Jesse Fernandez is Making Strides in the Fight for Justice

from ¿Qué Pasa, Ohio State? Autumn 2020, Vol. 30, No. 1

Harnessing the power of Diversity: Empowering Latina Leardership

Photos by Robert Soto | Article by Adrienne Fergusson

This past Summer can easily be characterized as unprecedented. With the eruption of a global pandemic, the coronavirus altered the lives of all. A deadly disease conjoined with the social unrest prevalent in the U.S., that is present to this very day, assures us that this country will never be the same. The social unrest rising out of the killings of numerous in the Black community prompted dozens of thousands of protestors to take the streets to urge justice for those that never received it. Millions across the globe witnessed vile acts of injustice on video; many felt the need to take a stand, so they took their desires for justice and equality to the streets. They marched. Jesse Fernandez is such an individual.

Fernandez is a Latinx student at The Ohio State University in the College of Education and Human Ecology; he is also the president of Alpha Chapter of Alpha Psi Lambda National Fraternity, Inc. and Vice President of Community Development for the Multicultural Greek Council. Que Pasá Magazine is very grateful to have been able to interview Jesse Fernandez about his experience in the Black Lives Matter protest.

Fernandez provided a unique account on his involvement in the protests. He shared how he became involved in the rally that he attended; he revealed that “When we organized this march and memorial, we used our networks of Greek life since all of us are involved in our own organizations. We reached out to people we knew, and they reached out to people they knew and so on. So, like I said, get involved, build relationships and get to know people. If you want to organize something yourself, ask some faculty or mentors you know what to do to get started. You’d be surprised how many people might be willing to back you up if you organize something!”

It is evident that Fernandez took various measures to serve as a voice at the rally, and he goes on to share what it was like to be present at the rally. He discloses, “Participating in this rally was incredible. We only expected about 150-200 people to show up at most and we easily had a turnout of at least 400, if not 500 people. All of this during the summer in the middle of a pandemic!

Seeing our community come together like this was something I’ve never really seen in my 4 years at Ohio State. There were eye opening experiences for me throughout the entire rally. First is the power of students and organizing. My friends took an idea they created one night in a living room on a whiteboard and made it into something real by spreading the word and getting help from others. Second, there were a lot of heavy, emotional moments during the memorial after the march. 8 minutes and 46 seconds sounds like a long time, but when we recreated the kneel for that amount of time, several of us began to break down realizing how long that really felt in the moment.”

In a few words, Fernandez characterized the rally as “powerful, needed, and motiva- ting” and that “My biggest mentors and influences my entire life were Black and Brown people so obviously I’m going to go as hard as possible for them. It’s like I’d be letting them down if I didn’t fight for everything they taught me was right.” Thank you, Jesse Fernandez, for making strides in the fight for justice.