This weekend, over 400 students from colleges across the country will gather at Yale for the 8th annual Black Solidarity Conference, organized by Black Students at Yale.

Keynote speaker Sonia Sanchez, a poet and former professor of English at Temple University, and Aaron McGruder, author of the comic strip “The Boondocks,” will address this year’s theme of “Fault Lines: Where the Responsibility Lies” in speeches on Friday and Saturday nights.

The conference will also include four workshops ranging from “In Pursuit of Health,” a discussion of disparities in health care opportunities between races, to “The Personal as Political,” in which the breakdown of the traditional African-American family system will be analyzed. The workshops will be led by four experts, including African-American Studies professor Jonathan Holloway and Flemming Norcott, a Yale lecturer and justice on the Connecticut Supreme Court.

“They have a wide range of experiences and bring some knowledge to facilitate the discussions,” said Nicole Falconer ’05, one of the conference organizers.

The conference will include a poetry slam and a talent show featuring Yale student groups including Shades, Stepping Out, and Rhythmic Blue.