Nuestras Historias (Issue 1, Vol 1)

NUESTRA VERDAD
PUBLICACIÓN
I S S U E 1 V O L U M E 1 | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0

2 Take a look at everyone that contributed to this
project!
4
“Let’s talk about _! A Guide to Terms/
Un Guía de Términos”
"¿Cómo se llama, mi gente?"
p. 5
p. 8
10
“U.S. Demographics” p. 11
CONTENTS
26
“The United States: El Metiche”
"Puerto Rican Women and the Pill"
"LULAC: All for One, One for All"
"The Brown Berets: Then & Now"
"The Zoot Suit Riots"
"The Impact of Student Activism"
"Other" - a Poem
"Demographics at Urbana-Champaign"
“History of the Chief: Who do you
Honor?”
"Our Demands: Unfulfilled since 1992"
"Our Presence Will Not be Neglected:
Significance of the Mural Reinstallation"
p. 12
p. 15
p. 17
p. 19
p. 22
p. 23
p. 25
p. 27
p. 30
p. 33
p. 36
"Writing as a Form of Resistance"
p. 39

Nuestra Verdad
Publicación

BREAKING
DOWN BIG
TERMS

Let’s talk about ___!
A Guide to Terms/Un
Guía de Términos:
English & Spanish
Edition
By Marlene Santos
Hello there! Have you ever encountered
yourself reading or having a discussion with
others on political and/or social issues and there
is a word that seems unfamiliar? If you are
familiar with these terms, good! If you aren’t
there is no shame in not knowing! I have
created this guide to help you break down these
terms in English and Spanish!
¡Hola! ¿Alguna vez te has encontrado
leyendo o hablando con otros sobre temas
políticos y/o sociales y aparece una palabra
desconocida? Si estás familiarizado con estos
términos, ¡Bien! Si no lo estás, ¡no hay
vergüenza en no saberlo! ¡He creado esta guía
para ayudarte a desglosar estos términos en
inglés y español!
Terms/Terminos​:
Brown v. Board of Education: ​Supreme Court
case in which as of May 17, 1954 ruled racial
segregation of children in public schools was
unconstitutional.
Brown vs. Junta de Educación​: Caso de la
Corte Suprema en cual dicto inconstitucional la
discriminación racial de niños en escuelas
1
públicas en 17 de mayo 1954.
Colorism: ​Discrimination against people with
darker skin tone and favoring those who are
lighter skin, this practice is rooted due to racism.
Colorismo​: Discriminación hacia gente con piel
más oscura y favorecer a gente con piel más
2
clara, esto ocurre debido al racismo.
Environmental racism:​Disproportionate impact
on people of color due to hazardous chemicals,
air pollutants and waste.
Discriminación Ambiental​:
Impacto desproporcionado hacia personas de
color debido a químicos peligrosos,
3
contaminantes atmosféricos, y residuos.
Ethnic Studies: ​According to UC Berkeley, it is
the critical and interdisciplinary study of race,
ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the
experiences and perspectives of people of
color within and beyond the United States.
Estudios Étnicos​: ​Según UC Berkeley es el
estudio crítico e interdisciplinario de raza, etnia
y indigencia con un enfoque en las experiencias
y perspectivas de personas de color dentro y
4
fuera de los Estados Unidos.
Ethnicity: ​Oxford Languages tells it is the fact
or state of belonging to a social group that has a
common national or cultural tradition.
Origen Étnico​: Según Oxford Languages es el
hecho o estado de pertenencia a un grupo social
1 “Brown v. Board of Education.” ​History.com​, A&E Television Networks, 27
Oct. 2009,
www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka.
2 “Colorism.” ​NCCJ​, www.nccj.org/colorism-0.
3 Colarossi, Natalie. “10 Egregious Examples of Environmental Racism in the
US.” ​Insider​, Insider, 13 Aug. 2020, www.insider.com/env
4 “Department of Ethnic Studies College of Letters and Science: University of
California, Berkeley.” ​The Department of Ethnic Studies UC Berkeley​,
ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/.
5

que tiene
común.
una tradición nacional o cultural
Ethnocide: ​The destruction of an ethnic culture.
Etnocidio​:​ La destrucción de una cultura étnica
Eugenics: Movement that seeks to improve the
human race and society by encouraging
reproduction of only populations with
‘desirable’ qualities and traits.
Eugenesia​: Movimiento que busca mejorar la
raza humana y la sociedad fomentando la
reproducción de sólo poblaciones con
5
cualidades "deseables".
Forced Sterilization: ​The act of permanently
ending someone’s ability to reproduce without
their consent/approval.
Esterilización forzada​:
El acto de poner un fin permanentemente a la
capacidad de reproducción de alguien sin su
consentimiento/aprobación.
Gentrification: ​A process in which low-income
areas go under development creating a shift of
new residents that are wealthier. Leading to the
displacement of current residents.
Gentrificación​: Un proceso en el que las áreas
de bajos ingresos se están en desarrollo creando
un cambio de nuevos residentes que son más
ricos. Llevando al desplazamiento de los
residentes actuales.
Intersectionality: ​Coined by Professor Kimberlé
Crenshaw to describe how race, class, gender,
and other individual characteristics “intersect”
with one another and overlap.
5 “What Is Eugenics?” ​PgEd​, pged.org/history-eugenics-and-genetics/
Women and Global Human Rights​,
faculty.webster.edu/woolflm/forcedsterilization.html.
Interseccionalidad​: Acuñado por el profesor
Kimberlé Crenshaw para describir cómo la raza,
clase, género y otras características individuales
6
"se cruzan" entre sí y se superponen.
Mass Incarceration: ​refers to the unique way
the U.S. has locked up a vast population in
federal and state prisons, as well as local jails​,
primarily imprisoning black and brown
populations.
Encarcelamiento masivo​: Se refiere a la forma
única en que los Estados Unidos ha encerrado a
una vasta población en prisiones federales y
estatales, así como cárceles locales​,
principalmente encarcelando poblaciones de
7
personas de color.
Performative Activism: ​Activism intended for
the personal gain of the ally rather than
supporting the cause.
Activismo Performativo​: Activismo destinado al
beneficio personal del aliado en lugar de apoyar
la causa.
Police Brutality: ​The excessive use of force
against civilians by police officers
Brutalidad policial​: El uso excesivo de la fuerza
contra civiles por parte de los agentes de policía.
Prejudice: ​Defined by Merriam-Webster as an
irrational attitude of hostility directed against
an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed
characteristics.
Perjuicio​: Definido por Merriam-Webster como
una actitud irracional de hostilidad dirigida
6 Coaston, Jane. “The Intersectionality Wars.” ​Vox​, Vox, 20 May 2019,
www.vox.com/the
highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender
discrimination.
7 “Mass Incarceration.” ​Oxford
Bibliographies ​www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo
9780195396607/obo-9780195396607-0033.xml.
6

contra un individuo, un grupo, una raza o sus
supuestas características
Systemic Racism: ​Refers to the systems in place
that perpetuate racial injustices. Persists in
institutions such as schools, courts, police
departments, and hospitals.
Racismo Sistémico​: ​Se refiere a los sistemas
vigentes que perpetúan las injusticias raciales.
Persiste en instituciones como escuelas,
tribunales, departamentos de policía y
8
hospitales.
Voter Suppression: ​There are different forms,
but one major form are laws that restrict
citizens from casting a ballot to manipulate
election outcomes.
Supresión de Votantes​: Hay diferentes formas,
pero una forma importante son las leyes que
restringen a los ciudadanos de emitir una boleta
electoral para manipular los resultados
electorales.
White Privilege: ​Advantages ​possessed by a
white individual because of their race in a
society characterized by racial inequality and
injustice, a direct result of ​historic racism and
biases.
Privilegio Blanco​: ​Ventajas que posee un
individuo blanco sobre la base de su raza en una
sociedad caracterizada por la desigualdad racial
y la injusticia, resultado directo de una larga
historial de racismo y prejuicios. ◻
8 Piñon, Natasha. “What You Need to Know about Systemic Racism.”
Mashable​, 29 June 2020, mashable.com/article/what-is-systemic-racism/.
@soyouwanttotalkabout “so you want to talk about...” Feb
2020, https://www.instagram.com/soyouwanttotalkabout/?hl=en.
7

