Lamont Yeakey Candidate Statement

I teach a variety of courses including ethnicity and immigration in American history, the civil rights movement, and specialized classes in intellectual history, US foreign relations, and twentieth-century political, social, and economic topics.

I have been a contributor to the “Not In Our Name” campaign among academics here and across the nation. I have chaired the Pan African Studies Department and was made and “Honorary Chicano” at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Chicano(a) Studies Department at CSULA. I also served as the “Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez Visiting Professor” at Wayne State University, Michigan. I have been an advisor for various student organizations: African, Asian, Caribbean, and Latino(a). I have written and lectured on W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and the civil rights movement.

I organized the first and largest multicultural art exhibit ever held at CSULA, which brought together and mobilized African, Asian, European, Latino(a) and Native American artists to end apartheid in South Africa and promote civil and human rights in the US. Moreover, I am a member of CFA union and have been an active in labor and trade union activities here and across the nation. I have supported and/or participated in local activities sponsored by the Paul Robeson Center of greater Los Angeles, the California AfroLamont American Museum, the Southern California Library for Social Research, the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, and the Watts Labor Center among others and have spoken to several youth and senior citizen groups. Periodically, I have provided information to various media outlets, such as the Daily News, the LA Times, USA Today, the Jim Lehrer News Hour and the BBC. I have contributed to the production of several documentaries, among them, “Eyes on the Prize.” I was a member of the NAACP, NUL, CORE, supported SNCC and worked with the Black Economic Research Center, and the National Conference of Black Lawyers.

KPFK is special and unique in providing an essential and critical component to democratic practice in this society. I seek to be of service and directly contribute to this station’s valiant, life-sustaining project to secure justice and improve the quality of life for everyone.