By Brittany Harborth, The Shorthorn Staff
The University Of Texas at Arlington
There were only two books Richard Gonzales knew of that were written by and about Mexican-American history in North Texas, so he decided to write his own.
The author of Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas delivered a speech on the importance of rising up and knowing personal history as part of the Center for Mexican American Studies’s speaker series.
“Who’s telling our story? Where is the Chicano voice?” Gonzales said. “You can see, then, my predicament. I had to take the challenge, so I wrote and wrote and wrote.”
Gonzales was a third-generation Mexican immigrant growing up in Chicago with a strong connection to his roots.
At 15 years old, Gonzales had a moment of self-reflection when he noticed he was the only person of color in the downtown library.
“I said, ‘I will learn to read, I will learn to write,’” he said. “I will be able to stand up against anybody.”
From 2001 to 2007, Gonzales wrote weekly columns for the Star-Telegramfocusing on Chicano, Latino and Mexican themes.
It was important to show the community Latinos could read and write just as well, he said.
When Gonzales attended UTA, he called Hispanic students together and formed the Association of Mexican American Students in 1970.
Veronica Lopez, social work graduate student, attended the event to learn more about Latinos in the political climate. Social work in many ways is tied to social justice, Lopez said.
Social work junior Sanjuana Gonzalez liked Gonzales’s words of encouragement to the community and his words about being proud about their roots, she said.
He called for the audience to stand up, and the room got on their feet.
“Please rise, raza,” Gonzales said. “Si se puede.”
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