Some 100 family, friends and alumni of the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University gathered on Oct. 2 at Medjool Restarunat/Lounge in the Mission District to honor the contributions of civil rights leaders.
Honorees included Arturo S. Rodriguez, United Farm Workers president; Jerry W. Varnado, one of the leaders of the 1968 S.F. State student strike; Janice Mirikitani, founding president of the Glide Foundation; Beatriz Leyva-Cutler, executive director of the Bay Area Hispano Institute for Advancement and siblings Paula Gunn Allen, Lee Francis III and Carol Lee Sanchez, prominent Native American literary writers and educators.
In their acceptance speeches, many of the honorees attributed their spirit of activism to the School of Ethnic Studies.
Varnado ignited the audience into thunderous applause when he said that the struggle for freedom is universal.
“I can’t be free unless everyone is free,” he said. “I can’t be free unless gays and lesbians are free.”
Ken Monteiro, dean of the School of Ethnic Studies underlined the importance of passing on the revolutionary
ideals of those present to a new generation of activists.
“It is the next generation that will carry on this legacy because the fight is still on,” he said. “Revolutionaries are not born they are created. You at San Francisco State have
demonstrated that clearly.”
Dean Monteiro also gave special recognition to Rev Cecil Williams, who helped defend students during the
student strike; Nathan Hale, the first chair of Black Studies at the college and Jim Hirabayashi, the first dean for the School of Ethnic Studies, with the creation of a scholarship in his
name.
“We must continue this legacy of activism and justice,”
Mirikitani said.
The festivities closed with Dr. “Loco” Jose Cuellar and friends providing spirited, musical entertainment that had people dancing to an array of R&B and Latin beats.