May Day Details – Mesa College

Dear Mesa College Colleagues,

 
Below please find specific details of our planned events for May 1st at Mesa College.  In addition, at the end of this email, are some suggestions for student assignments relating to this historic event.

Here are some general questions to consider as you attend the teach-in:

 

1)    What are the historical origins of May Day or International Workers Day? How does the history of May Day speak to the present?

2)    Who was Lucy Parsons?  How does her speech address issues that we are still dealing with today?

3)    What is the history of the contemporary immigrants’ rights movement?  Why is it important?

4)    How are local communities reacting to the current crack-down on immigrant communities by the Federal Government?

5)    What are some of the challenges community college students face?  What role do students have as workers and activists?

6)    What is our current level of economic inequality?  What effects does it have on our politics and communities?

7)    How does economic inequality intersect with race and gender issues?  How are ordinary people’s lives effected?

8)    What is the role of the prison industrial complex in our communities?

9)    How will current Trump administration policy affect the climate?  Or the environment? What is at stake?

10) How will current Federal education policies affect our schools and colleges?  How will they affect teachers’ and students’ lives?