For the past two consecutive years, I have hosted an Earth Day Festival during Earth month at La Raza Park to elevate community voices and highlight local historians, speakers, storytellers, musicians, poets, and performers passionate about Environmental Justice. I choose La Raza as the location for the event because it is rich in history and has been a major site of resistance for the Northside community where many actions were led in the 70s during the Chicano Movement to fight for liberation. The park has gone through many changes over the past decade, with its name being one of them as people fought for it to be changed from ‘Columbus Park’ to ‘La Raza’ which means the people. Today it stands as a symbol of celebration for all the lives that were lost during this time and the fight for social liberation that continues as this neighborhood, among many others, are being threatened by gentrification which has been perpetuating the erasure of the immigrant communities that make these areas and Denver overall rich in culture. You can learn more about the history of the park HERE and by reading lifelong resident Ernesto Vigil’s book titled: ‘The Crusade for Justice; Chicano Militancy and the Government’s War on Dissent.’
I got the idea to host this event when working with “The Intersectional Ecoliberation Movement”, a coalition I found through the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) network, which is a global anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist environmental and social justice movement with members from country from all over the world. As a way to launch the movement, we decided that we would organize a ‘World March for Mother Earth’ that would be unique to the respective state/country, but overall would be an international day of action centered around art, activism, social justice, equality, and the liberation of all intersecting identities that are facing environmental and social injustices. It was from this International Day of Action that this day was born and has continued to evolve in new ways every year.
This most recent year, the name of the event was titled, “Battlefields and Biomes: Resisting War & Reclaiming the Environment” as war is arguably our biggest environmental threat as capitalism and colonization are the root of all Environmental Injustices. Highlighting ecocide and genocide as interconnected is also a vital connection to make when discussing Ecofeminism as our disconnection to nature reflects a disconnection between our Divine Femininity and Masculinity. These concepts are essential to our overall understanding of Intersectional Environmentalism overall. The day itself is very much a ceremony of understanding as audience members unpack and come to new understandings about Denver’s history and how it connects to larger systems.
The first half of the day starts with an opening Indigenous ceremony where “Danzantes” call in the four directions and ground us in giving gratitude to our ancestors and the land that we are on before we dance and pray. We then open it up to the speakers to set the stage for the rest of the day with at least one person being someone from the Northside who can speak from their experiences as it relates to the history of the park. Before the second half of the day begins, which is the music and poetry, I have been facilitating a march that goes from La Raza Park to the Troy Chaves Peace Gardens which are right down the street. The Peace Gardens are youth-led and operated and are also rich in history, commemorating all the youth lives that were lost during the Chicano Movement. After marching there, this has become an intimate time for others to honor those that they have lost. giving an offering to the garden and speaking out loud the names that are illustrated around. More on the gardens can be found HERE.
After marching back from the Troy Chavez Gardens, we begin our music and poetry programming which takes up the rest of the day. We usually finish with a jam as well to allow other participants the opportunity to express themselves after being inspired by others. Other contributions that have been a part of the event is various organizations tabling and sharing resources, art builds, and of course food from local vendors in the Northside community.