Dr. Christine Marin on labor organizing, supporting the next generation, and having "ganas"!

Welcome

to another episode of Plan Dulce. This podcast is brought to you by the Latinos in Planning Division of the American Planning Association. This is a space where we learn from urban planners as they share their experiences, their career journeys, and all of the exciting projects that they're working on.

Together,

we are building a growing library of stories from Latina and Latino planners working in various communities all across the U.S. and sometimes even internationally. Thank you so much for tuning in today and letting us be part of your day. Now, on to the show.

Everyone

for joining us for our live recording of our Plan Dulce podcast. With me this afternoon, I have Kiana Ortiz-Venio, who's coming in from Colombia right

now, doing

some really, really great work. She's here to help facilitate our interview with Dr. Christine Marin, who's Professor Emeritus from the Arizona State University. So super excited to have them both. I'll pass it off to Kiana to introduce our speaker.

Dr. Christine Marin is Professor Emeritus and Archivist-Historian at the Arizona State University. Dr. Marin is the founder of the prestigious archival repository, the Chicano-Chicano Research Collection and Archives at the Hayden Library in Tampa, Arizona. At Adjunct Faculty Associate in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, she taught courses in the History of Mexican Americans for the former History Department and the School of Transporter Studies, and the History of Mexican American Women and Latinas for the Women and Gender Studies Department.

The

National Association for Chicano and Chicano Studies awarded Dr. Marin its Community Award in recognition of her commitment to the Latino community as an archivist and historian in the field of Chicano and Chicano Studies. Arizona Humanities awarded her the Juliana Lodeo Frendo the Humanities Award in recognition of her research, writing, and scholarship for her work that supports and promotes the humanities.

Her

most recent publication is Amazing Grace Keeps the Platter Spinning, and I'm pleased to welcome her honorary guest today.

So,

I'd like to start off with a small question that we always ask most of our guests, and that is, what is your favorite pan dulce, or what is your favorite dessert?

I

love the pan dulce, but I love the cimarron, the cimarron, the pig, the little puerco.

Yeah.

Do

you have any fond

food memories associated with it? I love it with coffee, especially with coffee. When I was growing up, that was what my mother had, to begin her day, actually, but always with black coffee, and she would dunk it.

So,

I learned to dunk all of my little pastries in my black coffee, and I still do that, and I remember that one.

It

reminds me of her. That is

true.

Your mother would be very proud to your character of the legacy, and I feel like most pastries are better with a cup

of

coffee or hot chocolate. I also love pan dulces and café en el mon.

So,

I'm

curious,

kind of getting into the meat, no pun intended, of the conversation. Can you share some memories from my upbringing in Arizona, and how growing up in a copper mining community influenced your perspectives on community, resilience, and urban planning?

I

grew up in a copper mining community called Globe, G-L-O-B-E, Arizona, 90 miles east of Phoenix.

My

dad belonged to his local union. In the beginning, in the original history of Mexican labor copper unions in Arizona, especially in my hometown, was first the International of Mine, Mail, and Smelter Workers, the IU-MMSW. Then they became known as the Western Federation of Miners, and then later the Miami Miners Union. The history of those unions actually began with many Mexicanos immigrating to copper towns like Globe to work in the mines, or they were brought in to work in the mines. But in my dad's era, the mines were segregated by workplace and by pay, Mexican pay, Anglo pay, and the Mexicanos tried to form their own union, but the copper mining companies denied them, but they still met.

And

so finally, he did become part of the labor organizing efforts to form a Mexican union, and that was later called the Miami Miners Union, or the Mexican Miners Union, then later the AFL-CIO. So growing up in that environment with all of our families in Globe, Mexicano families, the men worked in the mine. That was the main source of work that

brought

in Mexicanos and neighborhoods and people. So I was very much influenced by labor organizing and union organizing on the part of my dad and my mom, who belonged to the women's auxiliary of the union. So I grew up with all of that labor consciousness, being aware of the importance of unions, and advocating for women, especially, and the auxiliaries that they belonged to. So I learned unionism. Those of us who grew up in copper mining towns, we come away with that consciousness, and we come to cities to go to school, and we never leave that kind of thinking, and we become better students because we work together.

That

is amazing. And I think that more of

a

plan is to benefit from having a stronger sense of class and labor consciousness.

I'm

curious how you feel like having a strong sense of labor consciousness does influence the way that

you

think about things like economic development and

planning. Well,

in our state of Arizona, there is no longer a union to support copper mining workers or workers in the mines because that was taken care of in 1983 by Feltz-Dodge Corporation that busted unionism in the copper industry. That does not mean, however, that workers are not forming unions together or working together in other industries. Agriculturally speaking, there are no longer, and there has been a union to support farm workers. Cesar Chavez tried to do that in 1972 when he came to help organize the Arizona chapter for the UFW. That did not work.

