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.
Category: Representation
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.”
COLUMN: Bad Bunny, the Apagón and power failures in Puerto Rico
There’s been a recent privatization of the electric company and huge rate increases, which led to residents protesting this summer in San Juan. There also are concerns about gentrification of the island with mainlanders coming in and buying up property.
COLUMN: Support Afro-Latino journalists in U.S. media
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which represents many working journalists and editors and joined forces with the National Association of Black Journalists to host their national conventions together last week in Las Vegas, is working to support Afro-Latino journalists.
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.
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.
COLUMN: “Father of the Bride” remake is #Latinossowhite
There are no Brown or Black Latino leads in this film and that is disappointing. This is the same criticism that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s movie version of “In the Heights” received, rightfully so. But the whiteness of “Father of the Bride” is even more stark.
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.
ADELA RUIZ, turned her Oaxaca roots into a thriving food and imports business in LA
Adela Ruiz, a 54-year-old immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, was one of the millions of women in the United States who became unemployed because of the pandemic. Today, her family owns and operates La Cocina Oaxaqueña Con Adela in LA.
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.
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.”
RUDY RUIZ, Host of “Drinks and a Movie” podcast on how he became a Chicano film influencer
Check out “Drinks and a Movie,” a podcast created and hosted by Rudy Ruiz that critiques Hollywood films through the lens of Latinx history and culture. Ruiz shares good booze and hearty commentary with guests ranging from cinematographers, actors and directors.