Anaheim’s Mexican American history is getting a podcast. Here are the students behind it

Some Anaheim students are reclaiming the narrative and celebrating the city’s rich Mexican American roots amid the recent ICE sweeps targeting immigrant communities across Southern California.

More than half of the city’s population is Latino, according to the U.S. Census. Their stories were often left untold until now in the upcoming podcast called the Untold Story Tellers.

Lizzette Barrios Gracian teaches history at Gilbert High School and owns the Untold Story Bookstore, where the live tapings will be hosted.

“We still have many members in our community who lived those days, the segregation, the racism, and who have contributed a lot to our community,” Gracian said. “They have been land owners, business owners. They've changed the path for so many of us Latinos.”

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The students are slated to interview local journalists, civic leaders and civil rights activists, including an original member of the Brown Berets, who were leaders in the Chicano Movement.

Hailey Sotelo, a sophomore, said she wants people to know that there's more to Anaheim than meets the eye.

“It's very important that we know it's not all Disneyland, it's not all tourism, but we do have a very large Latino population,” Sotelo said. “It's reflected in our schools, it's reflected in our communities.”

Student journalist and sophomore, Saul Alonso, said he hopes people see past harmful Latino stereotypes and learn more about the local change makers who have paved the way for future generations to thrive.

“Mexicanos have been here since California was part of Spain, and since California became part of Mexico, and once California finally became the United States,” Gracian said. “ Mexicans have always been here, but our voices, like so many others, they're quieted, they don't resound.”

Why now? 

Since the ICE raids started in June, high school sophomore Yael Campuzano said he felt responsible to show others who Latinos in Anaheim really are.

“I had to go to every protest, I had to speak as much as I can because it's my people,” Campuzano said. “Doing this oral history project … it'll show the actual story of Latinos, and it'll show that we're the actual backbone of America.”

Gracian said that the ongoing and past hardships can teach us about how to respond to being targets of racism in the future.

"How did they cope? What strategies did they use to fight back for justice? What did they do to protect themselves from discrimination?” she said.

The storytellers meet once a week and have been researching to prepare for their upcoming interviews.

Their first live taping is at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Untold Story Bookstore at 301 N. Anaheim Blvd.

If you miss it, Gracian said that the recording is expected to be published the following week.