¿Cómo se llama, mi
gente?
By Sophia Diaz & Jorge Corral
Race is a social construct; however, the
biological consequences of racism are very real.
9
Therefore, racial and ethnic descriptors are
crucial to recognize a person’s identity and
realities. The United States has been built on
racial disparity, therefore not doing so can
result in color blind racism. Ethnic markers like
Hispanic, Latino and Latinx are important to a
persons’ identity. But it is important to
remember that these are not racial descriptors,
such as White or Black. Racial differences
within the Latinx community exist and should
be acknowledged in order to avoid the erasure of
Black and Afro-Latinx communities as a result
of the adoption of Mestize culture in Latin
10 11
America.
Then, why are ethnic markers like
Hispanic, Latino and Latinx important? The
American based terms were created in order to
ensure funding and representation at a
governmental level in new immigrant
communities. Before the 1970’s, Latin
American immigrants were categorized as
White Spanish speakers, grouped in the same
demographic as Italian and Irish Americans in
the U.S. Census. This erased their ethnic
heritage and unique needs, causing
9 “AAPA Statement on Race & Racism.” ​American Association of Physical
Anthropologists​,
physanth.org/about/position-statements/aapa-statement-race-and-racism-2019/
.
10 González, Roberto J. “ Indigenismo to Zapatismo: Theory and Practice in
Mexican Anthropology.” ​Society for Applied Anthropology​, vol. 63, no. 2,
2004, pp. 141–150.
11 Moreschi, Alejandra A. “La Comunalidad Como Epistemología Del Sur.
Aportes y Retos.” Jan. 2013. Translated by Adam W. Coon “Communality as
an Epistemology of the South. Contributions and Challenges”.
12
underfunding and underrepresentation.
Although the addition of the term Hispanic onto
the census in the 1970’s helped funding and
community programs in their neighborhoods, it
also created opportunities for exploitation at the
hands of corporations trying to capitalize and
13
benefit from Immigrant communities. Upon
acknowledgement of this newly defined Spanish
speaking group, the U.S. grappled with the
terms Hispanic versus Latin, and eventually
Latino, which came to the forefront around the
1980’s, upon a push for reformation of the term
14
Hispanic.
But what's the difference between them?
The term Hispanic refers to linguistic
background. It can apply to anyone that was
born in or is a descendent of a Spanish speaking
15
country. This includes Spain, but excludes
Brazil. The term is not widely accepted because
of its broadness and direct links to Spain, the
colonizer of Central and South America. It is
criticized for highlighting and glorifying
Whiteness in the community rather than
indigenous or African roots. ‘Hispanic’ labels us
in reference to the colonizer, dismissing the rich
cultures that existed pre-colonialism.
The origin of the terms Latin or Latino
can be traced all the way back to Ancient
Rome. As the empire expanded, so did its
official language of Latin; thus, countries today
that speak the Romance Languages are named
12 Origin of Everything. “Why Do We Say "Latino"?” ​Youtube​, 23 July 2020,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQPAJ-2LsMY.
13 Anwar, Yasmin. “I Say Hispanic. You Say Latino. How Did the Whole
Thing Start?” ​Berkeley News​, 29 Apr. 2014,
news.berkeley.edu/2014/04/29/hispanic-label/.
14 Simón, Yara. “Hispanic vs. Latino vs. Latinx: A Brief History of How
These Words Originated.” ​Remezcla​, 14 Sept. 2018,
remezcla.com/features/culture/latino-vs-hispanic-vs-latinx-how-these-words-o
riginated/.
15 “Hispanic vs. Latinos vs. Latinx Explained.” ​Yes Prep​, 16 Sept. 2020,
www.yesprep.org/news/blog/featured/~board/blog/post/hispanic-vs-latinos-vs
-latinx-explained.
8

as such because they developed from Latin,
spread by the ​Roman ​Empire. Fast forward to
the 1850s, when French economist Michel
Chevalier was credited with the first use of the
term “Amerique Latine,” which translates from
French to “Latin America,” to distinguish
between people colonized by European
countries of Latin descent, including Spain and
Portugal, versus those colonized by Northern
European, or Anglo-Saxon countries, such as
16
England and France. All that to say, the origins
of Latin and Latino refer to geography through
the lens of colonialism.
Latino is used to describe a person that
descends from a Latin American country. Use
of the term was spurred by rejection of the
Spanish rule so evident in the word “Hispanic”
and the desire for indication of independence of
17
Latin American countries. However, this
notion disregards the European traces of any
word derived from the stem “Latin-.” The term
Latino, more often used in the United States,
should not be confused with Latin American,
that describes someone who lives in a Latin
American country.
What about Latinx? By this point in time,
anyone who’s seen the internet has come across
newer, gender neutral terms such as Latin@,
Latinx, Latine, and Chicane (American born
person with Mexican descent). The terms
“Latinx/e,” and “Chicanx/e,” are ethnic
descriptions that include folks who do not
identify with the gender binary and have Latin
American roots. Many argue that, in the Spanish
language, Latino already accounts for all
genders. However, Spanish is a gendered
16 Origin of Everything. “Why Do We Say "Latino"?” ​Youtube​, 23 July 2020,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQPAJ-2LsMY.
17 Simón, Yara. “Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the
Terms.” ​History​, A&E Television Networks, 16 Sept. 2020,
www.history.com/news/hispanic-latino-latinx-chicano-background.
language that uses the masculine form in
umbrella terms. By using the masculine form of
a word as the umbrella term, the Spanish
language has caused the erasure of womxn and
non-binary folks. Gendered terms like Latino
are not inclusive and should not be used when
referring to large audiences, in order to ensure
everyone is addressed and folks aren’t
misgendered. Some argue that the “x” in Latinx
breaks Spanish conventions and anglicizes the
language in a negative way. However, Latin
American citizens may use the ungendered
ending of an “e,” already existent in the
language, rather than an x to flow better in their
18
native tongue of Spanish.
If you are not familiar Spanish
conventions or with gender neutral terms, these
seemingly infinite combinations of letters might
seem confusing and intimidating at first. And
that is completely understandable. Changes in
language can be stressful or overwhelming to
keep up with, but it is important to remember
that ​language is a social construct​. It is ever
changing and does not need to adhere to rules or
regulations. We saw this decades ago in the
evolution from Hispanic to Latino. The
movement for Latinx/e/@ is simply our
generation’s new wave of seeking more
accurate, more inclusive terms for our people.
However, we should acknowledge that as long
as our terms include “Latin,” they will include a
reference to colonialism. With this in mind,
language is ​ours ​to mold and evolve, to
represent and empower.
Will we see more terms for our people in our
lifetime? What should they look like? ◻
18 Slemp, Katie. “Latino, Latina, Latin@, Latine, and Latinx: Gender Inclusive
Oral Expression in Spanish .” ​Western Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies​, 27
Aug. 2020, ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9794&context=etd.
9

THE BIG
PICTURE

U.S. Demographics
By Patricia Bejarano
educated ethnic group within the US. As of
2017, about 16% of the Latinx/ Hispanic
population has earned a bachelor’s degree or
higher, 25% has earned a two-year degree, and
59% has obtained a high school diploma or less.
23
There are higher rates of poverty and
income within the community. The average
household income is $42,500 a year.
Construction and agriculture are the largest
industries that Latinx/ Hispanic people are
employed in but they serve important roles in
24
other industries as well.
The United States (US) is comprised of
approximately 57 million Latinx or Hispanic
people making up 16.7 % of the population and
19
the second largest ethnic group. The largest
20
population resides in Los Angeles, California.
About 27% are from California, with Texas
holding the second largest population, then
21
Florida and New York. Over 60% of the
Latinx/ Hispanic population is of Mexican
descent making them the largest group within
the US. Puerto Ricans are the second largest
group following Mexicans and the third largest
22
are Cubans. Other Latinx/ Hispanic
populations include Dominicans, Central
Americans (excluding Mexicans), and South
Americans.
According to the Census Bureau, the
Latinx/Hispanic population is among the least
The results for the 2020 US Census will
be released by next year which will give a better
overview of the Latinx/ Hispanic demographics.
These statistics will help determine the amount
of funding, services, products, and support for
the communities within the US. ◻
19 US Census Bureau Public Information Office. "Most Children Younger
Than Age 1 are Minorities, Census Bureau Reports - Population - Newsroom -
U.S. Census Bureau". ​United States Census Bureau​, 5 Mar. 2015.
20 "US Census Press Releases; More Than 300 Counties Now
"Majority-Minority"". ​United States Census Bureau, ​25 Oct. 2008.
21 Bureau, U.S. Census. "American FactFinder - Results". ​United States
Census Bureau​, 25 Jan. 2015.
22 Bureau, U.S. Census. "American FactFinder - Results". ​United States
Census Bureau​, 25 Jan. 2015.
23 “Educational Attainment of Hispanic Population in the U.S., 2017.” ​Pew
Research Center Hispanic Trends​, Pew Research Center, 16 Sept. 2019,
www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/chart/u-s-hispanics-education/.
24 “The Economic State of the Latino Community in America.” ​Joint
Economic Committee​, July 2016,
www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/c80b26fc-9d13-4537-a7a3-aa926e483
cdf/the-economic-state-of-the-latino-community-in-america-july-2016-update
-final-with-appendix-table-.pdf.
11

The United States: El
Metiche
By Jessica Cruz-Taylor
We all know that one person that loves to
stick their nose where it doesn't belong, where
they have no business interfering: El Metiche.
Well, in case you didn’t know, in the very large
and complex world of international politics, the
United States is most definitely El Metiche.
Almost all of Latin America has been
plagued by political issues for centuries, largely
stemming from class, racial, and gender
inequalities remaining from colonial
occupations. Governmental regimes established
by colonial invaders thrive for years, making
money off the back of the working class and
collecting resources to support their capitalistic
organizations and personal pursuits. It may
seem like until recently with the rise of social
justice groups and human rights activists across
the world, that these governments were met
with silence from citizens, this is not true.
Unjust political leaders have been able to
remain in power for so long in many countries
with outside aid, and the United States is a
country that has provided the most money and
resources to government regimes in two major
ways:
1. A US-backed party overthrows a
democratic government, as is suspected
in 2019’s Presidential elections in
Bolivia.
2. Support a current party that is in power
to remain in power, despite wide
protests.
(See photo for details)
This article will give a background on
three Latin American countries where the
United States has intervened in Latin American
politics. This serves as a historical overview- a
resource to better understand only a few of the
many instances of US involvement and does not
in any way support the view of any of the
political parties described.
Argentina
In the early months of 1976, The
Argentine government was faced with a coup
d'état, an overthrow of the current government
by an insurgent political party. The controlling
party at the time, led by Isabel Peron, the first
woman in the world to hold the “President”
title, came to an end when she was arrested
under accusations of numerous crimes,
including embezzlement, and forcing the
disappearance of several left-wing students and
25
activists. Peron was exiled to Spain, where she
has remained since, and Argentine courts
dismissed counts against her in 2017.
However, the focus here is in the
political party that overthrew Peron’s
government causing the activation of martial
law, where the military forcefully took control
of the highest government offices. The military
fights and protests that emerged from this coup
are known as ​The Dirty War​, mainly because
30,000 lives of activists, protestors, and young
protestors of the military regime were taken. 26
25 Blakeley, Ruth. State Terrorism and Neoliberlism: The North in the South.
Taylor & Francis, 2019.
26 Blakeley, Ruth. State Terrorism and Neoliberlism: The North in the South.
Taylor & Francis, 2019.
12

