On May 27th, Ethnic Studies hosted its annual roundtable event “Brown and Proud: 40 Years of Chican@ Activism,” featuring Sal Castro and two panel sessions made up of CSUSB educators, alums, and community members. The purpose of the roundtable was to “promote the awareness of our multicultural society and to showcase CSUSB scholars with expertise in the area of access to education” said Dr. Marcia Marx, Coordinator of Ethnic Studies.

Well over 400 students, staff and faculty were present to hear Sal Castro share his experiences as a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Discouraged by the way Latino youth were treated by the District, Castro led a student walkout that consisted of 20,000 students representing five high schools. Although the protest did not change too many school policies or practices, an important outcome was the increase in the number of Latino students attending college, in part, and to an increase in ethnic pride among Latino youth. 

Following Sal Castro’s presentation, there was a discussion on the topic “Media’s Representation of Immigrants: Latin@s and Arab Americans“ by Drs. Mary Texeira, Elsa Valdez and Marcia Marx. Four panelist who included Mel Albiso, Fatima Cristerna, Cynthia Olivo and Salavdor Murguia addressed the issue of Latin@s in the educational pipeline, moderated by Enrique Murillo. A reading by Gustavo Arellano and the showing of the film “Walkout” concluded the exciting afternoon of scholarly activities