May 2015
Center for Multicultural Education
VOICES Newsletter
Dolores Huerta
Just as Martin Luther King Jr’s leadership initially depended on the activism of Rosa
Parks, the legacy of Cesar Chavez owes a debt of gratitude to Dolores Huerta. Huerta
engaged in a lot of co-curricular activities at Stockton High School in California, and subsequently attended Delta College there, where she earned a teacher’s certificate. As
fate would have it, Huerta could not endure implementing her lesson plans while noticing her students were shoeless and hungry on a daily basis. So she packed up her materials, left the school behind her, and took up the cudgel of nonviolent direct action to
charge local governments with improving the barrios and ending economic exploitation.
The vehicle she used to launch her crusade was the Stockton Community Service
Organization (CSO). A model of nonstop energy, like the majorette she was in high
school, she sought to establish workers’ associations, register countless Mexican and other Americans to vote, and advocate for social justice for the poor and marginalized. It was during this period of time that she met her activist soulmate, Cesar Chavez, who was the CSO director. Because their support for the idea of organized labor for farmworkers
did not jibe with the goals and objectives of the CSO administration, they both resigned and started their own organization.
Huerta was a grassroots organizer and became a licensed lobbyist. Consequently,
she was able to generate support, share information, and rally the people to express their opinions finally from positions of unity and strength. The new voters
she enrolled could now register their protests at the ballot boxes. Chavez, who
was a great organizer in his own right, truly needed someone of Huerta’s caliber to
reach the minds and hearts of the people where they were. She even earned
praise for her expert organizing skills from presidential candidate Sen. Robert Kennedy, just moments before he was gunned down in the Ambassador Hotel on June
6, 1968.
Chavez was not working alongside a yes person. Oh, no! Huerta was well aware of
her prowess as an activist and most often the favorite of the masses. She was so
tight with Chavez that she was not afraid to share her opposing views with him.
As the farmworkers movement met women’s lib, Huerta vocalized her feminist perspective and challenged the former
undertaking to abandon its chauvinism.
In 1988, while participating in a protest against presidential candidate George H. W. Bush, an officer brutally
attacked Huerta, breaking four of her ribs and rupturing her spleen. Public outcries forced the San Francisco Police Department to adjust their policies pertaining to baton usage and crowd control.
Ten years later, Pres. Clinton awarded Huerta with the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award. She also received
recognition as one of the Ladies Home Journal’s 100 Most Important Women of the 20 th Century. In 2012, Pres. Barack
Obama bestowed upon her the highest national civilian award, i.e., the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Michael. D. Blackwell
SURD EVIL
As a student at Boston University and an instructor at Curry College, I further encountered discussions on the nature of evil, why suffering is indiscriminate, and how can an all-powerful God allow or be the author of horrific happenings. I studied the perspectives of Edgar Sheffield Brightman
(below left), who articulated the concept of a finite-infinite deity, and of
C. Alan Anderson (below right), who elucidated a new process thinking in
slight variation of the work of Charles Hartshorne and Alfred North Whitehead. In essence, God is not omnipotent, in the sense that everything is
under divine control. Rather, God is in a state of continual process and development, as time and eternity
marche on. Another way to look at it is that God is not a puppeteer preventing faux pas, scrapes, bruises,
and other types of destruction. Instead, God is constantly working to mitigate the causes of disastrous
effects and to provide the universe, including humans, with the tools to overcome devastating occurrences
and consequences.
When we think about surd evil, most of us talk in terms of weather, sudden infant
death syndrome, or why good people suffer and bad people prosper. However, there
are many types of “just plain evil,” such as the inhumanity to humans: racial discrimination, sexism, economic exploitation, and so forth. We tend not to pay attention to
the glaring systematic and structural forms of oppression that plague our society and
fail to develop a process to reshape institutions and weaken the cords of dominion
that those in power seek to tighten. It is surd evil, for the innocence of infancy morphs
into a hatred of one’s cohabitants who are merely superficially different from oneself.
