Campus Events

JaiCe Stinton ’18

Acclaimed writer, Luis Alberto Urrea, visited campus on March 15 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King Lecture Series on Race and Nonviolent Social Change. Urrea used humor and personal stories to discuss the kinds of borders that he has experienced due to his dual-culture background.

Meg Woolbright, D.A., First-Year Seminar Director and advocate for the Lecture Series said, “Siena has always had a commitment to social justice and Luis Urrea’s work on overcoming borders is exactly what we want Siena students to strive for.”

One of Urrea’s first run ins with division occurred when he could visibly see the difference between his Mexican friends and his own Irish skin. He spoke the language, yet he saw that he was not like the other kids he was surrounded by. Eventually, he not only felt different on the outside but on the inside as well. Urrea came down with tuberculosis, which was plaguing his poor town. This prompted Urrea’s parents to move from Tijuana to California.

However, when four-year-old Luis moved into his new neighborhood it was more divided than his old community. The apartment complexes were segregated by race and ethnicity, predominantly minorities, while on the other side of the road were the houses for the white middle class families. The local schools were no exception to this division in that he was subject to the punch lines of jokes due to his racially-mixed background. Kids that he thought were his friends called him racially charged slurs that ate away Urrea’s self-confidence and pride.

Soon the borders that separated the many races in the outside world permeated into Urrea’s little apartment. His parents divided the living spaces to avoid each other and ultimately created a hostile home environment.

He watched as numerous borders split his family and community, leaving little communication and love between individuals. But rather than giving into his divisive community, Urrea fought these borders through his writing. He wanted to educate and help people understand a different point of view.

“There are barriers between humans, communities and countries, but we need to work to build bridges and not more huge walls to separate us,” Urrea said at the conclusion of the lecture.

“This is my first MLK lecture series and I could not be happier with the things Luis Urrea said. As a Bonner, I work hard to see the different perspectives on issues and I think this lecture focused on the necessity of the younger generations to embrace diversity,” said Nicole Pazarecki ’21.