S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on this episode of KPBS Midday Edition , social justice advocate and community builder Ana Hernandez talks about her life's work. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. For nearly 60 years , San Diego's Centro Cultural de la Raza has served as a hub for Chicano , Mexican , Latino and Indigenous art and culture. Ana Hernandez stepped in into that role of executive director back in 2024 , but her commitment to social justice and community building goes back much further. Ana has long been an advocate for workers rights , immigrants rights and survivors of gender based violence. She joins me now as part of our series highlighting local leaders this Hispanic Heritage Month. Ana Hernandez , welcome to Midday Edition.
S2: Thank you so much Jade. It is such a pleasure to have been invited.
S1: So glad to have you here. Now listen , you took on this this role two years ago , but community advocacy work is not new for you. How has social justice work been a through line in your career?
S2: Thank you for the question. And I think actually what you speak to is how I ended up at Centro Cultural de la Raza now. So I spent decades working , as you mentioned earlier , on issues of gender justice , gender based violence. I have a couple decades of experience working on issues of sexual and domestic violence and then violence against and within LGBTQ communities that work , and my background and my own curiosities and certain gaps in the work led me to focus a lot on the experiences and the needs specific to immigrant populations , working class populations , low wage workers. Folks who had been trafficked. Do you know just just a number of folks who were marginalized under any kind of framework that you might choose to think about , including within , you know , the work to advocate for survivors of violence. So based on that , you know , my , my interests in my work and my experience led me to from that work. When I was in Chicago , I was the director for a worker center. And our our constituencies , our community was primarily undocumented , a working class and low wage workers in East Side Chicago. And I owe so very much to community and organizers that I met through that work. Um , you know , just in terms of what they taught me about organizing , about , you know , the issues intersecting between because in the US , you can't do really immigrant rights work without doing also worker Worker rights. Do you know , labor rights work? And so , you know , teaching me those interconnections and those intersections and how to navigate and make positive change and build community even within those those kinds of strictures , if you will. So when I moved to San Diego years later for personal reasons and was looking for , you know , just to to settle in and make community and also work while I was here , I came across Centro Cultura de la Raza. And it is that experience , right , in terms of like that understanding and that experience of working with community , working on particular sociopolitical issues that are very salient in the US , and they're ratcheting up by the minute , um , as well as like , do you know , my my sort of praxis or intent to build practice of building community building , community leadership and , and community organizing that brought me here , essentially. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And tell me you've told me this before , but. But tell me , why did the mission of Centro Cultural de la Raza specifically resonate with you?
S2: That is a great question. I think it's a couple different things , right. So , um , when when I do , you know , community organizing and working , you know , on some of these issues that are that are really just devastating. You know , you talk about violence , you talk about exploitation , you talk about trafficking and that kind of thing. I always knew because I was always told that the flip side and the equally important side of that work is to actually build towards the vision of the life and the community and the society that you're trying to create. Right. And that that is the mission of Centro de la Raza to me. Right. So that is , um , you know , it is an expansion of a , some the work that is that is equally important and it is framed in an entirely different way , but it is one and the same , if you will.
S1: So and tell me how have your own life experiences and identities informed the way that you approach your work? Hmm.
S2: Hmm. Well , I wasn't raised in the US. I grew up in Venezuela , so if you know anything about , you know , U.S. policy towards Venezuela , it is , uh , um , automatically you start to understand a little bit about , you know , colonization , imperialism , foreign policy , uh , as , as a tool , you know , and that kind of thing. And in addition to that , I'm also a survivor of violence myself. Right. So it was in the process of , um , you know , building my own resilience and coming to terms and coming to understanding not just of my own personal experience , which is incredibly important. And I am extraordinarily lucky to have had resources during that process , but also to fit it within a larger context. This stuff didn't just happen to me as most definitely not just a one off. Right. And so it is in the process of understanding , um , issues of power and control and abuses of power and control , that very quickly led me into , you know , the work that I ended up doing with my life. So , yes , it comes from , you know , there is a seed of it that is personal experience , but it is much for me. It's much more important to understand how that personal experience actually is not unique at all , unfortunately. Mm.
S1: Mm. Um , when you think about your time so far at Centro , what projects or programs are you most proud of?
S2: So many. So I'll talk about a couple if you can , you know. Yeah. And then I'm just going to launch right into it. So one of the things that I'm really excited about right now is that we actually have an open call for muralists , which is really , uh , it's an extraordinary opportunity at Centro Cultural de la Raza , if you're familiar with the building , like the entire outside of it is encased with murals. At the very top we had this wood skirt that had a particular mural on it , painted by , or designed and installed by side by dollhouse. Back in the day when we first started occupying the building in the early 70s. That wood skirt , however , is a different , you know , material than the rest of the building sustained extensive and irreparable water damage , and also the paint of the original installation was lead based. So that is a mural that could not be restored as as it was originally designed and depicted , if you will. So just last month , actually just a couple of weeks ago , we had that wood skirt removed at our expense and replaced with another wood skirt that is now , I'm told , like marine grade wood and , you know , sealed and ready for a new mural. So we have this call out to muralists and Centro in its own accountability to our own communities. This you know , you ask about why I ended up at Sandra , and this is part of the reason why understanding that we have also , um , you know , perpetuated inequities and , uh , um , you know , just forms of oppression and discrimination within our own communities. We understand we know that only one of the murals on the exterior of Centro was designed and installed and is credited to a woman artist. So with this call for artists , we're looking at our own patterns , you know , our own commitments to equity within communities. And so we are strongly encouraging artists or collectives of artists who are women identified and gender non-binary , to consider applying to install a new mural on the exterior center of the top crown of Centro , if you will. That call closes on October 16th. It's a pretty simple process at this point , so please , please , please encourage folks , you know , apply yourselves. Um , this is for the local artist community. So by that we mean , you know , the tri national Indigenous gourmet as well as the Tijuana , San Diego Borderlands area. That's great. So that's one , you know , that's a huge accomplishment for us , right? Just in terms of thank you , thank you , thank you. I'm super excited about that one.
