When I was born in the mid-1960s, I inherited six siblings. Two of them self-identified as Chicanos. They were the first to do so in my family. I was young, but I remember the clothes. The signs touting “Chicano Power” and “Brown Power.” The emblems of fists and fists raised in the air. The rallies for justice. The marches, walk-outs and sit-ins. I remember the feeling of being protected by the Brown Berets when I attended a rally or march.
Category: Culture
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: When you are the first Latino/a/x
Only around 5 percent of college professors nationwide are Latino/a/x and at CSULB it’s higher around 9 percent. But this is still low when almost half of the student body is Latino/a/x.
Posted inCulture
EDITORIAL: Honoring Latino/a/x firsts
In honor of our heritage we would like to pay homage to Latino firsts, the first Latino/a/x people to break barriers in their fields.
Posted inCulture
COMMENTARY: Lessons on Mexican Independence Day from a professor
As a history professor, my dreams of wealth and rock n’ roll fame in young adulthood evaporated long ago. But just before this Mexican Independence Day on September 16, my professional moments sparkle, to use an un-academic term. Being a former Mexican American GED student in cholo garb, these moments of enlightenment – for me and my students – are about as priceless as any such moments of a respective jale. It’s my time to teach about Mexican Independence (which is not Cinco de Mayo).
Posted inCulture
STREET LEGACY: SoCal Style Masters celebrates Chicanos, tattoos and more
This summer, the California Center of the Arts, Escondido (CCAE) experienced record-breaking attendance with “Street Legacy: SoCal Style Masters,” an exhibit featuring Southern California street art. Check out the graffiti and tattoo works and celebrate lowriding, skateboarding and surfing all at once.
Posted inRepresentation
GUADALUPE CASTILLO, Chicana barber, fashion model and always down to be Brown and proud
Limones, is a 28-year-old Chicana barber from Los Angeles. From the time she was in middle school, she had known that she wanted to pursue a career in the hair industry. She started out styling her friends’ hair (and her own) and today works in the barbering industry. “My dad would always remind me that I was Brown, beautiful, and Mexican,” she told CALÓ NEWS. “He would always make me feel proud to be Mexican.”
Posted inCulture
COLUMN: Mexicans in Space? Michael Peña, José M. Hernández make it harder to make fun out Latinos
As I grew up, I slowly began to realize that the puns were made at my own expense – and that of my kin and culture. They were survival tools that I developed to consciously and subconsciously go along to get along. This aided me greatly in life, particularly as a budding journalist trying to make his way in a world dominated by white men. Many of those men were comfortable and put at ease when confronted with humor reliant on tired tropes of lazy Mexicans, criminal Mexicans and baby-making Mexicans.
Posted inCulture
COMMENTARY: From Bracero to ‘Braincero’
As a “guest” of the American government, my father—Salomón Huerta, Sr.—worked as a farmworker during the early 1960s under the Bracero Program. Officially known as the Mexican Farm Labor Program (1942-1964), this guest worker program recruited 4.6 million Mexican laborers to toil in America’s agricultural fields, along with the railroad and mining sectors.
Posted inEquity
MIRNA MARTINEZ, proud queer bilingual Oaxacan therapist in CA
Martinez likes to refer to herself as a queer Oaxacan, first-generation American, bilingual therapist. At 27, she is also proudly among the approximately 6 percent of Latinos who serve as therapists in the U.S. Martinez credits her Oaxacan culture and the values instilled in her as a driving force for her current career and future goals.
Posted inCulture
COLUMN: Querida Oaxaca
Oaxaca is home to 16 indigenous languages and the most spoken are Zapoteco, Mixteco and Nahuatl. Across the state, there are even differences within Zapoteco.
Posted inCulture
FERNANDO LÓPEZ JR., Oaxacan heir, proprietor of LA’s La Guelaguetza
The owners of La Guelaguetza, the ward-winning Oaxacan restaurant in Los Angeles, tell us why they love Oaxaca.
Posted inCulture
COLUMN: ‘Jane the Virgin’ writer: From undocumented English learner to Hollywood
Having arrived in California at age 7 from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Agustin offers a rare glimpse into the world of an undocumented student in his new memoir, “Illegally Yours,” published by Grand Central Publishing and available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other retailers. Known for his work as a writer on the TV show “Jane the Virgin,” Agustin, 41, now serves as the CEO of the Latino Film Institute, which hosts the annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.