Tag: inspiring

On 50th anniversary of Civil Rights Act, a veteran remembers discrimination in US

Ernest Eguia in uniform during World War II. (Courtesy LULAC)

After living through the Great Depression of the 1930’s, Ernest Eguia went from fighting in Normandy during World War II to fighting for the civil rights of Latinos when he returned home to Texas in 1945.

Fifty years ago, this week, of President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Eguia remembers what the U.S. was like before this law made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

“In 1946, I heard that a World War II veteran that was a recipient of the Medal of Honor had been denied service in a hamburger joint because he was a quote, unquote, Mexican,” recalls Eguia. “[That veteran], Marcario Garcia, sued the owner of the restaurant. When I found out about it, I joined LULAC…We raised a little over $6,000 for Marcario, and he bought a house for his mother. That’s why I joined.”

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is an organization which was founded in 1929 to advance civil rights and educational attainment of Hispanics in the U.S. When Eguia returned to Houston after his active four year military duty, achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant and receiving the Bronze Star for his heroic efforts, he became a successful salesman and store manager, but perhaps most importantly, he played a very active role in combating discrimination of Hispanics in his American hometown.

After the Marcario incident, Eguia says LULAC’s Houston Council #60 grew to more than 200 members. The organization needed large numbers to fight the amount of discrimination that was happening.

At that time in history, Eguia explains discrimination against Latinos was rampant in the U.S.

“I remember going to a church here in Houston. I was in LULAC already, and they asked me to go ask the pastor in the Catholic Church if we could rent a dance hall for a fundraiser,” remembers Eguia. “Would you believe that a Catholic priest told me to go to a Mexican church? That was in 1947 – somewhere around there.”

Eguia, whose father was from Mexico and his mother from Texas, also recalls separate drinking fountains in downtown Houston that had signs for “colored,” “whites” and “Mexicans.”

“I remember one time they would not allow a Jewish man to register in a hotel,” says Eguia.

Something else Eguia, and his fellow veterans, noticed upon returning to Houston was finding out there were no police officers or firemen who were Hispanic in Houston.

“We went after the city government, and pressed them so much, that eventually there were many young men who started joining,” says Eguia. “My brother was one of the first Hispanic firemen in Houston. His name is Leon Eguia.”

Eguia, who throughout his life has held every LULAC Council 60 officer post, including president, says although discrimination still exists, it’s hardly noticeable compared to when he was younger.

Ernest Eguia in November, 2013, at a reception commemorating the 50th anniversary of JFK’s visit with LULAC, at the Rice Hotel in Houston. (Courtesy LULAC)

“I’m 94-years-old now, and I’ve forgotten a lot of these things, but I see things have changed for the good,” he says, in terms of discrimination.

Last month, he handed out a LULAC scholarship in his name to a high school senior at Sam Houston High School. He’s clear that his priority is now the future of Latino youth.

“Our leadership in LULAC is a bit weak right now,” says Eguia who is still a member. “What we need is stronger leadership – one that is focused on community and neighborhood…The leadership we have now is very weak…”

He explains that when he first joined LULAC, he never took a penny and put it in his pocket.

“Now leadership is taking big salaries,” says Eguia. “That money belongs to the community – for scholarships for our youngsters. We need to get our young ready for the future.”

And what advice would he like to tell today’s youth?

“The first thing I would tell them is, ‘Be a good citizen. We live in a country that is free, and we could do whatever we want and live comfortably,’” says Eguia. “The second thing I would say is, ‘Get yourself educated, because once you get education, no one can take that away from you’…The important thing is to be honest to the country, yourself, and the community, and if you have a good education, I think a youngster could get very far. Short cuts are not going to get you anywhere.”

July 4, 2014
Bestselling author on a mission to fight ageism

Ashton Applewhite (Photo/J.K. Scheinberg)

After studying architecture in college and landing a career in publishing because of her love of reading, Ashton Applewhite never thought she’d be a writer. Not only did she become one at age 40, she became the first woman to get four books on The New York Times best-seller list at once.

After writing on varied topics from her divorce to inspiration for people with AIDS, she’s now tackling the concept of ageism through the written word.

For the past seven years Applewhite says she’s been interviewing people over 80, and who are still in the workforce. Those interviews developed into material for her next book.

“‘How’s ‘This Chair Rocks: A Proaging Manifesto’ for a title?,” asks Applewhite about her work in progress. “It is a manifesto.”

The 62-year-old New Yorker says she was inspired by her in-laws who are themselves booksellers in their 90’s.

“I started learning about longevity,” says Applewhite. “Everything I learned was so much more positive than what I thought I knew. I started wondering why we don’t know this stuff.”

The reason is, she says, is because we live in an ageist society that focuses on the negative.

“Women start to freak out when they turn 30,” says Applewhite. “Ageism effects 20- year-olds who are freaked out because they are not fulfilling careers. That message is oppressive. Our society puts pressure on the young in a way that’s negative. It’s sometimes great to be young, but sometimes it’s hard, and sometimes it’s hard to be old, but sometimes it really rocks.”

