February 28, 2024 – Comunidades Indigenas en liderazgo (CIELO), an Indigenous women-led non-profit organization that works jointly with Indigenous migrant communities residing in Los Angeles, unveiled a first-of-its-kind billboard campaign to amplify the voices of the local Indigenous migrant communities.
“I speak” is the phrase that precedes the name of the languages ??originating from the different indigenous communities located in the multicultural city of Los Angeles.
The billboards are in hightraffic areas throughout Los Angeles, with the aim of sparking a much-needed conversation about the complexities of identity and Indigenous migrant representation not only within L.A., but nationwide.
In a city teeming with more than 17 Indigenous languages including Mixe, Zapoteco, Akateco, Garifuna, K’iche’, and Maya Yucateco, the campaign bravely challenges the Census-based erasure of Indigenous migrant populations – literally and figuratively putting a face on the vibrant linguistic and cultural diversity it often obscures.
This erasure not only distorts public records but also creates substantial barriers to accessing basic human rights, such as interpretation services in crucial institutions including healthcare, education, and the legal system.
“This campaign aims to prompt a nuanced conversation about who is under the label of Latino and how that label erases the linguistic and cultural diversity that many Indigenous migrant populations bring to the city of Los Angeles,” said CIELO co-founder and executive director Odilia Romero.
“Having access to these services is a fundamental human right – a right that many Indigenous migrants continue to go without.” Each billboard features an individual from an Indigenous migrant community in Los Angeles alongside their native language. CIELO hopes that the increased visibility will lead to increased access to Indigenous language interpretation services.
“This unprecedented billboard campaign allows the Indigenous migrant community to see themselves reflected in a media form that hasn’t been done before,” added CIELO co-founder and vice executive director Janet Martinez.
In 2022 we created an internal census to be able to map the indigenous communities here in Los Angeles,” says Janet, who coordinated the map “We are here”, the first to document the linguistic diversity of the indigenous people of Los Angeles, said Janet Martinez in an interview with Heraldo USA.
“We need to empower ourselves and recognize that we speak a language other than English or Spanish to banish the fear of being discriminated against for it. People should have the right to speak their language”, she emphasizes.
“To see their image and the language they speak side by side is not only creating visibility of a community to those outside of the community, but it also serves to positively reinforce our cultural identity within the diverse metropolis of Los Angeles.
Although we have migrated, we continue to speak our native languages, continue our cultural practices, and continue to pass them on to future generations.
The billboards, which run through April 21, 2024, are in the following Los Angeles locations:
- Crenshaw and Adams
- Western off the Santa Monica Frwy
- Wilshire and Harvard
- Western and Pico
- Crenshaw and Olympic
- Washington and Hobart
- Figueroa and Adams
- Vermont and Pico