But other Mexicanos who have come to work here in our state in different industries like the resort industries or, let's say, in other areas, they now are forming unions and working together to end racism and discrimination in the workplace and to work for fair wages for workers. Starbucks is a recent example of that

in

Arizona.

That's

so critically important.

And

before we move on to our next question, I was

just

curious to know how you feel like our agriculture and our industrial industries in the United States would look differently if labor organizers were able to achieve a more complete vision of labor rights for Chicanos and Latinos in general in the United States.

Well,

we read much about the California experience because of the work of Cesar Chavez, but there are many other workers in other states that followed his example. You always have that battle between union sympathizers and union organizers and workers who belong to their own farm workers union with the government who may not recognize unionism in agriculture with others who live off the work of the workers and take their money in different ways and exploit them. I think we're going to really be in, if I just might insert just a moment, what's been going on politically. I think we're in for a big surprise.

And I'm sorry to say that immigrant workers are going to be victimized and going again to be the victims of labor exploitation or in some way

racism,

not just along the border and not just in agriculture, but immigrants in general because Mexican immigrants have been the backbone of unionism regardless of the industry in our state of Arizona.

And

that's so real. I think that that is a very relevant thing to bring into this space. Urban planning is a deeply intersectional field that is intimately affected by politics.

Like

I was doing work in California and

like

an agricultural community that was predominantly fueled by

Central

American and Mexican workers.

And there's

so many intersectional issues like housing and flood resilience,

heat,

islands that are deeply, deeply relevant to the planning field that we should be conscious of in the fight to make sure that Latinos are able to survive through these next four years and they have a dignified living experience or experience. That's right. And don't forget the contribution of the Filipino workers in California in an earlier space and time. Their importance as compadres with Cesar are in different ways to strengthen the unionism of immigrant farm workers. The Filipinos are very good at maintaining solidarity and working well.

And the descendants, the children, or the descendants of those workers continue that thinking of the importance of unionism in other industries, if not in agriculture any longer in Arizona.

Yes,

we love our Filipino brothers and

sisters and the

struggle. It's so important to build solidarity with communities who are facing similar structures of marginalization and to grow our movements across different backgrounds. and so I'm so glad that you brought that into the field as well. Yes, yes, exactly.

So

I'm curious, moving on, what inspired you to pursue a career in academia and how did you navigate that journey as a Latina, especially during a time when there were even fewer Latinos in higher education than there are?

in

my generation.

Thank

you, President Kennedy

and

later President Johnson.

We,

the children of immigrant families or Mexican-American or Latino or Chicano families were able to help us, the children,

go

to school because of the financial aid that was now available through the War on Poverty Program initiated by President Kennedy and then later carried out through by President Johnson. So we were able to work with families like my parents, example, who had to qualify. Obviously, we qualified because we didn't have any money to get financial aid for children to begin their college education at a community college, at a university in our state or elsewhere because it was a federal program now because

there

was money, financial aid, to get you started to go to school and that financial aid also made it possible for you to find work as a work-study employee, student employee on campus. So not only did you get financial aid to go to school that paid for your tuition and your books and maybe your dormitory, but you also had a job on campus which meant because it was a federally funded program, you were more than likely to find work because the department paid

three

-fourths of your salary.

The

government only had to pay one-fourth.

So

it would make more sense for a department on campus to hire you

because

they didn't have to pay so much money.

The

government gave them the money.

So

you had a job. So you were able to work. You were able to go to school. So I was able to work on campus in different areas to earn a wage. A student wage wasn't much, but at least it was money that my parents couldn't afford to send me. Not only could they not afford to send me to pay for tuition, but it was that Warren Poverty money that came through because of President Johnson. Thank you, President Kennedy, as well.

And

not only me, but many others, not just from the mining towns, but from Phoenix or from Tucson or from other areas where there were Mexicanos working, but now they were sending students or their children to universities like Arizona State University.

And

we all became friends,

even

though there were so few of us. Gone were the high school rivalries, I have to tell you, in sports especially. If you were having a rivalry for many, many years with your next door neighbor, like me, Globe, Miami, M-I-A-M-I, Miami, Arizona, separated by six miles between Globe and Miami, those six miles, there was a rivalry that still continues in all areas, especially sports.

But

now we're coming to ASU together. We're coming from other mining towns together. and out the window goes that sports rivalry. Now we're working together because we have that labor consciousness in our brains already, growing up with all of that importance of working together. So we're able to become friends, share our areas of interest, take classes together, help each other, become successful students because we already have that it's important to work together type of attitude. So I have to say that growing up in mining towns was helpful not only to me, but to many other friends who come from other mining towns of Arizona. Clifton, Morency, Bisbee, Metcalf, Jerome, and so forth.