The military coup in Argentina was
supported by the United States military. Reports
even came in of the United States Secretary of
State at the time, Henry Kissinger, telling its
leaders to get the coup done quickly before
human rights activists in the United States were
able to report human rights abuses.
Those put in power by the coup
remained in power until the democratic election
of Raul Alfonsin as President in 1983.
Panama
Construction of the Panama Canal began
in 1881 and was finished in 1914 by US
engineering companies. In 1904, the United
States had taken over the construction of the
canal and in the process had put the land under
US command (the land was not returned until
27
2000).
At the time, Panama was under the
political control of a relatively popular leader,
Omar Torrijos, who had taken power in 1969
and instituted many public works programs to
28
benefit lower class Panamanians. In 1981, he
was involved in a fatal plane crash, and many
27 Theodore Roosevelt's Third State of the Union Address, 1903.
28 Richey, Warren. “Noriega Strategy Unfolds Attorneys Hope To Drag Past
U.S. Role Into Trial.” South Florida Sun Sentinel , 1 May 1991,
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1991-05-01-9101220014-story.html.
since have speculated that the United States was
indeed involved in the cause of the crash.
After Torrijos death, Manuel Noriega
took control of the country in a coup supported
by the United States military since Noriega had
sided with the US in negotiations for the land in
which the Panama Canal is. In power, Noriega
received funding from drug pushers and
received protection from the Drug Enforcement
Agency because of his close relations with the
29
United States CIA.
Even so, US President George H. W.
Bush declared that the US would no longer
support a drug trafficker, which caused the US
invasion of Panama.
Venezuela
In 2013, after a chaotic Presidency (and a
reported US coup in 2002), Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez died in office, leaving
his succession of office to Nicolas Maduro.
Under Maduro, more than four million
Venezuelans have been forced to flee the
country due to public military exercises and an
estimated number of 9,000 people have been
30
killed. Maduro has had the lowest approval
29 Richey, Warren. “Noriega Strategy Unfolds Attorneys Hope To Drag Past
U.S. Role Into Trial.” South Florida Sun Sentinel , 1 May 1991,
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1991-05-01-9101220014-story.html.
30 Cumming-Bruce, Nick. “Venezuelan 'Death Squads' Killed Thousands and
Covered It up, UN Says.” ​The Independent​, Independent Digital News and
Media, 5 July 2019,
13

rating of any political leader in the country’s
history (14%), and after an election with the
lowest voter turnout in history, Maduro was
reelected. However, many leaders across the
world did not recognize his win, and in 2018,
Juan Guaido declared himself acting President.
31
The political unrest continues today, with US
officials stating in 2019 that they were intent on
removing Maduro from office, through
32
whatever means necessary.
All of these are very clear examples of
the United States’ continued imperialism and
colonialism, especially in countries with already
fragile political systems because of past colonial
actions. ◻
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-death-squads-special
-action-forces-killed-thousands-un-a8989616.html.
31 Wyss, Jim. “'The Chain of Command Is Broken,' Guaido Tells Supporters
upon His Return to Venezuela.” TribLIVE, 4 Mar. 2019,
triblive.com/news/world/the-chain-of-command-is-broken-guaido-tells-suppor
ters-upon-his-return-to-venezuela/.
32 Stevenson, Chris. “Venezuela State Uses Tear Gas on Protestors as Pompeo
Threatens US Military Action.” The Independent, Independent Digital News
and Media, 1 May 2019,
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-news-update-live-us
-military-guaido-maduro-protest-latest-coup-uprising-a8895041.html.
14

Puerto Rican Women
and the Pill
By Fatima Valerio
What Happened?
Birth control pills are the number one
form of contraceptive used in the United States.
33
However, many of us don’t know that Puerto
Rican women in the 1950s were one of the first
women to take Enovid, the first birth control
pills in the world.
In order to get approval from the FDA
and release it to the mass public, Gregory Pincus
and John Rock, creators of the pill, had to do a
large-scale human trial. Unknown to them,
Puerto Rican women participated in these
clinical trials. They simply thought that they
were taking a pill that would help them not get
pregnant, they did not know that they were
being tested on. These women took Enovid
which “contained much higher doses of
hormones than modern-day birth control pills,
34
and caused significant side effects.” Many
experienced bloating, pain, blood clots, nausea,
and for three unfortunate women, death.
However, none of the complaints these women
made were ever taken seriously, they were
easily dismissed, and no autopsy/ investigations
33 “Contraceptive Use in the United States.” ​Guttmacher Institute​, 17 Apr.
2020, www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/contraceptive-use-united-states.
34 Blakemore, Erin. “The First Birth Control Pill Used Puerto Rican Women
as Guinea Pigs.” ​History.com​, A&E Television Networks, 9 May 2018,
https://www.history.com/news/birth-control pill-history-puerto-rico-enovid.
were conducted in order to see if the women’s
cause of death was due to the pill. 35
Why Puerto Rico?
There is no definitive answer to why
Puerto Rico was chosen as the site for this trial.
However, many predictions can be made as to
why Pincus and Rock chose Puerto Rican
women.
Puerto Rican Industrialization
Industrialization had created more
poverty as farm workers and agricultural roles in
society were diminished by companies moving
to Puerto Rico for cheap labor and tax cuts
(which were encouraged by the US
government). Because of the increase in
poverty, politicians sought ways to fix this
problem. Programs such as Operation Bootstrap
sought to displace Puerto Ricans from their
homeland into the US, and population control
could have been enough motivation to control a
marginalized group.
Ties in the Eugenics Movement
The rise in the belief of this movement,
which aimed to prevent socially undesirable
people from procreating, had already been in
effect for many years before these trials.
Eugenicists advocated compulsory sterilization
to improve society by eliminating its “socially
inadequate” members. Margaret Sanger, who
35 “The Puerto Rico Pill Trials.” ​PBS​, Public Broadcasting Service,
www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-puerto-rico-pill-trials/.
15

was the most known activist for birth control,
opened the first clinic that would later become
Planned Parenthood and worked alongside
Pincus and Rock, advocating for eugenics as
well. “Sanger argued that birth control could
help wipe out ‘the greatest present menace to
civilization’—people living in extreme poverty
and those with mental illnesses and physical
36
disabilities.” Puerto Rico was seen as being
overpopulated by people living in poverty and
many believed that an effective solution would
be to target the reproductive rights of women
who couldn’t have known any better.
While the pill plays a very important role
in many women’s daily routine and their form of
birth control, learning the history of simple
inventions like this highlights the
institutionalized racism that is still very
prevalent today. It also exhibits parts of history
that are never talked about but are key to
explaining current policies and methods in the
medical and political fields. ◻
36 Blakemore, Erin. “The First Birth Control Pill Used Puerto Rican Women
as Guinea Pigs.” ​History.com​, A&E Television Networks, 9 May 2018,
https://www.history.com/news/birth-control pill-history-puerto-rico-enovid.
16

LULAC: All for One,
One for All
By Patricia Bejarano
that by assimilating, people would not face
discrimination which they believed stemmed
from racism. They assumed that by working
hard and assimilating into American culture,
Mexican Americans could improve their
socio-economic standing and treatment within
38
the US.
The League of United Latin American
Citizens (LULAC) was formed on February
17th, 1920 in Corpus Christi, Texas. This
Hispanic Organization is one of the oldest and
largest organization within the United States
(US). Hispanic veterans of World War I
established this organization in order to fight
against ethnic discrimination of Latinos in the
US. “The goal of LULAC is to advance the
economic condition, educational attainment, the
political influence, housing, health, and civil
rights of Hispanic people who are United States
citizens.” 37
The main ideology of this group was to
have individuals assimilate to the dominant
culture of the US which was
European-American culture. The reason being
37 Estrada, Josue. "LULAC and American GI Forum: History and Geography
1929-1974". ​Mapping American Social Movements​.
Members of LULAC rejected ties with
Mexico in order to prove their alliance to the
US. For this reason, only US citizens of
39
Mexican descent were allowed to join. Their
constitution mirrored that of the US constitution
and they used English as their official language.
Immigrants had closer ties with Mexico and
spoke Spanish and therefore were not fit to be
40
members of LULAC. Being forced to
assimilate can be detrimental to the culture and
identity of individuals. As it has been seen
throughout history, many minority communities
have been stripped away of their culture.
Languages have been lost, traditions, diversity,
identity all to conform to the dominant culture
of the US. Organizations like LULAC were
created to help communities combat
38 "LULAC History - All for One and One for All". ​League of United Latin
American Citizens.
39 Gutiérrez, David Gregory. ​Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans,
Mexican immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity.​ University of California
Press, 1995, ISBN 9780520202191.
40 Márquez, Benjamin.​ Constructing Identities in Mexican-American Political
Organizations: Choosing Issues, Taking Sides.​ Austin: University of Texas
Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-292-75277-1.
17

discrimination and receive assistance in
different areas, however, it came with a price:
loss of our own culture.
In Del Rio ISD v. Salvatierra, LULAC
sued Del Rio Independent School District for
segregating Mexican Americans in schools
because of their race in 1930. The court did not
rule in their favor and desegregation did not
occur until later on but this case marked an
important path for future cases to come.
In later decades, LULAC members began
turning away from the assimilation ideologies
and participated in protests and demanded funds
41
and grants from the government. They fought
for the desegregation of schools and support of
Mexican Americans. As of today, membership
and funds have decreased significantly with the
rise of other organizations and LULAC’s failure
to accommodate the needs of Mexican
42
Americans. However, LULAC still remains to
be one of the oldest and largest organizations to
have existed in the US. ◻
41 "LULAC History - All for One and One for All". ​League of United Latin
American Citizens.
42 Márquez, Benjamin. ​LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American
Political Organization. ​Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993, ISBN
9780292751545.
18

