On September 12th, community supporters, sponsors and former students gathered to celebrate the 38th anniversary of The Center for Chicano-Boricua Studies—Wayne State University’s esteemed Latino Studies program and one of the oldest in the Midwest.  It was emceed by Martina Guzmán, reporter for WDET’s radio program Feet In Two Worlds.  The night’s very memorable keynote address was delivered by Tito Laviera—generally recognized as one of our country’s best-selling Hispanic poets.  In addition, a number of people in the community were given awards for their work.

Among the Latinos recognized for their work in the community were: Dolores González Ramírez (program manager of LA VIDA Program at CHASS Clinic), Lydia Gutiérrez (owner of Hacienda Mexican Foods), Maria Ramos, Ismael Durán (executive director at COMPAS), Dr. Jorge Dante Prosperi and Dr. José Cuello (Associate Professor at The Center for Chicano-Boricua Studies).

One of the other high points of the night was the performance by Fatima Poogi—Peruvian-American teen singing phenom and actress, whose mix of Peruvian folk music with pop flourishes was very intriguing.  Most outstanding was her strong, clear singing voice.  During Poogi’s performance, audience members stood up and encircled her around the dancefloor.

What stood out for me was Tito Laviera’s keynote address.  Among his accomplishments, he was selected as keynote speaker at the annual Conference of College Assistance of Migrant Programs and High School Equivalency Programs for developing Cosecha Voices—a course to assist first-year college bound migrant students.  The pieces that Laviera performed—a mixture of political commentary and a little comedy—were wrapped up in his seamless blend of Puerto Rican Spanish and English.  During his performance, he held the audience spellbound.  Certainly, Laviera left the room inspired by his pieces, his words and, most of all, the boundless enthusiasm that permeated his keynote address.

In our world where affirmative action has been eliminated in Michigan and our economy has hit some hard times, it’s especially important to support programs such as this that help Latino students get through college.  For more information on how to help or to know how to get involved, go their homepage: http://www.clas.wayne.edu/cbs.