Illustration by Bela Messex

Emotions filled the Merrill Cultural Center as an audience waited eagerly to learn Paula Bonilla Flores’ story about “feminicide.”

The Chicano Latino Resource Center held an event May 19–20 to highlight the issue of feminicide.  Almost 100 students attended.

Feminicide is a phenomenon plaguing countries throughout the world. Initially recognized in the Mexican cities of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, it is a stream of gender-based sexual violence that includes the murder of women and girls. Families of victims often face the denial of local authorities as a major obstacle toward attaining justice against the murderers, and often experience discriminating attitudes such as victim-blaming. Sagrario Gonzalez Flores, the daughter of Paula Bonilla Flores, was a victim of feminicide.

“I’m going to continue to fight for my daughter’s case and [I’m glad] that the students were made aware and sensitized to the issues at hand,” Flores said. “I appreciate them for being so young and so involved with these issues.”

Sagrario was brutally murdered by drug trafficker Jose Luis Hernandez in 1998. Although others were suspected to be involved with the murder, Hernandez took full blame to bring a hasty close to the case in 2005. To this day, the Flores family is still struggling to bring to justice all of the people who were involved.

The first day of the event included a showing of the documentary “La Carta.” The film followed the 12-year struggle of finding justice for Sagrario’s family.

The second day of the event, the book “Terrorizing Women: Feminicide in the Americas” was presented to an audience. The book is a collection of essays written by feminists, human rights activists, scholars and attorneys from Latin America and the United States. It contains testimonials by relatives of women who disappeared or were murdered as examples of feminicide.

Cynthia Bejarano is a professor of criminal justice at New Mexico State University and co-editor of the book. She said it was important to educate the general public about feminicide in order to create a larger connection between audiences.

“I hope that this event triggers some continuity with the issues from afar,” Bejarno said. “I hope that it bridges connections with the violence in cities such as Ciudad Juarez and drug consumption in the U.S. I’m happy to see that people were very engaged, and hopefully [they] will make broader connections.”

Hector Dominguez, a traveling professor of Latin American literature and culture from University of Texas in Austin, also spoke at the event.

Dominguez said people should be aware that the actions of the United States have impacts elsewhere.

“The problem in Ciudad Juarez is not due to Mexico, but it is due to the problems here in the United States, [like] criminalization of immigration and drugs,” Dominguez said.

He said student involvement was important in the wake of these crimes.

“Awareness is already there [in the affected countries],” Dominguez said. “The news is around and there are a lot of stories [of such crimes]. It is all the matter of the combination of grassroots activism [that exist in these countries] and the activism of the students.”

Paula Bonilla Flores said she was happy with the success of the event.

“I thought that this event went well overall,” said Flores. “Some girls commented on the inspiration I gave them. This serves to them as a message to move on when hard things happen to them.”

Journalist Maria Hinojosa was the keynote speaker at the César Chávez Convocation last Thursday night. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Award-winning Mexican-American journalist and author Maria Hinojosa captivated the audience at the Seventh Annual César Chávez Convocation. She touched the crowd with personal stories relating to Latino culture and reiterated the great need for social activism in light of the recently passed laws in Arizona.

Hinojosa helped to honor the memory of one of her heroes, civil rights activist César Chávez, and his formation of the United Farm Workers (UFW) last Thursday at Colleges Nine and Ten. Hinojosa presented Chávez as an example for activists, commending his passion for social justice. Many in the UC Santa Cruz community have taken notice.

“[Maria] asks the difficult and probing questions, and is at the same time dedicated to documenting important issues affecting Latina and Latino communities with a keen sense of compassion and dignity,” said Rosa-Lina Fregoso, professor of Latin American and Latino studies.

Hinojosa is anchor and managing editor of National Public Radio’s (NPR) Latino USA, a weekly national program reporting on news and culture in the Latino community. She also has her own talk show in Boston called “One on One with Maria Hinojosa.”

Hinojosa’s efforts have been recognized by various groups, including the National Council of La Raza, which awarded her the Ruben Salazar Award, and the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, which gave her their Lifetime Achievement Award.

At the convocation, she spoke of personal experiences as an immigrant from Mexico and of her struggles growing up in Chicago, Illinois, as well as working as a Latina journalist. She recalled feeling “invisible,” partly because of her ethnicity, but soon discovered the value of her voice as she discovered the power in sharing interviews from individuals whose stories are seldom told.

“My role in journalism was to be visible and not to be quiet,” Hinojosa said.

She has interviewed a wide variety of people throughout her extensive career, including influential politicians, white supremacists, and even gang members. However, she focuses the majority of her attention on stories and issues affecting the Latino community and surrounding immigration rights and reform issues.

Hinojosa also spoke of the need to fight for undocumented people’s rights, especially after the passing of the SB 1070 law and the banning of ethnic studies in the state of Arizona. She said feelings of self-doubt and a lack of belonging are occurring among Latinos in the United States as a result of these current events.

“We are living in a moment of history that is frankly quite devastating,” Hinojosa said in her speech concerning the future of immigrants. “This is a dramatic situation. There’s a lot of ignorance, and this ignorance has been reared into hate. That’s where it gets really ugly.”

Some audience members said that the convocation and the content of Hinojosa’s speaking could not have been more appropriate in light of what is going on in Arizona.

