On Thursday, March 21, the Raíces program hosted a Unity march across City College campus in honor of farmworkers who marched to California’s capitol in 1966. 

Raíces offers academic and social support for City College students of Latiné backgrounds.

Honey Guzman, a first year political science and immigration law student, spoke about the program and why she attended the march.

“I realized that I needed people like me who can support me to not feel alone,” Guzman said.

Attendees crafted signs together and socialized before the speeches. Social justice was a major theme of the event as audience members and speakers made a point of challenging racism and honoring their identities.  

Mariam Gama, who will also speak at City College’s commencement for graduating students in May, shared her thoughts on school leadership and advocating for marginalized students in her speech.

Gama spoke about hiding her identity and trying not to take up space as a trans woman. She also expressed wanting faculty to further create a welcoming campus experience so that all students could proudly express themselves.

Some students stopped to listen as they left class, their attention drawn by the boisterous speakers and large crowd.

Fabian Pavon, a doctoral student in Chicano studies at UCSB, spoke second. He opened with a poem about how he grew up dealing with racism, setting the tone for the rest of his speech touching on the subject and how to fight it. 

Later in his speech, Pavon evoked the phrase “calladita te ves más bonita” which is derogatorily used towards women and means “you look prettier with your mouth closed” while encouraging the audience not to stay quiet in the face of discrimination. Pavon coined the term “desmadrosa te ves más hermosa” meaning, “you look prettier when you’re causing problems” expressing the importance of …

The speech continued to revere the disruptive activism that brought about change in Santa Barbara’s communities in particular. 

Pavon ended his speech condemning racism, oppression and the genocide in Palestine, to which the audience enthusiastically responded “Ya basta,” meaning “enough”.

After the speeches, organizers led the event in the march across campus and Pavon spoke about the goal of his recently concluded speech.

“I want students to get riled up and understand the present is connected to the past,” Pavon said. 

Attendees celebrated a successful event with juice and popsicles at the Winslow Maxwell Overlook on City College’s East campus.