Last week we hosted our second general meeting. Are one of our faculty advisers, Professor Haney Lopez, stopped by to introduce himself to our new 1Ls and give them a little bit of law school and life advice. We had a great time eating Panda Express and getting to meet new Raza folks. At the end of our meeting we made sure to take a group photo in our brand new t-shirts!
Everyone knows baseball is America's favorite pastime, so it's no wonder that one of La Raza's fall traditions is a trip to the ballpark. Given the makeup of the group, there's only one matchup we want to see: Dodgers v. Giants. While there are a few fiercely loyal Giants fans (myself included... we live in the Bay Area, people!), it's undeniable that the majority of Raza baseball fans love the Dodgers. This semester's trip to the beautiful AT&T Park included lots of bonding, lots of garlic fries, and lots of trash talk. Ultimately, the Dodgers prevailed with a score of 10 to 6. And while some hearts were broken, everyone had a great time. See you on the field for the next one!
Fernando Flores spoke at a lunch talk event at Berkeley Law on 9/25 to give us some insight on how to live a healthy life in law school and as a lawyer. He shared with us his background, and how after practicing law for over 10 years, he founded iMATER NOW to support attorneys in nurturing their 6 spheres of well-being: emotional, physical, occupational, spiritual, intellectual, and social. We must tend to these every day, just like we groom ourselves every morning. We did an activity where we shared our morning routines, and he said we should add a one minute activity to our routine every day where we say three things that we are grateful for. He told us that his secret power for well-being is GPA: Grit, Positivity, and Appreciation. Finally, Fernando said that the most important thing is to have faith in yourself.
Law school is not just about reading cases or understanding the black letter law. There's also time for fun and study breaks! This past weekend La Raza Law Students Association hosted a group outing at the Oakland Museum of California. Aside from learning about the history of California, we also enjoyed the food truck scene as well as grooving to live music. Stay tuned for our next outing.
The current administration shows us how important it is for Latinx to show up and vote for leaders that will represent and fight for the Latinx community. The 2020 Census has a citizenship question which will negatively impact Latinx participation. Latinx communities will fear answering the census will lead to deportation and will skip the census altogether. Census data direclty affects the number of representatives a state has, this census will disempower Latinx voters. The La Raza Law Students Association co-sponsored a talk with Tanya Pellegrini about Latinx voting right and the work that MALDEF does to protect them- in particular, suing the current administration about the citizenship question. This talk helped empower students and become aware of the role of lawyers in protecting Latinx voting rights.
Hispanic Heritage Month is meant to pay tribute to the generations of Hispanic and Latinx who paved the way for future generations and their contributions to society. In line with empowering Hispanic and Latinx communities, La Raza Law Students Association chose to hold a bake sale to raise funds to continue to help Latinx law students get the resources they need to be successful in Law School. Latinx lawyers make up only 4% of the lawyers in the U.S., La Raza Law Students Association strives to make sure Latinx are better represented in the legal field. We had a successful bake sale and want to thank everyone for your contributions.
The beginning of 1L can be daunting. It's exciting, confusing and potentially a little scary. To ease the transition, our Raza Board hosted a social so the Raza Class of 2021 could meet its 1L professors in a low-key environment. Big shout-out to all the professors that took time out of their schedules to meet their Raza students. Another shout-out to the class of 2021 who took time out of reading and briefing to meet their profs. This is the beginning of another great semester. More events to come- stay tuned.
As future Latinx attorneys, we appreciate the importance of networking and building strong relationships within the legal field. That is why some of us boarded a ferry for the first time and attended the ALMA mixer on Friday, September 14, 2018. Not only were we able to meet with practicing attorneys in all areas of law but also connected with students from UC Hastings’ La Raza Law Students Association. We bonded over our law school woes and headed out for a fun night in San Francisco. Looking forward to connecting with Hastings students again!
On Saturday, August 25th we hosted our Welcome (Back) Carne Asada and Vegan Cookout to welcome our students both new and returning to the Berkeley Law La Raza community. We had a record number of attendees and were able to introduce our Raza 1Ls to our students but more importantly to the amazing programs/events we have planned for this semester. We bonded over burgers and beer and shared the “wisdom”and advice that was passed onto us from our Raza upperclassmen. Our Raza 1Ls were filled with knowledge and expressed how welcoming and genuine our community is. Our 2018-19 board considers this our first success at building our amazing community for this academic year.
Native Land Acknowledgement
We take a moment to recognize that Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun (Huichin) (Hoo-Choon), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo (Cho-Chen-yo) speaking Ohlone people, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Muwekma (Muh-wek-muh) Ohlone Tribe and other familial descendants of the Verona Band.
We recognize that every member of the Berkeley community has benefited, and continues to benefit, from the use and occupation of this land since the institution's founding in 1868. Consistent with our values of community and diversity, we have a responsibility to acknowledge and make visible the university's relationship to Native peoples. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold the University of California, Berkeley more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