S1: Well , I also want to talk about an event you've got coming up this weekend. I know you're you're welcoming several prominent Chicana authors to the space. So what what do you have in store?
S2: Thank you for the Segway and the invitation to speak about this. So on Saturday at 1030 in the morning , we have an event to honor Doctor Norma Alarcon and also bring their latest work , which is a collection of writing spanning their lifetime. So this is 40 plus years of , you know , just thinking , writing , engaging , um , on issues of Chicano feminism , essentially , you know , and all everything that that encompasses. So this book , which is called Forced by Circumstance , will be , you know , that that's the sort of linchpin of the event. It's bringing the book to the community , but it's also a way to honor the life and the work and the contributions of Doctor Norma Alarcon. So , for example , Doctor Alarcon also founded Third Woman Press back in 73 or thereabouts. I might not have that quite exactly right , but thereabouts , which was a publishing house for queer and feminist of color writers. Right. That is extraordinary in the history of the US at any point in time. And this Saturday , I am told there will also be actually books from that original public. That that publishing house also available for the community. So this is an event that was organized by former students of Doctor Alarcon who say thank you and , you know , to continue that work and to continue that legacy. One of those students , At least one of those students is also , you know , a board member at Santa Rosa. This is close familial and collegial and , you know , theoretical ties , if you will , across across the line. So that will be a really beautiful and really just exciting event to be able to do some.
S1: Yeah , absolutely. You've done so much. Um , what have you learned about the San Diego Tijuana region while working in a space that uplifts this region's art , culture , activism and history in the way that it does? Mhm.
S2: Mhm. Learning a little bit every day. Um , so one of the reasons that I was especially interested in working and settling into San Diego a bit is because it is , uh , it is a border community. Right. So I have been working with immigrant and migrant families , individuals , communities , um , for a period of time , but in the Upper Midwest , on the East Coast and so on. And many when , you know , we would have to. To be able to document their stories of migration in order to present , you know , legal cases for any number of different reasons. A lot of them would tell me that they had come through San Diego. And so when I had the opportunity to come here like that was one of the things of interest to me is to try to figure out how what it means. Like , you know , what? What was this experience? What's the what's the environment like? What is what is that that part of the story of folks who , you know , like I had to know a lot about their life stories and so on and so forth. So as a matter of , you know , like pushing myself to learn a little bit more and also paying homage to some of these folks. So some of the differences that I've learned are some of the things that I'm learning is , uh , you know , one that is particularly interesting and , um , difficult at the same time to learn about , you know , just in terms of what it means is how Border Patrol functions as opposed to Ice , do you know? And just what some of those things mean , how different sectors in migration control , if you will , a operate with equal impunity but very different tactics. And so , you know , it's piecing some of these things together to in order to better be able to understand like what some of the context is for folks who are living under the specter of migration control every single minute of every single day.
S1: What what does it mean to to be doing this work in this kind of a political climate?
S2: It is. I'm sure I'm not the first to have told you this. It is extremely , extremely challenging. Um , and at this. So yes , like that. I don't have much to add on that I will say to that community still not still , I mean , this , you know , this is the time where , like , I see people continuing to show up and continuing to , you know , insist on not just existing , but also thriving. And so when you reference , for example , this Saturday's event , you know , one of the things that came to mind is , is that , like this is also a means of claiming our stories , our identities , the fact that US history doesn't exist without us. And , you know , here , here is an event that examines a little bit of how and why that is , while also like celebrating , you know , all of all of the accomplishments and just the contributions of community to , you know , the wider social movements and policy and theory of this country.
S1: Yeah , yeah. The work that you do is so important. What's your vision in the last 10s we have here for Centro?
S2: Um , so we are in a period of amazing transition. Uh , so it is to be able to handle all of the change in ways that are healthy and unsustainable and build a like an infrastructure and support community. And do you know a system , not just a system , but , you know , just an organization , if you will , a community hub that is ready to move into the next 55 plus years and continue growing and celebrating and making knowledge and making pleasure.
S1: Well , we will continue to watch it grow. I've been speaking with Anna Hernandez. She's executive director of Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park. Ana , thank you and happy Hispanic Heritage Month.
S2: Thank you so much , Jade. It's been a pleasure.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
