley, California.” - Vicci

[00:45:30] “…we're taught that things were an event like a strike, which might be a major event, but something had to get to the point where that took place.” - James

[00:54:04] “As a Ethnic Studies scholar, you know, for me, the way I'm thinking about my art is how does it promote not just like my people's culture and heritage, right? But how does it challenge ideas of power and hierarchy?” - Jesus

[1:07:11] “We did feel a special obligation to not to succumb to the siren song of education being our way out of poverty for ourselves, but as a way into solving the disparity, the obscene disparity of wealth and the social injustice in our communities and in the world” - Vicci

History shows us that our present day is a moment that demands resistance

[00:48:37] “This time is the time because it might be the last time. It may be the best time, but it may be the last time.” - James

[00:51:06] “It's really incumbent on you to get that fire in your students. And so, yeah, I think we hold ourselves accountable each and every one of us and, and be critical of ourselves.” - Clementina

[00:57:41] “We're in the realm of education right here. But no matter what realm you're in, you have to always start from the truth, whether you agree with it or not.” - Vicci

[1:01:00] “But there are times that people are talking about here when you do have to stand up for that, even if you are the only person.” - Vicci

[1:04:36] “Self-Determination. But it's not a selfish thing. It's actually the most selfless act to practice self-determination because you're entrusting the masses.” - Vicci

Liberation could look like...

Asking how can I take care of my students? And how can students take care of eachother?
Literacy for a tangible purpose
Using freedom schools as models
Encouraging strategic student risk-taking
Creating an atmosphere of possibility
Identifying concrete liberatory actions and make it possible to learn through these processes
Not being driven by fear

Solidarity could look like...

Critical education where students can form their own opinions
Narrative agency --> where everyone's story can be told and uplifted
Centering the Third World Liberation Front as an example of unity in struggle
What can teachers do to build solidarity with their students?
Rejecting an alignment to whiteness and white supremacy culture
Connecting to labor/worker solidarity
Moving past individualism
Remembering that no struggle is ever forged in isolation

Struggle could look like...

How do you teach resistance/struggle in a class while actively resisting the class being shut down or cancelled?
Showing instances of students exercising power and agency through film, art, and history
Empowering students to create their own demands for change based on their specific school sites and/or communities
Building solidarity
Navigating the existing academic standards, which can dilute the true power of Ethnic Studies but is necessary to its institutionalization
Refusing to let Ethnic Studies be interrupted by administration
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
Mapping power using analytical frameworks

Community could look like....

A verb, something actively chosen, instead of a noun or thing
Community circles to encourage students to know eachother on deeper levels
Community norms/guidelines to create a sense of belonging
Identifying when logics of othering are present and naming who has historically been excluded/alienated
Learning about localized, community-based history
Accountability, especially when harm has occured
Aiming for continuity (across academic years, classrooms, curricula, etc.)

Revising the facts to fit the lies never leads to freedom

Vicci Wong [00:59:15]

Third World Liberation Front Portal

The Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) Portal honors the history of the TWLF student strikes and provides a range of teaching resources, including historical videos, photographs, oral histories, and an interactive timeline of TWLF movements.

HSESI Resource Hub

The UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Educator Resource Hub is a curated collection of materials designed to support students and instructors. Our hub aims to foster a deep understanding of oppression, liberation, and the intricate tapestry of social movements that shape society. Whether you’re seeking to enrich your teaching practices, expand your knowledge base, or engage in community-driven initiatives, this resource hub can provide entry points to teaching and engaging with Ethnic Studies.

Black Student Union Movement

The history of the SF State Black Student Union (BSU) Movement, and its origins in Civil Rights/Black Power organizing, has been documented on several platforms. This is a retelling from Dr. James Garrett as a part of the SNCC Legacy Project.

Past HSESI Third World Liberation Front Panels

Check out these past panels with 1969 TWLF strikers that took place at previous institutes.

June 12, 2023: 1969 Third World Liberation Front Strike Panel

June 10, 2024: Third World Liberation Front Panel 2.0

Juen 24, 2025: Third World Liberation Front Intergenerational Panel

Third World Liberation Front + Black Student Union Movement Panel

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