Local Teens March for Justice (from Los Angeles, Mexico)

The Whittier Daily News ^ | 5/27/05 | Christina Esparza

[truthkeeper]

BALDWIN PARK -- About 50 teenage trailblazers wearing red armbands braved the heat Thursday to march through the city, demanding justice for more than 300 women who lived and died almost a world away. Baldwin Park High School's MEChA club worked throughout the school year to become a voice for the women and girls of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, who for more than 10 years have been sexually assaulted and murdered. Police still have no viable suspects.

The students held school presentations to make their classmates aware. On Thursday, they carried black crosses with the names of each of the female victims.

"The city hasn't seen the youth get involved like this,' said Chris Silvas, adviser to MEChA, a Latino student activist group. "This is a first.'

The students made their way from the Baldwin Park Teen Center and Skate Park to Morgan Park, chanting and encouraging motorists to honk their horns.

They carried banners in both English and Spanish, with quotes such as "It could have been your sister' and "Enough is enough.'

"No one wants to do anything about it, so we have to make our point, even all the way over here,' said 16-year-old Maria Castillo.

As the teens stood at the intersection of Baldwin Park and Ramona boulevards, Giovanni Herrera walked by to see what the commotion was about.

When he was told, he knelt in the grass and wept. His sister, Brenda Herrera, was one of the women whose name adorned one of the black crosses.

He couldn't speak, but instead clutched his sister's cross to his chest and rocked back and forth, rubbing the tears from his eyes.

Joana Hernandez, 16, isn't a MEChA member, and doesn't even go to Baldwin Park High School. She stood in line with the other students because her cousin, a resident of Juarez, was raped, but not murdered.

"I think this is a really important issue,' Hernandez said. "It's important people know about this because not a lot of people do. I can actually vocalize what I think without being judged. There's strength in numbers.'

The students were joined by Lisa Pringle, a field representative for Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte.

Solis is working on legislation to put pressure on the Mexican government to find who is responsible for the murders and helping it with resources.

"We're here to support MEChA from Baldwin Park and let them know the congresswoman is working on the same issue in Washington, D.C.,' Pringle said.

For Stephanie Parra and Liz Munoz, both 17, the march was the result of a labor of love they have been pushing since they learned about the atrocities more than 800 miles away.

They built the tiny crosses and wrote the victims' names on them. They sat through school board meetings to ask permission for the on-campus presentation and the off-campus march.

"We accomplished something. No other student has ever done this,' Parra said.

"It was a rush just to go to the board and ask for permission,' added Munoz. "We're actually doing something.'

Silvas said he hopes Thursday's march will give them footing to hold a bigger event next year and garner more support from the community.

"If you stay silent, you're part of the problem,' he said.

-- Christina L. Esparza can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2472, or by e-mail at christina.esparza@sgvn.com .

[truthkeeper]

Solis is working on legislation to put pressure on the Mexican government to find who is responsible for the murders and helping it with resources.
"We're here to support MEChA from Baldwin Park and let them know the congresswoman is working on the same issue in Washington, D.C.,' Pringle said.

Our tax dollars at work.

[darkwing104]

wtf?

[1FASTGLOCK45]

How about we take care of our country first. let mexico take care of theirs, we need to start kicking mexicans out. :)

[DesignerChick]

I've heard about this for years. Are the Mexican Police incompetant? They have no witnesses? No evidence?
Is a mexican official behind these crimes?

[rudy45]

I'm unclear. These incidents occurred in Ciudad Juarez? That's in Mexico, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, TX. What do these students expect the US government to do?

[AdamSelene235]

http://www.mayorno.com/WhatIsMecha.html

The official national symbol of MEChA is an eagle holding a machete-like weapon and a stick of dynamite. WHAT IS MEChA? The acronym MEChA stands for "Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan." or "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan." MEChA is an Hispanic separatist organization that encourages anti-American activities and civil disobedience. The radical members of MEChA who refer to themselves as "Mechistas," romanticize Mexican claims to the "lost Territories" of the Southwestern United States -- a Chicano country called Aztlan. In its national constitution, MEChA calls for self-determination by its members to liberate Aztlan. MEChA's national constitution starts out: "Chicano and Chicana students of Aztlán must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community, politicizing our Raza with an emphasis on indigenous consciousness to continue the struggle for the self-determination of the Chicano people for the purpose of liberating Aztlán."

[BallyBill]

No wonder Mexicans try and come here. I blame Bush. I mean who else is going to stand up to foreign criminals?

[Carry_Okie]

This is probably very carefully timed media noise.

MEChA + concern for the downtrodden in Mexico + Baldwin Park = Countering the news about violent protests against American patriots protesting a separatist monument on public property.

[Rodney King]

BALDWIN PARK -- About 50 teenage trailblazers wearing red armbands braved the heat Thursday to march through the city, demanding justice for more than 300 women who lived and died almost a world away.

By what possible rationale can one claim that it happend almost a world away? I think the reporter has a geography problem.

[Redcloak]

This is a little odd. This MEChA chapter is "going off the reservation" by pointing out the Mexican Government's faults. Asking members of Congress to make that criticism official is even further out of bounds.

[Texas_Jarhead]

"I'm unclear. These incidents occurred in Ciudad Juarez? That's in Mexico, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, TX. What do these students expect the US government to do?"

It's MEChA, they don't recognize the SW US as being America. Perhaps, they think they are in mexico.

[truthkeeper]

We can thank our politicians for their confusion.
ALL of them.