Many, many, many towns that are copper mining towns. So that was good.

Yeah.

So there wasn't even like a small whisper when you passed by maybe about like

for

your team. I have to tell you this. The provost of Arizona State University is Dr. Nancy Gonzalez. She is the university provost and very important. The first Latina, the first woman to be provost of Arizona State University. I believe she started in her third year now. She is from Miami, Arizona. Our rival with Globe, of course, and Miami. So when we see each other, we understand we have to be a little bit more formal with each other and make sure that we don't fall back a little rivalry. But we do say in our passing,

Go

Tigers, Globe.

Go

Vandals, Miami. So we still maintain that little, small little thing and laugh about it. but we also understand we have to be a little bit more formal and now we recognize each other in different ways. But the provost of Arizona State University from a copper mining town, Miami, Arizona. Can you believe that? That's amazing.

She's going to be there.

She's there now. Very important.

So

I have to make sure that I call her Provost Gonzalez.

but

I

do

say

Go

Tigers.

Exactly. Have

a tiger on her door for April Fool's Day. Exactly.

That

is so important to be able to

put

down some of the more insignificant barriers that divide us in order to develop a sense of stronger, again, solidarity with each other in order to placemake and make sure that we can succeed in spaces that we're not always made from.

I

agree. And a university setting allows you to do that in different kinds of ways. With students now in a different generation coming to school, there may be financial aid.

There

is no longer, of course, federally funded financial aid that gives you your tuition automatically unless you have a grant or you have something coming in in a different way. But now with this new generation of students coming in, they do qualify for financial aid through scholarships. And they do come in that way, which is great. Scholarships that are coming from organizations, scholarships that are coming from civil rights organization away from the West. So they're qualifying now because they're good students. They've gone to good schools. They've had a good high school education to get them into college or community college or university.

And they're very good and they're very disciplined and they have technology awareness and knowledge that's available to them now to make them better students and good students and they keep up with the technology and they come away as college students with a degree in technology. Isn't that amazing? I find that just simply wonderful. I like that.

I

think it's been absolutely incredible to kind of see that transformation of like students personal journeys as they kind of move through the process of leaving their hometown and joining the university system.

That's

right. Absolutely.

They

already know it. They already know it before they come to ASU. We knew nothing. We had academic counselors who were like us, but we were all in it together. We were like first timers.

You

know, we had, so now there's no excuse for you to be no Hispanic not to be successful. There's no excuse for that anymore.

Yeah.

You definitely blazed the trail forward, you know.

Thank goodness for mentors, right?

Yeah,

absolutely. Absolutely.

That's

so critical.

Yeah.

And

in regards to that, we would like to touch on your legacy and impact of teaching. and so over your years of teaching history and transborder studies,

what's... History, history, and I have to say la chicana history. Chicana. I was the first Latina or Mexicana Chicana to teach in the College of Liberal Arts. I mean, in Women's Studies as it was called then. Now it's called Gender Studies. The first course, the first course called Latina History

in

Arizona and in the Southwest. I work my butt off for that. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And so, you know, kind of speaking to all that incredible advocacy work and trailblazing that you've done in

academia,

what are changes that you've observed in how students engage with Chicano and Mexican-American Latina

history? I'm

glad you asked me that because even though I'm emeritus, I flunk retirement all the time. Meaning that students contact me, graduate students working on a thesis or a dissertation or something for a class that relates to cultural diversity. They have remained these new students that are coming up in the field, whatever their field is. Sustainability. I don't even know what that was for a long time. But they're coming up in new fields and they want to know about themselves, about their history. How did we get here? Or what does that mean to be Latina? Or can you teach me something?

So I'm working with these graduate students who want to write about themselves, who want to research themselves, who want to know about Latino or Mexicano or Chicano history of Arizona because they're in Arizona and they want to stay. They might be attracted to other locations away from the West or the Southwest, but they want to stay here and they want to know what they can do. So I meet with them. I take them to the archives to do research. I teach them electronically how to find databases in their field. We go through sessions together. I help them through contacts. They meet my friends and colleagues in their fields as mentors.

And so we're still engaging with students no matter if they're younger. They can be retirees or emeriti. But we're all working together to help students become progressive and successful. It's like somebody who helped me. We understand the importance of helping others. How did we learn that? We learned that from our parents.

How

did our parents learn that? They learned that from their workers or fellow workers or neighbors. All of us together, Mexicanos together, helping each other. We learned that. You have to bring somebody with you because we had somebody to help us. so we still have that. No matter the generation, we still have that concept of being helpful for others to help us rise because we have to rise. We're still confronting the same old issues of stereotypes of Mexicanos, racism and discrimination in different ways. And we still have to have that fight and that grit and we have to have that energy. No te dejas.

