By Julia Berkman
The Ethnic Student Center isn’t always a serious, heavy space. Many students of color who visit see it as a place to relax- but that doesn’t make it any less radical.
Senior Maria José Palacios Figueroa believes that the act of relaxation, in itself, is revolutionary for people of color. That’s why she found herself at the ESC’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Resistance Through Art event.
The ESC provided the paint and canvases, but the five attendees provided a mix of conversation that flowed from rapper Cardi B’s college career to activist Maru Mora Villalpando’s notice to appear in immigration court.
As the Spotify playlist Café con Leche played in the background, Palacios Figueroa told me that she felt that the act of making art is both self-care and resistance. On a day to remember and celebrate MLK, she felt that any form of resistance could be tied back to the work of Dr. King.
“MLK and resistance are impossible to separate… MLK was definitely a believer of the body as political, and the voice as political- and understanding that there is no exit from that, you can’t stand apart from opinions and politics,” Palacios Figueroa said.
“I think all art is political, whether that is a conscious intention or not,” she continued.
Freshman Michaela Budde was also there to relax and resist. Her painting depicted the Statue of Liberty, a Muslim woman and a Mexican girl holding a sign that read, “No Borders No Walls.”
“I think one of the things we can do to remember MLK and what he did are the photos that show the beginning of this resistance that goes on today,” she said.
Palacios Figueroa believes that self-care and relaxation are privileges not often afforded to people of color in the United States.
“Relaxing is a luxury, and the way the United States is structured, it’s so that POC (people of color) can’t thrive. Relaxing is a sign of thriving,” she said.
I asked her if she was thriving.
“I don’t know if today. I think I’m fluctuating near there. If you ask me near the end of the quarter, I don’t know if I’m going to be quite as close,” she said with a laugh.
Palacios Figueroa, Budde and the rest of the participants painted in the ESC for more than an hour. Their paintings depicted images of hope, like a butterfly or a woman with natural hair. Their conversation filled the ESC’s space- a space that was not handed to them.
“If you look at the history of the ESC, it wasn’t something that was given, it was something students had to fight for. Students are still fighting for it currently with the creation of the new Multicultural Center,” Palacios Figueroa said.
She continued, “We carved out this space for ourselves where we can come in and create community, and its powerful to say ‘Actually, this isn’t enough. We want more’ and to fight for a new space.”
