The LUS Family Heritage Dinner

I was gifted last night by being able to attend and help out at the Family Heritage Dinner put on by Latinos Unidos Siempre. It was great to see people enjoying good food and socializing. The crowd was multigenerational, multinational and multigendered. Best of all was hearing Belinda and Sandra, two of the strongest young women I know, speaking to the community and to hear Ramon Ramirez giving his always-good wisdom and to see the young people leading in everything. We need to thank and honor Cipriano Mañon and Alex Buron and be grateful for them being part of the community. You know that LUS is on the right track when it can ally with MEChA high school students and work with the young people to lead in the community. Helping out with set-up, food serving and clean-up was practical solidarity, but it was also a way of making real the serve the people idea.

As I helped clean up after the dinner I felt the same joy that I did as a kid when I went to union halls and participated in labor events. There were still union halls then--not union offices, but union halls--where you felt that you owned a share in the movement by showing up and participating. Few unions and union offices have that feel anymore, but some social movements do a great job in instilling a sense of responsibility and ownership in people. I hope that some day the young people who were at the dinner last night will be at the center of the movements for social change and fully own their movements.