The Brown Berets:
Then & Now
By Tatiana Bustos
The Brown Berets first began as an
informal group of Chicano high school students
from Los Angeles, meeting to discuss the
diverse issues that impacted Mexican
Americans. None of its founding members
could have anticipated the resulting
country-wide impact that their group would
have: an impact that is still in practice even
today.
In the early years, the
group was originally called
the Young Citizens for
Community Action. At this
stage, they worked to
support Dr. Julian Nava’s
campaign for school board member in Los
Angeles. Dr. Nava would go on to serve as the
first Mexican-American on the Los Angeles
Unified School District Board of Education,
serving three consecutive terms before being
appointed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico by
43
President Jimmy Carter. Even from the
beginning, The Brown Berets knew how to pick
the good ones!
The group made their first
name change in 1967 to the
Young Chicanos for
Community Action
44
(YCCA). Through their
new headquarters at La
Piranha Coffee House, the group set into motion
43 “Julian Nava Collection.” Oviatt Library,
library.csun.edu/SCA/Peek-in-the-Stacks/julian-nava.
44 “Los Angeles Conservancy.” Brown Beret Headquarters | Los Angeles
Conservancy, www.laconservancy.org/locations/brown-beret-headquarters.
the Chicano Moratorium of the 1970s. The
Chicano Moratoriums are now known as the
historic marches of East Los Angeles which
pushed Latinx civil rights discussions into the
forefront of the national conversation from
45
December 1969 to January 1971.
The organization changed its name for a
final time to the Brown Berets,
after the brown berets that
members wore to signify their
dedication to the cause of unity
and resistance. By 1969, the
Brown Berets had become a
national organization, with
chapters established in many cities across the
46
U.S., including Dallas, St. Paul, and Detroit.
The Brown Berets in Los Angeles
worked to counter police brutality against
Mexican-Americans. This conflict was
exacerbated in August of 1970, as a result of the
escalation of an anti-war demonstration
organized by the Chicano Moratorium
Committee, which resulted in the death of
Rubén Salazar, a Mexican-American journalist
47
for the Los Angeles Times.
Other Brown Beret chapters focused on
social justice issues that demanded equality for
Mexican-Americans in employment, housing,
45 “Los Angeles Conservancy.” Chicano Moratorium | Los Angeles
Conservancy, www.laconservancy.org/issues/chicano-moratorium.
46 “Brown Beret Chapters 1969-1972.” Brown Berets Chapters Map -
Mapping American Social Movements,
depts.washington.edu/moves/brown_beret_map.shtml.
47 Trinidad, Elson. “August 1970 - Chicano Moratorium Protests in East L.A.;
Journalist Rubén Salazar Killed.” ​KCET​, 28 Aug. 2018,
www.kcet.org/kcet-50th-anniversary/august-1970-chicano-moratorium-protest
s-in-east-la-journalist-ruben-salazar.
19

48
and education. They also advocated for
bilingual education opportunities and pressured
government officials for voting rights and
second amendment invocation in the face of
racially provoked assaults. Nationally, the
Brown Berets organized marches, anti-war
protests, and even student walk-outs. Thousands
of Mexican-Americans from all areas of the
U.S. uniting to tell the country, “Oye! Listen to
us!”
The most notable of these
demonstrations are referred to as the East Los
Angeles Blowouts of 1968. Over the course of
two-weeks, at least 10,000 students from East
L.A. and the surrounding area walked out of
their classrooms in protest against the corrupt
school system that did not support them. This
issue included teachers who were openly racist,
outdated and worn-out textbooks, and an
increasingly high dropout rate. The students
presented the Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD) with a list of demands, and
attended school board meetings to ensure that
political promises were
49
kept. While these
walkouts may have not
completely solved all
school related issues for
48 “Chicano Movements: A Geographic History.” Chicano Movement
Geography - Mapping American Social Movements,
depts.washington.edu/moves/Chicano_geography.shtml.
49 Arellano, Gustavo. “Op-Ed: Parkland Student Activists Should Study the
East L.A. Blowouts That Launched a Movement in California.” Los Angeles
Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2018,
www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-arellano-blowouts-20180228-story.htm
l.
Mexican -Americans permanently, it is
important to remember them as a moment in
time when Latinos’ voices were heard. When
young people could stand up against oppression
and demand what was rightfully theirs.
The Brown Berets
gained significant media
attention in the summer of
1972 when the Brown
Berets’ “prime minister”
and one of the first
founding members, David Sanchez, organized
an invasion of the Catalina Islands off the coast
of California near Los Angeles. They argued
that, while the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo had ceded
the land now known
as California to the
U.S., it did not
extend to islands
offshore. “By this
plan, we wish to
bring you the true plight of the Chicano, and the
problems of people of Mexican descent living
50
in the United States,” Sanchez wrote.
Throughout their time in action, the
Brown Berets maintained a high visibility in the
media while also promoting a paramilitary
stance. This made them a large target for
racially motivated attacks and victims of
intrusions and harassment by L.A. police and
51
even the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The
L.A. police department went so far as to send
undercover officers to infiltrate the Brown
Berets. These infiltrators acted as spies and
50 “Nearly Half a Century Ago, Chicano Activists Occupied Catalina Island.
Locals Feared a Mexican 'Invasion'.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times,
16 Aug. 2020,
www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-16/chicano-brown-berets-catalinaisland-occupation.
51 Diaz, Angel. “Finding Aid for the Ernesto Chavez Collection of Chicano
Movement FBI Records 1968-2011.” Online Archive of California, 2016.
20

violent provocateurs, all for the purpose of
arresting the leadership and disrupting the
52
organization on a whole. Additionally, the
top-down military
structure of the
Brown Berets did
not allow for the
development of new
leadership, or for the incorporation of Latina
leaders, who in fact, did a lot of the internal
organizational work without credit or
acknowledgement.
The Brown Berets’ toxic structure
ultimately led to its disbandment in 1972. By
then, their “prime minister” Sanchez had driven
the organization to petty publicity stunts and
they had all lost
touch from the
meaningful change
they had instigated
and sustained for
so long.
The current group that calls themselves
the Brown Berets are not organized, and
completely male dominated. They have not
been involved in any major movements for
social justice and change. It is clear that any
Chicano organization
hoping to fight
injustice in the U.S.
today, must not only
be clear in their
convictions, but also
extend to include
Chicanos of all ages and genders. Valuing and
promoting the leadership of women is
especially important as well.
There are several contemporary
organizations, under different names, such as
53 54
Mijente and Movimiento Cosecha which
continue to embody the spirit of la causa today.
Of course, the iconic look of the brown beret
also continues to be a symbol of resistance and
change in the Latinx community, it reflects our
history and our fight for justice. And though
these modern organizations may not center
around the fashion choices of a brown beret,
they continue to spread the message of the
original Brown Berets from all those years ago
in a little classroom in East L.A. ◻
52 “The Brown Berets: Young Chicano Revolutionaries.” Brown Berets, 2005,
inside.sfuhs.org/dept/history/US_History_reader/Chapter14/brownberets.htm.
53 “A Digital and Grassroots Hub for the Latinx Community.” Mijente,
mijente.net/.
54 “Movimiento Cosecha.” Facebook, 2020,
www.facebook.com/movimientocosecha/.
21

The Zoot Suit Riots
By Gabriela Arribas
Taken from the name of the fashionable
suits Latinx and other minority groups wore at
the time, the Zoot Suit riots were a series of
clashes between uniformed officers at the naval
base and Latinx youth in Los Angeles. Zoot
suits were essentially just really baggy suits that
youth would wear to go out dancing during the
30s and 40s.
While the Great Depression period of
inflation, homelessness, and joblessness raged
on, people found ways to keep hope and love
alive through these dance halls. There were
heightened racial tensions as
the US signed a deal with
Mexico to fill job positions
that had been vacated during
WWII. Many white
Americans were angered by
this increased immigration.
Zoot suits were also difficult
to make in a time where wool was being
rationed for the war, so they became a symbol of
being "un-American" to some white Americans
which also increased racial tensions. Still, this
did not stop the zoot suiters in growing cities as
zoot suits became a way for Latinx youth to
distinguish themselves from not only American
culture but also Mexican culture.
Popular figures of the time like Malcolm
X could even be seen wearing a zoot suit as
pictured here to the right in the Malcolm X
movie. At the height of the racial tensions, zoot
suits became a symbol of delinquency when
many white Americans associated those who
wore them with gangs. This was especially true
after the Sleepy Lagoon murder in August led to
the death of a Mexican American teen. Under
the orders of the California governor, the Los
Angeles police department rounded up more
than 600 people, mostly Mexican American, and
some were tried and convicted for murder.
Although their convictions were reversed, many
white Americans associated zoot suiters with
gangs after this.
The riots began on June 3 when a clash
between Naval officers and Mexican American
youth ended with a beat-up sailor. A few days
later, the Naval officers came back to beat up
anybody they saw on the streets that wore a zoot
suit. As the days went on, more naval officers
joined in along with citizens and off duty
policemen who all helped to find and beat
anybody they saw wearing a zoot suit. Biased
local media that went against the zoot suiters
fueled this conflict even further. This extended
to racial violence against anybody Black, Asian,
or Latinx youth- even those not wearing the zoot
suits. Police officers watched the violence on the
side and arrested the victims, demonstrating
their support for the naval officers. The riots
continued for 8 days until the military barracks
were closed and the naval officers could not
leave.
These riots were not only characteristic to
Los Angeles as similar racially motivated rioting
55 56
began in other cities across the US. ◻
55 Coroian, George. “Zoot Suit Riots.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica​,
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 May 2020,
www.britannica.com/event/Zoot-Suit-Riots.
56 History.com Editors. “Zoot Suit Riots.”​ History​, A&E Television Networks,
27 Sept. 2017, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/zoot-suit-riots.
22

