Día de la Independecia de México

BY ANASTASIYA OREL REPORTER

TheLACCD Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Mexican American, Central American and Latino Affairs met with the DACA Immigration Task Force on Sept. 16 in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

On Sept. 16, 1810, Mexico gained independence from Spanish rule, establishing religious independence and the demolition of the mission system.

Every year, elected officials emulate the famous Grito de Dolores (the Cry of Dolores), a battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence that was first spoken by Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

This day brought forward discussions of identity, social and racial justice and immigration.

Congressman Tony Cardenas, a representative of California’s 29th congressional district, was a guest speaker for Thursday’s event. When asked what his personal priorities beyond immigration reform that can help support the Los Angeles Latino community are, Congressman Cardenas discussed the history and current Latin presence in Congress.

“I’ve been working on juvenile justice reform, which was something, back then in the 1990s when I got elected, people frowned upon,” Cardenas said. “I’ve been trying to get funding and laws changed to reduce sentencing, and also to make sure that we have good programs in our communities throughout California and throughout our country.” to easily message our club advisor,” Denoga said. “We could organize stuff on our calendar. We’re lucky enough to have such an active advisor.”

Cardenas said he is pushing for putting language into the healthcare bills and other bills to make sure that regardless of an individual’s documentation status, they will have access to healthcare. Cardenas is also working alongside the Latino/ Hispanic Caucus in Washington to push forward on bills.

Antonio Turok, an internationally acclaimed Mexican documentary photographer, said he agrees with Congressman Cardenas on how working as a society and as a community will produce truth and unity.

Koreatown Youth and Community Center have actually started off with communicating online with students and the communities they’re involved in. One of the club’s specialists, Aimee Newton, said that trying to recruit club members has been a bit challenging.

“We actually started this work remotely, and it had been tricky since we wanted to go collect observations on campus and recruit students, but students have obviously been going through a lot,” Newton said.

According to Newton, the club’s focus is on working with three community colleges, including Pierce College, on a coalition against second-hand smoke.

The clubs on campus have learned to balance this new way of connecting online. They’ve also merged that practice to form new goals of reaching more people who will be regularly updated on club activities and have more flexibility within their schedule.

According to Azizi, this year’s ASO Club Rush had better attendance and engagement from students.

As the campus has been opened, Azizi spoke briefly about the plans ASO and the LACCD Board has in mind for this year to make sure more students feel welcomed on campus.

“It’s still in the works so I don’t want to go into further detail about it, but there’s also board policy 2900, where there’s going to be an opportunity for a medical or religious exemption for the COVID vaccination,” Azizi said.

Azizi said that there will be three options for students to choose from: yes, no and rather not say. Students who respond yes will have to verify their vaccination by submitting their vaccine card. If students respond no or rather not say, regular COVID testing will have to be done, to keep track of the possible spread and keep the campus safe.

Azizi added that as of now, “students are required to take the survey that’s called the Daily Pass [before arriving on campus],” and he mentioned that the Daily Pass had been replaced by Clear Four and in his own words “which is like an improved version of the Daily Pass.”

In addition, Azizi encourages more students to partake in joining a club this year and motivate themselves to have a positive mindset.

“It’s been really hard on all of us to balance the work and life schedule,” Azizi said. “One thing I could say, although it does sound cliche, is to keep persevering. I would encourage students to join a club or involve themselves in student government.”

For more information about the clubs involved, please contact ASO adviser Lara L. Conrady and ASO co-adviser Geremy Mason.

Turok presented a PowerPoint slide of photographs he took to document certain aspects of Indian life that had never been seen by the rest of the world.

“It took 20 years or longer for me to be accepted to be part of the community and that’s how long it took, that I was allowed to be even considered part of photographic history,” Turok said. “I have photographs that you’ll see of interiors of the church that had never been photographed.”

Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez said he was moved by the images, and the frozen introspective pain the images depicted.

“I still think a lot of us are processing, I know that I am,” Rodriguez said. “The one that struck me was the malnutrition and how beautiful she was in the pine box but it shows the condition that the one had followed it was in.”

The pictures Turok displayed produced remembrance of the war of independence from Spain.

“I want to share with you the struggle and the idea of ya basta,” Turok said. “Translated into English, ‘we’ve had enough’. We don’t want to be Indians anymore, we want to be considered human beings.”