“I thought the event was really inspirational and that the message [Maria] was giving everyone, particularly the youth in the audience, was very motivating,” said Wendy Baxter, associate college administrative officer (ACAO) of co-curricular and college programs at Colleges Nine and Ten. “She stressed the urgent nature of what is going on in this country right now.”

The event attracted many who wanted to honor Chávez and listen to Hinojosa speak.

“This is one of my favorite events that I look forward to all year,” said Helen Shapiro, provost of Colleges Nine and Ten. “The spirit and energy is incomparable.”

The event was planned by Shapiro, College Ten co-curricular programs, the Chicano Latino Resource Center (El Centro), and CARE: Community and Resource Empowerment. The groups shared the task of planning and setting up for the event.

“Everyone was working double and triple-time,” Shapiro said. “I’m pleased people are still working to make this event possible.”

Throughout her speech, Hinojosa continually urged the people in the crowd to continue fighting for immigrants’ rights, and considered the ability to promote dialogue invaluable.

“To be an American is to question and participate,” Hinojosa said. “It is the simple acts of protest that ignite the fire. Activism is organic, you have to trust it.”

Attendees were engaged by Hinojosa’s words and said the journalist related well to the audience.

“I felt really lucky to be there,” Wendy Baxter said. “She was so brilliant and thoughtful and personable, and connected so effectively with all of us. It felt like you were listening to a friend. I think she is something special.”

As the convocation came to a close, Hinojosa stressed the importance and need for openness and compassion in humanity. She said that, when people see each other equality, mutual respect and understanding will be the result.

As she stated, “This is the vision that I have for America with activism that comes from the heart.”

Illustration by Patrick Yeung.

Benjamin Bratt’s handsome, bearded face — instantly recognizable as a star of NBC’s television program “Law and Order” — visited UC Santa Cruz on April 23. But it is his brother, UCSC alumnus and director Peter Bratt, who was the focus of the event.

Both Bratts came to UCSC’s Cervantes Conference Room above the Quarry Plaza on Friday, April 23 for an open discussion of their new independent film, “La Mission.” Dozens of students filled the Cervantes Room to hear the brothers discuss the issues raised by the film.

“La Mission” stars Benjamin Bratt as streetwise single father Che Rivera. The film strives to recreate the predominately Hispanic Mission District of San Francisco as it was when the Bratts grew up there.

“Benjamin and I … always dreamed of making a film in our own backyard,” Peter Bratt said. “This is that dream realized.”

The film’s plot centers around Rivera’s violent reaction to discovering that his son is gay.

“It’s dealt with in a way that is reflective of what happens in real life within the community,” Benjamin Bratt said. “Being gay and being Latino, they’re not mutually exclusive things. It really exists, [but] we don’t like to admit it. We don’t like to talk about it.”

The Bratts have noticed both positive and negative reactions to the film.

“There have been some angry voices from the neighborhood and the cultural community about why we were airing dirty laundry, so to speak,” Benjamin Bratt said. But Bratt hopes that many leave the film with a new way of looking at gay rights.

Benjamin Bratt said he loves hearing viewers respond to the issues by saying, “‘I get it,’ or ‘I’m ready to listen.’” He said these responses are “one of the great victories of any good piece of art, changing the paradigm.”

The brothers were pleased with the audience’s reactions to the movie.

“What people seem to be emerging from the theaters with is a real sense of pride, of brown pride, which is exultant, which is celebratory,” Benjamin Bratt said. “That’s exactly what we wanted to achieve.”

Peter Bratt, who graduated from Cowell College in 1986, was met with a sense of nostalgia in returning to the campus.

He described having a “transformative life experience” at UCSC, which he attributed to a “unique spirit that’s still really alive on this particular campus.”

“This university … really emphasizes liberal arts and social justice,” Peter Bratt said, “and that’s really what motivated me to want to make films.”

A woman in the audience asked, “Can you help to affirm that to the chancellors so they — ” But the rest of her statement was lost, drowned out in jeers from the audience.

Bratt was eager to give back to the university that inspired him, so the Friday night viewing of “La Mission” at the Nickelodeon Theatre downtown served as a fundraiser for the Latin American and Latino studies department. The event was reported to have had a big turnout.

The film is also tied to UCSC through Latin American and Latino studies teacher Greg Landau, who served as music supervisor for the film. “I’ve known Peter and Benjamin for many years,” Landau said. “So when the time came to make the movie, they called me to help coordinate the music and compose some of the music to reflect the culture of the neighborhood.”

“La Mission” is debuting at the same time as Arizona is passing a controversial new law requiring law officers to demand proof of legal residency of anyone for whom there is “reasonable suspicion” of being an undocumented citizen, even as federal immigration reform is said to be right around the corner.

“From what I understand, UCSC has an increasing number of Latino students and Native American students. So I hope [the film] will be a voice heard by the student movement here on campus,” Peter Bratt said. “I also know that, even when I was here in the early 80’s, there were a lot of movement struggles in Watsonville and Beach Flats, and that’s still the case today.”

“You’re surrounded by a lot of farm worker communities that I think can relate to the material,” he added.

The Bratts made it clear that their movie is not about any one social issue. “At the end of the day, what we’re talking about … is the desire for a sense of belonging, which really means love,” said Benjamin Bratt. “We all want the same thing. We all want love.”