San Francisco Foghorn

              FREEDOM AND FAIRNESS
VOI,. 104       ISSUE 19
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Online This Week
Photos from last week's chemical spiU in the Harney Science
Center
USF Idol winner An-Nhien Le
FOGHORN.USFCA.EDU
APRIL 3,  2008
Renowned Activist Inspires the Next Generation
NIKKI DUDA
StaffWriter
Latinas Unidas hosted the seventh annual Dia de La Mujer Celebration in honor of Latina women on Thursday March
13. Students of aU colors fiUed up the Mc-
Claren center for an evening alongside
mariachis, a Puerto Rican jazz band, human resources expert Maria Elena Rivera
and activist Dolores Huerta.
Rivera, who works in HR at San Jose
State University, spoke of different aspects
of female identity, but made her greatest
point when she told students to "organize
anyway," even when the odds of making an
impact seem slim, to which the crowd responded with applause.
Huerta, now 77 and the main speaker
of the night, was one of the main organizers of the great national grape boycott, and
used her unique sense of humor to inspire
the room of men and women aUke. Often, the United Farm Workers movement
is synonymous with the revered name of
organizer Cesar Chavez, who created the
UFW.
Huerta's Ufe has been marked by many
mUestones, from co-founding the UFW to
lobbying for biUs to aUow drivers' examinations to be taken in Spanish, the 1973
Agricultural Labor Relations Act and the
repeaUng of the Bracero Program. However, boasting this resume was not her message to the crowd who gathered to hear her
speak.
The message of the event was female
empowerment; the power of women to
change policy and biases of everyday Ufe.
She also spoke out against racism on the
basis that everyone started out on the continent of Africa. According to Huerta, as
people began to leave the continent and
go their separate ways, one tribe "went off
into the cold and lost their color." She said,
"Now they have to go to the beach to get it
back! So when I hear a racist, I say [forget
Tatsuya Kawauchi/Foghorn
Activist Dolores Huerta, credited with co-founding the United Farm Workers movement with Cesar Chavez, spoke at the University of San
Francisco about the importance of social activism, reminding students of their own power to create change.
it,] you're African!"
She also spoke about anti-Mexican immigration sentiments. "We didn't cross
the border," she said at one point, to a resounding chorus of, "The border crossed
us!" from the crowd. Huerta said, "We
were here long before the border, and we'U
be here long after, right?" Her abiUty to rUe
up a crowd was clearly stiU in tact
She also spoke of the role of propriety
in our society. She mentioned with disdain
the fact that Uttle girls are not encouraged
to play with their brothers, but to wear
cute dresses and not get them dirty. Ladies
are expected, she said, to wait for Prince
Charming to come around and make them
happy. After he has left them with a couple of kids, she said, he does not seem as
charming anymore.
Huerta, who is also the creator of the
unity clap and responsible for the widespread use of the phrase, "Si, se puede!"
Everyone there clearly appreciated her
presence, especiaUy the officers of Latinas Unidas, Uke vice-secretary Christina
Mireles, who spoke with Huerta once the
event was over. Huerta was showered with
thanks from many students as she left the
building.
Huerta's biggest concern, however, was
not any kind of generational gap in terms
of interests or ideals, but in terms of creating change. She said that few students
seem to have time to get active.
"I know it's hard, especially with school,
to participate. It's two hours of your time
to do something. Make a phone caU, write
a letter, give money, or a few hours. There's
no excuse not to participate, especiaUy," she
added, "when it comes to women's rights!"
Students
and Jail
Inmates
Unite over
Dance
JESSICA LANCY
StaffWriter
A new course this semester is being
taught in an unlikely place for class to be
held: jaU. Students interested in social justice through the performing arts are taking
place in an eight-week class that brings
dance and theater to female inmates at San
Francisco JaU #8.
Performing Arts and Community Exchange is generaUy the type of course that
employs different settings, such as senior
centers, schools, youth recreation centers
and in this case jaUs, to teach students how
to think critically about issues of race and
class in relation to art. These places are un-
famUiar territory to most young people, so
the exposure can shed Ught on a new aspect of society.
"It is designed for students interested in
merging social activism, art, and teaching,"
said professor Amie DowUng, the course's
instructor. "In this culture, there are few
expressions of truth about the Uves of
people who have been or are incarcerated;
the arts respond to that vital need for voice
and seff-representation."
DowUng's interest in community-based
arts started with her own participation in
a dance exchange program several years
ago, where she first taught movement and
dance in a North CaroUna jaU. In 2000,
she co-founded the Performance Project, a
non-profit organization that worked with
incarcerated men to create original dance
Jail: Continued on Page 2
Students Rebuild Houses, Provide Hope
Tal Tamir/Foghorn
13 students witnessed the state of disrepair that New Orleans has remained in on an immersion trip they took over spring break.  Homes like
these were seen prevalently in poorer neighborhoods.  The red 'X' on the door signifies that the home will soon be demolished.
LAURA PLANTHOLT
News Editor
Three years ago, if junior Jennifer Her-
rera had told her friends she spent spring
break in New Orleans, they would have
giggled, imagining what kind of debauchery she got herself into. In 2008, the same
statement brings a much different reaction: people appear concerned, furrow their
brows, and uncomfortably ask, "What is it
Uke there?"
The city once famous for wild Mardi
Gras parades, spicy jambalaya and soulful
jazz is now more closely associated with
the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that
hit the gulf coast in August of 2005. Her-
rera and 12 other USF students went on a
University Ministry sponsored immersion
trip to New Orleans over spring break.
After an emotional week of working on
home repairs and bonding with the people
and city of New Orleans, they want people
to remember that the city is stiU there, and
it stiU has spirit, but at the same time, it
stiU needs a lot of help.
Herrera, who went on a simUar trip last
year, was selected to serve as the student
coordinator with UM for this year's trip.
She has seen the slow progression, and lack
thereof, in different parishes or regions of
the city. "The affluent neighborhoods look
perfecdy fine," Herrera said. New Orleans
is a city deeply divided: divided by socioeconomic class, divided by income and divided by race.   Herrera said, "When you
get to the outer areas like Saint Bernard's
Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward, that's
where you see aU the damage. And the
poorest people Uve in these areas, and the
majority of the people there are of color."
Sophomore NataUe FUter, who had
never been to New Orleans before this trip,
also could not help but notice the racial
segregation. She said, "The communities
that didn't get helped were predominandy
African American, so that's kind of scary
and sad to think about. We can hope that's
not why they're not getting helped, but it
reaUy looked that way."
Filter was most impressed by the "emptiness" she   saw.     Entire   neighborhoods
New Orleans: Continued on Page 3
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