When
I heard of Dr. Vicente Ximenes’ passing and was subsequently asked to
write this memorial I was at first honored and then humbled. He meant
so much to the movement,
to my work as a scholar of color, to Albuquerque and to the Chicano
community. I have struggled to write this memorial because how do you
honor a man with such a legacy.
In
2012, when I received the Vicente Ximenes Scholarship in Public
Rhetoric and Civic Literacy I had the privilege of meeting Dr.
Ximenes. I related to him that as
a single mother and a Latina with limited funds, the money I received
meant the word to me but more than that with this scholarship I would
dedicate my work on several research projects with Ximenes’ legacy in
mind. The work he did was revolutionary and people
like me wouldn't be in doctoral programs without the things he did so
many years ago. It was and still is an act of defiance for people of
color to contribute to academia.
This
past weekend I attended the Conference on College Composition and
Communication where I presented a chapter of my dissertation titled Multilingual
Writers and the Ruling Voice: Constructions of Race, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the DREAM Act.
It was during the discussions that followed this presentation and the
meeting with the Latino Caucus that I realized how to
frame this memorial to Dr. Ximenes. We are still a misunderstood and
underrepresented people. We still need to mobilize. And so in death as
in life Dr. Ximenes is our abuelito. He is our voice and our passion
and as part of a community of Chicanos, Latinos,
and Indigenous gente he symbolizes the struggle. He will be missed
because of his work but also because he is part of a collective
conscious of Latinidad and Chicanismos. One soul has passed but the
struggle continues.
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