Brightman and Anderson did not focus on these mundane forms of
surd evil, albeit they were charitable socially perceptive individuals personally. But we,
today, must find a way to create a friendlier climate for the idealistic prospects of a
better world. It is incumbent upon us to parallel the positive procedural development
of the universe here on Earth. Martin Luther King, Jr., popularized the apt saying that
“the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” As we deal compassionately, empathetically, and unselfishly in response to earthquakes, tsunamis,
tornadoes, hurricanes, monsoons, and the like, let us also find the time to address civilian collateral damage from drone strikes in theaters of war, the refusal to raise the
minimum wage to a livable income standard that increases proportionately with inflation, the tragedy of
unequal pay for equal work that women on average face, the lack of access to quality schools in economically depressed neighborhoods, the irresponsibility of mass incarceration and the prison-industrial complex, the parochialism of defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman, and other
hurtful machinations of human ineptitude and moral bankruptcy ad nauseam.
Certainly, evil will always exist and influence our lives in one way or another. But if
we come together to forge a new society in tandem with the concept of an emerging
universal embrace, then we could, indeed, meet up with series of successes—maybe
not now, but for posterity. Ah, wouldn’t that be absurd?
We foster success in racial and ethnic minority students, contribute to the cultural competence of all students, and promote an appreciation of diversity in
the University community.
Center for Multicultural Education
109 Maucker Union
Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613-0165
Phone: 319-273-2250
Email: cme@uni.edu
Editor-in-chief: Dr. Michael D. Blackwell
Co-editor: Jackelin Rangel
Contributors:
Alexis Alfaro
Kimberly Gonzalez
Madison Stalzer
Nicole Villarreal
- Michael D. Blackwell
Isaiah Williams
Congratulations Graduates 2015!!
Meet our friendly student staff!
Parash Upreti
I am Parash Upreti from Kathmandu, Nepal. I am a senior Economics and Math
major and graduating of May 2015. I have been working at the CME since Summer
2012.
Who influenced me to attend to UNI? Kristi Marchesani, Asst Director of Admissions. I
met her during her recruitment trip to Kathmandu and she impressed me with her
friendliness and what UNI had to offer. That was the first time I had heard about UNI. I
met her the following year as well and expressed my interest to enroll. A large contribution to my success at UNI is because of her.
Thinking of diversity...I feel more about the integration of difference, not just
physical, but intellectual and emotional. Together, the difference among us makes us
better and stronger. I think we should think in broader aspect when thinking about
diversity. Proportion and member of majority/minority change with time and place. Parash has been expected into
graduate school at Tarleton State University and will pursue a Master’s of Science in Math starting in June.
Parash Upreti walked the stage Saturday.
However, his education Parash has been
expected into graduate school at Tarleton
State University and will pursue a Master’s
of Science in Math starting in June. CONGRULATIONS!
Eduardo Bolanos
Anna Werner also gradated this
weekend with her BA in Theater.
Way to go ANNA!
My name is Eduardo Bolaños, I was born an raised in the small town of
Richgrove, CA. I am the youngest of nine siblings, 5 of which were born in Mexico and 4
in the US. This gives me a very unique perspective when it comes to social issues that
have to do with diversity or immigration. I can see both sides of the spectrum, one side
for I was raised in it, molded by it, the other because I matured in it and have formed a
lot of my goals and ideologies form it.
I am a Computer Science major and will be graduating in 2016. I hope to travel
after school and find a job in another country where I can learn the language and culture
and grow as an individual. I would also like to help all of my nieces and nephews expand
their horizons by offering them paid trips to come see me and experience whatever
country I am in.
I am currently the Treasurer for Habitat for Humanity's UNI chapter. This organization has showed me how valuable volunteering is, not only for our "Resume", which should be the last reason you
do it, but because it shows that we do not need money to help out people in need, our time is just as valuable. It also
shows that we care about other people, in this self-centered society it is very difficult to step outside our social media
and be SOCIAL and help people in need.
Maicol Josephs
MaKayla McDonald graduated with her BA in
Music, she did a phenomenal job singing the
Alma– Mater at Commencement. MaKayla will
also be attending gradate school at UNI in the
Fall. Good Luck, MaKayla!
