Lecturer Doesn't 'Weight' for Success
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Wednesday November 28, 2018 The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton Volume 104 Issue 38 Migrants clash with authorities U.S. and Mexican border patrol responds to the arrival of thousands seeking asylum. COURTESY OF BEN CAMACHO U.S. authorities shut down the border entry before firing rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray from the U.S. side into Mexico. As many as 5,000 migrants the U.S.-Mexico border on Sun- freelance photojournalist who In response to about 500 mi- Alexandro José Gradilla, as- will continue to stay in a day, after a long day of waiting, was at the border documenting grants rushing the port of en- sociate professor of Chicana/ sports complex in Tijuana. marching and eventually run- the struggle. try, which is located on the San Chicano studies, said the con- ning from authorities. A caravan of about 3,000 peo- Diego-Tijuana border, the U.S. frontation has been traumatic “I saw a couple of women get ple from Central America ar- Customs and Border Protection for some students at Cal State DIANE ORTIZ hit, I saw a little girl fall down. rived at the southwestern border agency fired tear gas at the mi- Fullerton. HOSAM ELATTAR That’s when things got a lit- earlier this month after travel- grants and shut down the bor- “Some of our students actual- News Editors tle more frantic because people ing 2,500 miles. Many of them der. The confrontation follows ly have gone through the migrant were getting momentum with say they are fleeing persecution, President Donald Trump’s vow experience. As young children Migrant mothers, children, journalists, photographers, mi- poverty and violence in their to send additional troops to pre- they came to the U.S. with their fathers and several journalists grants running, riot police run- home countries and are des- vent the migrants, who he called parents. were sprayed with tear gas at ning,” said Ben Camacho, Uni- perately seeking asylum in the “stone cold criminals,” from en- the San Ysidro Port of Entry at versity of La Verne graduate and U.S. tering the border. SEE BORDER 2 Lecturer doesn’t ‘weight’ for success Native Whitney Leyva has taken her powerlifting strength women to the U.S. Olympic team. face KORRYN SANCHEZ Layout Editor abuse Thousands of cases of Whitney Leyva is more than violence against indigenous an educator at Cal State Ful- lerton. She has a laundry list of females go unreported. accomplishments to put on a re- sume and has no intention of AURIELLE WEISS stopping. Staff Writer Along with her title of part- time lecturer at CSUF, her alma Native Americans experience mater, and Cal Poly Pomona, significantly higher rates of do- Leyva is finding other ways to mestic violence and survivors stay involved on the Fullerton on reservations have access to campus. She is the founder of the fewer resources, said Lupe Lo- CSUF weightlifting club and has pez-Donaghey, a domestic vi- conducted physical evaluations olence court advocate and Na- with the Anaheim Ducks. tive American speaker, at the But when she’s not lecturing Missing and Murdered Indig- about kinesiology and health sci- enous Women presentation on ence, she’s either logging hours Tuesday. as the Southern California di- California ranks No. 6 with rector for the National Strength 40 cases of missing or mur- and Conditioning Association dered Native American and in- or studying at the International digenous women and girls, ac- Olympic Academy in Greece. cording to a recent report by the Leyva prides herself in her Urban Indian Health Institute. strength — both physically and Lopez-Donaghey, who has mentally. worked with the Domestic Vi- Michelle Rivera, a co-founder olence and Human Trafficking of the CSUF weightlifting club, Hotline to create an addition- described Leyva as one of the al line for indigenous Ameri- most driven women she has ever cans, said many of the resourc- met. RILEY MCDOUGALL / DAILY TITAN es that are readily available to “Being around Whitney is in- Leyva guides a strength and conditioning work out with the CSUF cheer team in the TItan weight room. others do not include Native spiring,” Rivera said. “She is so Americans. driven, it’s incredible.” programs. I knew I didn’t want kinesiology and health science kinesiology program more,” Ley- “Victims are in our com- Leyva describes herself as a to go to Fresno State, I knew I department where she shares her va said. munity and in our workplace, Titan — through and through wanted to leave the Central Val- knowledge with the next genera- Leyva’s background is widely in our friendship circles. We — even though CSUF wasn’t her ley,” Leyva said. tion of students. diverse. The time she has spent