Libertad y Justica Alcanzaré: Freedom University Holds First In-Person Graduation Since 2019

Last weekend, Freedom University held our first in-person graduation celebration since 2019! And there was so much to celebrate. For the first time in our history, 100% of our students who applied to college in our fall College Application course won a full scholarship to college!

This past Spring 2022 semester, we held our first in-person arts classes in two years: Son Jarocho Music and Studio Art. And there was no better way to celebrate and share in community than to sing and dance our hearts out to the rhythm of son jarocho, a 400-year old music and cultural tradition from Mexico that brings together Black, Indigenous, and Spanish musical influences.

In this short clip, we are playing the famous son "La bamba" - the chorus of which proclaims "up and up we go!" Joining the students on stage were their son jarocho professors, Professor Eduardo Garcia (jarana) and Dr. Laura Emiko Soltis (violin), as well as their Natural Sciences professor, Dr. Pedro Márquez Zacarías (leona)!

Students wrote their own powerful verses, including those featured here by Fanny and Lalo:

No somos animales/we aren't animals

Como nos pones/as you (ICE) portray us

Somos seres humanos/we are human beings

Con corazones/with hearts

Pa' seguir adelante/In order to move forward

No hay que rajarse/Don't give up

Y ser buen estudiante/Be a good student

Pa' superarse/To improve yourself

Professor García closed the son with the beautiful chorus:

Ay arriba y arriba/Up and up

y arriba iré/I will go

Libertad y justicia/Freedom and justice

Alcanzaré/I will achieve

Thank you all for your love and support, which continues to lift us "up and up" as we strive for freedom and justice for all undocumented people.