Event recognizes impact of culture on education

By Linh Tat

Daily Bruin Staff

For years, “the people” have stood in solidarity to
demand equal education, and Saturday was no different for Gladys
Pimental.

Pimental, a junior at Millikan High School in Long Beach, was
among the more than 1,200 students gathered at UCLA this past
weekend for the seventh annual Raza Youth Conference, which
promotes higher education and recognition of the Aztlan
culture.

Sponsored by MEChA, this year’s theme of “Reclaiming
Our Raíces Through Educación y Resistencia”
promoted the idea of remembering the historical struggles of a
“raza,” which is Spanish for “people.”

“Education isn’t just your books ““ it’s
going back and talking to your family and community members;
it’s going back to your roots,” said Erika Ramirez,
co-chair of the conference.

The idea of learning from an individual’s parents proved
useful for Pimental, who said she wouldn’t otherwise have
known about the struggles her family went through.

“Things were hard for my parents because they had to work
while going to school,” she said. “They faced racism,
and I really haven’t.”

The secretary of her school’s MEChA program, Pimental has
participated in the conference the past three years and said her
knowledge of Chicana/o history is average.

Pimental, who plans to apply to UCLA and UCSD next year, said
she would like to minor in Chicana/o studies.

The conference ““ which drew students from 80 middle and
high schools and community colleges ““ featured speeches by
those actively involved with the Chicana/o community, including
Reynaldo Macías, chair of UCLA’s César E.
Chávez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction in Chicana/o
Studies.

“You don’t have to be on the show with Regis Philbin
to be a millionaire. What you have to do is hunker down and decide
what you are going to do about college,” Macias said,
responding to a study that showed college graduates earn an average
of $1 million more throughout their lifetime than those with only a
high school diploma.

Macias said that UCLA has progressed since its early days of
being a predominantly white school, but more progress is
needed.

“It has become more of a public university because of its
diversity, but 3,700 Chicana/o students is not enough,” he
said.

Macias also said students benefit from attending college by
meeting more people.

“When you meet better people, you will have better
lovers,” he said to a laughing audience.

But knowing what is needed to get into college isn’t
always easy.

Though more than half of the students in Advanced Placement
classes at her school are Latino, Pimental said having only two
counselors per grade level makes it difficult for students to
receive personal attention.

“The counselors won’t go out and talk to you,”
Pimental said. “It has to be on you to go to them.”

But through a mentorship program called “Operation
Jumpstart,” Pimental worked with a college graduate who
informed her of the university’s SAT requirement.

Also addressing students at the conference was keynote speaker
Antonia Darder, a professor of education and cultural studies at
Claremont Graduate University and director of the Institute for
Cultural Studies in Education, who received a standing ovation for
her speech.

Darder described American capitalism and what she said were its
impacts on racism and sexism.

“I grew up in a capitalist society ““ a society that
taught us that the greed of corporations control politics,”
Darder said. “Capitalism is the root of domination. Racism
and sexism exist because capitalism requires it.”

Darder said a globalized economy forced smaller countries to
give up their self-sufficiency, resulting in people migrating to
the U.S.

“We’re here because U.S. foreign policy in Latin
America has forced us here,” she said.

Still today, many in the U.S. have failed to recognize how
Chicana/os persevered through hardships, Darder said.

“Our experiences have been different, and the reality is
that when we get here, we’re treated as if we’re
stupid. The university acts as if we should be thankful for being
here,” she said.

“We will not let anyone kill us in spirit or in
intellect,” she continued.

Darder said students tend to accept the stories found in
textbooks too easily. Rather than seeing the world through other
people’s theories, students need to believe in the legitimacy
of their own experiences, she said.

“We need to learn to trust to see with our eyes and hear
with our ears. We must trust our experiences because if we
don’t trust them, we lose ourselves,” she said.

Darder expressed further concern for students who enter
elementary school bilingual but whose linguistic capacity decreases
by the time they graduate high school, so that they end up being
less proficient in their native tongue.

“Let’s challenge this education that takes away from
us more than it gives,” Darder said.

“We see so many of you here, but how many are not here?
Never forget the ones who are not here,” she continued.

The conference opened with poetry reading and singing and later
featured traditional dances by Danza Tenochtitlan, an Aztec group
from East Los Angeles. Workshops throughout the day provided
students with information on college requirements and different
aspects of Chicana/o culture.