It was in a high school world history class when Fabián Pavón, 22, history, chicano, ethnics studies major, first saw representation of himself. A lesson on the Mexican Revolution taught him about Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Before then Pavon said he was disengaged from school and only attended to sell drugs and meet girls.

For Alejandro Xipecoatl Juarez, 19, chicano studies major, his first experience with representation occurred in his Latino politics class. That is where Juarez learned about people that made changes in their community that were similar to him. He was drawn to Cesár Chávez, a simplistic man who made changes for farm workers by talking with families about his movement and asking them to join.

The two Mt. SAC students are the Inter-club council chair and co-chair and are attempting to establish Gender and Ethnic studies as part of the curriculum. The lack of representation they have seen throughout their education is what drew them to the idea. “What I grew up knowing about, that reflected me, was drugs and was gangs, was crime on the tv that’s all I knew growing up… that’s what I saw represented me,” Pavón said.

Mt. SAC is home to a large population of minority students who are offered ethnic studies classes, but are not taught every semester. “History does not begin with colonization… I am here because of Aztec migration,” Juarez said. “There is a division in the community and [gender and ethnics studies] can help combat racism, xenophobia, discrimination and help empower others,” he added.

Ethnic women are paid 70 cents to the dollar that men make in the United States. “The goal is to be inclusive of all people,” Pavón said about including gender studies. “We cannot have equality, unity, peace, and leave others out, “ he added. “You can’t include all ethnicities and not include women. Women face discrimination at school and by men and the law,” Juarez said.

The two want the struggle of women to be seen by men and minorities. “They have their own struggle, they are human and not sex objects,” Pavón said. Women struggles have been around for centuries. The first notable case of women fighting for their rights in the United States was the Women’s suffrage in the 1920’s. Still, there has been a lack of respect for women included in the Chicano Movement that took part in the 1960’s. “Machismo is a contradiction of the revolución,” Juarez added.

Mt. SAC previously had plans to open an LGBTQ center on campus but the project has seen major delays. LGBTQ history is another major portion of the Gender and Ethnics studies curriculum they are working to add. “They have been around since the beginning of time and are being ignored,” Pavón said about the LGBTQ community, “they have contributed to society and others do not know much about them,” he added. “Others should know their oppression and social movement in order to bring a degree of respect to them,” Juarez added. He said they would like to create a space where the LGBTQ community can develop themselves and prosper. “They exist and should be acknowledged. They are usually treated harshly and Mt. SAC should be their home.”

Pavón said by including Gender and Ethnics studies there would be a little less hate in the world when talking about the benefits it would bring outside of school, “It would enrich the college and make people sensitive to each other,” he said. Juarez described it with the phrase In Lak’Ech. The Mayan phrase translates to “You are my other me, if I do harm to you, I do harm to myself.”

Pavón and Juarez want to implement Gender and Ethnics studies into the curriculum because of their past experiences with lack of representation. They want to end the negative representation of minorities, often portrayed in drugs, gangs, and violent scenes. They want to help this country move forward in a time of constant xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia. They want others to feel empowered and to make change not only in their school but in the community.

“People want me dead…they want me dead because they have fear, and fear is because they’re scared, we’re a threat to them, to their system,” Juarez said.