César Cruz is a gang violence prevention advocate
and Dean of Secondary Schools Program at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. He was born in Guadalajara 1974,
[ coming to the United States as an undocumented immigrant at age 9, and holds a B.A. in history from ]UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
, and a doctorate in educational leadership
Educational leadership is the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, students, and parents toward achieving common educational aims. This term is often used synonymously with school leadership in the United States a ...
from Harvard Graduate School of Education
The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard sch ...
. On May 1, 1992, he was one of 65 people arrested marching on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ve ...
after the acquittal of officers charged with beating Rodney King.[ In 1995, he was involved in a fifteen-day ]hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
at University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
. The 1995 strike was undertaken by Cruz and others from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine to protect and promote affirmative action at UC Irvine. Cruz was later part of a 26-day hunger strike in 2004, which resulted in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger agreeing to refinance the West Contra Costa Unified School District's high interest loans. He was keynote speaker for the Cesar Chavez Convocation at UC Santa Cruz in 2014 an
Hermanos Unidos National Conference
at California State University, Fullerton in 2017. Research at Homeboy Industries, a job skills program in the Los Angeles area for gang members, served as his Harvard doctoral capstone work. He was the first male Mexican-immigrant to earn a doctorate at Harvard's Education Leadership program.
He was awarded the Orange County Human Rights Award in 1995 and the Peacemaker of the Year award by the California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
...
in 2005.[ In 2011, he was awarded a local Jefferson Award for Public Service for his work with the Homies Empowerment program.]
Bibliography
*Preciado-Cruz, César A, ''Revenge of the Illegal Alien: A Mexican Takes on the Empire'', 2008, Oakland: Making Changes Press,
*Preciado-Cruz, César A, ''Norteños/Sureños : time to 'bang' for freedom : a brief history of the conflict between the Mexican Mafia and Nuestra familia'' (2009) (alternate title ''Bang For Freedom; A Brief History of Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia and Latino Activism in the U.S.'' (2015)), Oakland: Making Changes Press,
*''Voces: A Journal of Chicana/Latina Studies'' Vol. 2, No. 2, Special Poetry Issue (Summer 1999) Published by Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS)
See also
References
External links
*
Harvard University staff
People from Guadalajara, Jalisco
Mexican emigrants to the United States
Living people
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
1974 births
Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights
Undocumented immigrants to the United States
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