'We all come from the same place'

By Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 2, 2008 at 11 p.m.

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Photo by Matt McClain, Rocky Mountain News

Angelina Sierra-Sandoval, 16, will be registering voters and looking for young women to join the organization Latinas Increasing Political Strength - LIPS.

Photo by Matt McClain, Rocky Mountain News

Francisco Gallardo poses for a portrait Wednesday near West 10th Avenue and Santa Fe Drive. Gallardo, who works with anti-gang group GRASP, will have a booth at Cinco de Mayo.

Photo by Matt McClain, Rocky Mountain News

Artist Li Hardison's bas relief sculpture Inkosazana Dancing ties her African-American background (through a Zulu goddess) with Latin American culture (corn plants from the Western Hemisphere).

Fighting gang violence

Francisco Gallardo is fighting gang violence with a message and a video camera.

Gallardo will be at the Civic Center Cinco de Mayo festival, filming the responses of young people to a series of questions about gang life and the holiday.

Gallardo is program director for Gang Rescue and Support Project, a group with the slogan "A gang can love you to death." He plans to focus on 16- to 20-year-olds flashing their gang colors and record their responses to questions such as: Do you think there will be peace? How do you achieve it? What does it have to do with Cinco de Mayo?

Gallardo, 36, offers an answer to the last question.

Cinco de Mayo, the former gang member says, commemorates a Mexican victory against vastly more powerful French soldiers.

"The lesson is that with the will, you can overcome great odds," Gallardo said. "Unfortunately, Cinco de Mayo has come to, 'Let's have a party, a fiesta.' "

Gallardo hopes to film about 100 people and plans to post the best 20 video comments on his organization's Web site (www.graspyouth.org). Twice as many might be posted on YouTube. Each one should be about one minute long.

Gallardo first carried out the video project last year. Questions were pegged to the "Summer of Peace." The videos were not posted, but Gallardo says he got a lot of incisive comments, including pleas for more jobs and rec centers.

"I hope it (gang violence) goes away for my kids' sake or my brother's and sister's sake, but I already chose this lifestyle," was one comment Gallardo recalls.

But he adds, "Even them recognizing it, shows they can do something about it."

Getting politically involved

Angelina Sierra-Sandoval will be downtown today with voter registration forms, a special black T-shirt, and a message for other teen Latinas.

"The more young Latina women get involved in the political process, the better it's going to be for our country," says the 16-year-old Federal Heights resident.

Sierra-Sandoval is part of the 15-member group known as LIPS, or Latinas Increasing Political Strength. It works in conjunction with the Latina Initiative and the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights.

Sierra-Sandoval, who will wear a LIPS T-shirt featuring a set of plump lips and hot pink writing, figures most of her time will be spent in a booth trying to register eligible voters, no matter their race or gender.

"I'm not old enough" to vote, says the Holy Family High School sophomor. "But that's not going to stop me from being involved in politics."

Sierra-Sandoval will also recruit her peers to join LIPS, which is open to those 14 to 20 years old. She hasn't had any luck with friends joining - they tend to think she's weird. But she hopes to help get up to 30 new members this weekend with a brief pitch.

"It's important for people to be educated about politics," she said, "and know your voice counts."

While Cinco de Mayo has often become associated with partying, Sierra-Sandoval said civic involvement does tie in with the holiday.

"My ancestors were proud of their culture and fought for their independence," she said.

"If I don't do my job, that's letting my ancestors down because they obviously did theirs."

Deep understanding

Li Hardison is using Africa to deepen the understanding of Cinco de Mayo.

Hardison, a black sculptor, is participating in an art show at the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council in honor of the organization's 30th birthday and Cinco de Mayo.

The show is called "Return of the Corn Mothers," who in Pueblo Indian mythology sung in the essence of all creation, according to the gallery. Art show themes include the contributions of women and the earth's bounty.

Hardison wanted to reconcile that with her own traditions. Her artwork frequently reflects African and African-American themes.

Hardison started out with the sinewy figure of a black woman; it is high relief, sculpted out of a background the same way figures on a coin are raised, but in deeper relief.

Turns out that Hardison already had a corn plant growing in her Park Hill home.

She noted the striations in the stalk, and incorporated that into her sculpture, which gave it twist and motion as if the figure was dancing. Hardison added leaves and a corn cob growing out of the woman.

"She is the plant," Hardison said.

The sculpture, 11 inches long and 32 inches high, is made of Plasteline clay. That is how it will display at the CHAC Gallery on Santa Fe Drive through May 31. But Hardison eventually plans to cast the figure in plaster or bonded bronze.

Hardison named her piece after Inkosazana, a Zulu goddess of agriculture.

It was the final step that allowed Hardison to link her culture to Cinco de Mayo, and she named the piece Inkosazana Dancing.

"We all come from the same place," Hardison said, "if we go back deep enough."

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the victory of a Mexican force over a numerically superior French force at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Today, the event is commemorated with a display of Hispanic heritage, pride and culture. For the next two days, Denver's Civic Center will teem with music, games, food, families, native clothing, flags and tricked-out cars.

And although a festive mood will prevail, the people featured here are putting a different spin on the way the holiday is normally celebrated.

21st Annual Celebrate Culture Festival

* When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Sunday

* Where: Civic Center downtown

* Parade: Starts downtown at 11 a.m. today and is expected to last more than an hour.

* Closures: Roads will be closed along the parade route. Around Civic Center, 14th and Colfax avenues will be closed, along with Bannock Street and Broadway.

* Cruisers: Thousands are expected to descend on Federal Boulevard between West 38th and West Florida avenues. Police will patrol Federal and monitor motorists who try to enter side streets. Only residents of neighborhoods along Federal will be allowed on the side streets.

• May 3, 2008

  12:34 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  happymike44 writes:

  Wow so glad he can show us the dirtbags at work.Want to stop gang violence deport them back to their country of origin.That is the fastest way to get a hold of the problem.Just dump them back on mexico and africa.Problem solved if they were born here and you return them back to a third world country.That will be h@ll on earth for them.Thank god for the right to bear arms.If more law abiding people owned guns.The dirtbags might think twice about trying to kill us.

• May 3, 2008

  5:36 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  LoneTreeLady75 writes:

  "Just dump them back on mexico and africa."

  Ew, shame on you happymike.

• May 3, 2008

  7:09 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Campbell writes:

  Notice Jeff that their not voting for America.

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