Day is a journalist, filmmaker and author of “Forty Acres: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers.” He lives in Vista.
Lately there is a growing backlash against those who want to teach their students to think critically about racism. Some believe critical race theory fosters White guilt. Its defenders say it points out the systemic nature of racial injustices in our country. This is just one example of a story that needs to be told.
Alfredo Figueroa, 88, of the city of Blythe in eastern Riverside County, has spent a lifetime approaching history from the bottom up. His latest passion, maybe his last hurrah, is to set the record straight about the plight of Mexican miners like Joaquin Murrieta who founded Sonora during the California Gold Rush but were forced into exile from the Mother Lode Country with the arrival of the “49ers.” Murrieta, says Figueroa, defended his fellow Sonorans against the atrocities of the newcomers. “He is a hero for all peoples who struggle in the jaw