By Alexander Salas
Photos by Crystal Rivera and Alyssa Castro
MERCED, Calif. — Last Saturday one of Merced’s local community youth groups, Faith in Merced (FIM), had a major event to showcase a mural they advocated for earlier this year. Read More
I understand officials have lives of their own or may have pre-scheduled events, but notifying the community of your absence would be the respectful thing to do, especially when you claim to want to be transparent with the community.
The forum, held last Saturday, focused on two key pieces of legislation. The first, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to receive a renewable two-year work permit and temporary relief from deportation. The second, Prop. 47, reclassifies certain low level, non-violent felony convictions to misdemeanors.
Both Trammel and Flores insist that one of the most important things about developing the Drum Corps was to ensure it came to fruition in South Merced, therefore giving youth a safe place away from all the violence plaguing the area.
“Of course teaching kids indigenous and contemporary technologies is a major component of our program,” stated Trammell. “But another component was to create a harm free zone.”
“Music can be the difference between getting in trouble or not,” added Flores.
The event, hosted by the Guadalupano Youth Society of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, was created to provide South Merced residents with information they may not access to otherwise.
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