03/11/2018
Representation matters.
Seeing people who look like you in film, leadership, and other public forums can be incredibly empowering and powerful. Seeing your culture and traditions represented in film matters. Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar win last weekend and the conversations thereafter proved this. Coco proved this.
Representation in the legal profession matters too.
Unfortunately, Latinxs only make up 5% of the legal profession. We at La Raza Law Students Association are doing everything we can to support and empower Berkeley Law Latinxs.
La Raza is a pillar of strength for the Latin-American community at Berkeley Law, representing law students from all Latin-American backgrounds, including Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Brazil, Peru, El Salvador, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Despite there being few Latinx students at Berkeley Law, our members are motivated and empowered. As an organization, La Raza works to ensure that our members have access to as many opportunities as possible. Historically, one of our organizational goals has been to support members pursuing public interest, public service, and judicial externship opportunities. Despite how necessary public interest lawyers are, Latinx students interested in these career paths face several economic barriers because of how expensive law school is and how few resources there are in the public sector. In response to these obstacles, our organization started the Hon. Cruz Reynoso Fellowship Fund.
We are proud to be hosting our 16th Annual Honorable Cruz Reynoso Fellowship Dinner this year. In addition to recognizing the legacy of the Honorable Cruz Reynoso, Berkeley Law alumnus, and the first Latinx Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, this dinner raises funds to support current Latinx law students pursuing judicial externships or public interest summer internships. This year we will also be awarding a bar scholarship to a graduating student.
Our theme this year is, “Nosotros the People: Porque fueron somos, porque somos serán; because they were, we are, because we are, they will be.” Through this we hope to honor the generations that came before us, and empower others to continue working with courage, conviction, and compassion as we seek to amplify the voices of our communities.
We are excited to announce Antonia Hernández as our Hon. Cruz Reynoso Fellowship Dinner speaker. Ms. Hernández has devoted her career to advocating for the underserved communities in the Los Angeles County and is a testament to the power of Latinx lawyers who advocate for their community. She has shown courage in every opportunity that calls for it. One of her first cases as a lawyer was representing Mexican women who were being forcibly sterilized in an LA county hospital. She also served as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and is now president and chief executive officer of the California Community Foundation.
Ms. Hernández’s story embodies this year’s theme in honoring generations before us and empowering those to come. Ms. Hernández originally planned to become the first Latina/Chicana History Professor but changed her career trajectory to become a lawyer in the wake of the LA Walkouts. The absence of her students and their arrest propelled her to go to law school in order to make change happen. Her political activism was instilled in her by her parents at an early age. Her dad made sure they always observed him while he voted and let them know how important it was to be updated with the news. As such, despite not knowing any lawyers, she saw a need and took it upon herself to address this need. We are honored to have her as our keynote speaker this year. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7MLINJuiY)
We are also excited to announce a second speaker, Yosimar Reyes. Yosimar Reyes is a nationally-acclaimed poet, educator, performance artist, and speaker. Born in Guerrero, Mexico, and raised in Eastside San Jose, Reyes explores the themes of migration and sexuality in his work. The Advocate named Reyes one of "13 LGBT Latinos Changing the World" and Remezcla included Reyes on their list of "10 Up And Coming Latinx Poets You Need To Know." Like Hernández, Reyes embodies our theme of honoring our ancestors, and paving the way for future generations. Reyes reminds us of the need to continue building and growing solidarity among activists, artists, and legal professionals, porque aunque "olos vamos más rápido, juntos llegamos más lejos."
La Raza recognizes that the legal profession cannot effectuate meaningful change alone. We are grateful to count on the support of a number of artists, community members, and organizations, including:
Natalia Lafourcade Oficial
Miguel
Pepe Aguilar
La Santa Cecilia
Cuco
Chicano Batman
Ximena Sariñana
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Football Club
San Francisco Giants
Golden State Warriors
Frank Romero
Lalo Alcaraz
Peet’s Coffee
The New Parkway
Oakland Museum of California
Semifreddi’s Bakery
Oakland City Councilmember Annie Campbell Washington
Graduate Berkeley
We will be auctioning items donated by these community sponsors at our Dinner! We will also be auctioning a number of lunches and dinners with Berkeley Law faculty and staff, including:
Alameda Superior Court Judge Charles A. Smiley
Professor Kristen Holmquist
Professor Amanda Tyler
Professor Saira Mohamed
Professor Andrew Bradt
Professor Stephen Sugarman
Professor David Oppenheimer
Professor Anne Joseph O'Connell
Professor Ian Haney-López
and last, but definitely not least,
our very own Dean Erwin Chemerinsky
Our Hon. Cruz Reynoso Fellowship Dinner has officially sold out! We are incredibly grateful for our community’s support. If you are interested in contributing to our Hon. Cruz Reynoso Fellowship Fund, please do so by following the link below. We encourage those interested in auction items to bid on items before the dinner. Details are forthcoming.
Representation matters and the Hon. Cruz Reynoso Fellowship Dinner will serve as our way of ensuring that Latinx lawyers are supported in pursuing careers in the public sector. Thank you for joining us on this mission!
In community,
Maria Beltran and Committee
[email protected]
La Raza Law Students Association
https://give.berkeley.edu/egiving/index.cfm?fund=FN6311000
