Yet, if not for my participation in Upward Bound (a federally funded program to help prepare historically marginalized, first-gen kids to pursue higher education), I wouldn’t be able to compete at the highest level in my mathematics. More specifically, if not for my childhood friend Hector from the projects, who peer pressured me to apply to Upward Bound at Occidental College (Oxy) – a six-week, residential program – I would be oblivious to the college application process.
Category: Opinion
Posted inElections
CHRISTIAN GREEN, from foster care youth to college professor, experience taught him to vote smart
Christain Green is a sociology professor at Antelope Valley College in Los Angeles County. His path to that post has been long, with him starting off as a child in the county foster care system and later living on the streets of Southern California. He says that life experiences have left him a close follower of local politics and he worries about the outcomes of the looming June primaries and November general elections.
Posted inJustice
COLUMN: Hate killing spree in Buffalo is latest horrific crime on POC
At CALÓ NEWS we plan to do a series of stories on the rise in hate. If you have a story to share, please let us know by contacting us at info@latinomedia.org.
Posted inEquity
COMMENTARY: Open the doors and diversity philanthropy
As a first-generation immigrant family identifying as Latina, I recalled being asked to leave before an event began, not attend an event, or leave before donors arrived, not realizing the bias and discrimination embedded in those gestures.
Posted inCulture
COMMENTARY: What does Spanglish say about identity?
Dr. Malcom Finney believes that it just takes one moment of falling in love with speaking another language with another human being for us to realize that languages are not threatening.
Posted inCulture
COLUMN: This Chicana from Chicago calls California home
After years of being asked a version of this “Where are you from?” question, I don’t always answer it the same way. Sometimes I say I’m Latina. I’m involved in a campus group comprised of Latina women of different origins such as Mexico, Peru and El Salvador, and it makes sense that I say I’m Latina in that context. How I answer, how I identify, depends on the day and who is asking.
Posted inJustice
ACHY OBEJAS, writer and translator, explores gender-free language
“One of the things about being in California is that I have been gender challenged since the day I walked in,” Achy Obejas says. “I moved out here in 2013 after teaching at the University of Chicago and DePaul. The issue of something as simple as a pronoun had not been brought up in the intense way that it was here.”
Posted inCulture
EDITORIAL: Latinx, Hispanic, or Latino? What are we?
As of late there has been increased debate over the term Latinx. Some have argued that the term Latinx represents a whitewashing of the community as it is an artificial label imposed on us. Others have argued that it actually diminishes the community by adding a pejorative “x.” A best practice would be to ask a person their preference, when relevant, and for us not to label or mislabel each other.
Posted inCulture
COMMENTARY: Applauding Oscar Firsts of Latino Representation
Latino representation and firsts may have been unfairly overshadowed. Ana María Ferreira, a literature professor born in Colombia, writes about some of the Oscar firsts for Latinos.
Posted inJustice
COMMENTARY: Again, Latinos wait in wings for TPS renewal
Many pressing issues will be sidelined as the United States makes Russian leader Vladimir Putin a priority. But right now, immigration policy is a pot boiling over, and what is happening in Ukraine directly affects everything.
Posted inJustice
COMMENTARY: We must shatter LGBTQ stereotypes
Watching Acuitzeramo on HBO Max, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia but also reminded that time had turned my memories of Acuitzeramo into romantic snippets; that I had conveniently forgotten the bad parts.
Posted inNews
EDITORIAL: Why are we launching CALÓ NEWS?
Latinos are the largest ethnic or racial group in the state of California. But we are not accurately nor authentically represented in the media. Our goal is to change that.