DAILY 49ER California State University, Long Beach
Vol. LXVII, Issue 40
www.daily49er.com
The color of Death
Monday, November 2, 2015
LBUSD students enroll in ethnic studies High schoolers earning college credit visit campus. By Greg Diaz Editor-in-chief
Selena, cradling the star in a gentle bed of flora reminiscent of her hit “Como Una Flor.” The event, in addition to featuring altars created by Long Beach artists, had several areas dedicated to family events centered on Day of
A small group of teachers stood in a circle in the University Student Union Ballroom as nearly 300 high school students danced to the pounding of a Native American drum to show appreciation for their instructors’ work. This was the conclusion to the first Ethnic Studies Conference at California State University, Long Beach on Saturday. The conference brought Long Beach Unified students from six high schools together for a day of workshops, panels and guest speakers. The Long Beach Ethnic Studies Program debuted this fall to give high school students the opportunity to earn college credit with a weekend ethnic studies class taught on Long Beach high school campuses. “What we are accomplishing here is a national model that I believe will be played out over the years to come in many other settings,” said Armando Ramos, CSULB lecturer and coordinator of the California Mexico Project. Ramos set up the program with help from the four ethnic studies programs on campus. Six Long Beach Unified high schools offer two sections of U.S. Diversity and the Ethnic Experience. The program covers Africana, Chicano and Latino, Asian and Asian American and American Indian Studies. The Ethnic Studies Program began as a proposal by Ramos for a February meeting of Long Beach’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge. President Barack Obama launched My Brother’s Keeper in February to increase collegiate opportunities for black and Latino young men. Ramos drafted a proposal for the program soon after and wrote an opinion piece for the Long Beach Press Telegram to gather support. Ramos then received the backing of LBUSD Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser to fund the initial 12 classes for around $1.25 million for a launch this past fall. This meant that Ramos and his group had four months to put together the program. “Nobody believed it; nobody thought it could be done,” Ramos said. “But I ran with it because I believed it was the right time, and when you are given the resources and given the opportunity, you don’t back off. You seize the moment.” The ethnic studies program was de-
See DEAD, page 7
See STUDY, page 2
Photos
by
Trang Le | Daily 49er
A woman leads a group of children in a traditional dance at the Dia de los Muertos Family festival Sunday at MOLAA.
MOLAA hosted the Dia de los Muertos family festival this Sunday. By Emilio Aldea Design Editor
T
he rhythmic pounding of drums pierced the air around us. A man blared his horn, more reminiscent of the feasting call than Dia de los Muertos. The woman called the spirits with a sound akin to a child’s shriek; the dead have returned. Children, dressed as the deceased, move to the pounding rhythm of the drummers while a crush of people look on in bemusement. It was time for the adults to join. The searing hot sun, feeling only feet away on this impossibly warm November morning, beat down on the bare skin of the dancers performing in front of the Museum of Latin American Art. Its life-giving rays contrasted with the scene
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in front of us, a celebration of the dead. A procession led from the front doors of MOLAA to the sculpture garden through the center of the museum. Altars honoring the dead lined the halls on either side. A throng of living moved past the elements of death. Paintings commissioned for the event stood next to altars. They depicted beautiful women, covered in traditional calavera-style make-up that evinced a panoply of colors atodds with the typical depiction of death, black. “Dia de los Muertos is an indigenous tradition,” said Sandra Acosta, who built an altar featured in the gallery. “People forget that Latinos […] and Mexicans are indigenous and very much a part of the traditions that have been here for thousands of years.” Sandra Acosta, a founding member of the Protectors of Earth Mother, or POEM, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of native people all over Latin America, spoke on the similarities between all Latinos and Hispanics. Dia de los Muertos, which is a Mexican holiday, is a celebration more related to the indigenous as-
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Bella Jimenez, 11, and Benji Jimenez, 4, dress for the festivities of Dia de los Muertos. pect of Latino history than many realize. Her altar featured pictures from Machu Picchu, along with other ancient structures across the Americas. Acosta’s altar shared a space with another piece dedicated to the late Mexican pop star Selena. White paper flowers adorned the wall showing the graphite illustration of
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