SOLIDARITY FORUM
United for Our Freedom to Think, Speak, and Act!
July 18, 2025, 6 – 8 pm
Speakers:
• Della Au Belatti
Representative, Hawai‘i State House
• Eduardo Capulong
Professor of Law and Director of Experiential Learning, UH Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law
• Gerald Kato
Professor, UH Mānoa Communication and Journalism (retired), former newspaper and broadcast news reporter
Moderator: Nandita Sharma
(Hawai‘i J20+ member, and UHM Professor of Sociology)
Everyday, Trump, his Cabinet, and his compliant GOP members of Congress are taking away our freedoms. They are actively threatening those who criticize and challenge such actions. They have threatened media companies and individual journalists, the judiciary and individual judges, Congress members who question him, and anyone who writes, speaks, or acts against his policies. Our freedom to think, speak, and act do not belong to Trump and they are not his to withhold as he pleases. Join us to learn with greater clarity what’s happening and how to protect our freedoms.
THIS EVENT WILL NOT BE LIVESTREAMED OR RECORDED
United We Stand Against Exclusion, Expulsion, and Extermination
June 20, 2025, 6 – 8 pm
Speakers:
• Mari Matsuda (Professor Emeritus, William S. Richardson School of Law at UH)
• John Bickel (Instructor of government and European history, ‘Iolani School)
• Nandita Sharma (UHM Professor of Sociology)
Moderator: Alan Suemori (retired history instructor, ‘Iolani School)
The focus of this Solidarity Series public forum is on Trump’s politics of eugenics (exclude, expel, exterminate those who are not seen as “real” or “worthy” members of the US). Policies that gut social services many rely on for their housing costs, health care, food, and more, policies that send some people into offshore torture prisons, policies that deem some people as unworthy of jobs, and more are analyzed through a framework of eugenics.
Each of the speakers will focus on aspects of Trump’s eugenicist actions: Mari Matsuda will speak about how Trump is excluding more and more people from his definition of “American society.” Nandita Sharma will speak on the centrality of anti-immigrant politics to Trump’s idea of who can be excised from society. John Bickel will provide a historical overview of the similarities and differences between past fascist politics and Trump’s actions.
Constitutional Crisis + Kilmar
May 6, 2025, 5 – 7 pm
Speakers:
• Omar Vaquerano (Valar Law LLC)
• Salmah Y. Rizvi (ACLU Hawaiʻi)
Moderator: Liza Ryan Gill (Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights)
United We Stand with Those Hurt by D.O.G.E.
April 11, 2025
Speakers:
• David Day (Special Assistant to the Attorney General of Hawai‘i)
• Manfred Steger (Professor, Sociology, UH Mānoa)
• Devin Thomas (Senior Policy Analyst on Taxatiion & Budget, Hawai‘i Appleseed)
Moderator: Nandita Sharma (Hawai‘i J20+)
United We Stand with Immigrants
March 7, 2025
Speakers:
• David Day (Special Assistant to the Attorney General of Hawai‘i)
• Liza Ryan Gill (Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights)
• Brissa Flores (DACAmented UH Graduate)
Moderator: Nandita Sharma (Hawai‘i J20+)