Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/587184
history to life in a way that secondary text material simply cannot." De Leon's high school students acted out the proceedings in class and were debriefed afterwards. "Some of the language used was very jarring," says De Leon. "It was very exciting for the college students," says Endy. His students also created lesson plans for a local history of the Boyle Heights area, addressing the effect of redlining and white flight in shaping the neighbor- hood as it is today. Finishing touches When the writing process began in January, tutors from 826LA met with De Leon's fifth- and sixth-period classes in the school library. The ratio of tutors to students for the Mendez High project was about one to three. The writing process finished in March, and a volunteer student editorial board reviewed the work. We Are Alive When We Speak for Justice was published professionally by 826LA. At the June reception for the book, Sylvia Mendez took the podium. "I travel the country sharing my story and talking with students," she read from her foreword. "I want to inspire them and you, as the readers, to fight for what is right, for what is equal, and to be trium- phant in the face of adversity." Explaining his goals as a teacher, De Leon expresses a similar sentiment. "Beyond academics, my goal is for my students to simply become good human beings who are caring, compassionate, and who see themselves as proactive actors and agents of change in this world, capable of doing great things for themselves and for others." Carol Kearns is a journalist, writer and retired elementary school teacher. To purchase We Are Alive When We Speak for Justice, see timetravelmart.com. Kenia Garcia, in her narrative "Will Equal- ity and Justice Ever Walk Through the Door?" uses her cousins' challenges with autism to make broader observations. "A perfect society does not exist, but it can become better as the years keep pass- ing. The key to making our world a better place is to teach people how to accept and understand one another without caring about what makes them different." Jackeline Gomez (above, left), in her essay on the study of history, "Dig and Ye Shall Find," writes: "After thinking about history, I realized that it doesn't take some- one conquering the world to change it. Students are also capable of doing it." Yareli Rojas interviewed Sylvia Mendez for the book, and notes the pride she felt as she learned about the case. "I was actu- ally quite impressed that my own Latino community gave the first step to change segregation in California and the nation," she writes in "Legacy." Ramiro Suarez, in "Hazard Park," de- scribes a neighborhood confrontation: "Four of them surround us like a pack of wolves, and more and more gangsters are coming. … We are used to this. I live right across the street from a whole serious gang. We moved to that house when I was very young and as soon as I was about 12, the gangbangers tried to get me to do stuff, like deliver weed. ... My parents al- ways told me to do the right thing and not hang around those affiliated gang mem- bers, and even though they asked again and again, I didn't do it. ... [I knew] they were always getting arrested and harassed by the cops. I didn't want to get arrested." Marisa Urrutia Gedney, Sylvia Mendez, Emilie Coulson and Ben De Leon. "I want to inspire you to fight for what is right ... and to be triumphant in the face of adversity." Sylvia Mendez Excerpts from the book 52 cta.org Learning