For nearly 23 years, Chilean expat Barbara Torres has lived in Bremen, Germany, but it wasn’t until she witnessed the waves of refugees fleeing the West Asia in 2015 that she feels she found her calling: helping refugee women tell their stories. Torres did this by founding Germany’s first “arpillera” workshop, where she teaches refugee […]
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Sweet Victoria! Beloved panaderia reopens at new location a year after being evicted
When La Victoria—the iconic Mission District panaderia which had operated at 24th and Alabama streets for 67 years—prepared to shut its doors for the last time on Oct. 9, 2018, Laura Hernandez couldn’t help but feel sad. “We spent so many years there,” said Hernandez, who had worked at the panaderia for 12 years and […]
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Pilot program provides doulas free of charge to underserved mothers of color
Blanca Galicia knows all too well what it’s like to be alone during what is one of the most vital times in a woman’s life: pregnancy. “I became aware of the horrible conditions and loneliness that Latina immigrants experience here [in San Francisco],” Galicia said. “That was my experience as well.” It was those very […]
Posted inDevil's Advocate, Voices
Thoughts on mother’s day
Men have been diminished by Mother Nature. Why won’t you give motherhood to men? If an innocent child stirred below his heart, Men would probably not be so cruel. —“I Would Like” by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a Russian poet A few years ago, when my mother died in Chile, I was also there. I wanted to […]
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Filipinx and Latinx artists explore transcultural identity
For Sami Schilf, the Filipino philosophy of “Kapwa,” or “togetherness,” crosses borders. Her mural “Kapwa Rising,” which stands atop a Filipino-inspired taqueria in SOMA—which is aptly named Mestiza—would draw comments of familiarity from passersby. Zulus have the word “Ubuntu,” meaning “I am because we are.” Mayans have “In Lak’ech,” or “I am you, and you […]
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Muralist uses art to demand visibility for women of color
Born and raised in Oakland, California to a Jewish mother and an Indigenous Mapuche Chilean father, Laura Salazar was introduced to a unique view of the world at a very young age. For the past 17 years or so, Salazar—known by the alias Mujer Muralista—has been doing her part in social and economic activism by […]
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Pinay MC’s latest album challenges systemic oppression of women
The sun beats down on the city of Oakland like a drum, as Filipina MC Rocky Rivera and I discuss hip-hop, feminism, motherhood and beyond. As townsfolk cruise through the neighborhood with sound systems blaring, it seems as though this San Francisco native has settled into a home befitting her artistic nature—bursting at the seams […]
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Family seeks justice for slain Indigenous mother
As she completed a recovery program and found an apartment in the Bayview, Jessica Nicole Alva, 35, sought to give her six children a better life. Known by family and friends for her compassion and community advocacy, inspiring women through her hard-won sobriety, she wanted her children—ages 6 to 17—to do better than her. The […]
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Alex Nieto monument approved 5 years after his death at hands of SFPD
Just over five years to the day of Alex Nieto’s murder at the hands of the SFPD, his family can close a chapter on the tragic events surrounding Alex’s death and its aftermath. At the April 18 San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission meeting, the city gave its final approval for a new permanent monument […]