1996_02 The Daily Collegian February 1996

              Monday, February 26, 1996
CHICANO HISTORY
Page 3
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La Voz: A 20 year legacy of 'La Pluma Morena'
By Jill Soltero
La Voz Staff Writer
Struggle and rebellion are synonymous with
the CSUF Chicano movement that gripped the
campus during the late '60's and early 70's. Bom
from this activism was La Voz de Aztlan.
La Voz, which actually began as La Pluma
Morena, was there to chronicle the Chicano Student
movement from the beginning and continues its
legacy.
La Voz played a vital role in the movement
because it expressed Chicano achievements,
concerns, and sentiments to the rest of the CSUF
community.
On May 2, 1969, La Pluma Morena was first
published and John F. Ramirez was its editor. He
was also involved in the newly formed M.E.Ch. A.
Issues which prevailed during that time included:
guaranteed financing for La Raza Studies, The
UFW grape boycott, and concern over CSUF police
harrasment towards Chicanos. Chicanos also
demanded control of the Daily Collegian every
two weeks.
. In the fall of 1970, La Pluma Morena was
renamed La Voz de Aztlan. The name may have
changed, but its purpose surely did not. As Ramirez
stated 20 years ago in the first editorial, "The
intention of this paper is to unite and not incite, to
seek cooperation and not revenge, and to end
racism and not enhance it.
"La Voz served as a
communication vehicle fo the
students and the community/'
-Angie Rios
Former La Voz Editor
During a recent interview, Angie Rios, the fall,
J976 editor, said the La Voz experience to her, and
many other students, was a valuable experience.
She stressed the importance of having a campus
Chicano publication because it reaches the**
community level and disseminates information.
"La Voz served as a communication vehicle for
the Chicano students and for the community," she
said. (XA
Chicano issues in 1976 included the desire to
have fair representation of Chicano pupils in the
CSUF student government, the UFW, and a variety
of Fresno Chicano community issues, Rios said.
For Rios, who was a political science / sociology
major, La Voz provided her the opportunity to
develop and improve her writing skills and also
taught her how the media worked. She now owns
the Rios Company in Fresno, which provides
marketing, public relations, and political
consulting for her clients.
During this years mayoral race, Rios was
campaign manager for Karen Humphrey, whose
victory made Humphrey the city's first woman
mayor.
In 1987, Rios managed the Juan Arambula
campaign during the successful run for a position
on the Fresno Unified School District Board of
Trustees.
Since her La Voz days, Rios has also assisted on
the presidential campaigns of Geraldine Ferraro
and former Governor Jerry Brown. She also worked
on the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing committee
in 1984 with Peter Ueberroth.
Another La Voz editor of the early '70s was
Lorenzo "Larry" Moreno, who has been a veteran
news reporter for one of the states major
newspapers, The San Jose Mercury News.
Romero, whose journalism option at CSUF was
news-editorial, was editor of the during the Fall of
1974 and the Spring of 1975. The La Voz
editorship,
he said, had a profound impact on his life.
"La Voz allowed me to practice reporting and
writing on issues that pertained to Chicanos," said
Romero. The paper was also a learning experience
because it taught me what it was like to do the job
and how it was like to be perceived by the
corjujau^jty/' he said. "I give La Voz the credit. It
gor*me motivated."
Rbmero said that occasionally La Voz was seen
as a minority publication and nothing else.
"I think a common misconception is that some
people think that La Voz is strictly a minority
paper. But it's also a newspaper. You still have to
sell ads, meet deadline pressure, and compete. It
was still a vajid experience and I still cherish it."
"We have not' taken a back seat to anyone,"
Romero continued. "We competed journalistically.
We were able to hold our heads up and say, 'hey,
we can do it.' La Voz is an institution now."
He began working as a Fresno Bee reporter in
1975 and continued there after graduation for six
years. For the past nine years he has been reporting
for the Mercury news. He and Rios are solid proof
that La Voz de Aztlan breeds success.
But will La Voz de Aztlan continue to flourish?
Among its current problems is funding — an
obstacle that Rios says has always existed.
"La Voz had to fight a lot for funding," she said.
"We had to make sure we had enough of it.".
According to current editor Sylvia Castro, this
semester$1400 was allocated to the paper. Seven
hundred dollars is allocated for labor and the
other half is for printing. For the publication of a
four page issue, the minimum printing cost is
$225.
The average number of La Voz issues printed
pet semester is four four-page issues (one per
month), a far cry from the initial alternate Mondays
(twice a month) 20 years ago.
"This means that if we want 'to print an eight
page issue the first time around we would have to
spend half our budget to print that issue," Castro
said. "The budget limits coverage of different
Chicano events on campus." The newspaper, as a
supplement of the Collegian is student funded as
part of the Collegian budget.
However, recent adoption of the Collegian
Independence Plan by CSUF's student electorate
may provide strength to the funding base. Prior to
the plan, the-student senate determined the
Collegian's allocation.
Now, a Publications Commission will decide
the Collegian's funding level with approval of the
senate.
Castro feels the commission may be more
receptive to additional funding of La Voz.
"Campus Hispanic contributions and issues
could be more effectively conveyed if La Voz
could publish more frequently," Castro said.
She also said that, although the special editions
of the minority paper were designed by its founders
to provide a voice until minorities could someday
merge into the Collegian Staff, La Voz will still be
needed.
"%a Voz offers a different, specialized, and much
needed focus that so-called mainstream
publications can't fully provide," said Castro, a
senior journalism major. "It offers Hispanic
journalism majors the opportunity to work in and
understand media."
This semester Castro incorporated the assistance
of the CSUF Chicano Journalism Student
Association (C.J.S.A.) and the Fresno Chapter of
the California Chicano News Media Association
(C.C.N.M.A.) which is comprised of local Hispanic
professional journalists.
The original date for this
column wasMay of 1989, and
this story was written asp art
of the 20 year anniversary of
La Voz de Aztlan-x
The author of this piece, Jill
Soltero is currently fhePublic
Relations director atKaweah
Delta Hospital in Visalia
Editors note: Sylvia Castro
is now Sylvia Castro-Uribes.
Her husband is Tom Uribes,
Public Affairs Specialist for
University Outreach
Services. Sylvia is now
employedby The Fresno Bee,
where she is a full-time
reporter.
'La Voz de Ayer'will become
a regular feature in La Voz de
Aztlan, to give a better look
at the rich history of this
storied publication. Please
take the time and let us know
whatyou think ofthisfeature.