Luis A. Torres, Ph.D.
Posted March 20 2025
Of all the challenges and barriers and issues facing the Chicana/o and other Latina/o communities today, two stood out for the “Together We Rise” rally in Denver’s State Capital building Sunday, March 16. The flyer announcing the “March & Rally” declared the issues in the title: “Build Education|Stop Deportation,” perennial major concerns our community has struggled over for generations. As the “Together We Rise” march and rally demonstrate, we must still fight for equitable treatment to overcome the barriers in these and other social areas the U.S. society perpetually thrusts against us.
The “Together We Rise” march to the capital began in the Paco Sánchez Park, in the west central area of Denver, named after an early leader for our community, Francisco “Paco” Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant who arrived in Denver in 1948. As a media pioneer, he began the first Spanish-language radio station in the Denver area, KFSC, broadcasting music and community news, along with recitations of the Catholic Rosary on Friday evenings. He became a Colorado State Representative in 1968, and passed away in 1973. Along with the rest of our community, Sánchez addressed such issues as education and, as an immigrant himself, immigration. Appropriately, the park is mere blocks from the Denver Public Library branch named after Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, national Chicana/o civil rights leader and author of the landmark poem “I Am Joaquin,” so the march linked these two leaders from the past into the present.
These notes apply because fifty-some years after Sánchez’ passing and Gonzales’ leadership, the Chicana/o and other Latina/o communities in Denver and throughout the country are still fighting very similar battles as they faced, ongoing struggles. This is a reality decried by many of the speakers at the rally on the steps of the state capital building on March 16. As the march of some three or so miles, through two of the most heavily trafficked streets in Denver—Federal Boulevard and Colfax—neared the capital, familiar refrains echoed down the street and up to the capital. Significantly, the marchers passed to their right a park with the statue of Joseph P. Martínez, World War II soldier, from Ault, Colorado, killed in the battle of Attu Island in the Aleutian chain. He led the charge to destroy enemy defenses on a mountain pass, actions for which he received the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously.
The rally on the steps of the capital was multifaceted in the variety of speakers, perspectives, and issues addressed. The Aztec Grupo Tlaloc Danzantes, cultural artistic trailblazers in Denver, performed for the attendees before the discussions and presentations began. Nita Gonzales, daughter of Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, herself a generational civil rights and education leader, provided the welcome, addressing the current issues and challenges facing our community, especially from President Donald Trump and his administration. She was followed with a blessing and land acknowledgement from Indigenous Elder Cecelia Bernice Bull Bear from the Lakota nation, as Denver lies at the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek (their current names), an especially fruitful land for the Indigenous nations to inhabit.
The agenda for the speakers and their themes was replete with the imperative that our communities (in plural) must continue the lengthy, perpetual struggles of our ancestors. For the “Voices of the People: Stories from Our Communities,” local educator Jennifer Anderson spoke on “Education as a Human Right,” followed by Colorado State Representative Lorena Garcia, about immigrant rights. The two speakers, therefore, melded together the “Education” and “Immigration” co-themes of the demonstration.
Among others, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb provided a forceful and moving speech, “Solidarity Across Movements,” highlighting the need for what might be viewed as distinct, divergent, and separate groups—Blacks alone, or Latinos alone, or Indigenous alone—to come together to struggle toward our joint needs and issues. As Mayor Webb stated, “If you are only here for today, go home now; if you are only here for tomorrow, go home now; instead, you are needed for months and years for this fight.”
For the next series of speakers, about “Power in Action: Organizing for Justice,” the musical interlude featured performances by El Centro Su Teatro, with songs from the 1960s and 1970s, demonstrating in musical format one of the main features of the rally, how today’s need for marches and demonstrations mirror our history’s previous efforts. They were followed by, among others, Karen Varon, a high school student, speaking about “Dreams Beyond Borders: The Power of Immigrant Voices,” with her youthfulness juxtaposed with, for example, Mayor Webb’s status as a city elder. Another youth speaker, on behalf of immigrant youth, spoke about “Our Future, Our Fight,” to combat President Trump’s administration’s vehemence against immigrants.
Rudy Gonzales—son of Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales and brother to Nita—CEO of the especially significant Servicios de la Raza non-profit, presented about “Community Care and Legal Advocacy,” two of the many services the agency provides. Following additional inspirational presentations, the rally ended for the day, with the necessity of other such events to follow.
Perhaps the major message this writer ascertained from the “Together We Rise” event is the constant need to work together—thus the title—in order to advance or ascend. As the speakers kept reminding the marchers, such joint effort is what has sustained us and helped our community advance as much as it has, despite that today we face immense barriers. As a long-time educator of more than fifty years, I have seen our progress in, for example, the development of Chicana/o Studies curricula to the point where we have full-fledged departments in colleges and universities. However, lurking right around the corner is the anti-DEI efforts by the President’s administration, politically powerful and extremely well-funded.
Either we achieve diversity, equity and inclusion, or we suffer through monoversity, inequity, and exclusion. Choose.
The rally in a sense asked, What is the opposite of “DEI,” or, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”? The rally might have answered, the opposite of “Diversity” is “Monoversity” (my coined word), meaning only one, or “mono,” view or culture or society. The opposite of “Equity” is “Inequity” (or inequality), meaning an inherent unequalness among groups in society. And the opposite of “Inclusion” is “Exclusion,” as we have suffered these many years. So, the opposite of DEI is MIE. This “Together We Rise” march and rally has laid out the options: either we achieve diversity, equity and inclusion, or we suffer through monoversity, inequity, and exclusion. Choose.
Luis Torres, PhD, retired, served as Deputy Provost for Metropolitan State University of Denver for Academic and Student Affairs and professor of Chicana/o Studies. Torres is a noted advocate for equity in education, policy and community efforts.