You

know that word that your parents? No te dejas, mija. Okay, dad, I won't. You know what that means, right? Keep fighting. No te dejas. Don't let them push you around. Blah, blah, blah. We learned that when we were little growing up.

I

don't know. I'm sure others do too. I'm not the only one who knows what that meant. But we still have that ganas as we call it. People call it an English drive. We have drive. We have ganas. Drive. We have ganas. We never lose it.

That's

what I'm talking about. Ganas. Thank you. That is so important. And please excuse my internet faux pas earlier as I'm in Colombia at the moment. But

I'm

curious, moving into the spirit of having ganas, continuing the movement forward and uplifting people as you rise. How do you think having more Latino faculties and staff in higher education has impacted students

and

the broader academic landscape? And what steps would you like to see institutions take to improve representation? In 1970, Arizona State University brought in new Chicano professors in their fields of history or in liberal arts, for example, or humanities. What was happening in 1970 where I come along with the library, the archives, was a different kind of a movement, a movida, a movement. It was kind of like a civil rights movement, but it was a Chicano. Now you have Mexican-American students throwing away that label, Mexican-American. They were now being influenced by the Mexican-American who were using a new name to identify themselves Chicana-Chicano students.

They were being influenced by California Chicanas and Chicanos to take that word and use it. Put it on themselves. I'm Chicana-Chicano now. I'm not Mexican-American anymore. The government made me Mexican-American, but

now

I can put on the census I am Chicano. Now we're identifying, self-identifying, self-learning, recognizing our indigenousness, recognizing our mixed races, recognizing our Mexicano-Mexican-American, Mexicano-Mexican self. And so now, by then, Arizona State University is being confronted by originally MASO, Mexican-American Student Organization, later merging with other students elsewhere, becoming MECHA. Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanos de Yatlan, MECHA.

So now you have students becoming involved, working with professors or mentors elsewhere, coming to Arizona State University and being recruited by Arizona State University president to become part of the faculty to make sure that we ASU are becoming part of a movement to bring in Chicano students and professors to teach you Chicano studies classes. So now you have in liberal arts for the first time, professors teaching Dr. Manuel Servin, my mentor in history, the first class called Chicano history.

Dr.

Justo Alarcon, the first professor to come in and teach for the first time Chicano literature.

Coming

in for the first time, Dr. Nolan Stowe from USC to teach Mexicano-Mexico history. So now you have Arizona State University becoming a figure to bring in Mechistas or Mexican-American throwing that away, Chicana-Chicano students because of now financial aid coming our way because of the war on poverty of the late 60s and President Kennedy. Now you have American Studies or what was being called in liberal arts American Studies, Professor Servin, Dr. Stowe

and

you have Chicanas now rising. Dr. Maria Allison comes in to be the first Latina professor in the graduate college. You didn't have us in administration before. Now you have mentors who are administrators, they're directors, they're program directors working with students like us, undergraduates helping us to become graduates, helping us to become professors with a PhD later but they're right there visible and they support Mecha. Yes, they support the students. That was unheard of elsewhere because the professors were afraid of being fired because they were seen as supporting student demonstrations and rallies.

ASU students were right there with the ASU professors at protests and demonstrations and rallies calling forward. Chicano studies classes in history, in literature, in bilingual education, in the college of law, all of these legitimate classes that were the students asking for to teach them about themselves to bring in Chicana Chicano professors to teach us about us and that's where I came in to be the archivist historian for the Chicano studies collection as it was called then, then later the Chicana Chicano studies archives. so it all comes together. We were founded in 1970. I finally retired later but we're still a viable Chicana Chicano studies archives and library after 50 years now.

We're not going anywhere now. We're right there. We're right there in the face of the Hayden library in the face of everything going on. Now we have archivists being hired. Now we have librarians hired to curate Chicana Chicano studies library archives. So see what happened 50 years ago? It doesn't matter how long it takes. You have to be persistent. You have to come back and help yourself and you have to fall back. I always tell my students and I'm going to say it to you and they laugh because they understood what I'm saying. Okay, so we have downfalls. Okay, so we fall back. Didn't you learn that you have to come back after struggle? Your parents struggled.

They came back and I always say this in jest and I mean it in jest so I hope I'm not disrespecting any of you here. That's why you have nagas because you can bounce back.

Right?

That is something that's like I need to write on my desk

to

motivate me through the day. That's

it.

I don't want to

carry

you through though. Right? It bounced right back. That's all. It's so simple. A simple thing to do. Right. So,

to

that end, like, see you're bouncing back. Yeah. I'm curious what challenges you face in establishing a space that's specifically dedicated to storytelling and placemaking for Ticcanos. Well,

we have to fight.

Yeah.