should know about this,” Lo- first choice, rather another rea- Urged by her fiance who was At first, she was not very in- working with the CSUF kinesi- pez-Donaghey said. son to leave her hometown of also planning to transfer to volved with activities on cam- ology program is matched by the The National Crime Informa- Fresno. CSUF, Leyva submitted an appli- pus and said she tended to just go time she has spent volunteering tion Center reported there were “I knew I wanted to come to cation. When Leyva received her through the motions of school. with the Miss California Orga- 5,712 reports of missing Amer- Southern California for school, acceptance letter she didn’t know “I was more of a commut- nization, where she won multiple ican Indian and Alaska Native but the school specifically that what to make of the news. er type of student that would competitions. women and girls in 2016. I wanted to go to was Cal Poly “I was like ‘Wow, I got into Cal just come for class and leave. It Pomona. This was not know- State Fullerton,’” Leyva said. wasn’t until my senior year in ing a lot about the (kinesiology) Now, she’s a lecturer in CSUF’s 2012 that I got involved with the SEE MUSCLE 8 SEE CRIME 2 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @THEDAILYTITAN VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM 2 News WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2018 Border: U.S.-Mexico point of entry closed Mexico for shelter. But the mi- officers in San Diego effectively CONTINUED FROM 1 grants decided to take action after managed an extremely dangerous “I am sure all of this is truly some time, Camacho said. situation involving over 1,000 in- re-traumatizing and, if you will, “It’s interesting because (the mi- dividuals who sought to enter the re-violating them in terms of how grants) didn’t just go around, they U.S. unlawfully in large groups,” they’re remembering their own ex- announced that they were going said Kevin McAleenan, commis- perience,” Gradilla said. around. They let the cops know. sioner of the U.S. Customs and The CSUF Republicans dis- It wasn’t a sneaky thing that they Border Protection, in a statement cussed the caravan in their Tuesday pulled,” he said. on Monday. meeting. Many members felt the However, when the migrants de- Some politicians condemned migrants were attempting to take cided to go around the first block- how the situation was handled, advantage of the welfare system in ade, the peaceful march turned including 39th District Congress- the U.S. into a dangerous standoff for the man-elect Gil Cisneros, who cam- “Obviously we see a lot of im- migrants, supporters and journal- paigned on immigration reform. ages with the tear gas and that’s a ists present. “Firing tear gas at women and really difficult issue because you children seeking asylum is not the want to feel compassion for these Through the gate solution. We need comprehensive kids that are in the situation. Per- “that people went immigration reform, not more cru- sonally I get very angry at the elty,” said Cisneros on Twitter. moms who put them in that situa- through, I saw an “ Trump strongly defended the use tion. But a lot of these people are officer beating a of tear gas, saying border agents leaving really horrible conditions,” migrant. I started were forced into action, and took to said Brooke Paz, president of the Twitter to call on Congress to fund CSUF Republicans club. pointing my camera. a wall between the border. Camacho met with the migrants BEN CAMACHO “Mexico should move the flag who were placed in the Benito Photojournalist waving Migrants, many of whom Juárez Sports Complex in Tijuana, are stone cold criminals, back to Mexico on Saturday when he be- Barbed wire was set up to keep their countries. Do it by plane, do gan documenting what would soon migrants from advancing further, it by bus, do it anyway you want, turn into a frantic scene. and U.S. authorities shut down the but they are NOT coming into the The migrants planned to march border entry before the first set of U.S.A. We will close the Border through the border on Saturday to rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper permanently if need be. Congress, be processed for asylum, he said. spray aimed at migrants were set fund the WALL,” said Trump on COURTESY OF BEN CAMACHO “The thing is, they haven’t been off through the fence from the U.S. Twitter. A member of the caravan holds the American and Mexican flag at the border. allowed to go near there, nor have side into Mexico, Camacho said. Gradilla said the wall won’t they been allowed to be processed “Through the gate that people keep drugs, crime and criminals or to start their process,” Camacho went through, I saw an officer beat- out like Trump supporters believe said.