1. Which author gave you new knowledge about Chicana/o Latina/o social justice efforts?

Include two questions from the reading. The response must be a minimum of five
sentences. (3 points)

The author that gave me new knowledge about Chiacan/o/ Latina/o social justice efforts was
Mary Padro's discussion on Mexican American Women Grassroots Community Activists:
"Mothers of East Los Angeles. The reading allowed me to gain new knowledge because I was
unaware of the Mothers of East Los Angeles's existence. The reading about the organization's
work for the community was interesting because it never occurred to me that groups were
fighting against the construction of a building that is harmful to the community, not to be built.
The transformation of the term mothers to provide a more inclusive environment was something
that I believed was necessary to allow all the women to feel welcomed. The term mothers in the
organization was to define women fighting for the interest of the children and not for their own
self-interest. As mothers worked to ensure the best for their children, they developed networks of
acquaintanceship and friendships centered on their children's welfare. The mother's
responsibilities included overseeing their children's progress in school, interacting with the
school, staff, and supporting activities set up by the school. The work of MELA mothers is
something that I believe should be more recognized for their inclusivity and achievements that
have allowed low-income communities to flourish by halting construction programs that are
dangerous for the community.

2. If you had the opportunity to be a student assistance (internship) during the summer
break, which author would you want to work with to expand more on their research and
why? Include two questions from the reading. The response must be a minimum of five
sentences. (3 points)

If I had the opportunity to be a student assistant during the summer break, I would like to work
with Eileen Truax to expand her research on providing more interpreters and helping individuals
who have been misrepresented through the Project of Indigenous Interpreters. The purpose of the
Project of Indigenous Interpreters is to train indigenous migrants in interpretation techniques,
legal terminology, and professional ethics to stop women and men from being found guilty of
crimes and serve prison sentences due to the communication gap that exists in the courts. I would
like to work as an intern for Eileen Truax because I want to help the community. Since I was a
child, I wanted to be a lawyer, and when I entered as a university student, I couldn't think of what
type of Lawyer I wanted to be. It wasn't until I took my first Chicano studies class that I realized
I wanted to work for the community due to the amount of political injustice happening to my
community; this prompted me to major in political science and minor in Chicano studies. The
internship would allow me to understand how I could be part of a movement to help individuals
that have been taken advantage of by the system. Cirila Balthazar Cruz is an example of the
positive work the FIOB has done for individuals that the system has abused due to a language
gap; Cruz was a woman who was met by a Puerto Rican after she had given birth, an interpreter
that inquired about her socioeconomic situation. Cirlia was not fluent in Spanish and could not
answer the questions that were being asked; this led the interpreter to determine that Cirlia was
not fit to be a mother causing the department of social services to assume custody of her child.
Cirlia, when going to court, could not defend herself against the false allegations made by the
interpreter that she had wanted to give up her daughter for adoption and move back to Mexico
and claimed that she had abandoned two other children in Mexico. The FIOB assisted Cirila by
providing her with an interpreter that spoke Chatino and allowed her to get help from the
Southern Poverty Law Center that held a legal battle on her behalf. California courts are guilty of
this injustice that has led to the incarceration of various indecorous people, both men, and
women because the courts, although understanding there was a language barrier that failed to
recognize their needs and proceeded without them being able to adequately define themselves in
court against charges being brought against them. The reading of Eileen Truaxan was an
eye-opener because the issue that indigenous people were not provided with legal documents in
indigenous languages or adequate court interpreters was not an issue I was aware of before the
reading and it is something that must be expanded on to ensure justice for all indeigouse people.

3. If you had the opportunity to meet one author or authors, who would it be and
what would you want to tell the author? Include two questions from the reading.
The response must be a minimum of five sentences. (3 points)