We have to

fight in women's studies. Thank goodness the director of women's studies was progressive in her thinking and approached me. Chris, we have to bring in more students into the classroom because we have a certain number that we have to fill to have the class meet. So, thank goodness we had in the College of Liberal Arts an academic counselor and advisor Mr. Eduardo Delcy who would meet with freshmen and who would meet with other students and help them sign up for classes. He brought

me

and he sent me students who could take because of him now taking my class La Chicana or La Chicana History or La Chicana in Arizona or La Chicana in the Southwest. That way, we would meet the numbers to have the class meet and grow and continue and have money.

So,

because of a new because of Dr. Servine the new professor in history because of Dr. Stowe in history because of Liberal Arts Director who managed the courses in Liberal Arts and because we had a very good director in the Women's Studies so La Chicana grew the courses in La Chicana History grew courses in Chicano Law grew courses in Bilingual Education grew courses in Chicano Literature grew courses in Chicano Sociology grew all because in Liberal Arts we had this movement called the American Studies Program to bring in Chicano faculty and to bring in Chicano students and that's what happened

that's

why we had so many

we

were successful

we

were students what

do we know we

were good students so you saw the professors who taught us in our demonstrations to make sure that we had a Chicano student movement at Arizona State University that brought all of us together and become progressive students and graduate many of us now are professors and universities who teach college classes many of us now are scientists some of us are professional athletes many of us are attorneys many of us are social workers many of us are professionals professionals now we've got our degrees but

thank

you Dr. Sedevin I still thank him he's deceased now but thank you everybody in Liberal Arts when I started thank you everybody I thank everybody so they thank me and I'm still meeting them now that they have children I'm saying okay I stop when I have to stop teaching your grandchildren

I

taught you as students I taught you as parents okay I guess I can teach your grandchildren as well we'll do it electronically

so

we're doing okay I still do that I'm just not in the classroom anymore

now

I'm in the Emeritus College and the Emeritus College is a whole different atmosphere now with my status as Emeritus I'm able to do a lot more and do similar things that I was doing in the classroom now I am working with the Emeritus faculty in the Emeritus College and we meet with students and we work with students on dissertations and theses and we do write letters of recommendations and we do have little meetings to make sure that students do well so we're still doing it I'm still doing it I'll do it forever

yes

I love to see it

so

I'm curious

what unique

challenges you have encountered in documenting and sharing Latino stories and how you think communities continue to advocate for their stories in a broader historical narrative

and

especially you mentioned the current political climate earlier there are many people who would say that teaching students about their history when that history is complicated and not always

flattering

towards the United States government

when

I was

teaching La

Chicana I always assigned my students an oral history project term paper

they

learned from me

oral

history techniques and how to conduct interviews they learned from me and the manual that I created and how to teach oral histories they had to produce an oral history project as a term paper for my class or they did not pass the class

so

we all worked together the students and me with their parents with the women the requirement was that they had to interview Latinas or they had to interview women in the family to create a family history so that meant well I have to now talk to my mother yep you do if you and your mother aren't getting along you better start talking to her because you've got this paper to do so we were now creating a new way of addressing family history oral histories my students now were interviewing their neighbors or their theos or their grandmothers or their parents or their mothers and on campus was also the Hispanic Mother Daughter Program a federally funded program through the Women's Equity Act that came into ASU by 1980 the Women's Equity Act created and it still is existing at University of New Mexico at Arizona State University and elsewhere the Hispanic Mother and Daughter Program money that enabled mothers to come back to school and finish their degrees and their seventh and eighth grade daughters to come to ASU for the summer to learn what it was like to be a freshman at ASU they lived in the dorm for the summer they took classes from Chicana faculty they went to our presentations they came to our classrooms and so now you still have successful the mother and the daughter and the daughters now today after this time are now professors or teachers or social workers or advocates in their community because they are the graduates of the Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program just like their mothers they came together so now you have at graduation commencements the mother and the daughter graduating together

because

they went to the program together

so

I always like to make it clear that Arizona State University is very progressive

even

though our legislature was managed by

those

with the letter R as their party they managed the money they were stingy they were not very nice but we always had a very good university administrators who were able to work together to make sure that there was always going to be a Chicano Studies Archives or library or an American Studies program and blah blah blah after all this time we are still having wonderful Latina students graduate from Arizona State University who are very progressive thank you technology

which

I didn't which I was never very good at I was never very good at it but that's okay we had students

yeah put

them to work

yeah

and so you mentioned that you have a really supportive university structure

even when

you say government is not always as supportive of your initiatives I'm

curious how do you

market

the

importance of your initiatives that encourage Chicana specifically or like Chicano Latino representation and teach people about their history their heritage

you

go out into your community and meet with those who are organizing

the

community has organizations or teacher organizations or the AEA Arizona Education Association or they have a community Latino Forum different organizations that are there to help Mexican American Latino Hispanic families parents in different ways and so you go out and meet them and you go out and encourage each other to do oral histories at ASU Chicana Research Collection and Archives we have our archivists now who are going out in the community and teaching families and households and students and elders how to conduct oral histories within their community within their households within their organizations and come away with their own family histories that they can share with others so we're teaching them how to do oral histories we're teaching them how to compile photographs and how to use primary sources to be able to come away to tell a story of a Mexicana Mexicano family that came to Phoenix or that came to a mining town or that came in some way to Arizona that are now contributors because now their descendants are professionals in their field

you

see what I mean

so

you

have different

generations coming along so that and that continues that's continuing and now we have our provost Dr.

