1 big thing: Latino podcasters rise 

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First look: HUD announces grants for Hispanic-serving institutions

2. HUD grants for Hispanic-serving colleges

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Black History Month here amid more teacher fears

3. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo travels to Denver

Arsenic found in Hispanic and Native American neighborhoods more often

4. El Paso officials will seek death penalty 

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5. Stories we're watching 

6.🪅 Pachanga: Humberto Chacón

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Bullying tops Latino parents' worries

1 big thing: Why parents worry — and how much 

2. California fast-food workers law on hold 

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3. Reading ambassador to battle false narratives 

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4. Arsenic in neighborhoods' water supply 

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5. Stories we're watching

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6.🪅Pachanga: Brian J. Garcia

Would you help us out? We're looking into whether mass shootings have changed our behaviors.

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1 big thing: Critical race theory's next frontier

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2. Med schools' Hispanic professor problem

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3. The man behind Macy's storied displays

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4. Stories we're watching

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5.🪅Pachanga: Carlota Ortiz Monasterio

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Astrid here. I've got a mean cold. What's your best home remedy? 

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1 big thing: Peru's protest crackdown intensifies

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2. Analysis: Gallego's Senate run and Latino candidates

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"Black Panther" actor Tenoch Huerta calls out Hollywood colorism

3. Actor Tenoch Huerta on Hollywood colorism

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4. Accused El Paso shooter to change plea

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6. Smile to go:🏺Artistry abounds

🛻We highly recommend this amazing visual project about the evolution of the pickup truck. 

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1 big thing: Latinas make lowriding inroads 

A powder pink 1948 Chevrolet Impala with chrome letters in Spanish on the front grill 

Brazilian officials suspected of helping rioters

2. Officials suspected of helping Brazil rioters

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3. Ex-GOP candidate arrested in shootings case

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4. In photos: MLK's impact on Latinos 

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6. Smile to go: 💃🏽Joys of salsa

Hello! Hope you had a fantastic weekend. Anyone else hooked on Shakira's new song? 🔥🔥

🚨Situational awareness: The Department of Justice is expected to announce today whether it’ll seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing 23 people and wounding 22 others at an El Paso Walmart in 2019.

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This newsletter, edited by Astrid Galván and Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, is 1,437 words, a 5.5-minute read.

Thank you for reading! And thanks to Carlos Cunha for the copy edits!

Editor’s note: The caption in the photo for the first item of this newsletter has been corrected to reflect the car is a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline, not Impala.

National

Women are debunking the myth that lowriding — the practice of fixing up vintage cars, dropping them low, and installing hydraulics to cruise around town — is a man's game. 

The big picture: Women lowrider clubs from California to New Mexico have popped up in the past few years, countering the sexism that many say was pervasive in the lowriding culture. 

Popular YouTube videos and Instagram accounts dedicated to "Lady Lowriders" show women fixing their cars, "hitting switches" (turning up hydraulics) and hopping on well-known boulevards. 

They hold fundraisers, cruise together, attend car shows and participate in community events.

A member of Lady Lowriders United stands next to her blue car.

 A member of Lady Lowriders United stands next to her car. Photo: Courtesy of Debbie Tigerina Martin.

Background: Mexican Americans returning from World War II began lowriding in the 1940s, using the skills they learned in the military to customize their cars. 

But in the 1950s, cities began passing ordinances banning cruising and low cars. Police said they were connected to gangs and crime, but activists said police were discriminating. 

Lowriders responded by adding hydraulics to get around laws that banned cars low to the ground and cruised anyway in defiance. 

Lowriding took a political tone in the Chicano Movement of the 1970s and were linked to community events and marches for civil rights. 

Between the lines: Lowriding clubs in Los Angeles County are pushing for the repeal of anti-cruising ordinances they say are racist and target Mexican Americans, according to CBS Los Angeles. 

Several California cities have recently lifted bans, including San Jose, which ended its ban late last year. 

State of play: Women have always been part of lowrider culture but they were usually limited to being a driver's girlfriend, a passenger or to posing in a bikini next to a nice car, Jennie Luna, a professor of Chicana/o Studies at California State University Channel Islands, tells Axios.

"Creating our own lowrider clubs is countering the misogynistic and patriarchal nature that exists, not just in lowriding, but in all aspects in Mexican communities that denied women from expressing themselves."

