Voces de Liberación (Voices of Liberation)
Latina/o Heritage Month 2007

Olin Library Exhibition Honoring Latino Heritage Month - September
The Library is pleased to participate in the Latina Heritage Month campuswide celebration. Our current display includes a wide range of items from the Library's collection by Latina/o authors as well as about the Latina/o community. Items range from topics such Afro-Latino history, politics and government in Latin America, Latinas on stage and the United Farmworkers history. Several videos as well as CD's by well known Latina/o artist just as Selena, Celia Cruz and Hèctor Lavoe whose life the recently released movie "El Cantante" is based on. Next to the display is a small sample of fiction books by Latina/o writers for you to browse and check out. These items include some children's picture books and young adult books and novels. Come check us out!

An Evening of New Writings by Cherríe Moraga "The Geography of Remembrance"
7:00 pm, Thursday, September 6, 2007, Student Union

Cherríe Moraga is a playwright and essayist, and the co-editor of This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Her plays, "Shadow of a Man" and "Watsonville: Some Place Not Here," won the Fund for New American Plays Award in 1991 and 1995, respectively; and "Heroes and Saints" earned the Pen West Award for Drama in 1992. Her works have been anthologized in numerous collections and are also published in a three-volume series of collected plays published by West End Press of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her collected non-fiction writings include: The Last Generation (South End Press); a memoir, Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhood (Firebrand Books); and, a new expanded edition of the now classic, Loving in the War Years, republished by South End Press in 2000.

Ms. Moraga is also a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts' Theatre Playwrights' Fellowship and has been the Artist-in-Residence in the Department of Drama at Stanford University since 1996. She is currently completing a new collection of essays entitled, A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness: Essays for the Turn of a Century and a memoir on her mother’s death from Alzheimer’s, Send Them Flying Home.

AUTOGRAPHED COPIES OF HER BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE.

Somos Tu Pueblo/We Are Your People
7:00 pm, Thursday, September 13, 2007, Student Union

Join us for a panel presentation by Immigrant Rights Activists in the Bay Area. Local grassroots leaders of the Immigrants' Rights movement will present the issues facing immigrant workers and families and share their experiences organizing around this important and timely issue. Participants include María Jiménez of Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Gerald Lenoir of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Allison Davenport of Centro Legal de la Raza, and Evelyn Sánchez from Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA) is a grassroots organization with offices in San Francisco and Oakland, California, which is composed of a membership of more than three hundred Latina immigrants. Founded in 1989, MUA has helped thousands of immigrant women discover their own strength, overcome discrimination and domestic violence and develop skills as community leaders in the struggle for immigrant rights and social justice. Working with diverse allies, MUA promotes unity and civic-political participation.

MUA is one of the few programs founded on the concept that immigrant women themselves are uniquely equipped to find solutions to the problems that most directly affect their lives. While recognizing the formidable problems faced by Latina immigrant women, MUA draws on the strengths of these same women as peer mentors, group facilitators, community educators and organizers. With this philosophy in mind, MUA adopts a multi-layered program approach to Latina immigrant empowerment, leadership and activism. Website is http://www.mujeresunidas.net.

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) was founded in April 2006 in response to the massive outpouring of opposition of immigrants and their supporters to the repressive immigraion bills then under consideration by the U.S. Congress. Black acitivists in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area were called to action by Rev. Kelvin Sauls, a South African immigrant and Rev. Phillip Lawson, a long time Civil Rights leader and co-founder/co-chair of the California Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

The mission of BAJI is to engage African Americans and other communities in a dialogue that leads to actions that challenge U.S. immigration policy and the underlying issues of race, racism and economic inequity that frame it. BAJI’s goal is to develop a core group of African Americans who are prepared to actively support immigrant rights and to build coalitions with immigrant communities and immigrant rights organizations to further the mutual cause of economic and social justice for all. Website is http://www.blackalliance.org.

Founded in 1969, Centro Legal de la Raza is a comprehensive legal services and community development agency located in Oakland. Their mission is to protect and advance the rights of immigrant, low-income and Latino communities through bilingual legal representation, education, community organizing and advocacy.

By combining quality legal services with movement building activities, education and social services, Centro Legal promotes access to justice for thousands of individuals and families each year throughout the East Bay region of Northern, California. Among other services, Centro Legal hosts immigration law clinics that educate immigrants and their families about their rights. Website is http://www.centrolegal.org.

The Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC) was formed by representatives of about 25 immigrant rights organizations in Northern California that began meeting in the fall of 2001. They came together soon after September 11th, motivated to respond to the anti-immigrant backlash that emerged. In forming BAIRC, the founding organizations sought to build a sustainable, cross-ethnic and strategically linked movement that could present a fuller picture of the threats to immigrants’ rights and nurture collaboration.

BAIRC is a broad-based coalition of individuals and organizations working to build a unified voice for immigrant rights that transforms and improves the lives of immigrants. BAIRC does this by forging strong, working relationships between member organizations, advocating for just public policies, raising public awareness about the rights and living conditions of immigrants, and increasing the capacity of member organizations to work on immigrant issues. Website is http://www.immigrantrights.org.

Bomba! Afro-Puerto Rican Dance and Music Workshop with Hector Lugo!
7:00 pm, Thursday, September 20, 2007, Student Union

Join Hector Lugo in a “hands-on” workshop where we will learn bomba rhythms, dance, and songs. Bring your congas or any other hand drums, drumsticks, maracas and “faldas” (skirts)!!

Bomba is a traditional form of Puerto Rican music and dance with roots in West Africa. The central feature of bomba is its improvisational "call and response" character. The dancer calls, with her or his moves, for specific accents and figures - "piquetes" - that the lead drummer has to execute on the drum. This occurs in the form of a friendly yet fiery competition where dancers and drummers showcase their skills.

Hector Lugo is a versatile percussionist, vocalist and composer, and an experienced teacher, and an OYC Latin Percussion & Rhythm teacher since 2001. A native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Lugo has performed, toured, and recorded with a variety of artists in the Bay Area Latin and World Music communities, including Conjunto Cespedes, Orquesta Mazacote, Mission Project, the Venezuelan Music Project, Wild Mango, Los Otros, Raices Afrocubanas, and Gilberto Gutierrez and Mono Blanco. He has composed and performed music for a theater piece, Living in Spanish, which has been produced in the Bay Area, New York, and Seoul.

As a percussionist, Mr. Lugo is a multi-instrumentalist well versed in a variety of Afro-Caribbean folkloric an popular genres. Presently, he leads Son Borikua, a group that fuses folkloric Puerto Rican genres such as bomba, plena, and jibaro music with contemporary popular styles, and he teaches African rhythms for the Oakland Youth Chorus in several public schools.

Dinner Honoring Latina Heritage Month
5:00-7:00 pm, Thursday, September 27, 2007, Founders Hall

Come and enjoy the company of the Mills community, Latina/o and Latin American music and a mouth-watering Latina/Latin American spread!

Noche Latina
6:00-7:00 pm - Salsa Lessons with Joel and Sorcy
8:00-midnight - Dance with Orquesta Borinquen
Friday, September 28, 2007, Student Union
Free to Mills students. $3 for non-Mills students.

Come celebrate this year’s Latina Heritage month for a night to remember!

Whether you are a professional or beginner salsa dancer, instructors Joel & Sorcy will prepare you to dance the night away with Orquesta Borinquen. These salsa professionals are known for creating a great dance environment and making everyone want to get up from their seats and get on the dance floor! Come prepared for a fun evening!

Joel Lunzaga and Sorcy are the premiere salsa dance instructors and performers in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have appeared in numerous films and music videos such as Matrix 2 Reloaded & Matrix 3 Revolutions, “Cry” by Michael Jackson and “Gozando” by Pepe’s Orquesta video. Over the past 6 years, they have instructed at the top bay area salsa clubs and have influenced hundreds of salsa dance students. You can currently visit them at Club Montero’s in Albany, CA.

Orquesta Borinquen - Borinquen is the Spanish adaptation of the original name given to the island of Puerto Rico by the indigenous people of the region. It means 'Land of the High Lord.' The history of the band goes back twenty years, and has been under Bill Ortega's management since 1993. When the salsa of the 90's became more "romántica," Orquesta Borinquen went back to the old style "Hard Core" salsa. Orquesta Borinquen regularly plays at Club Maiko in Berkeley as well as other local clubs.

Sponsors
Events are co-sponsored by Ethnic Studies Department, Mujeres Unidas, President's Office, Provost's Office, Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer, Associated Students of Mills College, Black Women's Collective, Native American Sisterhood Alliance, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Office of Student Diversity Programs, Office of Student Activities, Women's Studies Program, and the Music Department.

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