In late September in El Paso, Texas, residents of the Chamizal barrio and mothers Cemelli de Atzlan and Hilda Villegas held a vigil. They were mourning what they consider a crisis in barrio schools: pandemic disruptions, a shortage of teachers, the lack of culturally sensitive or dual-language programming, overcrowding and historical neglect.
The women, leaders of the group Familias Unidas por la Educación and the group of about 40 who met outside of Bowie High School were upset about what they say is a failure of local and federal leadership to invest in the schools in their border town.
