Wooster celebrated the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as part of its Jan. 18, 2021 MLK Commemoration program, exploring “The Fierce Urgency of Now: Education as Transformation.”
Mamoudou N’Diaye ’14
Mamoudou N’Diaye ’14 is a Mauritanian-American comedian, tv/film writer, filmmaker, activist/creative consultant for issues of racial justice, climate justice, and mental health, DJ, and a former 7th grade teacher.
N’Diaye has been a correspondent for digital media companies Mic and Seeker, a creative comedy consultant for social justice nonprofits Color of Change, Hip Hop Caucus, The Center for Cultural Power, and The Center for Media and Social Impact, and a winner of 2019’s Yes And Laughter Lab for his pilot, Franklin, about the black kid from the Peanuts comic strip. He has written and appeared in the Comedy Central Original They Follow, written for Refinery29’s After After Party, and currently works as a writer on Amazon’s upcoming Exploding Kittens and the second season of Netflix’s Space Force.
N’Diaye is currently developing By Us, For Us (aka BUFU), a late-night sketch/talk show centering Black voices, for Color for Change, Flyovers, a half-hour dramedy about being Black and African in the rural Midwest, And DC’s Number Two Detective Agency, an animated half-hour comedy set in the DC Universe.
N’Diaye holds a degree in cognitive behavioral neuroscience from the College of Wooster and is a 2020 Sundance Fellow for his pilot Griot, an animated anthology centering stories in the African diaspora.
Justice Dialogues Schedule
| Time Slot | Dialogue Title | Description | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00pm to 1:15pm | Seeing is Believing: The Power of Representation in Higher Education | There is a great deal of growing evidence that proper representation of minoritized individuals can be very influential to students’ sense of belonging and feelings of competence in higher education. Minorities may include those of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Through testimonials, research, and discussion we will demonstrate why representation is so powerful, and argue for a change in policy and procedure in order to increase diversity and representation among administration and faculty of higher education. | MiSTEM Executive Board |
| The R Word: Changing the Nomenclature around Disabilities | While understanding of Developmental, Mental, and Social Disabilities has broadened over the last half-century, slurs and derisory names for these individuals still exist. Through education and empathy, social change can help to remove these terms from use. Respecting proper terminology for these disabilities helps to not only support those who struggle with them, but also normalize their place as part of our community. | Broede Armstrong | |
| Bringing It Home: Wage Justice in Wayne County | The Living Wage Campaign at the College focuses on advocating for the establishment of a living wage for hourly staff members on campus and creating a culture of staff and student respect. Our justice dialogue will give attendees a comprehensive understanding of the history of our organization, how students can get involved in our important social justice mission, and the role wage issues play in our own lives, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Claire Wineman ’21, Gabe Melmed ’21, Keira Wright ’21 | |
| 1:30pm to 2:45pm | The African Booty Scratcher: How You Got Your Black Card Revoked | What does it mean to be Black when race may not be a concept in your home? Who defines the culture associated with being Black in the USA? We will look into the intersectionality of being an African immigrant child or child of African immigrants growing up in the U.S. Discussions will take place on the challenges that bicultural and multicultural African children face growing up in the U.S. and their experiences within the home and outside of the home. | Maresa Tate ’21, Angela Danso-Gayne ’21 |
| Wave of Change: Representation on Campus | We’re going to establish a dialogue about representation within the faculty and staff at Wooster. By opening up about the group’s experience with representation on campus, asking audience goers to share their experiences, and showing a brief presentation on what the college is doing/what students can do for more representational opportunities, we hope to raise awareness about the importance of representation in higher learning. | Oscar Carmona ’21, Gerald Dryden ’21, Jackson Beckerley ’21, Joseph Nasser ’21, Israel Flores Perez ’22, Jackeb-Eligah Milan ’22, Victor Villanueva ’21 | |