Nancy Gonzalez who was the wonderful example of success and achievement coming from a little copper town like Miami Arizona with a population maybe of 9000 maybe Mexicano workers and miners for many years now she's our provost wow Nancy look at you you see what I'm talking about you have a leader you have a visible leader you have a woman you have a professor who is very well known in her field as psychologist she was a well known respected psychologist before she became provost now she's working with the university president now she has importance working with other administrators elsewhere now she's different now she has that provost net in front of her name which she earned what she deserves to have

so

you see what happens now finally after I don't know how many years Arizona State University it was a teacher's college in 1888 it was a territorial school a normal school a teacher school a college and a university and blah blah blah blah blah blah and you have to give credit to our university presidents too Michael Crow who's been our university president for 15 years maybe he's using technology in different ways because he understands its importance and you know the big joke about him sometimes is oh but he was an athlete when he was in college what do they always get weighted on they're sports heroes they don't have to do anything but he even though he was an athlete in college he knew he was a strong athlete yes but he was also a scholar and he

knew how to

use scholarship and financial aid to promote not only among athletes the importance of college education but among others and so our university president our provost our university administrators our program coordinators our archivists our librarians our professors our faculty who are at ASU Latinos now they're calling themselves which we did not do because we didn't have that word in my generation we were Chicanas Chicanos now they're calling themselves Latinos which is okay but we don't call ourselves Hispanics where I come from at ASU we don't call ourselves Hispanics too often we are Latinas or Latinos because maybe

that

has a different meaning today than Hispanics we don't call ourselves that I don't know I don't I still call myself a Chicana because that's how I grew up

once

in a while I'll throw up Latina just to save time

yeah it's

important to respect the individual identity that matters

you know what's great

you know what's great we can choose now we can choose whatever we want to be now we can self-identify and identify ourselves in different ways and explain ourselves in different ways however all you have to do is

look

at my work

that's

what we teach students that's what professors say

don't

judge me by my skin color or my hairstyle or how I'm dressed or my accent or blah blah blah

look

at my work

look

at my work

I

have that PhD after my name for a reason look at that work

right

so look so you have to remember that look at my work don't judge me on other things I have credentials just like you do

exactly yeah

and so you've spoken to the way that you've uplifted your community in a very practical way

and

you've been successful in balancing the world of academia and a very tangible community activism how

do you view

the intersection of these two worlds and what advice would you give to others striving to have a similar impact

students

ask me that often I don't know anybody I live in a white world or I'm in a mixed marriage or my parents are mixed I don't have a biological parent blah blah blah I don't know how to identify well when you are teaching them in a classroom you're helping them learn how to read the works of others how to use what they're studying and adapt it to themselves in the assignments that you're giving them as students then they learn little by little the readings of others and they're learning how to apply concepts ideologies and thinking to create their identities to use terms that they can define to be influenced by others who are helping them because students now are working better together gone are all those rivalries now they're working together because they see the importance now

they're learning how to

share a business or to form a business now they're becoming entrepreneurs who would have ever thought we would be entrepreneurs when we didn't even have any money to become an entrepreneur now they know how to become entrepreneurs because they're now in colleges of business and finance and they learn that they're away now from liberal arts they're away from bilingual education they're away from the humanities and now they're in business they're learning how to use business technology to become entrepreneurs in other states in other countries because now they're using their Spanish which they were not using before what they are now learning what they are now becoming more proud of because now they're becoming better speakers and because that's what they want to do it doesn't matter anymore that you have an accent or you don't speak well you know it doesn't matter all of that it doesn't matter they're learning they want to learn and they're being very good at learning and careful and they're using language and culture and biculturalism and everything else that identifies them in their way and they're using all of that to be themselves and using everything they've learned as well from their community from their parents from others from their mentors

that's so

important and it's important for all of us to create an open and welcoming space so that people feel comfortable leaning into the fullness of their identity too that's right and so given your experience with Latino communities in Arizona I'm curious what role you see urban planning playing and empowering those communities and how Latinos in the field of urban planning can advocate for culturally responsive and responsible development I think you have to still help students in different ways even though they may not admit that they need help you can see if they're struggling if they are your student if they don't do well in the beginning they're not going to do well in the middle and they're not going to do well in the end so you have to learn to recognize the struggle that they may be having maybe in writing or maybe in learning concepts everyone has a different way of learning

you

can't teach the same way to everybody it's all very different so maybe someone needs glasses and they don't know that they need glasses and they can't see anything that you're writing you have to be aware and be conscious of

looking

at the students and trying to see where and how they need help and go tell the student and meet the student on a level it's just not you the professor no you have to be a little bit more closer to the students who need your help that's why they're there they're not going to say I need your help no you have to approach them in different ways because somebody did that with you Dr.

