Spotlight: Student Louie Gutierrez gives back to the community

 

 

 

By Charles Innis

The Guardsman

 

City College alumni and returning student Louie Gutierrez has been serving disenfranchised communities for decades, whether it’s leading a traditional Aztec dance group or working his weekly radio show.

Gutierrez graduated from City College in 1989 and has a master’s degree in Chicano studies from University of California, Berkeley. He returned to City College this semester to take journalism courses.

His goal was to sharpen his writing and photography so that he could improve his reporting skills and provide more service to the communities.

“The Aztec dancing is community oriented, so we also have to think of the community before we do the dancing,” Gutierrez said. “The journalism in a sense does the same thing. It helps me to give back to the community.”

His weekly radio show, “The Roseland Report,” airs every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on KBBF 89.1.

Every week he openly invites guests from diverse backgrounds to speak on civil rights issues affecting Latino and other groups.

“Anyone who might want to use it that has an issue can use it,” Gutierrez said.

Subjects he has covered include immigration, the police killing of former City College student Alex Nieto and the current unrest in Ferguson, Mo.

Gutierrez said the radio show takes its name from the Roseland district in Santa Rosa, a predominantly Latino neighborhood that has dealt with generations of neglect.

“The streetlamps are not all correct. Some of the streets don’t have curbs on it,” he said.

While living in the Roseland district in 2010, Gutierrez published La Espina Del Norte, a bilingual newspaper focusing on concerns facing the Latino community.

Gutierrez moved back to the mission district of San Francisco after the paper’s cessation in 2012.

He now works at his family’s traditional Mexican-style bakery, La Reyna, on 24th and Folsom streets.

When he’s not selling pastries or running the Roseland Report, he practices in an Aztec dance group twice a week.

The group, Coyolxauqui, has performed at numerous events, including Cesar Chavez Day, Day of the Dead and May Day marches.

“We lead the marches. We’re in front of the line and we’re praying as we’re dancing,” Gutierrez said.

Coyolxauqi last performed at Alex Nieto’s vigil on Aug. 22.