Hello my name is Maicol Josephs, I was born in Yaracuy, Venezuela. My
family moved to Guadalajara, Mexico when I was two years old. We lived in
Mexico for 11 years before my dad got promoted to a job in the United States
for Monsanto. Learning English was a struggle at the beginning, but as time
passed I was able to grasp the language.
Fast-forwarding to the present, I’m currently a college student majoring
in Graphic Technologies with a minor in marketing. I chose UNI because I like
the small warm welcoming feeling the university as a whole gives to its students. My plan is to stay in Iowa for a couple years but my goal is to eventually
move to California where I can work as a graphic designer for local businesses
and retire in Alaska where I can enjoy outdoor activities.
Earthquake in Nepal
Freddie Gray
I had woken up around 11:00 am on Saturday, April 26, 2015 and opened my
Facebook. I saw so many messages from my friends at UNI asking me about
my mom. I was very scared and confused at the same time. I saw articles on my
news feed about Nepal Earthquake and I started to cry immediately. I was
frightened and worried and I thought of my mother. I tried to call her on our
landline number as well as cell phone but I had no luck getting a hold of her.
On April 25, 2015 at 11:56 am there was a 7.8 scale earthquake in my
country and the epicenter Lamjung, a place very close to the capital and my hometown of Kathmandu. There have
been 5000 casualties and many affected my this natural disaster.
After trying to call my mom for hours I, finally
was able to get a text message reply from her. She said
that she was in a tent with 25 other people and that she
was safe and sound. This was such a big relief for me.
She mentioned that our two homes were also fine and
that I need not to worry about anything. Pictures of the
aftermath were heartbreaking. I came to know that monuments of historical and cultural significance had flattened out and our beautiful architecture had been transformed into rubble.
After few hours of the disaster, many people and other countries including the U.S. had already announced to
help us out and provide Nepal with donations and required essentials such as water, soap and daily commodities. And
one top of all this, we had so many visitors coming to Nepal for trekking and mountain climbing and the earthquake
caused an avalanche in Mount Everest as well. Temples were wiped out and a part of our Culture too went away. I feel
like when I go back home it will not be the same again. I asked my friends studying here in the United States about
how their family was doing and they all said everybody is safe. Nobody I knew lost any family member which was
good to know. The Dharahara tower was a great nine story historical tower built around the 18th century and it collapsed due to the earthquake. I always wanted to visit it and now that is demolished to dust I feel like we humans take
many things in life for granted.
Many International Organizations are helping gather
funds and rescue teams. Other countries are also helping us tremendously. And we may be a poor nation but
one quality every Nepali has is resilience so I definitely believe that my country and people will bounce
back from this tragedy.
On Wednesday, April 29, 2015. The UNI community
including students, staff and faculty gathered together for a moment of silence to remember those who were effected
by the earthquakes. Keep Nepal in your prayers!
-Priyasha Mahara
-Priasha Mahara & Jackelin Rangel
Anger, frustration and riots flood the streets of Baltimore, the
community wants justice for Freddie Gray. When you first read about
the Freddie Gray’s case, one may also immediately think of the Michael
Brown case which took place back in August of 2014.
Both stories ended in a tragic loss. Freddie Gray died while under the
custody of Baltimore police a week after spinal injuries and then falling
into a coma. Police brutality has been a burning issue through out the
U.S.
The people of Baltimore are violently protesting night and day
looting through out the streets of local business and attacking police.
There were 200 protesters arrested on Monday. Some news article
showcases the long criminal history of Freddie Gray and tries to argue
he was the main problem in it and not the cops.
On May 1, the State Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced that her
office conducted an independent investigation that may have found
probable cause to pursue criminal charges. Five of the six police officers
are now n custody .
“To the youth of this city, I will seek justice on your behalf . this is a
moment, this is
your moment. Let
ensure that we
have peaceful and
productive
rally's that will develop structural
and systemic
changes for generations to come .
Your at the front
of this cause and
as young people, our time is
now”.
—Marilyn Mosby