If I had the opportunity to meet one author we learned about in class, I would want to meet Sal
Castro to talk to him about his work with Chicano students and advice to motivate students to be
more confident about their future. I work for an after-school program, and working with children
has indeed been a delight, but often when we've discussed their future, I have had students tell
me that they are not interested in going to college but instead want to work after finishing school.
As a person that went to LAUSD, I can understand that often teachers don't make you feel as
though you have the potential to succeed. An example in my life was when I decided to take AP
history and economics my senior year; the teacher told us that he would not teach economics
because there would be no point since we would all fail anyway. This statement was something
that I felt was shocking to hear since a teacher had directly told us that we would fail the exam,
causing a little doubt in myself in regards to education. I want to provide an environment that
allows my students to feel that they can go to college and thrive because it's something that I felt
was sometimes missing in my education, a staff member or teacher telling me I could achieve
more than I thought. Speaking to Sal Castro will allow me to understand ways to educate in ways
that will enable them to build confidence in who they are as first-generation and second
generations students in their families. I want to learn how to ensure that I can have instilled basic
educational psychology, which refers to the idea that every child should walk into a school and
feel like they can learn. Regarding Mexican students, they do enter with the assumption that they
can learn but then are met with feelings that are constructed of self-doubt due to everything being
foreign. The faults in schools that Sal Castro notes are still evident in many schools in the text
Mexican School Castro states, that the Mexican Students' reading level was low due to the lack
of attention to reading in the barrio elementary schools. This resulted in various students reading
below their grade level. Often I felt that students have read below their reading levels and are not
given the support they need through the use of one-to-one with teachers. It is important that we
as individuals provide children with the support and embed into their minds that they are able to
achieve all their goals and I feel that the methods used by Sal Castro are a good way to
encourage students that have felt forgotten.

4. Which author could you personally relate or relate to a current event? Include
two questions from the reading. The response must be a minimum of five
sentences. If its a current event, make sure to let the instructor know. (3 points)

An author that I felt would relate to a current event would be the work of Adela Vazquez
regarding trans issues that are often overlooked by the movement. One of the main issues
affecting the trans community stated by the GLAAD organization is that " An estimated one in
four black transgender people in the US are living with HIV/AIDS, but trans people often face
discrimination by healthcare providers and/or access to healthcare coverage." (GLAAD, 2021) In
the reading " Finding a Home in Transgender Activism in San Fransico," Vasquez talks about
how she came to start fighting for the representation of trans individuals. At the time of her
volunteering, the world was experiencing the AIDS crisis, which led to the death and illness of
various individuals in the LGTBQ+ community. As the crisis grew, the community leaders
rallied to bring attention to the crisis and the need for medical assistance, but these groups were
not inclusive towards trans individuals, leaving them leaderless and without representation. As
the lack of representation continued, Adela asked herself, " Why are trans women not a part of
this movement."The lack of representation led Adela to start protesting for the community; her
first time protesting took place in 1993 in San Francisco. As her activism continued, she noticed
through the AIDS crisis that gay people did not care about using condoms due to other available
methods. Adela was very passionate about raising awareness about using condoms to avoid
contracting AIDS and HIV. Adela raised awareness for HIV/AIDS by organizing a series of
shows that included four queens and two dancers, which would give profits to different
organizations such as Proyecto Contra SIDA Por Vida. Adela's motivation to be a trans women
activist was due to the underrepresentation of the trans community. Her empowerment to become
a leader came from the strong women in her life who acted as role models. Adela's activism with
the trans community is similar to the current issues affecting trans individuals who have
HIV/AIDS without appropriate health care due to the lack of representation.

5. Which author provided new lenses of reading the world? In other words, which
author gave you a new world view of understanding society from the perspective
of minorities or underrepresented people. Include two questions from the
reading. The response must be a minimum of five sentences. (3 points)

