Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
From Where We Started to Where We’re Going
From government housing in rural Colorado to the boardroom, Michael Archuleta on the fighting chance that shaped his idea of home.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
Raíces documents the places, people, and histories that prove Latino presence in this country has always been here. Volume 1, by historian Eddie García, traces the four-decade fight to build San José's Mexican Heritage Plaza. Volume 2, by author Salomón Quintero, journeys into Mexica civilization through his novel Flight of the Hummingbird. Two writers. One conviction: historical memory shapes what we believe we're capable of.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
What Home Means to Me
For his father, home was Mexico. For his mother, home was wherever family gathered. For Francisco Jiménez, home became something he had to leave to find. A reflection from the author of The Circuit.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
Where Home Really Is
Nancy Marmolejo spent her twenties moving from apartment to apartment. Her mother's house was the one constant, until the year she became her mother's caregiver, and the year after, when she had to let it go.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
Two Flags, One Home
Two flags hung on his bedroom wall growing up, Mexican on one side, American on the other. Eddie García opens SVL's Hispanic Heritage Month series with a Sunday morning that never left him.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
Why the Mexica Story Matters
Historical memory shapes more than our understanding of the past. In the final installment of his Raíces series, Salomón Quintero explains why he chose the Mexica as the subject of Flight of the Hummingbird, and why recovering Indigenous history matters to Latino communities today.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
Entering the Mexica World: Flight of the Hummingbird
Salomón Quintero explores the language and art of his novel Flight of the Hummingbird, tracing a philosopher-artisan's journey and the Mexica poetry that meditates on beauty and mortality."
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
The Dream Comes True: 300 People, 46 Degrees, and Four Decades of Fighting Finally Break Ground
Gun-metal gray skies. Forty-six degrees. Three hundred people huddled together on an open lot in East San José. December 13, 1997. Eddie García takes us to the morning four decades of dreaming finally broke ground. Part 10 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
9-9-99: The Day San José’s Mexican Community Finally Came Home
September 9, 1999. The Mexican Heritage Plaza opens its doors. The spirits of 220 years of presence, resilience, and perseverance gather on the balcony. Todos Juntos with the community. Eddie García takes us to the day they all came home. Part 11 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
The Tech Museum and the Children's Discovery Museum Stand on the Ashes of La Colonia
Before the Tech Museum and the Children's Discovery Museum, there was La Colonia. Eddie García documents how San José's urban renewal policies demolished a thriving Mexican neighborhood. Part 6 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
From Activism to Ancestral Memory: Why I Wrote Flight of the Hummingbird
A new volume of Raíces begins. Volume 1 gave our history a place. Volume 2 gives it a voice. Salomón Quintero, UC Berkeley Chicano movement veteran and 45-year attorney, on the questions that led him from the picket line to writing Flight of the Hummingbird.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
The Dream: Four Decades of Fighting for a Space to Call Our Own
As early as 1952, San José's Mexican community was fighting for a cultural center. The city said no. Four decades of roadblocks and demolished plans. Eddie García documents the dream that refused to die. Part 7 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.
Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
Show Me the Money: How the Mexican Heritage Plaza Got Funded Against All Odds
$30,000 from a community appeal. Less than 3% of what was needed. Eddie García documents how community members with persistence, tenacity, and an unshakeable belief took the dream all the way to Congress. Part 9 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.