Chaffey Black and Brown Minds & Mattering Conference Celebrates Superheroes

Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey grew up in a two-bedroom home with 12 family members, cobbled together gas money to get to school and watched as her father struggled with alcoholism.

She says those circumstances were hard, but today she sees them as a superpower instead of a weakness.

“Your circumstances at birth to not define who you become,” she said. “In fact, they give you strength.”

Rivera-Lacey, deputy chancellor and provost for the Riverside Community College District, delivered her message of resilience and strength to about 450 higher education leaders, students and community members at Chaffey College’s Black and Brown Minds & Mattering Conference on Oct. 23. The conference, focusing on the theme of superheroes, included a variety of workshops on supporting and lifting up communities of color, as well as keynote presentations by Rivera-Lacey and Nikkolas Smith, artivist and bestselling author.

Students from high schools throughout the Inland Empire gathered to learn more about civic engagement, financial literacy and leadership, while community members heard a range of topics from broadcast media to the Black Panther Party.

Chaffey College alumnus Rufus Thompson, who presented about empowerment to high school students, says he enjoys the conference because he gets the chance to witness the enthusiasm of young people.

“What this college has done for my life I am now projecting that to high school kids,” he said. “It’s really phenomenal.”

Nikkolas Smith, who also served as keynote speaker at the 2023 conference, returned with updates about his career, including artistic designs for the 2025 movie “Sinners” and the Legacy Tower for Downtown Disney District.

He’s also kept busy with art in other formats, including several new children’s books and artistic depictions of history for children, with the hope that education will lead to global peace.

“There’s millions of stories that can be reinterpreted, retold, revisualized through art,” he said.

But some of his books have faced pushback, winding up on banned book lists for content relating to transgender children and police brutality. He praised his fans for standing up against censorship. A boy in Florida spoke at a public hearing in support of Smith’s work, allowing the book to stay in his school.

“It’s because of people like him, kids who are just bold enough to say ‘No, you’re not going to censor us. You’re not going to stop us from having books,’” he said.