As a community, how do we reckon with toxic masculinity?
After decades of silence, Dolores Huerta, civil rights leader and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, shared her story about abuse and sexual violence, joining other women who brought forward allegations of assault against the late labor leader Cesar Chavez in an investigation by The New York Times.
This rupture of trust, and the devastation that comes with it, is all too familiar. Among San Francisco’s Latine communities, violence against women and nonbinary people has long haunted and divided us. Breaking the silence surrounding machismo can be incredibly difficult. It can come with shame, fear and isolation, leaving many to carry pain on their own.
“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work,” Huerta wrote in a statement. “The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me. My heart aches for everyone who suffered alone and in silence for years.”
In response, we are relaunching La Trenza, El Tecolote’s community art and storytelling space to share reflections, memories, poems, voice notes, videos or artwork that explore how power, identity, gender and silence show up in our lives.
We aim to build a living archive of these stories, publishing selected submissions across our platforms, including digital, print and physical spaces.
“My silence ends here,” Huerta wrote. We hope our communities can do the same.
Share your story
You can submit:
- Poems or written reflections
- Audio recordings or voice notes
- Short videos
- Artwork or photography
Submissions are welcome in Spanish, English or both. To submit your story, please email erika@eltecolote.org.
A community offering
In response to this moment, community member Fátima Ramírez shared the following poem with us. We invite you to read it, and to respond with your own reflection, poem or artwork.
La Trenza
By Fátima Ramírez
La trenza lleva muchos nudos.
Y
Hay que desenredar.
Me duele saber cuántas décadas esos malos recuerdos y embarazos no deseados te tocó cargar.
Y
Con el tiempo esos secretos se ponen más amargos, difíciles de tragar.
Pero la mentira dura hasta que la verdad llega Y
Esos secretos ya no los tienes que callar.
Tu valor siempre fue la fuerza del movimiento.
Y
Ahora por ti vamos a luchar.
Pues tú nos enseñaste que ¡sí se puede!
Decir la verdad.
Y
Hay que seguir trenzando.
Porque las luchas van a continuar.
Y
Tenemos que unirnos
Para poder otra vez trenzar.
Cada trenza lleva tres hilos.
Son por lo menos tres
Generaciones las que responden.
A veces son más.
Y
Si cada una desenreda sus nudos,
Todas nos levantamos al mismo compás.
Porque ya nos cansamos y no queremos ni una más.
La unión hace la fuerza y ahora la necesitamos capaz.
Nos quieren enredar a nosotros pero no nos vamos a dejar.
Y
Si, sabemos que todavía hay mucho que sanar.
Pero la tarea es grande y no nos deja descansar.
Le faltan más hilos a esta trenza y la tenemos que trenzar.