Junior Robel Tedros used his time during distance learning to spend quality time with family and focus on physical and mental health. “What inspires me to keep moving forward is finding ways in which I can activate my own personal happiness.”

Professor Yuichiro Onishi of the Departments of African American & African Studies and Asian American Studies writes about the history and current relationships between Black people and Asian Americans and how relationships must be reworked to come together in Afro-Asian solidarity.

Elliott Powell, a professor in the American studies department, researches the historical intersection of sexuality, gender, and race in popular music. He looks at the role of sexuality in collaborations between South Asian and Black popular music from 1960 to the present.

Ray Barney is a senior at the University of Minnesota double-majoring in gender, women & sexuality studies (GWSS) and Asian languages and literatures (ALL) with a minor in art. They are already doing work informed by feminist, Black, trans, and queer praxis. With the tools and opportunities they’ve gained during their time at the University of Minnesota, Barney hopes to be a part of the shared fight for shared liberation.