The Impact of Student
Activism
By Fatima Valerio
In the first week of March 1968 in East
L.A., a “pre-planned” group of students walked
out from their classes at
Wilson High School,
eventually setting off a
series of mass walkouts,
or what they referred to
as blowouts, throughout
the city in the fight for a
better education and
access to more resources.
The East LA Blowouts
were a collaboration and the result of many
prior events. While, more straightforwardly, the
students were protesting first-hand accounts of
cruel treatments in their school, they were also
inadvertently protesting a history of racial
injustices in the education system in the US.
Very quickly over 20,000 students from five
East L.A. schools (Lincoln, Wilson, Garfield,
Belmont, and Roosevelt) took part of this event
and walked out. Till this day, this is still the
biggest student-led protest in US history, which
resulted in a change of identity among the
Mexican American youth.
During this time period, many students
faced harsh circumstances in their school. They
were heavily punished for speaking Spanish in
school, “more than 50 percent of
Mexican-descent students [were] leaving school
57
before graduation,” they had overcrowded
57 Haro, Carlos Manuel. “Write Your Own History.” ​Aztlan​ 39, no. 2 (Fall
2014): 149–53.
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/login.aspx?direct=true
&db=asn&AN=98363961.
classrooms and schools, and in general, were
seen as incapable and only good for labor. Their
teachers, as well as the whole educational
system, assumed that Mexican American
students did not have potential, resulting in a
lack of support to pursue any education.
However, it was also important to realize that
these walkouts were the result of hundreds of
years of racism in the US, and more specifically
segregation that also impacted Mexicans and
Mexican Americans. While Brown v. Board of
education desegregated schools for Blacks and
white in 1954, prior to this, the case of Mendez
v. Westminster (1946) also declared it
unconstitutional to segregate those of Mexican
descent into distinct schools. The
“implementation of ‘separate but equal’
schooling […] limited the quality of education
available to students of color and all but
guaranteed their future school failure; this in
turn limited social mobility and perpetuated
unequal access to employment, housing, and
58
health care.” This is what students, like the
ones involved in the protests, decided to speak
out about it.
The blowouts were all very well planned
out and were a result of prior meetings, events,
and the collaboration of different organizations.
In fact, “an important component of organizing
58 Quirós, William A. Calvo. “Thank You Maestro.” ​Aztlan ​39, no. 2 (Fall
2014): 155– 65,
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/login.aspx?direct=tru
e &db=asn&AN=98363962.
23

the blowouts was the active participation in
meetings that helped to develop or support the
59
demonstrations.” Here is where the students
made their lists of demands, including demands
such as smaller classrooms and more Mexican
American administration, which became their
main form of justification for their actions, and
what they presented to the School Board
multiple times. The blowouts lasted for over a
week, with heavy disapproval and punishment
from administrators. Students were threatened
with removal of scholarships, and academic
discipline. However, most harshly, the walkouts
eventually led to some form of violence as the
police were quickly sent, and they treated the
students like if they were rioting, which they
weren’t. Eventually, the students were promised
a review of their demands in the next School
Board Meeting, and while that did happen, no
change occurred. On top of that, weeks later, 13
were arrested in conspiring to initiate the
walkouts and they each faced up to 66 years in
60
prison.
The aftermath of the walkouts was not
what many had envisioned. Many of the
demands the students believed in and fought for
were ignored by the school board, and
additionally, people from their community were
arrested and feared prosecution because of the
walkouts. However, their resistance still
continued, and a state appeals court exonerated
them, throwing out all the charges as they were
61
protected under the first amendment. Both the
walkouts and the legal consequences helped
legally established Mexican Americans as
“non-white” aiding in their future fight for
greater, more equal and rightful opportunities
they were being denied.
While the students did not have many of
their demands met by the school board, they still
had bigger victories. There was a change to the
spirits of Mexican American students as they
were able to redefine themselves and realize the
power they held against racial injustice. In the
months and years following the blowouts, the
number of Chicano students attending college in
California tripled, quadrupled, and even
quintupled the number of Chicanos attending
before. Walkouts like this, and even the Chicano
movement, gave marginalized groups of people
the ability to fight for social injustice and others
their rights. It is what inspired many other
Mexican Americans to become educated, to be
able to pursue a career as school administrators
or even as politicians. These blowouts also
inspired other protests and the formation of
groups such as MeCHa, which is still active till
this day. The youth developed an identity for
themselves that would follow them into
empowering future generations of successful
Mexican Americans. ◻
59 Bernal, Dolores Delgado. “Grassroots Leadership Reconceptualized:
Chicana Oral Histories and the 1968 East Los Angeles School Blowouts.”
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies ​19, no. 2 (June 1998): 113–42.
doi:10.2307/3347162.
60 López, Ian F. Haney. “The Chicano Movement and East L.A. Thirteen.”
Racism on Trial the Chicano Fight for Justice (2003): 157-177.
61 López, Ian F. Haney. “The Chicano Movement and East L.A. Thirteen.”
Racism on Trial the Chicano Fight for Justice (2003): 157-177.
24

Other
A Poem by David Martinez
Glancing down at this job application,
I can feel its bold, dark black ink judging me.
Are you American Indian? No
Are you Asian? No
Black? Native Hawaiian? No
White? HELL No
Oh, okay. So you must fall under “other” then.
NO, I am Latino (Latinx)
The ink continues to attempt to chain me with its
ignorance
It mocks,
“But you talk white”
I articulate and use proper grammar.
I am brown and educated thanks to Brown V Board
of Education.
“But you do not speak Spanish”
First off, it’s Español
Secondly, y a ti que te importa (mind your own
business).
Trust me, I have heard it all.
I am proud to be brown.
Brown like the color of my eyes, which when met
by the sun shine brighter than your blue eyes ever
will.
Brown like the jewelry you wear because, to you,
we accessorize this country with our culture.
Brown like the countless pennies kept from my
people’s salaries because they are “aliens”.
Brown like the mud rotting under the government’s
boots as they attempt to kick us out of this country.
But we are not going anywhere,
We, the strongest of the strong, will take your
punches,
We will continue to rise above the labels,
We will continue to rise above the stereotypes,
We will continue to rise above the fact that, to you,
we are the “other”
Because, to us, we are the anchor.
25

WHERE
WE STAND

Demographics at
Urbana-Champaign
By Isabel Camacho
Gentrification is the process of
transforming a poor, urban area by having
wealthier people move into the area. Once they
have moved into the area, they work on
improving housing and creating new businesses.
As a result, the current inhabitants of the area
are displaced from their homes and community.
I grew up in Chicago and saw gentrification
happen all around me in many neighborhoods
including Pilsen, Little Village, and Humboldt
Park. For some reason I thought this wouldn’t
be the case once I moved to attend the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
However, after only a couple of semesters of
being on campus, I have come to the conclusion
that university gentrification is also prevalent at
UIUC. As a Chicana woman on campus, I have
had a difficult time adjusting to the change of
moving cities. More importantly, it feels as if
my culture isn’t represented on campus, much
less in the surrounding areas of
Urbana-Champaign. It is much more evident
since the University of Illinois is a
predominately White institution.
Housing
The first thing that I realized was how
many different options of housing I was able to
see on campus. However, it was interesting to
notice that the more modern apartments and
condos were located in Champaign rather than
Urbana. Also, most of the nicer condos were
only found on Green Street in Champaign, IL.
When searching for my own apartment for my
Junior year, I quickly realized that the more
affordable apartments were in Urbana, IL.
Being a first-generation, low-income college
student, I have to find the most affordable
option. Which is why a student like me might
not have the possibility of leasing a luxurious
condominium like the ones being built all
through Green Street. Most affordable housing
options aren’t the best either. Think about the
message that this sends to low-income college
students. It’s another reminder that we don’t
have the same opportunities as most of our
fellow classmates.
Income & Poverty
If we compare the household income in
Champaign and Urbana, we can definitely see a
large difference. According to the U.S Census,
the median household income in 2018 was
$51,692, in comparison to the median
62
household income of $35,820 in Urbana.
Additionally, if we also compare the poverty
rate of both cities, it was 19.2% in Champaign,
and 30.8% in Urbana back in 2018. We can
clearly see that the more affluent city of the two
is Champaign. Additionally, the poverty rate is
higher in Urbana. Therefore, it makes sense that
the community is focusing on improving the
62 “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Urbana city, Illinois.” ​United States
Census Bureau,​ 2019, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/urbanacityillinois.
27

