Identity

  • What It’s Like to Grow Up Queer and Purepecha

    June 29, 2016 /

    The Purepecha are an indigenous group from the Mexican state of Michoacan. Ardent Roman Catholics, they are known for their artwork, including ceramics and woodwork. There are about 2000 Purepecha living in the Coachella Valley, mostly in Duros and Chicanitas, two trailer camps on the Torres Martinez reservation. Many work in the surrounding fields and speak little to no Spanish or English.

    Coahella  lgbt  Purepecha  queer  spotlight  
  • The Central Valley Is a Tough Place for Vegetarians

    April 27, 2016 /

    Meat is part of our local culture; it’s a part of everyday life. Some of my friends and lots of other people around here have grown up raising animals for meat. So learning how to express my thoughts on vegetarianism to friends while still respecting the way they grew up is challenging for me. I often draw on my own personal experience.

    food  no meat  spotlight  vegan  vegetarian  
  • DACA Gives Korean Immigrant a ‘Shot in the Arm’

    March 1, 2016 /

    Cheong had graduated at the top of his class in Baltimore, but here in the Bay Area, college after college turned down his application for in-state tuition. He finally enrolled in De Anza Community College in Cupertino, working part-time as a cashier in local restaurants to help with tuition. The college fees, he said, were not exactly affordable, but they were “manageable.” His father’s salary as a pastor at a small South Bay Korean church, and his mother’s job as an announcer at a Korean radio station barely covered his tuition.

    Asian American  DACA  DACAmented  Dreamer  immigration  immigration reform  Korean  spotlight  
  • Black Lives Matter and the Freddie Gray Effect

    February 23, 2016 /

    This is why many people know hundreds of Freddie Grays, as his family’s attorney exclaimed at the funeral. And this is why there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of Freddie Grays in America – young Black men who grew up in poverty, who attended low performing schools, who lived in contaminated communities, and who now have a hard time finding employment, have had run-ins with the criminal justice system, and are harassed by law enforcement.

    baltimore  black lives matter  death by cop  Freddie Gray  injustice  learning disability  police brutality  poverty  spotlight  
  • Prop. 47 Can Turn 2016 into the ‘Year of Mercy’

    February 16, 2016 /

    I believe it was the my faith community, drug treatment, and school intervention counselors that saved my life. These are the institutions that Prop. 47 dollars should fund, not more investment in policing and jails – which is a concern among advocates of Prop. 47, and is completely contrary to the redemptive nature of the law.

    Chicano  Mercy  organizer  organizing  pope francis  Prop 47  second chances  spotlight  
  • Countering the Myth of El Chapo in Merced

    January 23, 2016 /

    Regrettably, too many of our youth are influenced a great deal by people like El Chapo. Leaders of drug cartels have slowly become fixtures on social media, and to some, are perceived as role models. Youth are attracted to the false belief that trafficking drugs is the only way out of poverty or the “hood.”

    drug arrests  drug cartels  drugs  El Chapo  merced  role models  spotlight  youth