Cedavine did that with me how did he know I needed help I don't know who knows who really knows it was until later oh so that's what he meant by blah blah blah so we as professors or colleagues have to work with students in different ways we have to meet parents as we move along we do have to engage in organizations that they might belong to we have to help students learn by helping them understand the writings of other Latina Latinos in those fields to help them understand what that means I had a student try to better explain to me sustainability because I didn't know what that meant and I had to ask what does that mean what Dr.

Marin you don't know what that means I said no I don't know what that means well we have to go have coffee okay

I

learned what sustainability meant yes now I know

that

word was not existent in my world now it does right advocacy well I didn't know what that meant now I do but we didn't use the word advocacy at that time right

we

were just being mitoceras that's

all no

but that I think that Chris come along and we're at a conference Chris come along and join us at the mitotheta table okay I knew what that meant

come

and join us at the advocacy table what does that mean I'm thinking advocacy oh you mean the mitotheta table I can do that I know what that meant

right

exactly

like

just because someone might not know the word for something doesn't mean they're not already doing it and I

think that's what

it can take to like

our community

planning I think like there's this somewhat paternalistic attitude that sometimes planners have sometimes

they

work with most of the time the working class doesn't understand their conditions they don't have time to think about the conditions that they're living in like they're not active participants in their communities because they just have to work they

have to work

just like students today are holding three jobs maybe four jobs part-time jobs to earn a little bit of money because now they're working but they also have to help families or their family and you know money is tight sometimes they want to they have dreams

they

have dreams of owning home or they have dreams of education and so they're working so you have to remember and you know which of your students are working three or four jobs or maybe part-time at night and so forth because they look like they're working

they

look like they need sleep and sometimes so you just have to be aware of the kind of help that you you have friends you have mentors you have other faculty you have committees that you belong to you have organizations who can help get everybody involved to help somebody

that's

what you have to do

so

we have to learn to do that

and

not be shy

yeah

I think you are absolutely right with that and kind of speaking towards you know that greater level of community engagement that we have to do to connect with each other and kind of build that consensus to move and advance things forward

yeah

and so you know

as

we look over the course of your career and everything that you've done what advice do you have for the next generation a lot of Latinos are looking for hope in the current political climate and what final words of wisdom encouragement would you offer the next generation of Latino leaders academics urban planners who want to make a meaningful difference

never

give

up

no

matter what pursue your dream

work

on it the best you can do the best you can but never ever ever give up no matter what you have to work at it you have to come to terms with it at different times you have to believe in yourself but never never give up

thank

you so much for your time and for

your

insight it is amazing speaking to you today thank

you I'm sure I'm sure

that the audience

have

loved

speaking

with you as well I'm wondering if we could perhaps open up the floor for people to ask

oh

sure Dr. Maria

good okay

good oh Consuelo hi

hi

I have a question I want to say I would love to meet you in person I want to get that energy from you

I

love it that attitude to

after

your

to

still have that attitude that positive outlook and

it's for

the young professionals it's great

thank

you good

I

still have I still have ganas

you

have to

all

the way

to

the end you have to and I still have my nagas

oh

there you go awesome great those two things I thought it would be anything you look back in your career so far that you

you

think oh I could have done this

no

I don't have regrets I don't do that I don't look back

what

I do is I always remember the struggle of my parents

they

sacrificed so much from my brothers and my sisters and me

they

endured segregation in schools they endured segregation in the community by angles and I'll be very frank it was not very nice the racism and discrimination that they endured

mija we

came here to find work

we

came here to become americanos no matter what and we would endure whatever it would take for you

and

you saw that they showed it to you if you were growing up you may not have understood it but as you were growing up you understood the word struggle or you understood the things that they sacrificed to get you to go to school my brothers were able to go to school because they were athletes and they had scholarships athletic scholarships that's how they went to school my friends in high school my latina chicana friends didn't have that but they had opportunities through our teachers at the high school to go to business school to go to beauty school that's what they wanted to do my dad and my mom I had my brothers to help me start college my brother Benny

went

to Arizona State College before we became ASU I lived with my brother and my sister-in-law if it hadn't been for my brother I probably wouldn't have begun college when I did it was my brother who helped me so you see we have struggles to think about and so everything that I've done