housing in Champaign since it is the wealthier
of the two cities. However, this affects the
community in Urbana, because they continue to
live in cheaper and run-down apartments.
Champaign
According to the United States Census,
in 2020 about 71.8% of the population is White.
Meanwhile only about 13.8% are African
American, 10.9% Asian, 6.3% Hispanic or
63
Latino, and 0.4% American Indian. As a
result, it appears that Champaign is a
predominately White city. I believe it’s
interesting that the more luxurious
condominiums are being built in the more
affluent and Whiter part of the two cities. It’s
almost as if the focus is on improving the
wealthier and also Whiter city. Meanwhile, the
minority community in Urbana is not being
invested in as much.
Urbana
As mentioned in the United States
Census, as of 2020 about 59.1% of the
population is White. Whereas 18.9% are Asian,
17.7% African American, 6.4% Hispanic or
64
Latino, and 0.2% American Indian. Therefore,
Urbana is also a predominately White city as
well, however it has a bit more diversity than
Champaign. Also, one of the only Hispanic
supermarket stores in the area, El Progreso, is in
Urbana. I remember being really upset the last
time I went grocery shopping at County Market,
which is located in Champaign. I was so
frustrated because I couldn’t find quality,
authentic tortillas, El Milagro, there. For many
Hispanics, this brand of tortillas is a staple food
item. Not being able to find it at the nearest
grocery store to campus made me feel like I
didn’t belong there.
UIUC
Taking a look at the demographics of the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, it is
apparent that it is a predominantly White
institution. According to the Office of Inclusion
& Intercultural Relations (2017), the total
enrollment for both undergraduate and graduate
students is 47,826. The enrolled student
population is 20,778 (43.4%) White, 11,084
(23.1%) International, 7,171 (14.9%) Asian,
4,439 (9.3%) Hispanic, 2,499 (5.2%) African
American, 1,268 (2.6%) Multiracial, 29 (0.06%)
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and 25
65
(0.05%) Native American/Alaska Native.
Considering these demographics, it is evident
that people of color are underrepresented on
campus. Thus, making it much harder for
students of color to find their place on campus.
More importantly, this makes it much more
difficult for students of color to feel represented
on campus.
63 “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Champaign County, Illinois.” ​United
States Census Bureau​, 2019,
www.census.gov/quickfacts/champaigncountyillinois.
64 “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Urbana city, Illinois.” ​United States
Census Bureau,​ 2019, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/urbanacityillinois.
65 “Demographics.” ​Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations​, 2017,
oiir.illinois.edu/about/demographics.
28

COVID-19
boast about their commitment to diversity as a
part of their mission yet contribute to this
phenomenon by moving in and disrupting
communities predominantly occupied by people
66
of color.” We see this happening with the few
COVID-19 testing sites that are available in
Urbana versus Champaign. As well as, with the
little to no representation for students of color
on campus. ​◻
The effects of the pandemic are also
resulting in differences between both cities. If
we look at the number of testing sites in both
cities, you will quickly notice a major
difference. For instance, the major testing site
that most residents of the community aside from
on campus locations have been the Marketplace
Mall in Champaign, IL. It’s interesting to see
the institution’s role during the pandemic. As
one of our writers, Jorge, mentioned, it appears
that college students are more privileged in the
sense that we have more testing sites available
to us across campus than anyone else in the city.
Additionally, poor urban planning and other
institutional factors have left minority
populations such as Hispanics, Latinos, and
African Americans, more vulnerable to
COVID-19 than our White counterparts.
However, the only testing site available
to the community appears to be located in the
mall of Champaign. Like I previously
mentioned, Urbana has a higher population of
Hispanics, Latinos, and African Americans.
Therefore, it would make sense to provide
Urbana with more testing locations for the
minority population. However, it appears that
White people in Champaign have an advantage.
To conclude, “Many institutions,
especially those that are predominately white,
66 Mowbray, Santana. “Fresh Talk: When Urban College Campuses Lead to
Gentrification.” ​Hartford Courant​, 4 Dec. 2019,
www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-fresh-talk-mowbray-gentrification-12
04-20191204-vknuxczcpneglgsi7xbe7jja24-story.html.
29

History of the Chief:
Who do you honor?
By Jorge Corral
The 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act gave
educational institutions access to abundant
acres of land to create state universities where
residents were provided affordable higher
education without having to leave their state of
67
residence. However, the land in question has
come with a gruesome history of dispossession,
ethnocide and environmental discrimination
against American Indian Nations that should
never be forgotten.
Among the Big Ten Schools that are in
existence because of the land grant acts, it is
none other than the University of Illinois sitting
on land belonging to the Peoria, Kaskaskia,
Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa,
Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi,
68
Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. The
University has put out a formal land
acknowledgement that states the “gratitude and
appreciation to those whose territory,” they are
69
on.
Although this is a step in the right
direction in addressing American Indians
Nations and their land, Illinois has not partnered
with them in efforts to work with and honor
them. An acknowledgement without action is
not enough to right the wrongs the university
67 Nash, Margaret A. “The Dark History of Land-Grant Universities.” ​The
Washington Post ​, 8 Nov. 2019,
www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/08/dark
history-land-grant-universities/.
68 “OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR.” ​Office of the Chancellor | University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign​, 2018,
chancellor.illinois.edu/land_acknowledgement.html.
69 “OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR.” ​Office of the Chancellor | University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign​, 2018,
chancellor.illinois.edu/land_acknowledgement.html.
has committed. Without action it is merely
performative. The only way to honor American
Indian Nations whose land we are on is through
reparations and land redistribution. American
Indian Nations should benefit from University
resources as much as the students do.
Amongst other large organizations and
universities, Illinois and their students openly
supported the stereotypical and disrespectful
mascot that was usually portrayed by a white
student that did not have racial, ethnic, or
religious ties to any American Indian Nation.
Born in 1926, The Chief Illiniwek mascot
performed gymnastic dances that mocked
sacred American Indian rituals, while
insensitively and wrongfully wearing a sacred
70
eagle headdress. The Chief drew on American
Indian stereotypes trying to represent the Illini
Nations while wearing traditional Sioux attire,
appropriating and misrepresenting American
71
Indian tradition.
The University and Chief supporters have
claimed that this was their way of honoring the
land and the people who once lived here. But
this in no way was honoring them. It is not
possible to honor and mock someone at the
same time. It is hypocritical and embarrassing
70 “The Program in American Indian Studies.” ​Mascot Timeline | American
Indian Studies Program at Illinois​,
ais.illinois.edu/resources/mascot-information/mascot timeline.
71 Rosenstein, Jay, Director. ​In Whose Honor?​ New Day Films, 1997.
30

for the University to say they are honoring
American Indians after minimal efforts of trying
to do so. There is no true way of honoring
someone on their stolen land.
Nearly two decades after American
Indian activists and other Universities were
pressing on the University of Illinois to discard
the mascot, the chief performed their final
72
halftime show in 2007. This pillar of change
that was long overdue was an opportunity for
the University of Illinois to address its gruesome
history of endorsing a culturally insensitive
mascot and replace it with something all
communities at the University can enjoy and
embrace without degrading other human beings.
Unfortunately, without making any
formal declarations, it created an opportunity for
pro chief students and alumni to cling onto the
idea of the chief still being the University’s
official unofficial mascot, keeping it alive in
spirit through merchandise and the War Chant.
Even after the banning of American Indian
caricature, the hatred and prejudice against
American Indian communities is still alive and
has been fueled by the lack of action the
University has taken against these pressing
72 “The Program in American Indian Studies.” ​Mascot Timeline | American
Indian Studies Program at Illinois​,
ais.illinois.edu/resources/mascot-information/mascot timeline.
issues.
While many of us cannot understand the
obsession and rationale behind keeping this
kind of mascot, there seems to be a multitude of
people who still do not seem to understand.
Groups of Alumni believe that the Chief
Illiniwek is a way to honor Native Nations and
have created bigoted Facebook groups that
believe it is okay to use culture as a costume. In
the post Trump era, they have also created
“Make Illinois Great Again” campaigns where
the main concern to improve in Illinois is to
bring back the Chief. It is quite astonishing to
see how college graduates cannot understand
basic human rights.
The Daily Illini has published an opinion
article with a subliminal pro Chief standpoint
stating that the chief will always remain a part
of the school’s history in a strangely optimistic
73
and endearing tone. Pro Chief publications and
attitudes on official university forums are
examples of ways people keep the chief alive
and continue to perpetuate anti American Indian
attitudes on campus, giving people who feel this
way a right and a platform to do so.
Not only do hostile attitudes like this
create an unsafe environment for American
Indians but they also open the door towards
prejudices against other minority groups. If
people are not held accountable for their actions,
then people with similar mindsets are going to
justify their racist actions as well creating a
dangerous environment for Black, Latinx, Asian
and other minority students.
As Latinx students at the University of
Illinois, we should be doing our fair share of
work in solidarity with the American Indian
community and fight against the hostile
73 Nelson, Noah. “Opinion | Chief Illiniwek Remains Embedded in UI
History.” ​Daily Illini ​, 21 Apr. 2020.
31

attitudes created towards them. It is crucial to
educate each other on the dangers of the
mascot. The fight towards change is a fight for
inclusivity for minority groups at the University
of Illinois.
After a long wait, the University of
Illinois has finally announced a potential
mascot, the belted Kingfisher bird, a native
Illinois species that will hopefully be celebrated
by the University community for years to come.
74
Update
On December 5, 2020, Chancellor Jones sent
out an email titled “Implementation of Plan of
Native Imagery,” stating that the following plan
will be implemented into the University in
efforts bringing awareness to American Indian
nations and representation:
1. In State Tuition for Native Students
2. Relationships with Native Nations
3. Permanent on Campus Sites
4. Repatriation of University’s Native
American Collections to Tribal
Communities and Lineal Descendants
(Including hiring the University’s first
NAGPRA Program Officer)
5. Historic Account of Native Imagery
6. Indigenous Faculty Increase
7. New Traditions ◻
74 Keilman , John. “With Campus Senate Approval, the Belted Kingfisher
Continues Hopeful Dive toward Becoming the University of Illinois’ New
Mascot.” 22 Sept. 2020.
32

