By: Anthony Rendon, President of the California Assembly
By: Anthony Rendon, President of the California Assembly
I want to talk about something different this month.
It’s Hispanic Heritage Month and there are many things that are critically important to Latinos in California — like immigration , access to education, labor rights, access to justice and much more.
I’m not going to talk about that.
I want to talk about the arts because actually, I think the arts and culture are also critically important to what We are like Latinos.
About a month ago, I was presenting a certificate of appreciation to a teacher who had worked to preserve California’s folkloric ballet that had roots in Mexico.
It’s not just dancing. It is an embodiment of human relationships and the story of ranchers who did hard work in a new country.
The songs that Latinos sing do similar things, whether they are old traditional melodies or modern hip hop mixes that take memories of the old country and do it at home in the present.
The same goes for murals, ceramics and even culinary arts.
I host art talks once a month, and the last one was a taco celebration.
I invited the chefs who brought traditional Michoacan cuisine to Los Angeles, but also an Asian American who was in love with Mexican food, since a highly trained Mexican American chef who was innovating with ingredients.
How delicious it was!
I love great modern museums and Los Angeles concert halls, but I still tell people about an artistic souvenir Story of my youth: the way Mexican-American families brought Christmas to life with decorations that took over their patios
integers.
As a representative of a district, where almost three quarters are Latino, I feel committed to supporting the artistic and cultural creations that come from this community.
That is why I organize the art talks.
For this reason I also sponsored the SELA Arts Festival for the people of my district, with local artists, musicians, dancers and more.
And that is why I am committed to building a cultural center in South Gate that can show that we produce and bring the best of the outside world.
Labor rights, education and the rest are like the food that keep us alive, but art is the seasoning that makes life worth living.