As MEChA celebrated its 40th anniversary last week with a series of cultural activities, one member said drawing attention to Chicano issues remains relevant.
Ruben Lucio Palomares, a Chicano studies and political science junior, said not much has changed since Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán began.
“We’re still facing some of the same struggles,” Lucio said. “We’re still fighting immigration, we’re still fighting racism, so not much has changed.
Some of those activities during MEChA’s culture week included performances of ballet folklórico, salsa dancing and mariachi workshops on militarization on the border and poverty and an open-mic show.
As part of culture week, MEChA, held its fourth annual Student Youth Conference, in which about 350 high-school students from all over the Valley came to ASU’s Tempe campus.
The conference consisted of workshops touching on different topics such as gender and sexuality, knowing legal rights, paying for college, learning about the Aztec calendar and indigenous studies.
Ernesto Lopez, a social work junior and one of the organizers of the conference, said one of the purposes of the conference was to teach students about Chicano culture through workshops concentrating on the meaning of being Chicano.
“We’re trying to teach the students what Chicano is and that Chicano is not about race or ethnicity,” Lopez said. “It’s about an identity and discovering your roots about where you come from.”
Lucio said being a Chicano is not a Mexican born in the United States. He said it is a person from any race who is against colonization.
“You don’t have to replace your beliefs for another culture,” Lucio said.
Lopez said the conference also intended to teach students about getting a college education after high school to increase the number of Chicanos attending college.
“There are not many opportunities for high-school Chicano students to see people like them go to college,” he said. “This is meant to inspire them and show them that there are people in college that are like them.”
Luis Almeida, 17, a Tempe High School student, said the conference taught him how to “pursue a career and goals to become [a] future [leader].”
He also said the conference taught him about his Chicano culture.
“MEChA taught me more about myself and to be proud of my Chicano roots and where I come from,” Almeida said.
Reach the reporter at griselda.nevarez@asu.edu.