What they're saying: "I've had haters because ... I'm a woman, and they don't think we should" be involved in lowriding, says Debbie Tigerina Martin, 62. Martin  drives a 1965 gold Buick Wildcat she named "Tigerina." 

The California native was in and out of juvenile detention as a teen and struggled with drugs, but says lowriding saved her. 

She founded the Lady Lowriders United group to support and encourage other women lowriders.  

Angel Romero of Sunnyvale, California, founded Dueñas Car Club in June 2019. 

Romero, 44, grew up around lowriders — her mother drove a 1977 Monte Carlo that she fixed up herself. 

But she'd only ever been in clubs with men and was looking for a place where women could feel empowered and where she could share her love for her 1965 Chevy Impala.

"I just felt like women contribute and do just as much as men do when it comes to lowriding, and we just didn't get a lot of credit for it. People assume if we had a car it was our husband's car or our dad's car," Romero tells Axios Latino. 

"The lowrider culture and I think Latino culture in general is that the woman is usually in the back seat or the background supporting the male and taking care of the home and the children," Romero says, adding that "women are really stepping up and we're really showing them this is what we are."

Yes, but: Lowriding is an expensive hobby. 

Romero painted and rebuilt her Impala for about $10,000 a decade ago but has now spent another $30,000 after it was in a collision, she said. 

What's next: Lowriding aficionados are passing on the tradition to their young ones by founding lowrider bicycle clubs. 

Nayelie Trinidad, 16, is the president of the Dueñas Bike Club, which also has 10 members, from ages 1 to 17. Nayelie's bike is shiny red with chrome rims and long handlebars. 

For her, the bike club is about women's empowerment, she says.

a young girl sits atop her custom lowrider bicycle which is shiny red with chrome details and long handlebars

Nayelie Trinidad with her custom lowrider bike. Photo: Courtesy of Angel Romero.

Editor’s note: The caption in the first photo of this story has been corrected to reflect the car is a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline, not Impala.

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Latina lowriders make their mark

Women lowrider clubs and support groups from California to New Mexico have popped up in the past few years.

a powder pink vintage lowrider with the spanish word for "women owners" in chrome on the front grill

A 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline. Photo: Courtesy of Angel Romero.

Hispanic and Latino Americans

Latin America and Latinos

Women are debunking the myth that lowriding — the practice of fixing up vintage cars, dropping them low, and installing hydraulics to cruise around town — is a man&#x27;s game. The big picture: Women lowrider clubs from <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="California" data-vars-click-url="https://laist.com/news/la-history/lowriders-car-club-women-all-female-los-angeles" data-vars-content-id="1e807bd4-3904-45a6-a526-9efa8ed9294b" data-vars-headline="Latina lowriders make their mark" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://laist.com/news/la-history/lowriders-car-club-women-all-female-los-angeles" target="_blank">California</a> to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="New Mexico" data-vars-click-url="https://www.abqjournal.com/1340121/lowrider-scenes-got-girl-power.html" data-vars-content-id="1e807bd4-3904-45a6-a526-9efa8ed9294b" data-vars-headline="Latina lowriders make their mark" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1340121/lowrider-scenes-got-girl-power.html" target="_blank">New Mexico</a> have popped up in the past few years, countering the sexism that many say was pervasive in the lowriding culture.

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Pages from the original Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a document that transformed the American Southwest, are headed to a museum in Denver on the 175th anniversary of its signing.

Why it matters: The treaty ended the U.S.-Mexico War and greatly expanded the United States territory. Its impact on the lives of people living in the region and their nationality is still the focus of conversations today.

Details: The treaty will arrive in Colorado on Feb. 2, marking the 175th anniversary of its signing.

It will be on display the next day in the "Borderlands of Southern Colorado" exhibition at the History Colorado Center until May 22.

Four pages are on loan from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Background: Signed in 1848, the treaty ended the Mexican-American War and added nearly 1.2 million square miles to the United States. 

It forced Mexico to relinquish all claims to the territory of Texas above the Rio Grande and cede New Mexico, present-day Colorado, and California to the United States in exchange for $15 million.

People of Mexican descent living in the territories were granted American citizenship, and previous land grant rights were promised to be honored.

Yes, but: Mexican Americans experienced discrimination and racial violence almost immediately after as white settlers ignored land rights and court systems dismissed civil rights complaints.

Such racial violence led to the creation of groups like the Las Gorras Blancas, which fought back against discrimination and land encroachment by violently taking matters into their own hands.

