Panel: Third World Liberation Front for the Future

Celeste Chan facilitates a panel discussion exploring student activism in the ‘60s Bay Area researched during her ten-week residency as an Artist-in-Residence at the SFPL. Chan's interest in the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikes, the longest student strikes in U.S. history, which led to the creation of Ethnic Studies as a discipline spanning colleges and secondary schools across the globe, grew during her residency with the library and led to the creation of this panel. Black Student Union co-founder Dr. James Garrett, San Francisco State University (SFSU) Professor of Asian American Studies, Professor Emerita of Asian American Studies at SFSU Laureen Chew, Dr. Ramona Tascoe and Raymond Tompkins answer questions that explore how the student strikers organized and the strategies they used to create Third World solidarity, shining a light on TWLF’s tactics, conversations, and conflicts and also what their legacy looks like today and for the future.

About the Panelists

Laureen Chew was born in San Francisco to a Chinese American father and a Chinese immigrant mother. She was raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown and her k-12 education consisted of public and Catholic schooling. During her college years, Chew volunteered and worked short-term jobs to help immigrant students, pre-delinquent teenage girls and at-risk youth in SF’s Chinatown. At SF State, she was arrested during the TWLF student strike and spent twenty-one days in jail for her support in establishing the College of Ethnic Studies in 1968. 

Chew became a bilingual second-grade teacher to create social change within the community. As President of The Association of Chinese Teachers (TACT), she forged alliances to form the powerful Ethnic Minority Educators (EME) which successfully fought layoffs of minority teachers in the 1970s.  Her work on Chan Is Missing and Dim Sum, reflects efforts and commitment to have media, especially films, explore community points of view that counter Chinese American stereotypes fostered by the dominant society. 

Chew received her Ed.D. from the University of the Pacific and joined the faculty of Asian American Studies at SFSU in 1980. She later held a joint appointment with the Department of Elementary Education at SFSU to assist in institutionalizing bilingual cross-cultural teacher training. She also served as Department Chair of Elementary Education. In 2006, Chew returned full-time to the College of Ethnic Studies at SFSU as Associate Dean. She retired as Emeritus faculty in 2017.

Dr. James Garrett has been involved in struggles for the human rights and self-determination of African peoples and all humanity for more than 50 years. As a member of both SNCC and CORE, he was an early activist in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. A co-founder of the modern Black Student Union Movement and Black/Ethnic Studies Programs and the Modern Black Arts Movement, he has taught History and Pan African Philosophy at Howard and Temple Universities in the US, the University of Tanzania at Dar es Salaam, and Ife, in Nigeria. Dr. Garrett has published numerous essays, speeches and interviews and has presented more than 100 scholarly presentations at conferences and commissions. Dr. Garrett traveled with Dr. CLR James throughout Africa and the Diaspora in preparation for the 6th Pan African Conference held in 1975 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In August/September 2001, Dr. Garrett served as a Delegate for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) held in Durban, South Africa. Under the auspices of the United Nations and several NGOs, Dr. Garrett worked with renowned environmental scientist Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego (transitioned 2007) on sustainable development projects. They led early efforts to design and promote solar, wind and biomass energy resources to benefit small island nations such as Papua New Guinea, Wana Watu, Cuba and Barbados. In 2006, while Dean and Director of the Center for International Trade Development at Peralta Community Colleges, Dr. Garrett was a delegate to the 14th UN Commission on Sustainable Development and sponsored Peralta Colleges students to attend this historic gathering. Dr. Garrett continues his involvement as an organizer, strategist and legal consultant for social, education and political projects in stakeholder communities in the US, Africa, Caribbean nations and Asia. He regularly lectures and conducts workshops by Zoom with students and community leaders around the globe.

Dr. Garrett remains a strong advocate and consultant in support of community-based cooperatives, land trusts and programs to house the “unhoused” populations in the US. Dr. Garrett is Co-founder and President of Global Community Advancement Centers (GCAC), a non-profit/NGO, with projects in the US, Southeast Asia and Namibia. Established in 2008, GCAC focuses on the use of sustainable technologies (Solar, Wind, WAVE, Biodiversity) and mass community education/training to support major development and humanitarian projects. Presently, GCAC is leading a team of organizers and technicians in establishing community clinics and medical training facilities in Namibia, Africa.

Dr. Ramona Tascoe is a medical director focusing on young adult substance use and treatment of addiction disorders. After her time at UCSF she earned a master of public administration degree from the University of San Francisco and a master of divinity degree from Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. She has also put her unique mix of skills to work on behalf of communities around the world, leading medical missions to 10 different countries. Throughout her career, Dr. Tascoe has unapologetically fought for equity in higher education. This includes as an undergraduate student playing a key role in the 1968 historic student strike at San Francisco State University leading to the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies and the courage and integrity to stand up to gender discrimination despite the threat of retaliation and the loss of a career in the field during her surgery residency. As she says, she declared “not me” before there was a “me too.”

Raymond Tompkins's journey in Environmental Chemistry was shaped in his freshman year at San Francisco State College under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Ramsey, the head of the Graduate Division of Chemistry. His first project, a chemical analysis of cigarette smoke involving scrutinizing 62 chemical compounds, began his significant contributions to the field. Dr. Ramsey hired Raymond Tompkins as his Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant in his sophomore year. He participated in the development of a chemistry course for non-chem. majors titled "Chemistry in the Human Environment." He hasn’t stopped working to increase the understanding of environmental justice in the United States and worldwide. During his junior year, Raymond Tompkins took on the role of chairman of the Black Student Union at San Francisco State College and Vice President of the Associated Students of San Francisco State College. One of his most significant achievements during his term was establishing the first Childcare Center in the California State College system. This center, which still operates today, includes a flexible pay scale to ensure affordability for low-income mothers, a testament to his commitment to social causes. Raymond Tompkins, chairman of the Black Students Union, was pivotal in creating the first Master of Arts degree in Black Studies. This initiative, developed in collaboration with Ron Bentley, underscored his commitment to promoting academic diversity and inclusion.

In Mr. Tompkins's senior year, he was appointed to a blue-ribbon panel of the California Atty. Gen. Younger to make recommendations to the state assembly in the areas of standardization of police training, in addition to the establishment of an Affirmative Action Program for women and minorities to be included in the local police agencies. 

About the Moderator

Celeste Chan is an Artist in Residence at San Francisco Public Library. She creates, collaborates and curates to amplify voices within marginalized communities. For ten years, she co-directed Queer Rebels, a queer and trans people of color arts project. She toured the West Coast with Sister Spit and facilitated Queer Ancestors Project youth writing workshops for four years. She holds MFA and MSW degrees from SF State University.