I'm

honoring my parents

I'm

honoring our families our Marine family the Renteria family my mother is a Eulalia Renteria Marine

her

friends called her Lala

my

dad Guadalupe Trujillo Marine

he

became an American when he was inducted into the US Army

he

had his name changed from Guadalupe because of all the ridicule that he endured his whole life until he became an army soldier he became Lupe

so

Lupe Trujillo Marine and Eulalia Renteria Marine my parents they are still my inspiration and I recognize their struggle so whenever I am whatever I am however I got there whoever helped me thank you everybody but thank you mom and dad

thank

you for that

if

no anyone else has a question if I could selfishly ask another one

go

ahead but I'll give everybody if

I

give everybody else a second potentially raise their hand as well

but

I know that you've worked tirelessly to close the gender divide for Chicanos and Chicanas in university settings yeah what seems to be a trend right now where we're seeing less male latino students on prestigious university campuses and I'm curious with your gender studies and gender rights background how do you see universities bridging that gender gap while at the same time not letting their guard down on the trying to close the gender gap for Chicanos and Latinas because we have very different spaces that we're coming from and reasons why that gender gap exists for instance like I came from a very rural community in south texas where many girls were not allowed to leave home unless they were married and that's a very different context than a lot of Chicanos or Latinos are coming from and so how do we respond to the gender gap for both men and women in culturally responsive ways in the

university campus I

find that the males the students who come to ASU learn about MECHA because there is still a valid and viable MECHA student organization at Arizona State University they have heard from their older brothers or cousins or somebody you should join MECHA or find out who the MECHA advisor is and become part of MECHA because now you have an organization who will help you in school so I find that some of the women join MECHA as some of the young men as well and I find that they finally come to terms with themselves in terms of their gender that they do understand that they have gifts

that

they haven't used yet but gifts they have bilingualism they have their community strengths they have their parents or members of the family who encourage them but in the end even though the males begin they want to go out and help the community and they have to find work so they are the ones first to leave the campus always intending to come always intending to come back they do come back but later the young women stay because now they can do both they can be students they can find work it's easier for them they may not earn equitable pay they may not work in the best conditions but they now can find work and they stay and become successful on campus as well and away from campus close by and they stay in school because they're able to and because they have friends Latinas who belong to the same groups and help them together and become students together and shareholders together and workers together so thank you Starbucks because they're part of that group of Latina Latino students who work at Starbucks they're a Starbucks on every campuses Starbucks gives them scholarships to go to school Starbucks helps them to stay in school Starbucks now is forming a union to help minority students or ethnic minority or racial ethnic minorities Latina Latinos stay in school because now they have Starbucks money to do that I don't know about other campuses but Arizona State University everywhere you go on campus away from campus there's a Starbucks on every corner and who will you see working at Starbucks a Latina or a Latino a male or a female and they are working because they have money from Starbucks not only as an employee but because of a scholarship to help them stay and because of their union

helping

them organize at that Starbucks in Tempe in Gilbert in Phoenix and elsewhere in Arizona and where did Starbucks get that idea from other Latina Latino Starbucks elsewhere

they

were trained to come and recruit and organize

and

that's how successful I see Starbucks becoming important in Arizona I can't speak for elsewhere for other places I just know what I see at Arizona State University and elsewhere in my areas here in Tempe area the Starbucks and what they do

and

I hear from them what they do and I know what they do because I see it

so

I'm not advocating for you to go out and have Starbucks coffee every morning no because coffee is expensive

you

can make your own coffee at home why would you want to go there and pay five five dollars for a pumpkin spice latte you can do it at home right

I'm

just saying that's an example of working together an organization an entrepreneurship a business helping to recognize the importance of helping students but more importantly helping a union organize and become stronger

see

my unionism does not leave me ever

thank you it

all sets back

it

leads into everything that we do and I think it as

it

should so thank you so much it has been such a pleasure I love the personality that you bring into every space that I've been honored to share with you thank you

thank

you for honoring your time

and

thank you everyone for participating I see your names I don't know you but I thank you Matt I thank you Anna and

I

thank you Kiana and everywhere else and Vidal I don't see him thank you everybody for this opportunity to be with you and to help you and Consuelo thank you as well

thank

you

so

maybe we can do this again in five years if I'm still

alive absolutely

absolutely

more sooner I'm not going

I'm not going anywhere I just have to learn technology and Matt help me get in thank

you absolutely anytime anytime all

right

thank you so much I wish you

well and successful endeavors to all of you thank you for the amor thank you very much be well do well keep up the faith and don't give up

bounce

back or do whatever thank you very much good luck to you all thank you thank

you

okay bye bye