The author that provided me with a new lens for reading the world through the perspective of
underrepresented people was Elana Zilberg. Elana Zilbergs text Criminal Cop allowed me to
understand activism produced by ex-gang members and other individuals that have worked to
ensure violence prevention in low-income areas and the ending of the unjust and blatant
harassment performed by the police. I have lived in low-income areas my whole life in which
gangs and violence have been something that I have normalized because it's all I've known.
While living in these areas, I have never seen the harassment of individuals by the police. Still, I
understand that it exists in my community as individuals are stopped by police and harassed due
to racial profiling. The reading made the issue more real for me and allowed me to understand
how police officers have harassed individuals without cause to ensure that minorities are
incarcerated or deported. In the text, I learned about deportation pipelines that impacted Alex
Sanchez and other Latinx immigrant youth due to the mass amount of deportation happening as
individuals were being arrested on numerous counts without probable cause. Even when
individuals were cleared of charges, the INS managed to get a deportation hold on the various
individuals that had been targeted. LAPD implemented these tactics of mass deportation in the
efforts to deport key witnesses that could overturn a case creating a sense of protection for rogue
officers. This meant that many Latinx immigrants could be easily deported without having
committed an actual crime but instead being framed for one in the efforts for possible
deportation. When I thought about deportation, I never thought or considered that the
government had taken advantage of the judicial system to frame individuals for crimes and
interrupt cases to ensure the removal and incarceration of minorities. These individuals that we
have labeled criminals just because the system claims they are changing my whole perspective
because I feel that now, after all the reading that discusses minorities have been constantly taken
advantage of by the system, I understand the hostility that people have against them in the justice
system. I will admit that before readings like Elana Zilberg and my other CLS classes, I was not
aware why some individuals were so hostile toward the judicial system, but I feel now that I
understand the urgency to change a system that has yet to change. In the text, Zilberg talks about
Homies Unidos which was founded in 1988 to focus on youth advocacy and violence prevention
among Central American immigrant youth and Latino youth living in Pico union and nearby
areas. Its point person for the Los Angeles branch was Alex Sanchez, a veteran leader of the
Normandie Street clique of La Mara Salvatrucha. Alex Sanchez, I feel, allowed me to understand
that the misconception that gang members can not be rehabilitated is not only false but has been
proven false, multiple times. Sanchez story shows that although he was only setting up a
program for children to avoid gangs, officers were still being harassed daily by officers that
required him to endure racial profiling and be arrested and detained without probable cause,
harassment from police officers in the effort to show dominant behavior, etc. This also allows me
to change my perspective that officers did not harass individuals if they were not doing anything
wrong. In the text, Sanchez made it very clear that he was only promoting peace and had proof of
his work, yet officers still harassed him. Elana Zilberg's text allowed me to understand that the
judicial system and police department still need more work to be done to ensure that minorities
are no longer victims of both departments.
6. Which film provided new lenses of reading the world? In other words, which
film gave you a new world view of understanding society from the perspective of
minorities or underrepresented people. Include two questions from the film. The
response must be a minimum of five sentences. (3 points)

The film Why LGBTQ+Migrants on the Caravan Face Unique Struggles provided me with a
new lens for reading the world from the perspective of underrepresented people, in this case, that
would be transgender migrants. Often when we speak about the caravan coming from different
areas in Latin America, our minds drift to the individuals that are often portrayed in the media,
mainly families that are coming to search for a better life. Yet before even watching this video, it
never came to mind that trans individuals were coming in these caravans. I believe that is
because the media does not portray their struggle and not to mention their already minorities in
their countries due to being trans. In the film, we can observe that the migrant caravan is not the
most welcoming to trans individuals through the experience of LG, in which she states that her
experience with the migrant caravan has always been filled with discrimination and abuse.
Transgender women are often insulted by others in the caravan and are told that they are not
women but rather ugly individuals. The perspective that the film allowed me to observe is that
trans violence is a massive issue in the United States, but it is a more dangerous issue in Mexico,
where machismo flourishes. In the film, I learned that in 2011-2016, 170 cases of homicides of
LGBTQ+ individuals were reported in Honduras; this does not include the missing cases in
which individuals are just labeled as missing rather than murdered. This is an issue that is also
present in the United States in which many trans individuals are victims of gender violence. We
often forget that the media fails to highlight trans issues, and politicians are not fighting for trans
rights that are life and death situations for these individuals. The nations still have a long way to
go in representing trans individuals and the media has contributed to their invisibility by not
reporting on their stories to make people aware of their mistreatment and abuse in their home
countries.

7. Which film gave you new knowledge about Chicana/o Latina/o social justice
efforts? Include two question from the film. The response must be a minimum of
five sentences. (3 points)

The film that gave me new knowledge about Chicana/o, Latina/o social justice efforts was Why
are Indigenous People Dying at the Border? The film discussed the death of indigenous
individuals who were being misrepresented as Guatemalans in the media, causing them to be
buried in news report coverages. The information in the video was new to me because I was not
aware that an organization called the International Mayan league was demanding that the U.S.
government conduct transparent investigations into the deaths on the border and dialogue with
indigenous leaders on developing humane immigration policies. There work is essential due to
cases such as Jakelin Caal and Nery Caal Cuz show that a language barrier can be deadly
because if the form had been offered to Nery Caal Cruz in his native tongue being Maya
Q’eqchi, he would have been able to understand that the form claimed his daughter was in good
health instead of suffering from a bacterial infection that could have been treated if she had
access to medical care. The stories show the need for diverse interpretations in the judicial
system that would allow individuals to express themselves in court and other spaces that are
often life and death situations. The similarity between both stories is that the judicial system has
often taken advantage of indigenous people and has disregarded their human rights. They have
taken advantage of indigenous people by not providing legal documents or interprets in
indigenous languages even when data shows that 500,000 indigenous Oaxacans live in the
United States.

