“Group Project Summary-Video”

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Artist Statement

This video combines images of our groups central focus with the Loyola Students on the Cesar Chavez mural, created by the organization known as “True Skool,” and songs by the student’s favorite artists based on their responses from our first collaborative assignment. My intentions were to create a short video that would summarize our experiences with Service Learning and the Film 150 classroom.

Mission Statement

TRUE Skool’s mission is to use cultural arts to educate and empower youth from different backgrounds and cultures to become leaders for positive social change in their communities.

They advance their mission by infusing conflict resolution, creativity, self-expression, non-violence, youth organizing, community activism and community service projects into their programs and services.

In TrueSkool, they believe it is important to provide positive role models and new leaders who understand the realities facing youth today. They understand that the traditional programs and curriculum created generations ago are no longer effective for youth coming from our present society. They work together with individuals, organizations, schools, businesses and anyone interested to create the change that is so necessary for youth to become successful. Using tools and resources youth relate to will help us better achieve effective results.

Hip Hop is more than music, it goes beyond dance and sounds, it is about culture, history and skills. It was born of the same societal ills we see youth facing today; lack of jobs and economic opportunities, violence in our neighborhoods, schools, and at home, broken families, gangs, under-funded schools and lack of community resources. Hip Hop is a tool and a culture in itself that allows for positive change in one’s life and promotes the true meaning of “community”. Few social movements have been as effective as uniting cultures as Hip Hop has been for over 30 years.

The Legend of the 5 Suns

The Legend of the Five Suns

Brief description of the Myth:

Every now and then in time, the sun begins to die and one of the gods has to be sacrificed to save the world and become the new sun. When this happens the whole world is destroyed and everything starts over from scratch.

Description of the Suns:

Sun 1: “The Four Waters”

- It was created by Huitzilopochtli

- Huitzilopochtli created man from ashes and dust

- When the sun was about to die, the lesser god sacrificed himself

- The effect of this was a massive flood killing everything on the planet and allowing the world to restart itself

- The flood is believed to have last 1 cycle on the Aztec calendar, which is equal to 52 years.

Sun 2: “The Four Jaguar”

- People of this age are believed to be giants

- Another lesser god sacrificed itself and become the new sun

- The effect was that the lesser god fell from the sky and set the whole earth on fire

- The people that survived were thrust into darkness for the new sun was blotted out by all the ash and smoke

- There were Jaguas who appeared from the darkness and killed everything, hence the four jaguars, and the world was restarted once again

Sun 3: “The Four Rain”

- Very little is known about this sun as the Aztecs never really spoke about it.

- When the sun was changed, a huge volcanic eruption happened somewhere in the world and later on caused it to rain fire and gravel once again restarting the earth

Sun 4: ”The four Winds”

- Also one that was not spoken about a lot amongst the society

- Age which was believed to be where the Aztecs moved down from their ancestral lands to the north

- The world was ended by a giant hurricane

Sun 5: “The Four Movement”

- Current era

- Believes that the world ends in 2012

- The fourth god who sacrificed himself was believed to be weak and ill, so the Aztecs believe that the sun is also weak and ill.

- In order to keep the sun in the sky, they must sacrifice human blood and if they don, the god would 1inflict pain and hardship upon them.

Chavez Mural

Grape boycott

The United Farm Workers led by Cesar Chavez boycotted grapes in 1966 to protest the hazardous working conditions the farm workers were subject to. The farm workers had to endure harmful toxins, child labor, and poverty wages of a $1 an hour. It was one of the few times a boycott actually worked.

Father James Groppi

During the 1960's and 1970's Milwaukee's civil rights movement led by Italian-American Father James Groppi marched across the 16th St. bridge to demand equal housing for all of Milwaukee's citizen's. The 1/2 mile wide valley was a symbolic divide for the city.

James Groppi was born in the Bay View neighborhood on the South Side of Milwaukee, WI to Italian-immigrant parents. In June of 1959 Groppi was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood after studying at St. Francis Seminary in the Milwaukee suburb of St. Francis WI.

In 1965 he became the advisor to the Milwaukee chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and organized the Youth Council protests against the segregation of Milwaukee public schools.

In the summer of 1968 Latinos joined the NAACP's Youth Council which was led by Father Groppi and demonstrated outside Allen-Bradley, a company which employed few Latino or black workers.

Father Groppi organized the Milwaukee Commandos an all Black male group and demonstrated against the city of Milwaukee on behalf of fair housing.

In 1969 Father Groppi organized and led the "Welfare Mothers' March on Madison and protested planned welfare cuts.

Father Groppi who died in 1985 is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetary in Milwaukee and his papers are maintained at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Cesar Chavez mural

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Marshall G. Vega began the Cesar E. Chavez Drive Committee in November of 1995. Marshall wanted to name a street for a Hispanic American because there were no such streets in all of Wisconsin, and Cesar E. Chavez Drive was indeed the first in Wisconsin. Marshall wanted to name the street for Cesar because he was admired by people all over the world for standing up for the Migrant Farmworkers.

In August of 1996 the CEC Renaming committee appeared before the Common Council to lobby for S. 16th St. from Pierce to Mitchell Street to become S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. Marshall then lobbied for S. 16th St. from Pierce to Windlake Avenue S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. to avoid confusion by having the street go through the entire community.

Marshall G. Vega passed away on April 11th 1999 from renal cell kidney cancer but his vision for Chavez Dr. became a reality in March of this year when Cesar Chavez would have been 82.

