‘Come on Papi, La Vacuna!’: A New Arts Campaign Aims to Boost Vaccination Rates in San Joaquin Valley

July 6, 2021 at 2:36 PM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 Speaker 2: 00:55 Speaker 3: 00:56 Speaker 4: 02:04 Speaker 5: 02:15 Speaker 4: 02:46 Speaker 3: 02:55 Speaker 5: 03:17 Speaker 2: 04:03 Speaker 6: 04:03 Speaker 2: 05:00 Speaker 3: 05:00 Speaker 6: 05:14 Speaker 3: 05:57 Speaker 2: 06:25 Speaker 5: 06:25 Speaker 2: 07:29 Speaker 5: 07:39 Speaker 2: 07:53 Speaker 5: 07:54 Speaker 2: 08:29 Speaker 3: 08:32 Speaker 1: 08:51 About 36% of the eligible Latino population in San Diego county is still not vaccinated in some central valley counties as much higher at more than 60% unvaccinated. The numbers are even more dramatic for younger folks, especially teens and those in their twenties and for indigenous farm workers. Now, former us poet Laureate, wonderfully Perrera along with famed Ren Cherice singer at Carmen, Christina Moreno and other musical groups are trying to get the word out through original songs, radio, dramas, and poems in Spanish, English, and me Stecco but California report hosts, Sasha Coca has more [inaudible] You're hearing legendary ranchera singer Garmin, Christina Morty. No, she's sometimes called the Chicana first lady of song and she composed this piece as part of a project called [inaudible] COVID. The idea is to boost vaccination rates in places like the central valley and Garmin. Christina is just one of a number of musicians and poets and actors. Who've all created original work for this project, which includes videos on social media broadcasts on Spanish language, radio, and live performances. Joining us to talk about the campaign is Amy Kitchener. She's the executive director of the Alliance for California, traditional arts and Ugo Morales. Who's the executive director of [inaudible] the national Latino public radio network. Hi, you guys. Hi. Hi, Sasha, let's start with one Philippe. He's a famous poet from Fresno and he's also the former poet Laureate of the United States and he wrote an original radio drama as part of this project. Okay. These beautiful [inaudible] soy, they add water. Um, so we were, we Were just hearing the character Prudencio, uh, who's, who's very, you know, he's really sure that he's so strong. He's strong like iron and like a tree, like he's not going to need the vaccine. And so, um, you know, he's arguing with his wife about how he's strong and he doesn't need this, you know, the story it's, it's so beautiful, the way that we've seen these different voices and characters in a family and different generations And then cool mask Halloween happy. I love you. So let's talk about some of The musicians involved in this effort. You have a group from Bakersfield [inaudible], uh, who are pretty well known for playing in the [inaudible] [inaudible], They're very popular, um, especially at social dances and you know, one of their main forms is the [inaudible], you know, the archetypal, social dance music of the TECA and Wahaca. You cannot have a party without she lend them music. And so Grupo, they have a pretty big following on YouTube, and there's also a lot of videos they've produced there from the hometown of San Juan Luis depict in the hooch Lavaca district of Wahaca. And that's a really big sending town of people, um, here in the valley, especially [inaudible] In One of the communities that is most vulnerable to this pandemic has been the indigenous community. Um, many, um, won't mystical myself on many of my people are field workers or many of us including myself, or able to isolate in our home. Uh, most of these folks were not able to, I mean, none, frankly. I mean the farm workers had to be out there, the essential workers, because they had to eat, they had to feed their families. They had to earn an income. Many of them are undocumented. So there was essentially no assistance for them. Those that are dying under the age of 50, which are numerous, are Mexican Americans and indigenous people, uh, uh, the other being an audience. So it's not over for the essential workers. [inaudible] What are the messages that people are getting about why they shouldn't take the vaccine? Are there MIS circulating in the community or is it really just this distrust around the government? Well, I think it happens around, you know, the gossip shall we say, and also in Facebook and other media like that, you know, unfortunately it plays on, you know, the fears, et cetera. I mean, just an example, uh, the set up a program, which expanded decades from the forties up until the beginning of the sixties, part of the process of immigrating or crossing the border by these contract workers who lived in poverty and were forced to economically to come to the U S when the U S was welcoming them, they was sprayed at the border with DDT. This fear of Western medicine and America is, is not just made up. You know, there's a history there that is very concrete. There's a lyric in a song by another group. [inaudible] plan led by Leonel Mendoza, where they talk about exactly some of these concerns and really share the message that the vaccine is not going to hurt you. [inaudible] We are an ARPA grantee group, uh, from the [inaudible] region of Mexico, but they, um, they're they live in Marset and Modesto. And when we talked about what kind of song would they compose for this lay on L immediately said, oh, well, we should, we should use the form of that. [inaudible]. And I said, well, what's up Alona? And he said, well, this is one of our traditional forms. It's like lyric poetry. And we use it for expressing social concerns. You know, he, he thought it was really important to use the very traditional form from his area, because it was a way to call his community into action. You know, he said, when, when people hear the Valona, they know I'm talking to them, [inaudible], [inaudible] equally flawed. This was part of the performances that we did out at the Madeira flea market on a Sunday, a few weeks ago, [inaudible], It's dedicated to farm workers. Um, it's by, you know, one for the bay who is the child of farm workers. And it's really a, like a love poem of spending so many years together. I want you to be by my side, and it's about the promises, um, and the joys of family and community that await us. If we can get vaccinated. [inaudible] Google, [inaudible] Amy Kitchener, executive director of the Alliance for California, traditional arts, talking about their project act up on the contract. COVID thank you both. So thank you. Thank you, Sasha. [inaudible] That was the California report magazine host, Sasha.

By KPBS PUBLIC MEDIA

"Together, so many years," writes Juan Felipe Herrera, former U.S. poet laureate, in his recent poem "Tantos Años Juntos," created to encourage farmworkers to get vaccinated.