Meet Dr. Mariah Parker on campus Nov. 4
What does organizing a rap show hold in common with organizing a campaign for local office? What can hip hop teach us about public policy that you can’t learn anywhere else?
Dr. Parker is a linguist, Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) County Commissioner, community organizer, abolitionist, and rapper. Their work focuses on workers’ rights, civic engagement, literacy, racial and economic justice.
Dr. Mariah Parker is Beloit College’s Ousley Scholar-in-Residence.
Dr. Parker was sworn in as Athens-Clarke County Commissioner at the age of 26 with her hand on a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Their goal is to create economic stability, racial justice, criminal reform and raise the minimum wage.
Parker will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 4 at Grace’s Place (lower level, Pearsons Hall). In this keynote talk by Dr. Mariah Parker, aka Linqua Franqa, the interconnections between hip hop and public policy illuminate not only the necessity for bold new leadership at every level of power but how we can achieve it using the expertise we cultivate through living.
As an openly queer hip hop artist, Mariah performs under the stage name Linqua Franqua. Their latest release “Wurk” targets issues of racial justice, worker’s rights, and mental health.
Dr. Parker appeared in The New York Times, Teen Vogue, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, the Nation, Afropunk, The Root, The Bitter Southerner, Performer Magazine, and on CNN. Mariah is also the co-host of Waiting on Reparations, broadcasted on IHeartRadio.
The Ousley Scholar In Residence honors the legacy of Grace Ousley, the first black woman to graduate from Beloit College, and is a junior scholar/activist/organizer/intellectual who is committed to the theory and practice of social justice
September 23, 2022
