Maya Wiley Sheds Light on How Community College Students Can Become Advocates

NOVA welcomed Maya Wiley as speaker for this year’s “Joseph Windham Series on Race Relations.” The event shed light on race relations in the context of great demographic diversity in America. Wiley stressed that community college students can become advocates, working on issues important to them.

Dr. Jimmie McClellan, dear friend of the late Joe Windham and dean of languages, arts and social sciences at the Alexandria Campus offered introductory remarks. “We honor Joe each year by awarding a scholarship in his name,” said McClellan. “The scholarship is $3,000 to a student who is interested in making the world a better place. In spring, we host the ‘Student Voices Conference’ in Joe’s honor and each fall, we recognize Joe through the “Joseph Windham Series on Race Relations.”

Wiley noted that she and her brother both attended NOVA, and returning to speak was a homecoming for her. “I got my start right here,” said Wiley who went on to discuss the history of racism, activism and pluralism.

“Here is what we have; each other. We have power as we are the majority of the country. By ’we,’ I mean the people in this room, both figuratively and literally, who hold the principles that American civilization should work toward.

It is we who have the power. The reason the powerful few are trying to lie and take it away is because we have the power. If we didn’t have it, they would not block us from the ballot, and if we didn’t have it, they wouldn’t take away the right to choose. By “them” I mean, everyone who spouts hate and lies. I am not talking about party, because I have seen Republicans standing up.

You have power because you represent a large part of what this country is and what we can do, not someone telling us race relations is at the end of the road, rather it is a measure to see how far we’ve come to transformation.

Community colleges are so critical to giving people a real leg-up. All these things are things that everybody can speak to, so whatever it is for you that is a passion point of yours, it matters; it really does.”

To view the recorded video, please click the play button below to view on Panopto.

Wiley is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund. As a nationally respected civil rights attorney, Wiley has been a litigator at the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

She is also a senior vice president for social justice at the New School University, where she also founded the Digital Equity Laboratory. While there, she chaired the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). Wiley has always been a champion for the public voice for rights, justice and democracy, through written opinion editorials and as a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

The Joseph Windham Series on Race Relations honors the late professor of history at Northern Virginia Community College, who passed away in 2014 after a battle with cancer. A native of New York, Windham earned a master’s degree in history from Ohio State University and a doctorate in history from Howard University. He taught at NOVA for  22 years and was an assistant dean of liberal arts. He is dearly remembered.

NOVA’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is committed to advancing inclusive excellence for improving the well-being and success of all NOVA students, faculty, staff and community members. The office works to raise awareness of divergent ideas, values, beliefs, abilities and perspectives while also advancing equity within the College’s Mission and Strategic Plan to help create and sustain a more inclusive and accepting college community.

Submitted by:
Hoang Nguyen, Assoc. Director of External Comms., HDNguyen@nvcc.edu