The Dreamers Success Center hosted a Monarch Butterfly canvas painting event on Thursday, Oct. 19 as part of its Undocumented Student Action Week activities.
“The butterfly has always been a symbol representative of immigrants; the steady migration of the Latine community, how the community transcends beauty in the presence of discomfort, the transformational element, the colors…,” said Tina Leal, Dreamers Success Center resource specialist.
In support of this, students, alumni and others became artists for a day, using blank canvases and paint palettes to create butterfly art.
“I’m attempting ombré for my butterfly because there’s many layers to our life,” said Bianka Aguilar, a high school Latine student and Delta College volunteer.
“Today, the Latino population in the United States today is over 60 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This makes up 18.9% of the total population and is the largest racial or ethnic group,”according to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino report, published in 2022.
Focused on honoring diversity and inclusion, the Dreamers Success Center and the Basic Needs Center of San Joaquin Delta College collaborated to continue the awareness of Hispanic/Latino communities, their contributions to growing and strengthening U.S. democracy, as well as highlighting their struggles and oppressions.
“There are students that are undocumented at your college, how could we bring awareness without pointing them out? How could we build community? This is why we open Undocumented Student Action Week to everybody: staff students and faculty,” said Leal.
Leal found an ally for this project in Anna Villegas, Project Manager of The Basic Needs Center. The two merged resources to present ‘Un-docu Week’ on Delta’s campus. “Anna and I met and brainstormed for no more than an hour asking ourselves ‘What will we do on Monday?’ Unanimously, we decided to kick the week-long event off big!”
The itinerary for the week of Oct. 16-20 included: butterfly arts & crafts in the Quad, a presentation titled Beyond DACA: UFWF Presentation, a mental health presentation by United We Dream, , the butterfly painting event, and a showing of “A Million Miles Away,” the story of Stockton Astronaut Jose Hernandez.
“The issue with immigration laws is its inconsistency to abide by their stipulations. Immigrants can work here under contract, but can’t live here or obtain citizenship without years of stagnation and limbo. So many families are affected every day, even students here at Delta. But times have changed and evolved. The days of staying quiet and keeping their heads down are long over, the younger generation is speaking out and bringing awareness to these issues … That’s one of the many reasons why I love Delta. Our college community promotes inclusion, diversity and culture. As a matter of fact, we just finished celebrating Indigenous People Day at the beginning of the month here on campus,” said Leal.
How we show up for the Latine Community makes an impactful difference.
Their contributions “…continue to shape our nation as business owners, activists, artists, public servants, and more. From serving in the U.S. military to being champions in the fight for civil rights, Latinas and Latinos remain strong leaders and changemakers,” according to the Smithsonian report.