The treaty is also connected to the displacement of Indigenous tribes. It has been referenced in hundreds of court cases ranging from international border disputes to water and mineral rights claims.

 Map of the United States of Mexico, 1847 published by J Disturnall. This was appended to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.

 Map of the United States of Mexico, 1847, published by J Disturnall. This was appended to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Photo: Universal History Archive/Getty Images

Between the lines: The failed promises made in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo became a rallying cry for Chicano Movement leader Reies López Tijerina more than 100 years later. 

He led a violent 1967 courthouse raid in northern New Mexico and used the treaty as reason for seeking redress century-old Spanish land grant disputes. 

What they're saying: "In some ways, it is hard to fathom that old handwritten pages would wield such power over the lands and lives of so many in this part of the world," Dawn DiPrince, History Colorado's executive director and state historic preservation officer, said in a statement.

"But this treaty dramatically altered the lives of many families who call southern Colorado home today."

One fun fact: This will be the first time the treaty has been displayed in Denver.

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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo headed to Denver

The treaty ended the U.S.-Mexico War and greatly expanded the U.S.

a copy of the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Photo: CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Pages from the original <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo" data-vars-click-url="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=TZaqWR7XlZcaMsY8i-2FTekl2TWuSrPTWoNO9SC-2BG8KvFwqoOhah9FwruvaskG1-2By5C4cE36-2BQ5uYwXJ7dnwbs-2FCSiyOKgGuAV6PxLoTBIRcY-3DEnUE_8ULglOcYewuRORpW2lu5Fi3CVWtrFeJIggECWhGJ2CpHBketxFiaqIfrdxZ4ew5G547gL8eJLuh2nBU-2B3R6jDPeH0dvbR-2BZ6YpLbmLh9Qc8O83JKi4e5wqA2-2BZ5io8eeY38Aitlb6KoFoc6Z3JGKCmRDE-2FKCtW1zkt852VDYzlnv2r6LCrdY9Xa75g9eevAO-2F5Uew5FVN-2B96CFGzNhNfZ0QIZbDna9WsZM8jqHkOhi3n0dMFXehZ3OtPCKECsje9XhMjGzEjO3PzTrXtTTmhimaKqJqpgg6DNqc4d-2B-2BAQLEf8m9qV-2BE3qRwESKqG6ghSEKhImxzZuDK-2Be7-2B-2BLnEq1ROVexNLg1uf5dHAPF7clZXvIukSGDGpK9x7D1KrjN-2FVkgS6-2Be-2FVW91U9MSVhD2hNw-3D-3D" data-vars-content-id="afb2508a-df09-4921-b4b8-c6859f45fe54" data-vars-headline="Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo headed to Denver" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=TZaqWR7XlZcaMsY8i-2FTekl2TWuSrPTWoNO9SC-2BG8KvFwqoOhah9FwruvaskG1-2By5C4cE36-2BQ5uYwXJ7dnwbs-2FCSiyOKgGuAV6PxLoTBIRcY-3DEnUE_8ULglOcYewuRORpW2lu5Fi3CVWtrFeJIggECWhGJ2CpHBketxFiaqIfrdxZ4ew5G547gL8eJLuh2nBU-2B3R6jDPeH0dvbR-2BZ6YpLbmLh9Qc8O83JKi4e5wqA2-2BZ5io8eeY38Aitlb6KoFoc6Z3JGKCmRDE-2FKCtW1zkt852VDYzlnv2r6LCrdY9Xa75g9eevAO-2F5Uew5FVN-2B96CFGzNhNfZ0QIZbDna9WsZM8jqHkOhi3n0dMFXehZ3OtPCKECsje9XhMjGzEjO3PzTrXtTTmhimaKqJqpgg6DNqc4d-2B-2BAQLEf8m9qV-2BE3qRwESKqG6ghSEKhImxzZuDK-2Be7-2B-2BLnEq1ROVexNLg1uf5dHAPF7clZXvIukSGDGpK9x7D1KrjN-2FVkgS6-2Be-2FVW91U9MSVhD2hNw-3D-3D" target="_blank">Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo</a>, a document that transformed the American Southwest, are headed to a museum in Denver on the 175th anniversary of its signing.Why it matters: The treaty ended the U.S.-Mexico War and greatly expanded the United States territory. Its <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="impact on the lives of people" data-vars-click-url="https://www.cpr.org/2018/06/13/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo-has-lasting-effects-on-southern-colorado/" data-vars-content-id="afb2508a-df09-4921-b4b8-c6859f45fe54" data-vars-headline="Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo headed to Denver" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.cpr.org/2018/06/13/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo-has-lasting-effects-on-southern-colorado/" target="_blank">impact on the lives of people</a> living in the region and their nationality is still the focus of conversations today.

