Jeb Middlebrook: Dr. Jeb Middlebrook is one of the most sought after racial justice speakers, spoken word poets, and community organizers. His work has been recognized by major organizations across the spheres of academia, entertainment, and activism, including Yale University and the Universities of Minnesota, Missouri, and Kansas; MTV, NBC, and ABC Networks; and the Ford Foundation and Occupy Wall Street movement, among others. Dr. Middlebrook has presented interactive lectures, performances, and workshops to thousands of people at campuses and venues across the United States. He is currently a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Southern California; and an online Lecturer in Women’s and Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

He is also the Executive Director of the Solid@rity Institute, an online institute that offers affordable online college classes and educational opportunities to high school and new and returning college students. Middlebrook holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from the University of Minnesota and a M.A. and Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity from USC. He trained in theater and performance at the University of Minnesota and has studied with Theater of the Oppressed founder Augusto Boal and son Julian Boal.

Dr. Middlebrook has organized for social justice in a variety of community campaigns around the U.S. including fighting for college loans for undocumented students in Minnesota, rights for ex-felons in California, fairness in high school suspensions in Connecticut, housing and minimum wage increases in Wisconsin, and free AIDS testing in Kansas. He has also helped develop racial justice discussion groups in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and California. As hip hop artist Jus Rhyme, Middlebrook has worked with national recording artists and performers Just Blaze, KRS-One, dead prez, and the Coup, and has performed with the cast of the movie RIZE! He was a participant in the television program VH1’s The (White) Rapper Show. 

Abraham Medina:  Abraham Medina is Undocumented, Unapologetic, and Unafraid. He arrived to the U.S. at age 7 and has lived in the Garden Grove/Santa Ana area since. He entered UCI in fall 2006, but with no financial aid, limited scholarship money, and not enough income to pay for school, he was forced to leave. He was just 19 at the time and did not plan to return to continue his education, but found his way back to school entering Santa Ana College in spring 2008.

Being back in Santa Ana provided Medina an opportunity to become involved in many community organizations, including El Centro Cultural de Mexico en Santa Ana, IDEAS of SAC, the Orange County Dream Team, Cop Watch, and the Orange County May Day Coalition. He helped start a youth group called Un Mundo En Resistencia (UMER) which joined with other youth and community groups in 2009 to organize the Upset the Setup Youth Conference at Santa Ana College. From there, Siempre Aprendiendo Pintar Obedeciendo (SAPO), a community mural collective was formed which has completed 4 community murals to date.

In fall 2009 Medina returned to UCI, graduating in 2011 with a B.A. in Sociology. After graduation Medina was part of the first national DREAM Summer internship program and interned for UFCW Local 324 and the Orange County Labor Federation, helping organize the Orange County Assembly on Immigration in November 2011.

A spoken word artist, Medina was part of a youth writing program called Barrio Writes in 2009 and one of his poems, “I Still Have A Dream,” was published in Barrio Writers, 1st Edition. Medina uses his poetry, which he regularly shares at El Centro’s Open Mic Nights and other venues, not only as a means to express his inner feelings, but also as a way to share with others the experience of being undocumented in the U.S. Throughout the years, Medina has attended the Social Justice Summit, as part of UMER in 2009 (the poster still hangs on his wall), the Orange County Dream Team, and Musica en Resistencia. One day he plans to be a Sociology professor at Santa Ana College.