| The Struggle is Local: Anti-racist Policy Issues and Efforts in the Wooster Community | Anti-racist efforts to change policies from police actions to city budgets have picked up steam in the last several months – including here in the Wooster community. This session will give an overview of some of the local policy issues and on-going efforts, as well as provide concrete steps that participants can take to help effect change. Policy issues will likely include: banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants, use of force data transparency, school resource officers and others. | Dr. Désirée Weber, Dr. Laura Burch | |
| 3:00pm to 4:15pm | Scientific Racism: A Conversation with Champions for Change. | The STEM Success Initiative has invited speakers Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, a soil biogeochemist and political ecologist, and Dr. Oliver Rollins, an assistant professor in sociology whose work investigates the impacts of race through the production and use of biomedical research, to discuss their work and how it pertains to the issue of scientific racism and the effect it has on marginalized people today. | Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Dr. Oliver E. Rollins, Dr. Meagen Pollock, Maresa Tate ’21 |
| Hidden Stories: Addressing FGLI Students’ Inequality in Higher Education | This dialogue centers a conversation about first generation, limited income students (FGLI). We will provide context to issues FGLI students face in higher education and draw attention to policies at Wooster that prohibit FGLI students from obtaining equitable college experiences. Participants will hear personal testimonies from FGLI students on campus, engage in an activity and create a list of actions to hold the College of Wooster accountable to creating an equitable environment for their FGLI students. | Camryn Bragg ’21, Annelisea Brand ’21, Angela Danso-Gyane ’21, Catera Clark ’21, Zoie Bills ’21, Savannah Sima ’23 | |
| Do Respectability Politics Work? | In this session participants will take part in a Civil Dialogue® to explore the pros, cons, and material implications of respectability politics in 2020-2021. Civil Dialogue is one particular format of dialogue that uses a provocative statement (e.g., respectability politics create change) to get people to agree, disagree, or be neutral/undecided. Through provocation, participants can begin to explore assumptions underlying one’s stance toward respectability politics. | Dr. Rob Razzante, Elizabeth Testamark ’22 | |
| 4:30pm to 5:45pm | Social Justice in Judaism | This Justice Dialogue will introduce students to the Jewish tenets of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) and Tzedakah (justice). It will explore the intersectionality of Judaism and social justice through social movements and individuals who embody these values. Jewish students will talk about how they uphold Tikkun Olam and Tzedakah in their lives as they pursue social justice. A final discussion will address how these values allow students to become better allies to marginalized groups. | Ellie Shafron ’22, Sabina Skolnick ’21, Louis Schwartz ’21, Lilah Weiss ’23, Saralee Renick ’22, Abby Kushner Benson ’23 |
| Why Talk About Able-Bodied Privilege: Mental Health and Disability in 2020-2021. | What is ableism? Why should I care about it with so much else going on? What is the social-model of disability? What does this have to do with mental health? Join Mind Matters for a conversation on able-bodied privilege in which we will talk about ableism, how to combat it, and hear from people who have faced disability discrimination about their own experiences. | Stephanie Pokras ’21, Alethea Deyhle ’21, Allison Ringold ’23 | |
| Black and Brown Women: Forgotten and Disrespected No More | In 1962 Malcolm X decried that “the most disrespected person in America is the Black woman.” That striking comment rang true in the Civil Rights Movement, today in the Black Lives Matter movement, and across South Asia in protest movements as numerous as we have in the United States. As women are protesting the anti-Muslim CAA in India, they are prominent in leading this civil protest but are consistently written out. This presentation will show people that no time can be wasted in recognizing women’s contributions to protest movements across the world. | Shankar Bhat ’22, Sobika Thapa ’23 |
Wooster City Schools Student Art Exhibit
Every year, students from Wooster City Schools showcase original artwork highlighting the theme. Below are submissions for 2021.
Olivia Athens (Grade 10, Wooster High School) 
Ella Smuck (Grade 11, Wooster High School) 
Jakai Engman (Grade 4, Cornerstone) 
Reed Grimshaw (Grade 4, Cornerstone) 
Graham Johnson (Grade 4, Cornerstone) 
Matthew Evans (Grade 2, Cornerstone) 
Aiden Weaver, Noah Bundy, Jaiden Lovell (Grade 4, Cornerstone)