Our Demands:
Unfulfilled Since 1992
By Isabel Camacho
Many institutions strive to portray
diversity; however, often enough they do very
little for their minority populations. The
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was
once and still continues to be one of these
institutions. Being a predominantly white
university, for many minority students it often
feels as if we are the ​other ​on campus. More
importantly, it seems as if we have to constantly
demand to be represented.
At 12:30 p.m. on May 5, 1992, minority
students had enough of feeling like they didn’t
belong on campus. As a result, a demonstration
broke out at the Henry Administration Building.
During which, Latinx students on campus had
submitted a list of demands for the University to
address. Since the University administration
refused to listen to the students’ demands, the
students decided to sit-in at the Henry
Administration Building. It should be noted that
Latinx students received support from many
other minority individuals on campus like
African Americans, Asians, and even the
majority group, White students, who were also
seen at the protest. Similarly, it is significant to
recognize and give credit to the leaders of the
protest, Jessie ‘Chuy’ Chavez and Julio
Villegas.
List of Demands
The list of demands that Latinx students
compiled, was a call for representation and a
need for change. There were four main sections
to the list of demands.
I. Recruitment & Retention
1. We demand a breakdown of the term
“Hispanic”
2. We demand that Latina/o graduation
figures are to be at least equivalent to the
percentage of Latinos in the State of
Illinois (11.6%).
3. We demand that the Peer Retention
Program must become stabilized by
implementing a line-item budget policy.
4. We demand a more concerted effort be
made to recruit students from
predominantly Latino, inner-city high
schools as well as low-income students
attending suburban high schools.
5. We demand more recruitment of
Latinas/os from community colleges.
6. We demand more recruitment of
Latinas/os to the University of Illinois
Graduate School.
II. Faculty & Administration
1. We demand for more recruitment of
groups that are historically
underrepresented.
2. We demand more recruitment of
Latinas/os in higher offices of
Administration and Deanship.
3. We demand that recruitment for Latina/o
faculty should be done in institutions that
have Latina/o research programs or
Latina/o Studies Departments
(Chicana/o, Puerto Rican, etc.) AND the
faculty should do scholarly research in
those programs on some aspect of the
Latina/o experience within the U.S.
33

III. Chief Illiniwek
1. We demand the immediate removal of
Chief Illiniwek as the mascot of the
University of Illinois.
IV. Latina/o
1. We demand a differentiation between a
Latina/o Studies Program and the Latin
American and Caribbean Studies
Program.
2. We demand that a Latina/o Studies
Program be developed and implemented.
3. We demand a Latina/o and Latin
American Library, while using the
present office (324 Library) with its
collection.
4. We demand an increase in support
(financial, etc.) of the Latina/o Cultural
Center: La Casa Cultural Latina. In
addition, we demand that the University
give Latinas/os the respect of
distinguishing between La Casa Cultural
Latina (our cultural center) and Latina/o
75
registered organizations.
our community. We have repeated a list of our
demands. We know that these things can’t be
accomplished overnight, but we would at least
like them to make a commitment to long-term
76
change.” It’s clear that the students understood
that change would take time and that it wouldn’t
be a quick process. All they were asking for,
was for their institution to take them into
consideration and to listen to their voices.
However, when the University failed to do so,
they had no choice but to unite and protest the
injustices they were experiencing.
It's interesting to notice that even the
predominant group which were and continues to
be white students, noticed the injustices that
were taking place. Particularly, Abby
Illenberger, a 20-year old junior, who said,
“This is not an isolated incident. They have
been continuously put off. The university is not
handling it. They are not treating them with
77
respect.” It is apparent that Latinx students
were voicing their concerns for a while;
however, the University was choosing to
disregard their demands.
Police Brutality
Student’s POV
Jose Antonio Rico, 22, a junior from the
Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago and a
graduate of Whitney Young High School said,
“We are doing this because we see a pattern of
the administration wanting to close the doors on
76 Garza, Melita M. “Cops Remove Latino Protestors at U. of I.” ​Chicago
75 A Report from the Chancellor’s Committee on Latina/o Issues. “Latinas/Os
at the University of Illinois: A History of Neglect and Strategies for
Improvement, 1992-2002.” 2003,
www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/1814/Chancellor%27s%20Co
mmittee%20Report.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y.
Tribune​, 6 May 1992,
www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-05-06-9202100147-story.html.
77 Garza, Melita M. “Cops Remove Latino Protestors at U. of I.” ​Chicago
Tribune​, 6 May 1992,
www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-05-06-9202100147-story.html.
34

The students were participating
peacefully in the sit-in, and with permission
from University administration. According to
the Chicago Tribune (1992), “Police dressed in
riot gear were called in from four departments
on Tuesday to forcibly remove approximately
150 minority student protesters who had
occupied the main administration building at the
78
University of Illinois, shutting it down.” The
departments that were called included the
Champaign County Sheriff’s Department, the
Champaign Police Department, and the Urbana
Police Department. Once they arrived,
“Students were badly beaten and dragged out;
one student even had a stun gun used against
them to the point that they became delirious and
79
threw up blood.”
End Results
As stated by the Daily Illini (2017),
“Nearly 25 years later, only one of the original
demands made by Latinx students has been met
80
by the University.” Among the demands that
were actually met, were creating the Latino/a
Studies Program and the cultural center known
as La Casa. Aside from this demand being met,
no other demands have been met by the
University. There continues to be a lack of
diverse faculty, and administration. It took the
University years after the list of demands from
1992 came out and the Chief was only recently
removed as mascot. Once again, we see this
pattern of the University striving to achieve
diversity but failing to represent and listen to
minority students on campus. It appears as if the
University continues to ignore and marginalize
brown and Black students and even faculty on
campus. As a result, minority populations on
campus continue to feel as the ​other and as if
they are not welcomed on campus. ◻
Additionally, three other students were
arrested that day. A peaceful demonstration
ultimately ended in violence. To conclude, this
could have been prevented if the administration
had listened to and met the needs of Latinx
students on campus.
78 Garza, Melita M. “Cops Remove Latino Protestors at U. of I.” ​Chicago
Tribune​, 6 May 1992,
www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-05-06-9202100147-story.html.
79 Rodriguez, Tatiana. “Latinx Students' 1992 Protest Sparks Solidarity.” ​The
Daily Illini​, 20 Apr. 2017,
dailyillini.com/uncategorized/2017/04/20/latinx-students-1992-protest-sparkssolidarity/.
80 Rodriguez, Tatiana. “Latinx Students' 1992 Protest Sparks Solidarity.” ​The
Daily Illini​, 20 Apr. 2017,
dailyillini.com/uncategorized/2017/04/20/latinx-students-1992-protest-sparkssolidarity/.
35

Our Presence Will Not
be Neglected:
Significance of the
Mural Reinstallation
By Jessica Cruz-Taylor & Fatima Valerio
It’s something Latinx students on campus
have been waiting for since they left campus
almost seven years ago, and it
finally happened. The murals have
returned home!
The morning of February
21st, 2020 was the official
dedication of the two murals at the
Illini Union. Students, faculty, and
alumni were invited to the second
floor of the Union where they
could snack on desserts, carefully
observe the newly installed
murals, and speak to Oscar Martinez, who
painted these murals, and the alumni for which
these murals mean so much. The celebration
continued that evening at the official event
publicizing the murals displayed at the Spurlock
Museum. Chancellor Jones along with Alicia
Rodriguez, an advisor in the LLS department,
other notable speakers, and Oscar Martinez
himself, all gave speeches thanking the
University and more importantly, thanking the
students and all those involved in this historical
event.
In 1974, the murals were painted by
Oscar Martinez, a UIUC student at the time
already taking 26 credit hours. For many years,
there had been protests from Latinx, Black, and
other marginalized students that resulted in the
establishment of the first La Casa on Chalmers
street, and later the establishment of the Latino/a
Studies program. This was all they had, along
with a very limited amount of funding.
However, the University gave these students a
building scheduled to be demolished, so what
were they to do in order to keep this building?
Oscar painted these murals as a result as well as
to claim their rights as marginalized students on
campus.
“I didn’t believe I was doing
something wrong, but something
meaningful.”​ ~Oscar Martinez
However, this was no easy job for
Martinez. On February 21, 2020,
we had the chance to talk to Oscar
himself and he explained the
obstacles he had to overcome as a
first-generation, low-income, and
Latino student. First, all financial
resources came out of his own pocket; he had to
use his own materials, so he had to use watered
down paint in order to make it last longer.
Additionally, while painting the murals, he was
technically defacing school property. Jokingly,
he told us that he frequently had to be looking
out at the window and kept the side door open in
case he had to run out if the police were to
arrive. At the time, and for many years after, he
even believed that the school did not know who
it was that painted the murals, only to find out
years later that the President of the University
had directly asked the director of La Casa to
stop him. He was never stopped by the
University or any other authorities. He fought
and continues to push through barriers that
confront the Latinx community on and
off-campus.
36

The murals, of which there are five
panels currently on display (two at the Union
and three at the Spurlock museum), show a wide
array of inspiring and historical images that
have several layers of meaning for Oscar, other
alumni, current students and faculty, and truly
anyone that identifies as Latinx. To describe just
one of the panels, the first you would encounter
while walking up the southwest stairs of the
Union would be La Victoria. First, it’s an
unapologetic brown woman holding forth a
paper in one hand and a bright ball of light in
the other. Laid out in front of her is a skeleton,
from which marching protesters emerge.
Another figure behind
this woman wears a
graduation cap and
displays an open palm on
one side and a balance
scale in the other. The
scale, on which is the
American flag, has
money on one side and
“Derecho Humano” - or
human rights - on the other. These scales are
heavily tipped to one side, and you can guess
which one that is. The other panel in the Union
is The Graduate and the bigger one on display in
the Spurlock is El Trabajo. We encourage you to
stop by and get a closer look at the murals and
the history they represent.
When asked what the murals being
displayed at the Union meant to him, Oscar
mentioned that it felt almost as if we were
reclaiming a space that had never been ours. The
Union was never a space Latinx students felt
welcome, and can still be a challenging place for
incoming Latinx students to get adjusted to.
However, the murals being displayed on
the second floor near the RSO offices brings a
new meaning to the space for Latinx students.
Having the panels displayed at the museum also
brings forth another level of meaning to students
on campus. This outward display of the Latinx
culture, experience, presence, and power on
campus is something else entirely to Oscar, and
all students on campus. When we asked other
students and staff the same question, they
expressed similar feelings of happiness and
appreciation:
“You see the painting La Victoria and it’s
like… damn. You see the painting... and it’s
like picking up your ancestry. ” ~Jailine
Salgado, Sophomore
“These paintings represent the activism and
the push to continue to have a space in the
university… [these paintings] are tangible.”
~Diana Roman, Sophomore
“Seeing the murals up at the Union and at the
Spurlock represents the staying power of
Latinx students and alums on this campus
[...] they represent the value that we put in
education as latino people, [...] our culture,
and the fact that art is the one way we show
who we are.” ~Jorge Mena, Assistant Director
of La Casa Cultural Latina
37

