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By Nicole Holman

Assistant News Editor

CSUSM recently hosted a lecture event that provided students with insight to important social issues and emphasized the need for students to take action.

On Wednesday, Feb. 18, the Arts and Lecture event entitled Gender, Race, and Money was held in the USU Ballroom where enigmatic performer and lecturer Kimberly Dark spoke on the various issues surrounding wealth distribution and wage gaps in America.

Dark is a professor in both the undergraduate Women’s Studies and graduate Sociology programs at CSUSM, as well as an award-winning writer and presenter.

The USU Ballroom was full as Dark spoke on a wide range of topics, all involving social inequalities in America and how these inequalities affect job opportunities and pay.

Dark used interactive activities to engage her audience as well as to provide a visual representation of how power imbalance works.

“At this lecture I learned that whether it’s big or small, we as individuals can make a difference. The diagrams Dark provided really helped me see how unequal things really are even though we talk like America is completely equal,” said lecture attendee and graduate student, Brian Sanchez.

During one particularly compelling discussion, Dark addressed how the media is increasingly portraying wealthier lifestyles as the “average American” lifestyle and how that alters what viewers perceive as “normal.” In contrast, the only television shows that portray people with low incomes are shows such as “Cops.” These representations only contribute to negative stereotypes that prevent people from any upward mobility in terms of economic class.

“This lecture brought to light social justice issues in a way that doesn’t blame the individual, but the institutionalized powers in place in society,” said Tanya Camacho, a CSUSM student in attendance.

Although Dark used a colloquial tone with her audience, she did not shy away from calling out the blatant racism and sexism that occurs today in job searches, income earnings and even relationships.

Dark also captivated the audience by providing graphs to illustrate that the gender wage gap has not improved in over a decade.

“Marriage is seen by employers as a stabilizing institution for men and a destabilizing one for women,” Dark said.

After taking time to answer the audience’s questions, Dark emphasized that even though there are long standing power imbalances in American society, it is the job of students to learn about these matters and help propel society to a better place.