Esperanza Peace and Justice Center

Esperanza Peace and Justice Center Logo

Esperanza Peace and Justice Center is based in San Antonio, Texas. Several of its leaders are close to the Communist Party USA. La Voz de Esperanza is a publication of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.

History

Verbatim from thier website:^[1]

Esperanza was founded in 1987 by a group made up of mostly Chicana activists seeking to bring together diverse movements for peace and justice in San Antonio and around the world. In the early years, the Esperanza was engaged in caravans to Central America, demonstrations against the KKK, mural projects that engaged children as artists, and the first art exhibit in Texas to focus on the Queer community and the AIDS crisis. Esperanza continues to be a politically progressive, outspoken, and unwavering force for justice in San Antonio and beyond.

For the last 30 years, the Esperanza has become a unique institution, having galvanized a multiracial, multicultural and bilingual cultural arts/social change community headed by Latinas, the majority of whom are lesbians. Esperanza is mujeres, Latinas, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, and Whites. Esperanza is queer and straight. Esperanza is the economically disadvantaged trabajando junto con la gente de clase media. Esperanza is feminist, politically progressive, and outspoken. Esperanza is strong and overworked because we are people struggling to find new voices, new forms and new solutions to the problems oppressed people are facing.

Esperanza has also built a year-round calendar of arts and cultural programs intended to bring together diverse communities, bring a new political consciousness to community gatherings, and build solidarity among diverse groups and causes. Esperanza’s cultural programming continues to thrive, serving over 70,000 people each year through direct participation in arts and cultural events, including exhibitions, workshops, concerts, theater performances, film screenings, and more.

Vision statement

La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression.

We are recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/ spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.^[2]

Teaching for Spatial Justice: A Framework for Social Studies Educators

An "academic" study published in The Oregon Journal of the Social Studies titled Teaching for Spatial Justice: A Framework for Social Studies Educators^[3] by Timothy Monreal, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York and Kaitlin Popielarz, University of Texas at San Antonio references the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.

From the Vignette:

El Westside is a space for historical and contemporary Latinx culture in San Antonio, Texas. Known for its contributions to art, music, literature, education, and community, El Westside is a 'geographic place and a state of mind' for many San Antonians (Esperanza Center, n.d.).

In recent years, gentrification forces have mobilized grassroots community organizations to resist and organize against myriad violences that threaten both the “physical reality” and “symbolic representation” of El Westside (Esperanza Center, n.d.).

Through advocacy, education, and direct-action campaigns, grassroots community organizations – like the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center – work to protect and sustain El Westside and countless other spaces within San Antonio by centering and amplifying the intersectional voices, perspectives, and experiences of Latinx neighborhoods, as well as Black, Indigenous, and communities of Color (BICOC) (Esperanza Center, n.d.).

[...]

Through their efforts during Texas’ winter storm and beyond, the Esperanza Center reveals how in/justices intersect with spatial processes like gentrification and infrastructure to show that systemic oppressions within contested spaces have past, present, and future geographies. Moreover, their efforts encourage and foster imaginative ideas and strategies for rooting social change in spatial change (Navarro & Saldaña, 2021).

In other words, through critical spatial frameworks, the Esperanza Center provides a model for social studies educators in conceptualizing and acting upon spatial justice within schools and communities.