8. If you had the opportunity to meet one person from a film, who would it be and
what would you want to tell them? Include two questions from the film. The
response must be a minimum of five sentences. (3 points)

If I had the opportunity to meet one person from a film, it would be

Sean Arce, the Co-Founder of the Tucson American Studies program from the video An Ethnic
Studies Program, Sued the Lawmakers that Banned it. The Tucson American Studies program
was founded in 1998 and made Mexican American literature and history classes part of the core
curriculum to improve student engagement in the district comprised of 60% Hispanic children. I
want to discuss his work as an individual who created a curriculum that allows students to feel
good about themselves through their culture and ways to incorporate it at home to my siblings
and students who don't know much about their history in the United States. I understand due to
the film that enabling individuals to learn about themselves in classes that highlight their cultural
achievements in American history, it creates comfort and self-importance that allows students to
feel that they can learn. An example of this curriculum working can be observed by an
experience shared by a student named Julianna who explained that when she read books about
Mexican American history, it allowed her to love herself because she saw individuals who
looked like her, her parent's grandparents, which established a deep connection unlike the
connection established in school that focused on American history through the narrative of white
individuals.

9. If you had the opportunity to invite one person from a film to CSULA as a
special guest, who would it be? What would you want CSULA students to learn
about this person? Include two questions from the film. The response must be a
minimum of five sentences. (3 points)

If I had the opportunity to invite one person from a film to CSULA as a special guest, I would
pick Father Gregory Boyle and Miguel Lugo's from the film Healing Trauma Beyond Gangs and
Prisons. I would want the students to learn about Father Gregory Boyle work and why he
chooses to start an organization that focuses on providing resources for ex-gang members
because I feel that there is a stigma that individuals that are ex-gang members can not be
rehabilitated and that individuals only join gangs for fun rather than for necessities. As
mentioned in the film, Father Gregory Boyle states that individuals join gangs because they are
fleeing from something; they do not seek something when they enter a gang. In the video, many
individuals said that they faced home issues such as verbal and physical violence from their
parents; other problems included having troubled homes that often resulted in neglect. Joining
gangs allowed the individuals to release pent-up anger caused by the trauma they faced as
children. Father Gregory Boyle's program works to beat the stigma that people can not be healed
gang members and will be criminals or gang members their whole life, which is why the
government should not invest money into ex-cons. A healed gang member is an individual that
will never go back to prison. Individuals labeled as employed gang members returning citizens
and educated gang members may or may not re-offend, thus showing the difference between a
healed gang member and a returning gang member. I believe that Miguel Lugo's is a perfect
example of why we should put money into programs such as Homeboy Industries and that there
are individuals that can be healed, gang members. I would like Miguel to share his story to
inspire people to write to their representatives and demand that more money in the budget be
added for sentencing justice. Instead of sending people to prisons or investing in prisons, society
should invest in people. This means that instead of funding prisons, we should fund places like
Homeboy Industries to give people a second chance and help them heal to transform for the
better good.

10. Which person from a film gave you a life learning lesson or can personally
relate? Include two questions from the film. The response must be a minimum of
five sentences. (3 points)

A person from a film that I drew a personal relation with was Xela De La X, the founder of
Ovarian Psycos. Ovarian Psycos is an organization for a young woman of color that has formed a
bicycle brigade that is a refuge for the runaway and the throwaway. The majority of the women
in the brigade have experienced some trauma in their life. The group is a place that provides a
safe space for all women that provides comfort and a sense of family. As a woman that
experienced sexual assault as a child, I felt a deep connection to Xela work and story that left me
not only moved but filled with a desire that I had known about the group when I was first
experiencing the emotional trauma of being a victim because at such a young age I had felt
alone. It fills me with happiness to know that organizations are being made to help all women
who have experienced trauma that incorporates something such as bike riding in groups. When
Xela spoke about strength in numbers, she meant that when you are riding by yourself, it feels
good, but when you are riding with a group of women, you feel supported as if nothing can stop
you or that you could fight a war. This group was constructed so that women would no longer be
afraid of riding their bicycles while also claiming space in dangerous zones. When you are with a
group of women who have experienced similar trauma and can talk about it in a place that you
know you will be safe, it's liberating. Speaking to other women with similar experiences has
made me feel stronger in ways that I never thought possible, and I genuinely believe that it is due
to feeling supported and understood.