Cesar Chavez Mural

Jesus Salsa was the founder of Obreros Unidos an independent farm labor union established in Wisconsin in 1966 and supported by funding from the AFL-CIO. Jesus Salas also worked for the United Farm Workers (UFW) and Cesar Chavez on the UFW Grape Boycott. A native of Crystal City Texas and former migrant worker, Salas served as coordinator and board member of United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS).

Obreros Unidos engaged in its first labor action by seeking to organize migrant potato harvest and processing workers in the town of Almond, WI. and received support from the AFL-CIO, Cesar Chavez, and other labor unions.

The union published "La Voz Mexicana" which provided Mexican-American farm workers in Wisconsin with information on minimum wage, worker's compensation, child labor, and health provisions for migatory farm workers.

The union only lasted 6 years, but many of its organizers went on to work for the United Farm Workers grape boycott and other Mexican-American organizations in Wisconsin.

Loyola Students at Cesar Chavez Mural

TrueSkool

trueskool

TrueSkool

TrueSkool

The ethnic identity assignment for Loyola students

The previous pictures and text was part of an assignment for the Loyola students.
They had to pick a picture of their favorite sport, singer or activity and write 100 words on how these activities are related to their perception of their racial and ethnic identity.

Loyola Students

My favorite singer is Puerto Rican hood star (singer from the street) by the name of Nengo Flow. He is from the hometown Vigio in Baysmon Puerto Rico. Nengo Flow is related to me in a lot of different ways. One he is a full blooded Puerto Rican like me. Another interesting thing about him is that he is Street in music but not fake Street. Like a lot of these rappers today they talk about drugs, killing, and guns while they don't really do that in everyday life. The thing about him in Puerto Rico there are no gangs just the battle between drug hoods. Every town has a hood in Puerto Rico so people from there need to be ready to protect the hood. He talks about that. I relate to him by the fact I write about those things too. He influences what a person from my ethnicity or racial identity is if you are from the hood or if you're a person that needs to survive by being "street". Most of the time its not because your mom raised them like that or taught them wrong it's what you become due to where you live. Also due to job shortages or no money to study. This is where these images are born. This is how Nengo Flow matches me, but I want to break that chain and prove I can educate myself to be a poet of the night and find a legitimate job during the day.

Loyola Students

Espinoza Paz is one artist that typically falls under the stereotypes that other people say about "Mexican" music. He wears pointy cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. Macizo musical is another typical Mexican group they sing "duranguense" with that tumba, tumba, tumba, kind of rhythm.

An activity I like to do is listen to music and dance. When I listen to music I forget about my problems and dance. The music I dance to is "cumba", "duranguense", "corridos", and "banda". Those are typical Mexican sounds.

I usually watch the music channel but also like to watch novellas or soap operas.

Loyola Students

Conejo is one of the rappers that I listen to a lot. He was born in and raised in Los Angeles California. He was also a drug dealer and a West Side Harpy's gang member. He's been on the run from the cops for several years already. No one really knows where he is at right now, but about a year ago he was in Canada. One of the reasons why I listen to him is because many rappers talk about selling drugs and gang banging when they have never done it and he has. I started getting into his music about four years ago when I first heard "Bitch Ass Rappers" which was like a whole industry diss and was actually my friends beat but was taken by an artist from Milwaukee named DJ Payback Garcia and given to Conejo. Conejo is more like a poet that tells actual street stories and speaks his mind which is why he's hated by so many rappers.

Service Learning Student Assignment #1 (4)

"Immortal Technique"

This picture is of my favorite rapper Immortal Technique a revolutionary rapper who is from Peru. He is different from mainstream or some underground rappers because e spit the truth about what is happening in the world not about money, cars, and girls. He raps about revolution. The radio never plays his music, why? Because he raps about the government and the lies they say the bad things they have done in the past. He is talks about racism and how the world is corrupted.

Service Learning Student Assignment #1 (3)

"Basketball"

I choose this picture because it is my favorite sport and the NBA really doesn’t have a lot of Hispanic players. People think that Hispanics really aren’t good basketball players but it is not true there is a lot of good Hispanics who are good but just aren’t known like others. The NBA consists of mostly African Americans. I think Hispanics don’t focus just on sport s that is why they don’t try to become famous like others. They look towards there future and think about how they rather live with a paying job that is why Hispanics aren’t really known for basketball. To me basketball is the best sport there is and I hope one day I will have the opportunity to join the NBA.

Service Learning Student Assignment #1 (2)

“Alacranes Musical”

The musical group “Alacranes Musical,” is by far one of my favorite acts ever! They’re the same ethnicity as me. People that aren’t Mexican, or maybe some that are, might say they’re the worst group ever, because they don’t like that type of music. Some people that aren’t Mexican might like Mexican music. I personally like, and listen, to all kinds of music, except for oldies and country. I think that kind of music is ugly and horrible.

Service Learning Student Assignment #1 (1)

“Louis Garcia (“Fosforito”)”

This is Louis Garcia, a.k.a. “Fosforito.” He’s a Hispanic-Christian singer. He’s Christian like me, and sees this world corrupt like me. Like me, he wants to tell the world that there’s no true path, because the true path is through Christ. I seem him as a cup being used in the hands of God to tell the world what the true path is. I believe this world will remain corrupt without peace, and peace lies in the hands of Jesus Christ.