Promoting youth empowerment: Adisa Banjoko to speak at UW-Whitewater

February 23, 2015

An activist and educator -- who is working to keep communities safe across the country -- will give a free public lecture at UW-Whitewater titled "Promoting Youth Empowerment and Non-Violence through Hip Hop, Chess and Martial Arts."

Adisa Banjoko will appear at 7 p.m. Monday, March 9, at Young Auditorium. His speech is part of the Contemporary Issues Lecture Series sponsored by the College of Letters and Sciences.

Banjoko founded the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, a nonprofit organization connecting with 50,000 youths across the country. The organization combines music, chess and martial arts to help young people promote nonviolence in their communities.

The Hip-Hop Chess Federation has been featured on ABC's Good Morning America, as well as in Rolling Stone, Forbes, and Black Enterprise.

"Banjoko's activism links together three seemingly disparate things," said Susan Johnson, assistant dean for student success in the College of Letters and Sciences and coordinator of the lecture series. "During his presentation, he is going to share how he brought all three together in founding the organization, in order to promote youth non-violence through better communication and greater personal responsibility."

Before founding the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, Banjoko was a hip-hop journalist and an author of two books, "Lyrical Swords Vol. 1 and 2."

Banjoko is the fifth speaker in the 2014-15 lecture series at UW-Whitewater. For more information on the lecture series, visit this link.

-- Written by Jonathan Fera