At the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, we believe that all of our history should be shared. Representation matters. The more we understand and respect each other, the more we can eradicate prejudice, hate speech, and racism. September 15 is the start of #HispanicHeritageMonth and we look forward to honoring the people, culture, and contributions of our Hispanic communities over the month. If you would like to learn more about the month and why it kicks off mid-month (one reason is that it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), you can visit: https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/

This month we hope to celebrate thinkers, artists, activists, and changemakers like Dolores Huerta, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez, Dr. Gregoria Cahill and Vanessa Hauc.

“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” – Dolores Huerta

We honor the work of Dolores Huerta Foundation for #HispanicHeritageMonth. She is a long-time activist and is co-founder of the United Farm Workers which secured rights and safe, fair working conditions for American farmworkers, she has advocated for women and the working poor, and has traveled around the country to promote legislation for civil rights and equality, and was named a California Education Ambassador for her work. She was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Learn more about Dolores on her Foundation website: https://doloreshuerta.org/

“Slowly, white people taught me that no matter what I did and how I behaved, I was never going to read ‘good’ to them because of the deviant brown body narrative.” – Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez, ‘Good Girls vs. Bad Girls: The False Binary’

Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez launched Latina Rebels in 2013 to create a community of women around the world to tell their own stories and focus on Latinx news, culture, and politics. She is an advocate who supports Latinx creatives and producers and speaks as a Latina feminist on issues such as access and racism in higher education. Her new book, For ‘Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color’ covers classicism, colorism and “offers wisdom and a liberating path forward for all women of color”. You can learn more about her here: https://www.priscadorcas.com/

“There’s a huge achievement gap for Latinx, African-American, and Pacific Islander students. I am hoping to be able to make a different type of impact as Interim Dean.” – Dr. Gregoria Cahill

Dr. Gregoria Cahill is a Bay Area educator and advocate. She currently is the Interim Dean, Academic Affairs for Mission and Transitional Studies at City College of San Francisco since July 2019. Her doctoral dissertation for her Doctorate Degree of Education in Educational Leadership for Social Justice, entitled “Breaking the Barriers,” focused on the experience of Latinx students in community colleges and how to support their transfers to 4-year colleges and universities. She works to remove the institutional barriers to making higher education accessible to all students in the Bay Area. Learn more about Dr. Cahill here: https://bit.ly/3oL38D4

“When you’re out in the field it’s important to understand that even though climate change affects us all, it doesn’t affect everyone equally. Minorities, women and children, and other disempowered groups are mostly affected by the impact of climate change.”

Vanessa Hauc is an award-winning journalist and senior correspondent for Noticias Telemundo who has been covering climate change and its impact on local communities for over twenty years. She has covered national disasters, moderated a presidential debate, and started her own nonprofit. She is co-founder of the nonprofit, Sachamama, which means “spirit mother of the jungle,” its mission is to educate and inform the larger Latino community on climate change and building a sustainable future. Learn more about Vanessa’s work to educate about the environment in this OpEd: https://bit.ly/3iZvsxB