Aoki Center Blog

King Hall Professor Jack Chin will speak on a panel at Voices of the Valley: A Community Movie Night at UC Davis, May 13, 5:30-8 p.m., 1002 Cruess Hall. Free admission; RSVP at 1882foundation.short.gy/Voices.

We often think of Chinatowns in cities like San Francisco or New York when we think about Chinese communities. But the Chinese were a key part of California's agricultural history. What can we learn about these Chinese communities in rural areas?

The panel will accompany three short Chinese American documentaries that capture these stories:

King Hall Professor Raquel Aldana appeared on Beyond Borders: The Immigration Evaluation Podcast to talk about “Credibility, Trauma Science, and What the Law Really Needs from Mental Health Professionals.” Professor Aldana is an expert on the intersection of immigration law, trauma science, and credibility adjudication.

On November 11, 2025, the Aoki Center sponsored an online interview with Donald K. Tamaki, who served on the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. King Hall student Jenny Feng ’26 conducted the interview, which also featured Aoki Center Director Kevin Johnson and Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin. Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Sarine assisted with the project.

Watch the interview below:

Read the California Reparations Report.

On Feb. 25, the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies at UC Davis School of Law and a coalition of constitutional, civil rights, and other scholars led by Professor Evelyn M. Rangel-Medina filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara. A team from Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt and Mosle LLP acted as pro bono counsel.

Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 5 p.m.
Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I St, Sacramento, CA, 95814

The Lorenzo Patiño Banquet is a public service awards ceremony and scholarship fundraiser named in memory of Judge Lorenzo Patiño, whose career exemplified the commitment to public service and diversity that defines King Hall.

The Nest Collab: A Disability Justice and Chronic Illness Project, supported by the Mellon Foundation, invites you to join us for:

Care at the End of the World: Dreaming of Infrastructure in Crip-of-Color Writing