The African, Latin American, Asian American and Native American (ALANA) Cultural Center hosted “Love and Hip-Hop,” the first session of its Spring 2026 Social Justice Peer Education (SJPE) Series, on Thursday, Feb. 5. Attendees learned about the history of hip-hop in the Black community and its significance to social justice activism, then participated in a hip-hop dance workshop.
The event, led by first-year and Social Justice Peer Educator Janice Chong, began with a presentation on the origins of hip-hop in the Black community in Harlem, N.Y. Chong described how hip-hop became significant not just as a form of music, dance and art, but as a channel for activism in these communities.
Sophomore Alana Greer, who attended the event, spoke about how much she enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about hip-hop’s background.
“I thought it was so awesome to learn about how hip-hop has evolved and become such a staple of Black culture and social justice movements,” Greer said.
Following her presentation, Chong highlighted several important terms and styles in the hip-hop community, including the moves that make up the foundations of hip-hop dance: bounce, groove, step and skate. She then led a dance workshop, beginning with a warm-up, teaching the four foundational moves and guiding participants through a short dance combination to Chris Brown’s “Summer Too Hot,” where they were able to practice the moves they learned.
Sophomore Liz Felipe Robles, a Social Justice Peer Educator at ALANA, participated in the workshop and praised the event’s creative way of engaging students with social justice topics.
“I think it was very fun to have a component like a dance workshop,” Felipe Robles said. “Typically, we do dialogues, panels and discussions so this was a new creative activity that gets people directly engaged in information we’re trying to educate [them on] as SJPEs.”
“Love and Hip-Hop” was the first of several sessions in ALANA Cultural Center’s Spring 2026 SJPE Series, otherwise titled the “EmpowerED” series. Darline Wattles, associate director of the ALANA Cultural Center, explained the program’s goal to help students learn about relevant social justice topics from their peers.
“The SJPE series is a bi-weekly program that is meant to help students primarily explore a topic related to an inequity or injustice whether on campus, locally, nationally or globally, and is led by peer facilitators,” Wattles said. “Each session is meant to share information but also adds an action component so that students are able to help create change or know how to further their education in these areas.”
Going beyond hip-hop, Wattles emphasized the inclusive values guiding her event as part of the SJPE Series, as well as ALANA Cultural Center’s programming and mission more broadly.
“We want to continue to honor and bring awareness to the many points of struggle and tension that still exist in our society today, and how we can all as a part of this community contribute toward positive social change,” Wattles said.
Another Social Justice Summit featured five peer writing and speaking consultants from Colgate’s Writing and Speaking Center who spoke about linguistic justice. Senior and writing consultant Allie Kavalauskas valued the opportunity to contribute her thoughts to a conversation with others interested in enacting positive change.
“The Social Justice Summit was an enlightening experience for everyone seeking to make the world a better place,” Kavalauskas said. “As a presenter, it was an honor to speak about a topic I am passionate about and help engender change within my Colgate community, and as an attendee of other sessions, I was in awe of the incredible work being done and the range of opportunities to create positive change that existed around me. The sessions were also collaborative, and attendees and presenters engaged in a collective sharing of knowledge and experiences that made the summit far more impactful than just a series of presentations.”
Wattles also encouraged students to attend future SJPE events.
“The Social Justice Peer Educators have prepared an array of wonderful topics to explore, some of which, like the dance workshop, will get you thinking about the things in everyday life you don’t think are rooted in activism,” Wattles said. “Please come and bring your friends; refreshments are served at each!”
The next event in the SJPE Series, “Beyond the Mirror: Colorism in the Caribbean,” will be held on Feb. 19 at 11:15 a.m. in ALANA.
