Menjivar grew up in San Fernanco Valley, where her mother cleaned private homes and her father worked as a waiter at a Studio City country club. Menjivar recalled attending Encino Charter Elementary School, a public school in the high-priced suburb of Encino, CA. She immediately felt out of place, she said. “I was going to an affluent school where my classmate’s homes were big and they had big screen TVs,” Menjivar said. “That’s when I started [wondering] why my classmates had so many cool things, big houses, expensive things and we didn’t? As a kid, you don’t know what all that means. You just know that the inequity doesn’t feel right.”
Category: Politics
Posted inPolitics
COLUMN: LULAC leadership appears to be in a state of disarray
There was a LULAC election slated for Saturday but that was stalled after a lawsuit was filed and a judge in Texas ordered Friday the suspension of the election. LULAC’s president García then reportedly left the island on Friday.
Posted inElections
EUNISSES HERNANDEZ, lifelong District 1 resident will be sworn onto LA City Council in December
Hernandez will be the next representative for District 1 on the Los Angeles City Council and will be one of the women representatives in what is now a male-dominated council. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in City Hall to make Los Angeles a city where all community members can thrive,” she told CALÓ NEWS.
Posted inPolitics
COLUMN: We are NOT tacos
The First Lady and the Democratic Party should know better. The fact that she and her team, which includes Latinos, wrote and reviewed that speech illustrates just how disconnected some Democrats are from the diverse Latino community.
Posted inPolitics
EDITORIAL: The U.S. and Mexican presidents met at the White House: What you should know
The U.S. and Mexico need to invest in jobs that allow people to make a living wage regardless of what side of the border they live on. But not if those jobs make the border a more militarized zone.
Posted inElections
EDITORIAL: We back California SEN. STEVE GLAZER’s bill supporting local news media outlets
Many of these small local newspapers and online media outlets report on school boards, city councils and community challenges in diverse communities that would go ignored if there weren’t journalists holding civic and community leaders accountable. This is especially important as disinformation and fake news, such as conspiracy theories, are spreading rapidly online and on social media.
Posted inPolitics
COLUMN: Abortion rights overturned. Turn anger into action!
It’s time to channel our anger over the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade into action. It’s time to take to the streets, organize, mobilize, donate, write, speak, protest, do whatever you can to support women who need access to an abortion.
Posted inRepresentation
ALAN ACOSTA, Latino, queer, proud and Purple Lily Award winner
Acosta is responsible for building strategic plans and advises on organizational policy and communication issues. In addition, at the center he leads the Legal Services, Senior Services, and Cultural Arts & Education departments. His projects and initiatives include the creation of “Mi Centro,” the first LGBTQ+ community center in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, which was developed in partnership with the Latino Equality Alliance.
Posted inPolitics
Attendees of People’s Summit for Democracy share visions for Latinos
LA leaders last week hosted The People’s Summit for Democracy from June 8-10 at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC), which was organized in opposition to the Summit of the Americas. Numerous world leaders, including Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, boycotted in response to the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas. The People’s Summit was intended to uplift the voices of the working-class people in the Americas and prioritize “people’s democracy first,” as stated on their website. The Biden Administration’s summit did not represent the people of the Americas, according to the organizers of the People’s Summit. “The exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua have already made Biden’s summit a political disaster,” organizers stated in a declaration letter.
Posted inPolitics
EDITORIAL: KEVIN DE LEÓN loses, RICK CARUSO buys way into runoff
Latino candidate Kevin de León lost his bid for mayor. Caruso won with Latino voters and his ad buys in Spanish may have helped.
Posted inEquity, Health, Justice, Politics
VICTOR HUGO MARROQUIN, from Boyle Heights, fights for Latinx, LGBTQ+
Victor Hugo Marroquin says that being part of the local LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities have shaped them into the person they are today. Today, he helps lead The Latino Equality Alliance. He says the biggest voter issues for Latinos are healthcare, education, law enforcement, and environmental justice.
Posted inElections
ADRIANA CABRERA, Grew up in South LA, now running to represent District 9
Adriana Cabrera said that she began organizing and getting involved in her South LA community as a 12-year-old after losing a boyfriend, cousin, neighbors and classmates to gang violence. In addition, she believes that her experiences sharing a one-bedroom with family, being a first-generation college graduate and surviving “extreme poverty” make her an ideal candidate to serve the neighbors she grew up with. “Me running has nothing to do with me and everything to do with my community,” she said. “It means the world to me that young people believe in me.”