Spring Break
Local high school students participate in 25th annual Raza Day
Mayra FloresDaily Staff Writer
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Raza Day is an annual event put together by MEChA, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, to reach out to the youth in the community and to encourage college enrollment among young Chicano students. Raza Day has been part of San Jose State University for 25 years.
Aztec dancers with plumed headdresses and shells at their feet, welcomed the crowd of high school students with fancy foot work.
"Our whole conference is geared toward culture enrichment," said Margarita Garcia, Raza Day co-chair.
Keynote speakers Karina Oliva Alvarado and Cesar Cruz discussed this year's theme - "Our Generation Fighting for Education."
Alvarado, a poet and activist from El Salvador, shared stories about her life as a teen mother and offered encouragement to young people.
Cruz, a human rights freedom fighter from Jalisco, Mexico, spoke about how music influences our lives.
"At the conference, we provide the students with workshops that inform them about the financial aid," Garcia said.
Along with workshops about college, financial aid, undocumented student access to higher education and being ready for the experience, there were also workshops on culture and history.
One of the workshops was on the history of the Aztec calendar. Others included a discussion about the Zapatista struggle and its international relevance and hip-hop culture.
Another major part of this year's event was the de-emphasis of the military as a means to a higher education.
Among the tables from different schools lining the union's halls at the function were vendors selling Hispanic handcrafts awaiting their next customers.
Earrings, pins and key chains, along with colorful rows of braided purple and red and orange bracelets, tempted the onlookers.
Local libraries and bookstores provided an inside look at the must-read books. Titles included "Bless Me, Ultima," by Rudolfo Anaya, and "Spilling the Beans: Loteria Chicana," by Jose Antonio Burciaga.
Local authors also were invited to attend.
Charlie Trujillo, an alumnus from the class of 1977, was invited this year to attend.
"I showed my documentary based on my book, 'Soldados: Chicanos in Vietnam,' " Trujillo said.
He has written many books over the last 16 years and has started his own publishing house, Chusma House Publications.
"They were farm workers here and they fought farm workers there," Trujillo said of the migrant workers drafted for Vietnam.
Another local author, Art Rodriguez from East San Jose, brought his novels and advice for the youth.
Rodriguez has been writing for seven years, many of which he spent learning how to read and write and use the typewriter.
He grew up in East San Jose and witnessed the violence there, he said.
"My group of guys that I hung around with were the worst guys around. ... Fortunately, I grew out of it. My friends are gone. They were shot or overdosed."
This was Rodriguez's first Raza Day.
"The event gives the young people the incentive to move forward and to do something with their lives," Rodriguez said.
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