LOS ANGELES—With the March 9th forum’s focus on Land and Liberation, AF3IRM Los Angeles is excited to welcome Yvonne Mahelona, indigenous Hawaiian (Kanaka) and a core organizer with AF3IRM Hawai’i, as the event’s keynote speaker.
Attendees will hear from Yvonne and learn that “she is a young leader with a ferocious dedication to freedom for women, for her people, for Hawai’i,” as shared by former AF3IRM National Chair Jollene Levid. She notes that Yvonne “is a quiet force – intelligent, insightful, with all the attributes of a people’s leader – humble, patient, loving. She has a love for the land and for sovereignty that has her fighting for a pre-colonial reverence for women and also taking buses to fight for Mauna Kea without a second thought.”
Born and raised in Nānākuli Hawaiian Homesteads on the west side of Oʻahu, Yvonne is the descendant of generations of family and community who are all too familiar with struggle and survival, especially after the colonial overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai’i. She has learned to understand and name their lived experiences through theory-building and ideological training. Armed with this knowledge, she is dedicated to healing herself, her family and community through education and always working towards liberation, including alongside her AF3IRM Hawai’i sisters.
In addition to this special keynote, there will be a plenary panel discussion, as well as both ideological and art workshop sessions. During the plenary panel, transnational feminist and indigenous leaders will engage in dialogue, as well as theory-build and knowledge-share from the stage and with the audience. The workshops will reflect and forward our previous theory-building around what liberation looks like and what we can do to organize to achieve it. AF3IRM LA welcomes all girls and women-identified people of color with a love for justice and a thirst for liberation to join us.
The event will take place from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at the United Teachers of Los Angeles, located at 3303 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010. To register, please visit: http://landandliberation.eventbrite.com. Registration costs will go towards lunch, as well as helping to offset the costs of hosting the event. Discounted tickets are available for students, as well as complimentary tickets for youth.
For more information or to volunteer, please contact [email protected]. You can also follow @af3irmla on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date.
