At an Oct. 6 discussion organized by Latinos Unidos to reflect on the sterilization of immigrant women and the deaths of Vanessa Guillen and Sean Monterrosa, several of the attending students and faculty shared anecdotes about racism and sexism around them, and some brought up the topic of white supremacy in society. 

“I think that it is a time for all of us to come together and share in vulnerabilities and take power from that,” Becky Lopez, middle school world language teacher, said. 

Some said this moment is a call to action. 

“It’s just a stark reminder as a white person the supremacy in which institutions continue to operate in should really be a call to action, not just for people who might consider themselves allies but to anyone who wants to see positive change,” college counselor Stephan Golas said. 

Even though racism and injustices are molded into civilization, facing these truths in discussion isn’t always easy, Ms. Lopez said. 

“The topics are heavy, but they’re not surprising to me,” Ms. Lopez said. “I’ve grown up as a Mexican American woman and experienced a lot of racism in this country, so when you bring this up about women being sterilized, I’ve heard of this before, but it still hurts each and every time we talk about it.” 

While some members of the Lab community are informed about injustices in the Latinx community, the topic is new to others. Several students said during the meeting they only heard about the deaths and sterilizations through social media, mentioning the stories of those with intersecting identities aren’t as widespread. 

“This definitely reminds me of the trickle-down effect of social movements in cases of people of intersecting identities. Their stories are a lot less told, and it’s more about those who people mainly focus on identifying one social movement to one identity,” senior Sofia Woodruff said. “In reality, within individuals and social movements, there are intersecting identities and ideas.”