Co-founder of Black Lives Matter: Canada to speak

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Janaya Khan, co-founder of Black Lives Matter: Canada, will speak at Ingle Auditorium Wednesday, Oct. 11.

A leading voice in the international Black Lives Matter movement is coming to speak at Rochester Institute of Technology. Janaya Khan, social activist and co-founder of Black Lives Matter: Canada, will deliver a talk titled “Black Lives Matter: More Than a Hashtag,” at Ingle Auditorium from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11. The event is free and open to the public.

“Janaya Khan will bring a fascinating and thought-provoking discussion to the RIT campus,” said Stephanie Paredes, RIT’s multicultural program manager. “Given what’s happening nationally, it’s important for RIT to continue to engage in conversations that illustrate how individual lives are affected by inequality.”

Khan, who co-founded the Toronto-based chapter of the international organization in 2014, identifies as a “Black, queer, gender-nonconforming activist, staunch Afrofuturist, boxer, and social-justice educator.” As an author, Khan’s writing has been featured in The Feminist Wire, The Root, Huffington Post Black Voices and Al Jazeera. Khan now resides in Los Angeles and serves as the organization director of Gender Justice LA.

The event is cosponsored by RIT’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion, Campus Life, the Q Center, ALANA Collegiate Association, and the Black Awareness Coordinating Committee. For more information about Khan’s talk and other multicultural events at RIT, go to RIT Diversity and Inclusion webpage.

To arrange a media interview with Janaya Khan, contact Ellen Rosen at 585-475-4950 or erruns@rit.edu.