From the Neighborhood | Letter to our comunidad about El Centro Chicanx/Latinx
Querida Comunidad,
The pictures of scholars carrying indicators utilizing profanity towards El Centro and Centro Director Elvira Prieto and calling for workers firing from the Might 5th incident throughout Cafecito at El Centro have been devastating. Intimidation, identify calling and aggressive confrontation will not be how we resolve variations in our comunidad. The checklist of calls for, protest indicators and the calls to take away El Centro’s Director, Elvira Prieto, have been obscure and inconsistent with the spirit and mission of the Centro and Casa Zapata.
As an alumnae, Stanford volunteer and guardian of two current Stanford graduates, I’ve seen Elvira’s arduous work and dedication to college students. I’ve additionally admired her ardour for preserving our artwork, tradition, traditions and historical past at Stanford. I’m proud to have such a robust and dedicated advocate for our comunidad.
In her roles as Director of El Centro and Resident Fellow of Casa Zapata Elvira has been a selfless advocate for our comunidad. All through her tenure Elvira has led the Centro with integrity, compassion, and humility. Elvira works arduous to create a protected area for all college students to assemble. In her position as Director of El Centro and RF of Casa Zapata, Elvira has been a zealous advocate for elevated assets, administrative assist and different companies for our comunidad. We should demand that Elvira be handled with the dignity and respect that she has earned.
I’ve recognized Elvira because the early 90’s doing the arduous work within the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and main the Starvation Strike of 1994, in addition to coping with the fallout and its aftermath. These efforts finally led to the creation of the Middle for Comparative Research in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE). Constructing on the legacy and the sacrifices of our ancestors and of the generations of MEChistas earlier than us, Elvira served as a pupil chief within the battle for elevated assist companies for college students, culturally related academic alternatives, and elevated assets that our comunidad enjoys immediately. She put her life on the road and has devoted her profession since then to preserving these valuable assets. Elvira stays steadfast in her dedication to our comunidad.
Throughout Elvira’s tenure as Director of El Centro programming, workers composition and our bodily areas have advanced to mirror the rising range of our neighborhood. She has woven a fantastic tapestry wealthy with the colourful intersectionality of our neighborhood and primarily based on our frequent values of respeto, cariño y dignidad. We should defend our assets and assist these doing the arduous work to protect our place at Stanford.
We should additionally do not forget that El Centro and Casa Zapata belong to all of us. These areas belong to the present college students holding these areas, the workers working to assist them, the school who assist construct neighborhood, and to generations of alumni who risked their tutorial careers and private well-being as college students and proceed to return again to campus yr after yr to present of their time, abilities, and funds. El Centro additionally belongs to future generations who will proceed to construct on our legacy.
Allow us to be taught one another’s histories and experiences and honor the wrestle of these whose blood, sweat and tears laid the muse for our comunidad at Stanford. As we now have all through our historical past, let’s draw our energy from each other and are available along with dignity and respect to resolve our variations. El pueblo unido, jamas será vencido!
Con Cariño y Respeto,
Alma Medina
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
B.A. ’92, J.D. ‘95