SHE
AVAILABLE NOW at the Museum Store- $10

The booklet She honors Elvira Arellano's determination to fight for social justice and immigration reform. Published by Michael Anthony Reyes Benavides and Batey Urbano, it includes two poems: “She,” a tribute to Arellano's cause written by Reyes, and “Little Soldier,” about her son written by Joline Lozano. The hip-hop rhythm of these spoken words captures the youthful voices of those inspired by Arellano’s fighting spirit—serving as a reminder of the importance of her story. Remembering her devotion and striving perseverance will continue to encourage immigrants in the struggle to gain recognition of their rights. In keeping with the Hull-House Settlement’s tradition of supporting immigrants' rights and cultural expression through the arts, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum is selling copies of She for $10in its Museum Store.

Elvira Arellano
Elvira Arellano is a widely recognized immigrants’ rights activist, whose undocumented status led her to take sanctuary in August of 2006 at Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, along with her son Saul, a U.S. citizen. She was arrested and deported after leaving sanctuary a year later, during her efforts to galvanize churches in support of the movement for comprehensive immigration reform, including a moratorium on raids and deportations. Elvira’s defiance of what she saw as a broken immigration law was an act of civil disobedience to protest violations of individual rights based on legal status. Even after her return to Mexico, Arellano represents a necessary call for change in our society today for millions of immigrants and supporters. 

 

she

Jane Addams constantly called into question our society’s definition of citizenship within a democracy. She adamantly believed that civic participation and the fair and equal treatment of all, regardless of legal status, are crucial to the democratic process.  She adamantly believed that civic participation and the fair and equal treatment of all, regardless of legal status, are crucial to the democratic process.  Addams was committed to the idea that human rights are not merely a privilege conferred by citizenship in a nation-state, but should be inalienable.  In the spirit of Addams and Hull-House tradition, Arellano’s example of civic engagement challenges perceptions of immigrants and the notion of citizenship in our increasingly global society.

Michael Anthony Reyes Benavides
For the last five years much of Reyes’ work has been dedicated to Café Teatro Batey Urbano, a project of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. Batey Urbano is a Latino youth space created and managed by Latino college and high school students. Its focus is grass roots community organizing and youth artistic expression through poetry/spoken word, the four elements of hip-hop and cultural affirmation. Reyes has performed throughout the country as a featured reader, sharing the stage with many poets, artists and activists. He is also an organizer with the Participatory Democracy Project in Humboldt Park and has been involved in a variety of youth-led projects, including the founding of El Zócalo Urbano, a Chicano-Mexicano/Latino youth space located in the neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village. Joline Lozano

Joline Lozano (better known by family and friends as Yoyo) is currently a junior at Lane Tech High School. She was born into the struggle being a niece of the late Rudy Lozano and daughter of Emma Lozano, immigrants’ rights activist and President of Centro Sin Fronteras. Yoyo is a member and one of the founders of El Zócalo Urbano, youth group of Centro Sin Fronteras. El Zócalo engages Latino youth in the Pilsen community to express themselves through poetry, hip-hop, punk, and other youth culture for immigrants’ rights. Yoyo was one of the youth leaders that organized one of the largest marches in the history of United States (May 1, 2007). Yoyo supported Elvira Arellano and her son Saul from the day Elvira entered sanctuary, and traveled with Elvira to California where she was arrested and deported to Mexico. Yoyo will never forget the pain Saul suffered that very day.  She later wrote the poem “Little Solider” in reflection of that moment.
More information about the museum and its programs can be found at: www.hullhousemuseum.org.
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