She goes on to say that people are conditioned to start dreading their birthdays as they get older.

“We look back and think, ‘Wow, that was way better than I thought,” says Applewhite. “Now that we’re all living much longer, it’s really important to overturn these negative stereotypes.”

So that’s what she’s on a mission to do now.

“I would feel honored to follow in the footsteps of Maggie Kuhn who founded the Gray Panthers [at 65],” says Applewhite about her elder rights activist hero of the 1970’s. “She was bold and radical, and put ageism on the map.”

While Applewhite is not writing her book, the grandmother of three blogs, and also works as a writer at the American Museum of Natural History two days a week.

“I work with teachers and scientists for materials for science teachers,” she says. “I have no science background. I dive into subjects I know nothing about.”

She recommends everyone take a chance.

“The stakes are seldom fatal,” says Applewhite. “Should I have married the man I married? I wouldn’t have written the book I wrote, or had the kids I had. On the other hand, it wasn’t easy learning those life lessons, but I’m not sorry I did.”

June 25, 2014
Bronx Fathers Taking Action member on the importance of fatherhood

Bronx Fathers Taking Action member John Fielder (Courtesy John Fielder)

John Fielder, a born and raised New Yorker, has always been a savior of sorts for his community.

Before turning 60, he was an emergency medical technician (EMT) for nearly two decades, and before that, a phlebotimist. Today, at 64, he serves on his district’s community education council as well as one of the 16 active Bronx Fathers Taking Action committee members.

“I’m appointed by the borough president to oversee construction of schools, issues of building maintenance, curriculum, and parent involvement,” says Fielder about his role on the education council. “I also train parents to do what I do.”

Fielder explains the board is made of of 11 members, and there are 116 schools in the district, including elementary and middle schools. And through Bronx Fathers Taking Action, which was founded in March 2012, he provides resources and fosters relationships to reinforce fathers as positive role models for their kids.

Although his seven children, three girls and four boys – ranging in age from 20 to 27 – are all grown up, playing an active role in the youth of his community is still crucial to him.

John Fielder with four or his seven children.

“My three youngest kids are foster kids, and we adopted them,” says Fielder about the family he shares with his wife, who is a school teacher. “That got me involved in special needs kids.”

He explains that two of his adopted children had slight learning disabilities because of the environment they came out of.

“I was told the only thing they could get out of high school was a certificate, but I wanted them to have a real diploma,” says Fielder. “That’s what got me involved. I became president of the PTA [Parent Teacher Association] for three years. Then I became the president of the district’s education council.”

The more you’re involved, he says, the more you learn how the system works and how the system doesn’t work.

“This is a business of educating our children, and it’s important we understand the system,” says Fielder. “One of my biggest issues now is we don’t have vocational schools left in the Bronx. Now [kids] have to pay to go to other schools and have a school loan bill that’s outrageous.”

Although Fielder also commits some of his free time to his church choir, he’s proud to say that Bronx Fathers Taking Action is one of his most important projects to date. In addition to holding monthly meetings, and reaching out to different churches, the group is partnering with a total of five middle schools and high schools in Manhattan and the Bronx to create mentoring programs.

“Boys at that age, especially, need someone to look up to,” says Fielder. “We need to mentor them on financial aid, health benefits and financial literacy – the importance of budgeting, saving having bank accounts. What they see are guys with fancy rims and jewelry, but they’re living in the projects. What’s the value in that?”

Father’s Day weekend, he says, the group is holding a stickball event for older kids, and for the younger kids, a bicycle safety demonstration. In total, a couple of hundred youth and parents are expected to attend.

“I want to get more fathers involved, because when you get more fathers involved, kids do better, because they have an example to follow,” he says. “Kids are not looking for a father with lots of money, just somebody who’s involved.”

To Fielder, fatherhood is one of the most important jobs there is, and it’s a job that never ends.

“Fatherhood means mentoring, loving, training, becoming a good example, and having expectations for your children to do better than you,” he says.

His advice for those younger than him:

“Do what you have to, so you can do what you want to do. Be a leader and not a follower, and have high expectations for yourself.”

June 12, 2014
First female Asian elected official on the East Coast continues to give back and speak up

Ellen Young in the Chambers being introduced by the Speaker as a freshman member, and the first Asian American woman in the legislature in January 2007. (Courtesy Ellen Young)

Ellen Young is not one to stay still, or stay quiet.

The 62-year-old volunteers as the first, and only, Asian member of the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts. As one of 15 committee members, she reviews complaints against attorneys from Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. She says she spends the rest of her time at the newly founded Golden Age Learning Center, which serves approximately 200 seniors.

(more…)

May 27, 2014
Harlem cook realizes dream and opens vegan soul food restaurant

Brenda Beener, owner and chef at Seasoned Vegan in Harlem, NY (Photo/Kori Raishon)

Owning her own restaurant is something Brenda Beener has wanted for a very long time.

“I didn’t even realize it, until I started talking to people,” says Beener, who is known in her Harlem, NY community for her exceptional vegan cooking skills.

(more…)

May 21, 2014