A UCLA Chicana/o studies journal is hosting a symposium to discuss police violence in Chicana/o communities at UCLA Wednesday, in response to various cases of police brutality against minority ethnic groups.
The editorial board of Regeneración Tlacuilolli: UCLA Raza Studies Journal is hosting the symposium. Graduate and undergraduate students from various UC campuses, faculty and local community members will present their research and discuss how police violence affects the Chicana/o communities.
Juan Pablo Mercado, the journal’s managing editor and graduate student in history, said he hopes participants can explore recent tensions by considering the historical context of police brutality in minority communities.
Organizers aim to use cultural education to help Chicana/o community members understand the history of police targeting, said Elizabeth González Cárdenas, co-editor-in-chief and graduate student in education.
González Cárdenas said the journal combines academic research and creative work. She said she thinks short fictional stories and poems, in English and Spanish, contribute to a more holistic understanding of Chicana/o communities.
David Carrillo, a graduate student in electrical engineering, said creative writers are more likely to focus on current events affecting the community. He said creative writing can help him relate to his own cultural experience.
José Luis Serrano Nájera, the journal’s co-editor-in-chief and a graduate student in history, said the scarcity of publications focusing on the Chicana/o studies inspired him to start the journal. The editors in chief published their first issue of Regeneración Tlacuilolli in December 2014. He added there is only one other consistently publishing national journal on Chicana/o studies, Aztlán, published by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.
University students, faculty and community members across the nation can submit research works and creative writing pieces to the journal. The Graduate Student Association’s publications office funds the journal.
The symposium will be held between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.