The Equity & Justice Institute

Lecture Series

The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Equity & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series is a key feature of the Equity & Justice Institute.

The series helps stimulate dialogue among students, educators and community leaders committed to tackling the problems of racism, poverty, war, environmental degradation, educational inequities, religious persecution, genocide and other forms of injustice. Every year, we feature a guest speaker or film screening that specifically enhances our existing curriculum on the Holocaust and other forms of genocide and/or religious oppression.

The 2023-24 Younes and Soraya Equity & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series theme is Coalition Building: Creating Connection and Community to Make Impactful Change. Through the lens of this theme, speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds will offer presentations on how building coalitions can be a dynamic tool to empower communities to address issues of social injustice.

These events are free and open to the public, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Nazarian family. If you are not a member of the Crossroads community and you would like to be notified of upcoming Speaker Series events, please click here.

Lecture Series

Event Recordings

List of 2 news stories.

Art & Activism in the LGBTQ+ Community

On May 11, 2023, the Crossroads School Equity & Justice Institute hosted a moderated talk with a diverse panel of LGBTQ+ activists, advocates and artists who discussed the role of art, spectacle and creative expression in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights.

Watch Recording
Elizabeth Ito

On April 17, 2023, the Crossroads School Equity & Justice Institute welcomed writer and director Elizabeth Ito to campus to discuss the inspiration behind her Peabody-Award winning children’s animated Netflix series, “City of Ghosts.” The show celebrates Los Angeles’ diverse neighborhoods while exploring subjects including language, Indigenous cultures, gentrification, tradition and family.

Watch Recording

The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Equity & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series

A Highlight of Previous Speakers

Angela Davis

activist and scholar
Ibram X. Kendi

historian and author of “How to Be an Anti-Racist”
Robin DiAngelo

author of “White Fragility”
Winona LaDuke

Native American rights activist
Zenon Neumark

Holocaust survivor
Nikki Giovanni

poet and educator
Ana Navarro

political strategist and commentator
Emiliana Guereca

founder of Women’s March LA Foundation
Dolores Huerta

labor rights activist
Kevin Jennings

Lambda Legal CEO

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Full List of Past Speakers

Special Thanks To

The Younes & Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation

The series is an initiative of the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation, which supports educational causes in a broad spectrum of institutions and through a wide variety of avenues: academic, public policy, community-based, social and artistic programs in the United States and Israel.

Sadly, Younes passed away in March of 2022. Crossroads is honored that his legacy lives on through the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Equity & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series.