The display of the murals is a step in the
right direction. It is a way to welcome students
on campus and ensuring that this continued
history of struggle and victory is not forgotten.
But it’s not enough. As of right now, it is
obvious there are not enough resources being
allocated to the Latinx programs of study and
cultural centers on campus. Our population on
campus has outgrown La Casa, which has
become a cramped but homey building in which
we gather. One of the demands of the 1992
protests - that the University work to increase
the Latinx population on campus to match the
Latinx population in Illinois - has still not been
met. Monetary resources are severely lacking
for several programs. With the newly restored
murals all on display now, which will be on
display for the next 10 years, anyone can enjoy
their vivid imagery and critically important
history. However, there is hope for a (near)
future in which these murals will be celebrated
in a new and bigger La Casa, establishing more
support and voices to an underrepresented group
on campus. ◻
38

Writing As A Form of
Resistance
By Fatima Valerio and Jessica Cruz-Taylor
Writing on campus has had a long
history of fluctuation, publications have come
and gone with Nuestra Verdad Publicación,
NUVE, being one of the latest. However,
despite these publications never being
permanent, their reasons for restarting are just
as important for us as marginalized groups of
students in order to show a voice on campus
and in society. Such reasons are why we started
NUVE. Our first year on campus as first-gen
latinas was not pleasant. Many of us
encountered forms of exclusion and lacked a
good support group to relate to our experiences.
This prompted us to start NUVE, a place where
students of color can express their opinions
without any fear of censorship. And like
mentioned before, such reasons are reiterated in
our interview with Maria Carvajal Regidor, a
PhD candidate in English and Writing Studies,
and many of these publications that have come
before us, which Maria bases her dissertation
on.
Latinx Publications before Nuestra Verdad:
La Carta Informativa
La Carta was a student-led publication
that ran from 1975 (when La Casa was founded)
until 2006. Though this timeline is not certain, it
is actually the longest running student
publication from La Casa, and which we and
Maria base a lot of our research on.
La Carta published issues every couple
of months, which covered topics like personal
experiences from students, political opinions,
and activists' work. Most surprisingly, this
publication was funded and the students
involved were paid for their work through La
Casa.
Unfortunately, this publication came to
an end around 2006. Although there are many
reasons why that was the case, financial
troubles and University/ administration
censorship are the biggest reasons, not just for
La Carta, but for the other publications on this
list as well.
El Boletín de La Casa
Unlike La Carta, El Boletin mostly
included writing from administration. This
Newsletter ran from 1992 until 1997. Writing
included collabs, such as with Mckinley Health,
in order to inform students of things and issues
happening on campus. This publication also
aided students through their column
“Ayudame” which was their rendition of “Dear
Abby.” Students or parents were able to write in
39

questions which was a great way to foster a
community among Latines on campus.
The Literary Magazine
Roughly running from 1985 until 2004,
the Literary Magazine was directly connected
with La Carta, and instead focused on
publishing creative writings by students
including poetry, drawings, photographs, short
stories, and more!
Other Marginal/Circulating Publications:
The Scrapbook​- in 2010 and 2013 Latine
students put together pictures from the entire
year and from La Casa into a scrapbook.
La Carta Nuestra​- was a digital
publication and was named in reference to La
Carta Informativa and Nuestra Carta. This was
possibly the first digital Latine publication on
campus. According to their twitter, this
publication was an “independent, student-run
publication dedicated to social justice, solidarity
among POC & the issues that impact people of
81
intersecting social identities.” Although short
lived (2015-2016), this publication once again
reiterated the different needs and importance of
writing and students of color.
Censorship and Criticism
Like already mentioned, censorship was
(and still is) a big reason why such publications
have started, and unfortunately, why they
ended. Like in the case of Nuestra Verdad, the
need and the demand to publish content without
the fear of backlash in order to showcase the
wrongdoing of the University (and society) is
very prevalent in these past publications we
have discussed, and in the content that they
published. Maria does mention in our interview
that many of the things these students published
were very much political, and sought to inform
and engage students. For example, during the
Protest of 1992, the students were able to print
and republish their list of demands through
these publications in order for everyone to see
what was happening. Such freedom to freely
critique the University and demand for
inclusivity and restructure could not have been
(safely) possible or even ignored by other PWI
publications.
Despite such publications from La Casa
creating essential safe spaces, in the end, La
Casa is part of the University and becomes part
of the problem. Like mentioned before, many of
the previous publications were funded by La
Casa, however, as a cultural house, La Casa
receives a lot of their fundings from the
University, and such funding always fluctuates.
While the cultural houses are underfunded to
begin with, La Casa must also answer to those
positions of power above them, and must adhere
to these demands.
Such issues is why, a former staff worker
at La Casa, founded La Carta Nuestra after
coming across archives of La Carta Informativa.
There was a sense of importance and need to be
able to freely criticise and voice opinions
81 La Carta Nuestra. Twitter, 2015, https://twitter.com/LaCartaNuestra.
40

without any ties to the very institution they were
criticizing.
Intersectionality
Like many social issues, writing as
Latinx students often has much to do with
intersectionality. As minority groups,
supporting each other is an essential part of our
collective existence, especially in
predominantly white institutions such as the
University. Bruce Nesbitt himself was very
active in the establishment of La Casa, a perfect
example of the extraordinary feats we can
achieve when we come together. Writing is so
essential to all communities all over the world,
and has often been one reason to push students
to writing, in addition to the other reasons we
have discussed thus far. To emphasize
intersectionality supporting other marginalized
groups and condemning actions that seek to
push us further apart from each other are all real
reasons that writing is spurred by
intersectionality.
Wanting to be heard, Create Change
Everyone has a voice, and everyone
wants that voice to be heard. However, history
shows a clear pattern of keeping marginalized
populations silenced and pushed aside.
Especially in academic institutions,
administrators and those in positions of power
often have strategic methods of controlling the
narrative. Methods such as withholding funding
from publishing organizations if they don’t like
their words or actions and even forbidding the
publication of certain topics. University
officials forbid the publication of certain pieces
in a 1990 issue of La Carta. The student editor
then quit the publication and returned the next
year to write an opinion piece about the clear
act of censorship on the University’s part. There
are countless other examples of the University
trying to censor student organizations as well.
La Carta Informativa is a good example
of students taking charge of how they were
represented on campus and making their voices
heard through writing. After the 1992 protests
on campus, La Carta had a hand in affecting
real change by distributing a list of demands,
some of which have yet to be met by the
University. El Buletin de La Casa had columns
such as “Ayudame,” a sort of Dear Abby
editorial where students could submit questions
and a writer would respond. Students could ask
questions about all sorts of topics, and the
published columns would give another insight
into the way Latinx voices were heard on
campus. Publications such as the Latino
Scrapbook and The Literary Magazine were
more creative publications that focused on
ensuring the voices of students would be heard
and preserved in whatever way that took form.
Conclusion
As the title of this article indicates,
writing is a form of resistance. In whatever way,
shape, or form that may be for you: public or
private, published pieces or social media posts,
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academic or personal pleasure. Writing is a
method that creates a tangible record of our
presence, our thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Maria Carvajal Regidor mentions there is a long
and deep history of Latinx student engagement
through writing, and it is essential we preserve
this history for future students to be better
supported in their academic endeavors towards
success.
Publications such as La Carta
Informativa, The Literary Magazine, and even
Nuestra Verdad are not easy to maintain. There
are many reasons why publications of this
magnitude die out, some of them less obvious
than others. Funding is a huge part of any
University organization, and some publications,
such as La Carta benefited from direct
University funding for the writers. That is one
reason (among many others) it was able to be in
circulation for so many years. For some
publications, such as Nuestra Carta and The
Literary Magazine, it’s just a matter of timing.
Many of us are only on this campus for a certain
amount of time, and when that time is up,
there’s often not much more we can contribute
to student organizations. Another reason, and
possibly the one we need to combat the most, is
the politics. As minorities in a PWI,
administrators and those in power don’t often
want to hear our voices critiquing their
institutions. But speaking our mind and making
our presence known is an essential practice in a
space that wasn’t made for us, especially as we
work to create a better campus existence for
those that come after us. Which is why NUVE
will continue to work hard and endure to make
sure our voices are heard and our truths are told
for years to come.
Nuestra Verdad is fortunate enough to
stand on the shoulders of and benefit from the
groundwork that was laid before us by these
groups, and we want to make sure that it is
known we are not the first group of students
with these goals, and we will most certainly not
be the last.
Acknowledgements
Thank you so much to Maria for taking
the time to sit with us and being our personal
archive as we unfortunately could not see this
publication first-hand due to this pandemic. If
you would like to check out the full interview
with Maria, feel free to visit our website,
www.nuesteraverdad.com.
We also would like to thank the Student
Life and Cultural Archive and the Institutional
Archive at La Casa for the images and
information we have included in this article. ◻
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