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Each month, we spotlight faculty, staff, students, and alumni whose work, research, and advocacy are shaping public conversations and appearing in the media. From interviews and op-eds to feature stories, this series highlights the impact of our community in local, national, and international outlets.
This edition features highlights from February, including recent media appearances, published pieces, and more. Look out for a new roundup at the end of each month!
Tip: Click on the photo or title to read the full media mention.
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Unhappy with Democrats' performance, a wave of union members is running for office in Texas
“Trump has opened a door at least discursively around a kind of right-wing, working-class nationalism that speaks to segments of the labor movement, particularly in the building trades,” said Kristoffer Smemo, a historian of labor and politics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Houston Chronicle
Benjamin Wermund
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Amid immigration raids, a coalition of U.S. leaders gather in L.A. to share resistance strategies
Saba Waheed, director of the center, said the institution produces “know your rights” materials and other resources for local groups assisting immigrants. “The mission of the center has always been to provide research by and for the community,” she said.
Los Angeles Times
Ruben Vives
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LA wants to fence MacArthur Park. Locals aren’t sure it will fix anything.
Victor Narro, project director at the UCLA Labor Center, whose office sits across the street from the park, has spent more than three decades working in the surrounding community. To Victor Narro, most of the conversations around the unhoused and people experiencing mental health issues overlook the immigrant communities who live in the neighborhood. “It’s also been used as a political pawn. It’s used by the right wing to highlight what’s wrong with LA, it’s used by people like myself, to show the vibrancy, the diversity, and really the humanity of the city,” he said.
The LA Local
Hanna Kang and Marina Peña
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Young Workers March on Washington
“Young workers are fed up with being told to work harder, and harder, and harder, meanwhile, we take home less and less and less,” Kendrick Roberson said. “We will not quietly accept a destiny as a livestock workforce, such that this country can give us the minimum to survive, while milking us for our astonishingly high value.”
AFGE
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The Third Reconstruction: Looking Beyond the Emergencies of Today to the Beloved Community
The work of Robin D.G. Kelly, Ruha Benjamin, and others has helped disrupt these norms, challenge notions of acceptability, and open the door to creativity, imagination, artistic expression, and futurism. These critical approaches owe their origins to the Civil Rights Movement, while evolving and opening up opportunities for the kind of seismic changes worthy of a Third Reconstruction.
NPQ
Aron Goldman
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UCLA Historian, Altadena Fire Survivor to Discuss Eaton Fire’s Impact on Black Community
Robin D.G. Kelley, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, has written extensively on Black radical movements and community resilience. His books include “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination” and the award-winning biography “Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original.”
Pasadena Now
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Mamdani’s success lays groundwork for LA political growth, participation
Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, director of the UCLA Center for Mexican Studies, said there are two economic centers in the U.S. – Wall Street and Silicon Valley. “New York is the financial center of the United States,” Rivera-Salgado said. “It’s not any city. I mean, you think about banks. You think about Wall Street. Ask anyone in the world to name a city in the United States – the chances are that they name New York.”
Daily Bruin
Dylan Choppin
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UAW just scored a big Southern win. Alabama auto workers could be next
"Based on statements I've seen, I think the union sees this as a win that can be parlayed into what UAW could mean for other plants," said Kristoffer Smemo, a lecturer in labor studies at UCLA. "I would assume that this would look like the beginning of an effort to kick start another round of organizing."
AL.com
William Thornton
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Have a media mention to share? Send it to Marcos Ruiz-Rojas at marcosruiz1999@ucla.edu.
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