I often say, only half-joking, that my grandma, Juana Beatriz Gutierrez, was your favorite movement elder’s favorite movement elder.
A fearless community organizer and founder of Mothers of East L.A. – a grassroots group of mothers who mobilized against environmental threats – she gave so much to so many in her nearly 93 years of life.
Her passing at her Boyle Heights home on April 28 is cause for pause and reflection. As we approach a weekend of honoring mothers, I invite you to look deeper into her story, not just to remember her legacy but to carry it forward. She didn’t just walk a path, she carved one, where she planted seeds for all of us to harvest.
1950s
As part of the migration wave from northern Mexico, my grandparents helped set the foundation for what the Eastside continues to be: a rich cultural landscape. They shared that when they arrived, many people who looked like them didn’t speak Spanish. First, they thought it was because they felt shame, but once their oldest daughters started attending First Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights, they learned it was the result of racist English-only education policies. This was the beginning of their resistance, as they transferred their girls to the School of Santa Isabel, where retention of the Spanish language was praised.
1960s
Displaced twice due to the construction of the East L.A. Interchange, my grandma Juana said she wanted to fight back, but was surprised when no one else wanted to fight back. It was in these years that she built her family, the foundation for fighting back.
1970s
With nine children, my grandparents started the first DIY sports programs at El Hoyo (now the Boyle Heights Sports Center). The city of L.A. didn’t have the funding to resource the park, it was just a hole back then, but it was out of necessity that my grandparents stepped up. They advocated for park lights to be installed and when the city identified not having staff to turn the lights on and off, my grandmother stepped up to hold the responsibility for years. That sense of responsibility for the community would only grow.
1980s
Now a grandmother, my grandma Juana emerged as an iconic community leader, co-founding Las Madres del Este de Los Ángeles, or Mothers of East L.A., that successfully fought the construction of a prison in Boyle Heights. She sought to ensure that women with autonomy continued to lead the effort by founding Las Madres del Este de Los Angeles – Santa Isabel (MELASI), waging fights that prevented the construction of toxic waste incinerators, a dump, a chemical treatment plant and a hot oil pipeline. MELASI worked closely with Concerned Citizens of South Central, wielding Black and Brown unity to defend both communities. This week, L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson reflected on that unity: “As a young organizer, we grew up with the two titans, these two women of color leading the way and really creating the environmental justice movement in this city, both Juana Gutierrez and Juanita Tate [of Concerned Citizens of South Central].”
1990s-2000s
As an elder in our family and barrio, my grandma Juana worked closely with my mom Elsa Lopez, other family members, and the rest of MELASI to invest in youth. This included youth jobs, establishing the Mono Lake Committee Outdoor Education Program, the first community garden on the Eastside, and the MELASI scholarship program we are in the process of reactivating in honor of both of my grandparents, Juana and Ricardo Gutierrez.
In addition to tons more programming and victories in the fight against environmental racism, this is when she stepped up as a leader in fighting for Chicana/o/x Studies at UCLA and UCSB, showing that the university is a site of resistance for our communities, too. Her mentorship of students and young movement leaders impacted the emergence of some of the most important institutions in our communities and movement today. This is also when my leadership grew under her guidance, from a young student organizer to being recognized as the 2017 North American recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize.
As my grandma Juana enters her ancestor era, I think about what she shared about her life before Boyle Heights, when I asked her why we do what we do. She shared a powerful dicho, “we are no one, but no one is more than us.” She also shared the Indigenous worldview from our ancestral homelands (Zacatecas) that she brought and instilled in East L.A. when she explained, “the way you are part of a community is by contributing to the community. If you don’t contribute to the community, then you are not part of the community.”
With that, we call in our ancestors to help us build community, grow community power, invest in youth, and fight back.
¡Juana Beatriz Gutierrez… PRESENTE!
A memorial mass in honor of Gutierrez is planned for noon Saturday, May 17, at Santa Isabel Church, 918 S. Soto Street, Los Angeles, CA 90023, followed by a reception at The California Endowment, 299 Bauchet St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (parking lot and building access).
You can read more about Gutierrez in the Cal State Northridge archives.