“Will we become a nation of immigrants, or a closed society,” was one of the many thought provoking ideas brought up by Mexican and Latin American expert Gregorio Luke during the “Plight of the Immigrant” lecture at LBCC on March 14.
The lecture was held in the T-building from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and was open to the public for free.
Luke stayed longer than he was supposed to, taking questions from anyone with concerns or comments.
Many of the questions asked were about today’s immigration problems and concerns about the government.
The “Plight of the Immigrants” lecture was the third installment to a three part series of lectures in the “Lecturer in Residence Series.” The series also included a lecture on Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and another on Dia de los Muertos.
Gregorio Luke, former director of the Museum of Latin American Art, Consul of Cultural Affairs of Mexico in Los Angeles, and first secretary of the embassy of Mexico in Washington D.C. has also given over 1,000 lectures making the turnout to this event great with over 30 people showing up.
The lecture focused on immigration throughout the history of the United States and Luke really recognized how important it was to allow new immigrants into the country as they help in various ways, including helping the economy and adding to the culture.
Luke spoke on the issues that people against immigration bring up.
“Immigrants actually create jobs.” Luke said.
The lecture included slides describing the different ways immigrants have been portrayed throughout the years and how it went from people thinking immigration was positive to now thinking negatively about immigration.
According to Luke, this lecture on immigration was was one of the more controversial ones and more difficult ones to schedule, because of the topics he was covering.
Department chair of Foreign Languages and Spanish professor, Dr. Cynthia Quintero, organized the lecture and according to her “This lecturer in residence series was made possible through the LBCC foundation grant. That and through the department.” Quintero said.
Quintero also brought up the point, “Luke said it perfectly when he stated ‘You can not be ignorant and be free.”
She also added, “Lectures such as this one can inspire one student to make a difference.” Quintero said.
She was also very proud with the student turnout to the lecture and even more with how participative they were in the questions segment of the lecture.
According to a guest of the event “I am really happy I came to this lecture because it brought up so many important points and made me really think about being active in the community.” Fernanda Ledezma said.
To end the lecture, Luke put up the poem by Martin Niemoller “First they came…”, a poem written after the events in Germany leading up to World War II, in an effort to highlight similarities between what happened then, and what’s happening now to the immigrant population in the U.S.