Two more Cherokee tribes say they are entitled to a non-voting member of Congress, countering claims by the Cherokee Nation they are the only ones who were promised a seat. 

Why it matters: The dispute over a congressional delegate, outlined in a treaty that forcibly removed Cherokees from ancestral homelands, shows how complicated matters evolve when promises aren't kept to Indigenous people for nearly two centuries. 

Details: The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina challenge the notion that the 1835 Treaty of New Echota applies exclusively to the Cherokee Nation, one of the largest tribal nations in the U.S. 

They say that treaty was signed by the Cherokee people — not the Cherokee Nation — and President Andrew Jackson, then ratified by the Senate.

The treaty promised a nonvoting House delegate to represent the Cherokees. 

Catch up quickly: Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. named Kim Teehee, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, as the tribe's first delegate to the U.S. House in 2019 after he took office.

The appointment came after years of research by the Cherokee Nation scholars, who concluded they were promised a congressional delegate in the treaty. 

That treaty forced the Cherokee Nation to move from ancestral homelands in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee to present-day Oklahoma. Around 4,000 died along what is known as the "Trail of Tears."

Despite promises by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a "path toward welcoming a Delegate from the Cherokee Nation into the People's House," Democrats failed to seat her last year. 

What they're saying: "All three of those federally recognized tribes have all of the treaty rights that the United States signed with the Cherokee people," Victoria Holland, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians appointed delegate, told Axios. 

"Oftentimes, there's only one story that's told, and people still think that there is only one Cherokee Nation, but that's not historically accurate."

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Richard Sneed said in a statement the tribe also believes they are afforded a delegate and vowed to make it happen.

The intrigue: The tribes could come together and agree on a single delegate or each appointed their own delegates, Holland said. 

Yes, but: The Cherokee Nation said the treaty only applied to them and dismissed the claims by the other two Cherokee tribes as false.

"The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians did not agree to the treaty, nor were they removed from its homeland. In fact, they were not federally recognized until the late 19th century," Hoskin told Axios. 

"Tribes like the United Keetoowah Band, which didn't even exist until the 1950s, also cannot claim (the treaty). It is ours alone." 

Sara Hill, Cherokee Nation Attorney General, said the other Cherokee tribes have no evidence to support their claims to the treaty and falsely argue that the original Cherokee Nation died.

She said the Cherokee Nation has no intention of working with them to decide on a delegate. "That would be like the U.S. government giving up its seat on the (United Nation's) Security Council to another friendly government."

"They are Cherokee people by language and culture, but they are not the Cherokee Nation."

What to watch: Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has not indicated if he plans to explore seating the Cherokee Nation delegate. 

The Republican-controlled Rules Committee also has not said anything.

"Axios on HBO": Cherokee Nation wants its congressional delegate

New campaign for Cherokee Nation House delegate 

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Cherokee Nation's long-awaited delegate faces a tribal challenge

Two more Cherokee tribes say they, too, are entitled to a non-voting member of Congress.

Two more Cherokee tribes say they are entitled to a non-voting member of Congress, countering claims by the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Cherokee Nation" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2021/12/12/axios-hbo-cherokee-congressional-delegate" data-vars-content-id="c4e00ec0-4c92-498a-ba51-cc028ac3f6e2" data-vars-headline="Cherokee Nation&#x27;s long-awaited delegate faces a tribal challenge" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2021/12/12/axios-hbo-cherokee-congressional-delegate" target="_self">Cherokee Nation</a> they are the only ones who were promised a seat. Why it matters: The dispute over a congressional delegate, outlined in a treaty that forcibly removed Cherokees from ancestral homelands, shows how complicated matters evolve when promises aren&#x27;t kept to Indigenous people for nearly two centuries.

Russell Contreras

Stories

Historians take on misinformation in U.S. history

Cherokee Nation's long-awaited delegate faces a tribal challenge

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo headed to Denver

Another push to eliminate Texas' Confederate holiday

Latina lowriders make their mark

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