First Mixteca elected to a U.S. city council has endured slurs like those made by L.A. leaders
The first woman with Mixteca roots ever elected to a city council in the United States was working remotely in Oaxaca when she was alerted to the news that rippled throughout the Indigenous community.
That’s when Madera City Councilmember Elsa Mejía was forced to confront the baked-in racial tension between Latinos and recall the slurs that have been thrown at her since childhood.
“Indita.” (Little Indian.)
“Oaxaquita.” (Little Oaxacan.)
The “-ita” is added at the end of the words as a term of endearment, but the terms become insults when paired with words directed at México’s Indigeneous.
Mejía — who along with Seaside’s Alexis García-Arrazola is one of two councilmembers in California with Oaxacan roots — made a change to her itinerary as she traveled back from Oaxaca to the San Joaquín Valley.
Flying back to Los Ángeles, Mejía opted to spend the night there to participate in a weekend demonstration at City Hall over the Oct. 9 release of a 2021 audio recording in which that city’s council president, two colleagues and a labor leader (all Latinos) engaged in a conversation disparaging Oaxacans and a Black toddler.
“I felt disgusted. And I felt second-hand embarrassment for, you know, anybody that would say those kinds of things,” said Mejía, 33. “It’s a very negative thing.”
Last year, Mejía lost an opportunity to be appointed to fill a vacancy on the council when a 3-3 deadlock could not be broken. One councilmember said Mejía was not qualified to be on the council because she has never been a mother.
Mejía went on to win a November 2021 special election with 61% of the vote. Her election was reported in Oaxaca and other parts of México.
Oralia Maceda, program director of the Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities, believes Mejía is the right person to hold a local leadership position at this time.
“The fact that Elsa is on the Madera City Council has a lot of meaning,” said Maceda, who became a U.S. citizen this week. “First, because it reflects the presence and number of members of the Oaxacan community. Second, we as a community are taking positions of power.”
Madera, the county seat, has a large and influential Oaxacan population.
“The most important thing is that, as a community, we are growing and occupying those spaces of power,” Maceda said.
Maceda said Mejía is not only “the voice of our communities, but she is also an example of the spaces that as a community we are already occupying.”
“In this position of power, she has a lot of potential. Being a woman, a young woman, to be able to do work or to be able to help better coordinate actions or activities of the Oaxacan communities,” Maceda said.
Maceda hopes that Mejía can spur Oaxacans in the region to be “more active, more visible and more united.”
Madera city reflects on racist remarks
Mejía, whose parents immigrated from Santa María Tindú in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca in their youth, was born in Fresno and raised in Madera. She is the granddaughter of a bracero and a first-generation college graduate.
She said she “grew up in the Central Valley hearing that type of racist remark” that L.A. officials made.
A former journalist, Mejía began her community advocacy at Madera High School. She also spent a year in Oaxaca helping migrant leader Rufino Domínguez in his work for the state’s migrant affairs institute.
She co-founded a grassroots organization to increase voter participation and has been involved with the Madera Coalition for Community Justice, the American Association of University Women and the Lions Club.
She is now a communications specialist with SEIU Local 521 in Fresno.
When running for office, Mejía said she had been accused of only representing Oaxacan people.
“I always talked about representing all of my district, but I have faced incidents of discrimination both in the workplace and growing up,” Mejía said.
Fifteen years ago, there were no Latinos on the Madera City Council. Today, it is 100% minority, with six Latinos and one Black. Latinos represent more than 80% of Madera’s 66,224 residents.
Not only is Mejía the first Mixteca on the council, but the city also has the first farmworker and first Black woman on the council.
As a public official, Mejía was shocked at what former Los Ángeles City Council President Nury Martínez was caught saying on tape.
“I didn’t expect that to come from anybody who is supposed to be held to a higher standard as an elected official,” Mejia said.
“You shouldn’t say things behind closed doors that you wouldn’t say to the public.”
Valley’s Indigenous community needs more outreach
Mejía said Indigenous communities in the Valley don’t get equal treatment yet.
“I feel that there has been progress made, but it is very slow. Like I mentioned, when I was a child, I would see instances of injustices,” said Mejía, adding that there are a lot of language barriers, which leads to access barriers.
Madera agencies like the county public health department or the Madera school district have stepped up outreach to the Indigenous residents, she said.
“All entities should focus on trying to level the playing field for Indigenous communities,” Mejía said, adding that other public officials also need to do more outreach to Indigenous communities. She convinced the Madera council to proclaim Indigenous People’s Day for the first time earlier this month.
Council colleague José Rodríguez has acknowledged the Oaxacan community and talked about the issues it faces, she said. Mejía feels that more elected officials, especially from Madera, can do more.
At least 2,500 of Madera’s residents trace their roots to Santa María Tindú, Oaxaca. Oaxacans from other regions help create a sizable portion of the city’s population.
Entrenched racism among Latinos impacts Oaxacans
But how can Latinos stop being racist against other Latinos?
“I think that this very unfortunate incident presents an opportunity to become educated and to grow from it,” Mejía said, adding that it’s sad that people who are also Mexican would put down oaxaqueños like herself.
“It’s embarrassing. I think that it’s an opportunity to become educated in our culture, in our traditions and, you know, respect,” said Mejía.
People in positions of power are in the spotlight, she said, where children are watching, and children are being impacted.
“This is a ripple effect that you know, even in the playground, children feel the impact of this type of dialogue,” Mejía said.
Oaxacans have shared traditions like the Guelaguetza to let other residents know about their culture.
But, said Mejía, “I would call on other Mexicans to really become educated, and decolonized and reset.
“As the famous president Benito Juárez said, ‘El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz’ (Respect for the rights of others is peace.) And we are people that contribute in many aspects of society, in the economy of California, through culture, through the arts and music, food,” Mejía said.
“We have so many ways that we contribute and it’s just an opportunity to learn and to grow.”
