Cal State Long Beach organizations are holding penny drives to build a statue of a bracero in Los Angeles.
The romance, German, Russian languages and literatures department is one of many departments and organizations hosting the penny drives. Former Mexican braceros are also collecting pennies, keys and any other copper material they can find to melt for the memorial.
“I think it’s something very important, I think it’s something everyone should participate in and I think it will create a consciousness in the people who see it,” associate Spanish professor at Cal State Long Beach Bonnie L. Gasior said.
The Bracero program consisted of half a million men from Mexico, brought to America by the American government to work in agricultural fields and railroads as temporary contract workers from 1942 to 1964.
The demand started because most American men were fighting in World War II. Upon arriving at the camps, men were stripped naked, fumigated with pesticide and checked to make sure they had no physical disabilities.
“We work with students whose parents or relatives worked in agriculture, so we have so much to do with the families who worked in the Bracero program,” said Vivian Barrera, project director of the College Assistance Migrant Program. “I think it’s very important to do something like this because it’s like paying homage to the people who came to work in this program.”
Students wishing to donate copper items may do so at the romance, German, Russian languages and literatures department, the psychology department or the women’s gender and sexuality studies department.
For more information, contact Stephanie Torres at [email protected].
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