Days of the Dead Procession

From the Anahuacalmecac World School,

“In many communities a walk in the park is by definition blissful. In Northeast LA sacred altars to relatives who have succumbed to gun violence dot our parks and streets instead.

We are blessed to have beautiful immense local parks such as Debs Park, a 300 acre urban woodlands in the middle of the city. Although, our communities and youth are often not welcomed to or wary of large urban natural landscapes such as Debs Park.

Anahuacalmecac has maintained a longterm relationship since our founding with the original peoples and the natural relatives of these lands now known as El Sereno and Rose Hills and greater East LA in general. Parklands are not public property in our view, they remain unceded territories of the original peoples of these lands. At Debs Park we have mourned the passing of our loved ones, blessed our newborns and gathered in community across the hilltops and natural spaces for two decades.

Northeast LA is home to a beautiful diversity of families, community-based organizations, and communities who together celebrate life on a daily basis. Our children and youth walk the streets in Northeast LA witnessing realities of our communities that are both beautiful and painful. Dozens if not more altars mark the places our relatives who have fallen due to gun violence and even feminicide. Today our students and school community will honor the lives and spirits of relatives who have died at Debs Park and on the pathway between our school and the parklands.

Recognizing those sacred spaces that are born of pain, we seek to find beauty and understanding as we build community.