Voces Vivas: Emilia Castañeda, “All Americans Should Know This”
In the video above from the permanent exhibition, LA Starts Here! at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Emilia Castañeda describes her experience in the early 1930’s when more than a million people of Mexican descent were unconstitutionally deported by federal, state, and local governments. Officials referred to this deportation project as “repatriation.”
Her testimony of the “forced deportation where [her] rights as an American citizen were denied” helps us consider how United States upholds the promises of the declaration for all citizens.