On Wednesday, November 6, 2019, San Diego State
University's Chicana & Chicano Studies brought Juan Felipe Herrera as part
of the Chicana & Chicano Studies' 50th Anniversary
Commemoration: Celebration, Consciousness-Raising, Sowing the Future. Throughout
the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, they are recognizing the founding of the
CCS program and fifty years of engagement with social justice-oriented
scholarship and community service.
SDSU president Dr. Adela de la Torre introduced
Herrera, the poet laureate of the United States 2015-2017 and the first Chicanx
poet laureate in this country. She says Herrera "embodies the experience of
many people in the community" and provides a voice for those around him: “the
work he does speaks to a community rich in culture." He graduated from UCLA
with a B.A. in anthropology and received his M.F.A from University of Iowa. He
has published 21 books, written musicals, and is involved in arts leadership
for children in migrant communities.
I couldn’t help but constantly notice how Herrera
embodied an aura of kindness, standing in front of us in all white and flashing
a bright smile. As he stood in front of us, one of the first things out of his
mouth was "how beautiful it is to be together and united." It is easy to forget
the need to be united, but that night, students and faculty alike were united
in our captivation of Herrera. We were united by Herrera.
Herrera strives for a kinder world, saying "it is good
to become larger than we think we are…it is good to cast our voices out." He
practices what he teaches, as many of his poems reflect current politics.
His first reading was the poem "187 Reasons Why
Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border." Herrera actively engaged the audience,
having us shout "because" before every line.
"Because
multiplication is our
favorite sport…"
"Because
we’ll dig a tunnel to Seattle…"
"Because
it’s Indian land stolen from our mothers…"
"Because
our passport says we’re out of date…"
"Because
people are hanging Milagros on the 2000 miles or
border wire…"
"Because
brown is the color of the future…"
Herrera is a voice for the voiceless, but in this
poem, we all yelled for those oppressed by the current political climate. He’s
not just a voice for others, in this moment he helped us find our own voices.
He reminds the audience through his poems that every voice is important, as we
yelled "because" 187 times that night.
Herrera also read a touching poem, "California Brown," which lists the
names and ages of the victims of the 2017 Parkland shooting.
His voice is inspiring, and in the audience I saw this
inspiration. During the reading I kept noticing a man in a brown jacket and a
feather in his hat drawing a sketch of Herrera with his name in the
background.
At the end, someone asked Herrera "What’s the next
step for Chicanos?" Herrera answers: “It’s our dedication to assist others." The cause for rights for Chicanx people is never over, and we must allow the
movement to blossom, and "we have to generate in ourselves the freedom of
thought."
Thank you to the SDSU Chicana & Chicano Studies
for making this event possible, and we all thank Juan Felipe Herrera for such
an amazing and inspiring event.
-SS
