Chicano Park: Fellows Reflections
“This is a place – almost a temple – where we can come together, listen to each other, make peace with each other, and stand in solidarity with one another.”
WKKF Community Leadership Network fellows visited Chicano Park in San Diego, California to learn about the community’s story of struggle and self-determination. Home to the largest concentration of Chicano murals in the world, the park is a testament to the power of communities when they come together in solidarity to lead change. Listen to fellows’ reflections about the values, symbolism and hope that the park’s murals evoke.
Daniel Diaz
“I was really moved when I saw this here at Chicano Park. There’s so many great murals, but this one has a closer personal connection to me because I’m one generation away from farmworkers.”
Luis Ortega
“Any time that I see in public spaces an intentional effort to tell the story of undocumented people from a frame that humanizes those experiences, it really makes me feel connected and grounded.”
Michelle Vilchez
“When I’m here, I can’t help but to be moved to tears. I can’t help but to think about, What do I still have to do to be a part of the movement, to help to lead the movement, and to be a servant to it?”
Rashard Dobbins
“This mural is really walking through a portal … So you see that you have to go through our ancestors, and that’s what really resonates with me the most because I’m not here without my ancestors.”
Sarah Stripp
“To have a mural like this that includes representation from different cultures and also shows the way that our faith can inspire us to do things like providing water at the border … is really beautiful to me.”
Thea Faulkner
This mural “symbolizes the value of us sharing our history, our challenges and our struggles to equip our children to keep the legacies going, to tell the history, and to continue to do greater work to enhance our communities.”