On Wednesday, April 25, guest Odilia Romero visited Vassar College to present her timely lecture titled “Indigenous Immigrants in a Time of Intolerance.”
The event was sponsored by numerous departments at Vassar, including Anthropology, Political Science, Sociology and Women’s studies. The event was well attended; the room was fully packed, students and locals in attendance poured into the aisles and stood against the back walls.
Romero began by greeting the crowd and introducing herself as an indigenous immigrant. Her presence radiated and attendees sensed she had quite a story to tell. She was raised by the Zapotec people, an indigenous group in Mexico. Where she had been raised and resided in Zoogocho (a small town within Oaxaca, Mexico) had been the Zapotec territory since 500 BCE. A mine that showed to be profitable in Zoogocho was sold and the Zapotec people, including Romero, were forced to migrate as a result of this invasion. In 1981, Romero made the popular move to immigrate to Los Angeles.
This move came with countless barriers- one of which Romero harped on was language. The Zapotec language is completely different than Spanish, Romero explained. “I will see you in fourteen sunsets,” she said, “is the Zapotec way of saying that I will see you in two weeks.” To further illustrate her point, she brought up the case of Cirila Baltazar Cruz, who immigrated to the US, and with broken Spanish (having been raised speaking an indigenous language), was misinterpreted to be in prostitution and lost her baby in the process while talking with law enforcement. The baby was taken because Cruz’s indigenous background was misinterpreted as having “developmental delays”, according to Romero.
Romero pointed out that the intolerance does not stop with Americans- it is something prevalent in Mexican culture as well. Romero said that “Mexicans think about Aztecs and other groups as things of the past” and emphasized that “maybe [they] need to check themselves.”
Romero was not satisfied with any of this and did not settle for a pessimistic “ ‘you should have stayed in your pueblo,’ “ from an LAPD officer of similar indigenous background. Romero dedicated herself to becoming an indigenous rights activist to assist indigenous immigrants of Southern California. In efforts to continue positive growth for indigenous people immigrating to the US, Romero organizes a variety of helpful tools to assist in the immigration process like health fairs and parenting workshops as well as court translators for legal needs. Romero is currently the General Binational Coordinator of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations in Los Angeles.
Nicholas Scott, a student at Vassar, regarded the talk as “inspiring and enlightening.” “I felt like I was truly learning something new. I would have never known that the Zapotec culture existed, let alone the issues that indigenous immigrants have to overcome when moving to the US,” Scott said.
This lecture focused on this third layer of racism that exists along the southernmost border of the US that most Americans have never thought about. The indigenous people who immigrate to the US suffer racism in their home country and also when they immigrate. Romero sought to change this by providing and continuing to provide support to people who remind her of her own story.
Most recently, Romero gathered funds to brings K’iche’ and Kaqchikel Maya translators to the US to reunite Guatemalan children with their parents after they had been separated at the border, due to orders from “number 45,” since Romero refuses to regard Donald Trump by his full name.
