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#BlackLivesMatter co-founder to speak during MLK Week in Naperville

One of the activists behind the #BlackLivesMatter movement is coming to Naperville to give the keynote address during a week of events honoring Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Patrisse Cullors, who cofounded #BlackLivesMatter in 2013, is scheduled to speak during North Central College's MLK Week at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, in Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave.

College leaders say her speech will explain the reasons behind the protests and social media posts that have catapulted #BlackLivesMatter from the Internet to the evening news.

While protests about police shootings of black people have increased the visibility of #BlackLivesMatter, the movement's leaders say their work "goes beyond extrajudicial killings of black people by police and vigilantes" and includes efforts against a broad definition of "state violence." North Central leaders say they're looking forward to hearing Cullors explain how and why.

Cullors was not available for comment but will speak with the media before her Tuesday appearance.

Cullors will continue a line of speakers who have paid homage to King after he spoke at North Central in 1960. Public tickets to her speech are available at the door or at northcentralcollege.edu/showtix or (630) 637-7469 for $5.

"She's part of a new wave of activists that we hope our students can relate to," Dorothy Pleas, North Central's director of multicultural affairs, said in a news release. "Just as during the civil rights movement 50 years ago, college students are using their voices to advocate for issues they believe in."

Student leaders say they see Cullors as a prominent voice who can explain a set of racially-charged issues that often are misunderstood.

"My hope is that she can educate us all on the many acts of racism that work against African Americans and tell us what #BlackLivesmatter is doing to combat them," Davonte Sanders-Funches, vice president of North Central's Black Student Association, said in a news release.

On her website, Cullors describes herself as an "artist, organizer and freedom fighter" active in social justice groups that aim to end anti-black racism.

Drawing from the experience of her brother being incarcerated, she produced a traveling art piece called "STAINED: An Intimate Portrayal of State Violence" in 2011. She also founded Dignity and Power Now, which fights for rights of incarcerated people and their families, and she is director for truth and reinvestment at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California.

Cullors' speech at North Central is part of a month full of appearances at colleges, including the University of Notre Dame on Jan. 18, Grand Valley State University in Michigan on Jan. 20, University of Pennsylvania on Jan. 21 and Loyola University Chicago on Jan. 27.

After George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, Cullors coined the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and cofounded the movement with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

#BlackLivesMatter gained mainstream recognition with its summer 2014 protests of the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the death of Eric Garner at the hands of police in New York City. Chapters of the movement have spread throughout the country.

Closer to home, #BlackLivesMatter activists have voiced their concerns about the treatment by police and jailers of Naperville resident Sandra Bland, who died in a Texas jail cell in July 2015.

  Student activists at South Elgin High School are among the many who have joined the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which was cofounded by Patrisse Cullors. Cullors will give the keynote address for North Central College's MLK week on Tuesday, Jan. 19, in Naperville. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com December 2014

If You Go

What: MLK Week keynote speech from Patrisse Cullors, #BlackLivesMatter cofounder

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19

Where: Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville

Who: Hosted by North Central College

Cost: $5 or $3 for North Central students, faculty, staff

Info: <a href="http://tickets.noctrl.edu/">northcentralcollege.edu/showtix</a>

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