California State University, Long Beach students display their hands covered in red paint with the number 43 on them at a vigil in the free speech lawn on Tuesday. The vigil was in remembrance of the attack by government security forces in the city of Iguala, Mexico where 43 students disappeared one year ago.
Students in white shirts held up 43 red hands for social justice Tuesday night.
La Raza Student Association held a “die-in” vigil on the Free Speech lawn at California State University, Long Beach in remembrance of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students.
“We connect [the 43 missing] to government corruption and how government corruption happens all over the world,” said Hasany De la Vega, secretary of La Raza.
According to the Los Angeles Times, 43 students who were studying to be teachers from Raul Isidro Burgos Ayotzinapa Normal School went missing after entering the city of Iguala, Guerrero in Mexico, while on a school bus, during a school field trip on September 26 last year.
De la Vega said the missing students were student activists in Ayotzinapa, Mexico who were stopped and taken by police.
Stephanie Hernandez, a student from Millikan High School, said that she participated in the vigil because she feels as if indigenous students are underrepresented in the media.
“I hoped that wherever these students are they hear us, that they hear us screaming, and they know that they’re not alone,” Hernandez said.
La Raza organized the vigil to bring awareness to CSULB students about the fact that the 43 Ayotzinapa students are still missing a year later.
“It’s just awareness of culture and helping equality,” De la Vega said. “We fight for justice.”
California State University, Long Beach students lay on the ground on the free speech lawn Tuesday in remembrance of 43 students that disappeared one year ago in the city of Iguala, Mexico.
During the vigil, members of La Raza called each of the names of the 43 missing students. Students represented the missing students by lying down on the lawn.
Attendees and office members chanted for the return of the 43 during the die-in-vigil. Students read original works. Guests sang songs to keep the morale strong.
“They tried to bury us but they didn’t know we were seeds,” said Karla Camacho, alumni officer of La Raza wrote in her poem.
De la Vega said that when the 43 students went missing last year, La Raza set up desks that represented the missing students with their names and pictures.
Camacho said La Raza will be collecting, translating, and sending letters to the parents of the missing students for the next two weeks.