The Humanities Institute at UCSC presents the 2025 Deep Read: James by Percival Everett

Online and In-Person • Various Dates: April 22, April 29, May 4  

Winner of the 2024 National Book Award, James is a reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Everett’s novel is a fugitive slave narrative told from the perspective of Twain’s enslaved character as he fights for freedom and dignity in an undignified world. Together, we’ll consider how Everett depicts the possibility of humanity in this novel about the brutality of slavery, the performance of race, and the value of language and literacy.

Salons and Author Event

Craft Salon: On April 22 at 6pm, we will host an online discussion focused on the writing craft of James. It will be led by writers and Professors of Literature, Micah Perks and Karen Tei Yamashita. Register here.

James Faculty Salon: On April 29 at 6pm, we will hold a salon-style event at the Hay Barn on campus where our participating faculty, Professors Susan Gillman, akua naru, and Greg O’Malley, will give brief presentations and discuss James with the Deep Read community. Participants can also attend virtually. Register here for attending in person or online.

Author Event – A Conversation with Percival Everett:  On May 4 at 4pm, we will welcome Percival Everett to campus. He will be in conversation with Professor of Literature and Deep Read Faculty Co-Lead, Vilashini Cooppan, at the Quarry Amphitheater. This is an in-person event and will be free and open to the public. Register here.  

Juristac Event: Amah Mutsun Efforts to Protect Sacred Lands

Saturday • April 19 • 5  – 7:30 PM • FREE 
Luna Gallery • 107 B The Alameda  • San Juan Bautista 

A free informational event about the efforts of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to protect their most sacred mountain, Juristac, from a proposed mining project near the Pajaro River and Highway 129. There will be speakers, a short film, and the photo exhibition “Contemporary Indigenous Voices of California’s South Coastal Range.”

Redistribute Wealth: MILPA

Each month SURJ Santa Cruz County suggests a local organization that is doing excellent work strengthening racial and economic justice in our county. If you’re able, please consider making a donation– healthy for you, healthy for our community. Thank you!

Many thanks to Bernie from MILPA for joining us in conversation at our Community Meeting on March 22!  The Care Not Cages working group– a collaboration between our two organizations– is making real change in the criminal legal system for our county. We look forward to continuing this important work together!

MILPA Collective (MILPA) is, first and foremost, a movement space designed for, and led by, formerly incarcerated and system-impacted individuals. They are committed to supporting next-generation infrastructure and leadership within communities, organizations, and systems. They center cultural healing, racial equity and LOVE in their practices and advocacy.


Donate here

NO on AB68 — Stop the Mandate for SRO’s in Every Schools Please send by April 9

Our kids need a lot more support options in their schools– more counselors, teachers, school nurses, after-school programs, social workers, etc– but they do not need police carrying guns. Studies show that SRO’s (Student Resource Officers) have only had ineffectual, or even harmful, effects on students. 

Check out our No on AB 68 Toolkit for ways to register your NO. The toolkit includes the ask, more background, how to send a letter to the committee, sample letters, how to call a committee member, and talking points.

Currently, there is a bill in the Education Committee of our CA Assembly that would mandate every school to hire armed police officers (School Resource Officers – SROs). Research shows that SROs increase the early involvement of youth from certain marginalized groups including Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other people of color; as well as youth with disabilities and queer and trans youth. There is no clear evidence that SROs decrease violence in schools, and one study even found that the presence of SROs increased violence. If passed, this bill would bolster and deepen the school-to-prison-pipeline that we must dismantle.
 

How Fairy Tales Became White

Tuesday • April 8 • 6:30 – 7:30 PM • FREE • wheelchair accessible
Downtown Library • 224 Church St • Santa Cruz

Please join Professors Micah Perks and Kimberly Lau for a conversation about fairy tales, fantasy, and the ways that historically and culturally specific ideas about race contribute to the making and maintenance of their white worlds. Note: this is an after-hours event at Downtown Library. Refreshments will be served.

More information here.

Dear District Attorney Rosell: Do the Right Thing

Please sign-on to this letter to Santa Cruz County District Attorney Rosell, calling on him to minimize harm from the passage of Prop 36. Local jurisdictions and specifically the DA – an elected official – have power over how to charge and whether to offer alternatives to incarceration. The Santa Cruz County Public Defender’s Office is collecting data on Prop 36 cases in the county, and has noted so far that they’ve been prosecuted aggressively.  

SURJ Santa Cruz County and MILPA, our accountability partner in Care Not Cages, actively opposed Prop 36, understanding that it offered empty promises by providing zero funding for mental health or substance use disorder treatment and by falling back on the failed mass incarceration model. It passed due to fear mongering, false promises and massive corporate funding. Now, it threatens our community with harsher sentencing and more incarceration. 

Our sign-on letter asks the DA to use charging discretion wisely, to address the root causes of homelessness, drug addiction and theft, and to support pro-active alternatives to incarceration. Please sign-on here. 

We’re aiming to gather 200+ signatures by April 10th (new date!)

Sign Here

Reimagining Public Safety: Session 1 -Defining Community

Saturday • March 15 • 12:30 – 3:30 PM • wheelchair accessible
SubRosa Community Space • 703 Pacific Ave • Santa Cruz • FREE

Organized by the Word is Bond Collective.

Join Aliyya Hatcher and Jasmine Schlafke for the Word is Bond Collective’s first session of the year. It will focus on visioning and filling in a community resource survey focused on determining the next phase of community care for the Word is Bond Collective.

Movement Mixer!

Tuesday • March 18 • 5:30-7:30 • wheelchair accessible
Abbott Square • 118 Cooper St • Santa Cruz

Join us and many other local grassroots organizations working on a variety of issues in Santa Cruz and beyond.

This is a mainly social event and we are encouraging attendees to eat and drink together as we get to know each other. We will have time for the groups attending to briefly speak about their group and current efforts.

More details and registration at tiny.url/mvmtmixer

The 24-hour Economic Blackout

Friday • Feb 28 • All day, Everywhere • FREE  

Let’s show corporate oligarchs where their money comes from and that we’re appalled by their capitulation.
 

Organized by The People’s Union

WHAT NOT TO DO:

  • Do not shop online or in-store at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy or other corporate stores
  • Do not spend money on fast food or gas
  • Avoid major retailers
  • Do not use credit or debit cards for non-essential spending

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

  • Support local small businesses
  • Tell friends and family why you are participating in National Blackout Day
  • Share social media posts about National Blackout Day

WHY THIS MATTERS!

  • Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.
  • If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.
  • If they don’t listen (they won’t) we make the next blackout longer.

Watsonville Cannery Strike

Saturday • March 15 • 1:00 – 4:30 • FREE • wheelchair accessible
Watsonville Public Library • 275 Main St, 4F • Watsonville 

In September 1985, in response to their employers drastically slashing salaries and health benefits, almost 2,000 workers at two canneries in Watsonville, the vast majority Mexicanas, went on strike. Over an 18-month period, these rank-and-file workers lost homes, endured hunger, and withstood police violence. They democratized local politics, challenging the racism and sexism of local unions and the power structure of Watsonville.

As we approach the 40th anniversary of the 1985-87 Cannery Strike, please join us for an event featuring former strikers. 

Cosponsored by Friends of the Watsonville Library, Watsonville Film Festival, Pajaro Valley for Ethnic Studies and Justice, UCSC Center for Racial Justice, Resource Center for Nonviolence, UCSC Center for Labor and Community, Cabrillo College, Tobera Project, MILPA, Barrios Unidos, and Santa Cruz Black.
 

Please register HERE.  Onsite registration is possible. Food will be served.