Activist and writer Che Gossett presents “Media Activism: Mobilizing for Racial, Sexual and Gender Justice.” Gossett’s talk revolves around the life of Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and how it sheds new light on LGBT, civil rights, black power, New Left, queer and AIDS activist social movements and history.

Kuromiya’s voice of resistance was part of a collective cry vocalized by radical queer, trans and gender variant people of color who battled imperialism, racism, the criminalization of HIV/AIDS, and the prison industrial complex during the 1960s and into the 2000s.  Kuromiya’s story is a counter to the portrayals of the civil rights and black power movement history which overlook the role that queer and trans people of color played, and it also expands the lens of mainstream LGBT history to show the role of AIDS activists of color and ACT UP Philadelphia as well as local acts of resistance such as the Dewey Café uprising which preceded Stonewall.