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VOL. XCVII, NO. 13
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MAY 11, 2017
Activist talks body image
ILLUSTRATION BY NIKEN HERTANTO
KIMBERLY MARTINEZ @RCCviewpoints
She said she was taught to hate herself. Gloria Lucas, a body positivity activist and founder of Nalgona Body Positivity Pride, gave a presentation on historical trauma and its connections to the present-day self as a person of color dealing with eating disorders. Lucas began her presentation with group participation rules and an introduction into eating disorders and dieting obsession. “Unfortunately we live in a such a diet driven culture that signs of eating disorders are applauded,” Lucas said. “If you scratch
deep these are underlying issues that could lead to lifelong consequences.” Lucas centered her discussion by sharing her own story of being a young brown woman with an eating disorder. “By the time I was 10 I already had a binge eating disorder and by the time I was 17 I had bulimia,” Lucas said. “When I first started my eating disorder I didn’t do it as a means to lose weight. For me it was a way of punishing myself, to hurt myself. Within time before I knew it, it took over my life.” After reading a book by Becky Thompson, Lucas started Nalgona Body Positivity Pride. Her outreach program and personal company reaches out to young people of
color. “The word ‘Nalgona’ is a Spanish that somewhat translates to ‘big booty’,” Lucas said. “One of the very few books out there that talk about eating disorders and women of color. It’s called ‘A Hunger So Wide and So Deep; A Multiracial View of Eating Problems.’ In it she talks about slavery and how slavery still impacts the Black Community today,” said Lucas. “Reading it I started to think I’m not black, but what has 500 years of colonialism done to my body?” “My high school was mostly white,” said Feminists Unite member, Cedrina Mcmillian. “Being the only black student in the advanced math class, which I swear I
was the only one-- I was scared to be good, it made me suffer.” Gloria Lucas’s presentation resonated with the majority of student of color in attendance. “I thought the lecture was very eye opening,” said Devyn Gipson, a Riverside City College sociology major. “I thought it was not only interesting, but informative as well. It broadened my idea of eating disorders and how these factors come from our past.” “I wish more people would have shown up to the event,” Charleen Mejia, Feminists Unite’s club president said. “This is information that black and brown people need to know.”
ASRCC student elections announced SAMANTHA BARTHOLOMEW @RCCviewpoints
Students elected a new president and vice president of Associated Students of Riverside City College, as well as the District’s student trustee for the 2017-2018 school year May 2-3. Maritzza Jeronimo and Clara Velarde won the positions of ASRCC president and vice president with 293 votes. Their opponents, Bryan Barrera and Simranjeet Singh had 221 votes. Jeronimo has been involved with ASRCC since her first semester at RCC
in Fall 2015, as well as being an active member of organizations such as the Puente Club, the Latina Leadership Network and InterClub Council. “These opportunities have given me the experience to successfully chair meetings and sit through various subcommittees,” Jeronimo said. Velarde, a former ASRCC senator, said she has strived to use her leadership positions, past and present, to voice the concerns and hopes for students that she
See ASRCC on Page 2
STACY SORIANO | VIEWPOINTS
Maritzza Jeronimo and Clara Velarde will both lead ASRCC as the newly elected president and vice president.