By Ashlyn Beck | Staff Writer
“I hope we see that our freedom is tied to one another, that we’re not free until everyone’s free.”
Members of the Baylor community gathered Tuesday in Moody Memorial Library for a “Readers Meet the Author” event featuring Dr. Felipe Hinojosa — an author, history professor and the John and Nancy Jackson Endowed Chair for Baylor in Latin America. The event focused on his book, “Apostles of Change: Latino Radical Politics, Church Occupations and the Fight to Save the Barrio,” as well as his experience researching the topic.
According to Hinojosa, there is a connection between Latino freedom movements and religion, as well as between revolution in Latin America and social reform in Latin American communities in the U.S.
“This is a larger movement to redefine Christianity and to talk about the revolutionary Christ in the gospels,” Hinojosa said.
According to his biography, Hinojosa’s work is set in four cities (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Houston) where “Latino radical activists clashed with religious leaders as they occupied churches to protest urban renewal, poverty, police brutality and racism in the late 1960s and early 1970s.”
Hinojosa said there is a tendency for groups to be incorrectly labeled as radicals, but listening to such people might actually bring growth.
“I think there’s a possibility that radicals, that outsiders, that antagonists to the church probably have some good ideas, and I hope we listen,” Hinojosa said.
Jeffry Archer, dean of libraries, museums and the press, said “Readers Meet the Author” is an important event because it allows people to connect with what they are reading on a deeper level.
“When you think of libraries, you think of archives, of books and places to study,” Archer said. “But [it] is just as important that we have ideas before us and have an opportunity for our community to engage with authors, engage with their ideas.”
President Linda Livingstone said Hinojosa came to Baylor as the inaugural Jackson Family Chair for Baylor in Latin America last year.
“It was a tremendous step forward, as this is one of the initiatives in Illuminate that really needed a shot in the arm, and that’s what [Hinojosa] is providing,” Livingstone said. “We’re so excited about that.”
