Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice
The Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice is named after Catharine Deaver Lealtad (Class of 1915), the first African American graduate of Macalester College and a talented doctor; and Esther Torii Suzuki (Class of 1946), a survivor of the Japanese internment camps during WWII and a six-year member of the Macalester College Alumni Board. The Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice is located on the first floor of Kagin Commons.
Mission Statement
The Lealtad Suzuki Center for Social Justice works in collaboration with Macalester students to build a transformative community. We do this through learning, reflection, engaging in dialogue, and action. We interrogate our lived experiences and center the voices of those marginalized in our society with the goals of building strong relationships, critical consciousness, and collective liberation.
Learning Outcomes
Through participation in LSC programs, students will:
- Analyze the social and political contradictions in our society and how they shape our inherited values and understanding of the world.
- Utilize critical dialogue skills and tools to engage in complex and meaningful conversations.
- Through study and reflection, develop the skills necessary to navigate systems, organize and take action against oppressive structures in our society.
- Prioritize wellness, practice sustainable community engagement, and cultivate space for radical joy.
Land Statement
Macalester College occupies land in Mni Sota Makoce located less than five miles away from Bdote—the sacred creation site of the Dakota people. Despite the persistent and ongoing impacts of settler colonialism and forcible exile, this very land we are on is cultivated, cared for, and honored since time immemorial by the Dakota, Anishinaabe, and Ho-Chunk peoples.
Macalester engages in ongoing work toward repair and partnership with Dakota people, land, and water, as well as to support Native and Indigenous members of our campus community. We participate in these ongoing efforts by uplifting the work and care of our campus and community members, including the Macalester Native and Indigenous Initiative, and by thinking critically about how we take responsibility for and educate about the land we are on.
We must examine our relationship to the land to understand that recognition of Native and Indigenous land, water, and peoples is not just an acknowledgement of the past. You can take action by visiting Macalester’s Institutional Equity website as well as the virtual Bdote Memory Map to guide us in learning about next steps in this work. These actions are necessary for our current and future legacies.