It’s true that the current attacks on our community are dangerous and disorienting. That’s the point of them: to confuse us into giving up hope. But the Latino community has always been resilient, and we will rise above this. 

There are so many ways we can fight back and protect each other. In fact, there are tons of non-violent actions every single one of us can take right now if we want to. Non-violent action is one way we can pour our strength back into ourselves so that we have each other’s backs. I’ve been thinking long and hard about this, and I’ve found a few ways you can get involved. 

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about how you can harness your fear and turn it into power. These attacks on our community will not stop us from being the greatest versions of ourselves. We will continue to grow our businesses, support our community, and thrive in every facet of our lives. We can do it, as long as we do it together. 

Resources Mentioned:
Know Your Rights (Español): ACLU overview + shareable hub.

American Civil Liberties Union+1ILRC “Red Card” + two-pager (Español): printable scripts for home/work encounters.

NWIRP KYR hub (English/Español): practical guidance and referrals.

Current Chicago context: recent Broadview protests/arrests coverage. AP News+1Detention data: 

Detention data: TRAC quick facts (shareable and updated regularly)

Resilience receipts: Stanford SOLE—decade of data on Latino entrepreneurship growth. Stanford Graduate School of Business

Bad Bunny residency impact: economic lift estimates + hospitality data.

Follow Erika on:
Instagram @‌theerikacruz
TikTok @‌theerikacruz
LinkedIn

Website:
http://www.theerikacruz.com

How to work with Erika:

Join the waitlist for the Courage Driven Latina program here.

Join the waitlist for the Magnetic Mastermind here!

Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST, an Afro-Latina-owned boutique podcast production and copywriting studio. 

Episode Transcript:

Erika: If you’ve been. Pissed with the videos around social media with both the raids that are occurring in Chicago or in Los Angeles. I want you to know you’re not alone, and this episode is for you. This is the third time I’ve tried to record this podcast episode, and the truth is that there’s no right or wrong way of [00:02:00] of talking about this.

The truth is that our community is experiencing a lot of heaviness based on the attacks that are going on. When it comes to immigration and when this administration was talking about immigration, it was very much framed from this perspective that. It was going to be to get criminals out of the United States, which I think we can all agree.

We don’t want criminals here, whether they’re immigrants or not, right? Nobody wants criminals in their neighborhood. We can all agree with that, but I think those of us from the Latino community knew that that was complete bullshit. We knew that that is what was being, that was the narrative to give them permission to racially profile against our community.

And we’re seeing that happening now throughout Los Angeles, throughout Chicago. So 71% of people in ice detention have no criminal conviction, so let that one land. Hello friends. Welcome back to this week’s episode of Chino Na [00:03:00] Revolution podcast. This is your host, Erica Cruz, and today I wanna talk about this very heavy.

Attack on our community and how this is harnessing a lot of fear, but how we can convert that into power. And into conviction and inform us if you are getting triggered and upset by these videos, or maybe you’ve seen it in person, if you’re located in Chicago or in Los Angeles. I know when I was driving to Los Angeles to see my brother, um, not too long ago, it was, uh, not even a month ago, and there was so many national guard.

Vehicles on the highway and I was like, they make it seem like our community is so dangerous when in reality our community is, are the street vendors and the people picking are, are fruit. And also contributing to society, not just from an economic perspective, but also culturally. I mean, what do you think these people are doing Who want immigrants outta here on [00:04:00] Tuesdays?

They’re going to Taco Tuesday. I mean, who are the people who consume the most for Cinco, the Drinko. It’s not the Latinos, it’s the white people. And I wanna be very clear, there’s a lot of amazing white allies, not because of their skin color. Does that have to do with, you know, their, their views? I have a diverse group of friends and a lot of them are, are allies.

So, wanted to make that clear. So let’s talk about. What’s happening now and how it’s showing up in our, in our daily life and how it’s affecting our community. Let’s also talk about why fear can echo across generations, but also how we are a very resilient community and how we can do something about this in a, in a nonviolent way.

How we can allow this anchor to be our feel to do something very productive as well as. How joy is something that is your natural birthright. [00:05:00] And during a time when it feels heavy to celebrate how, it’s still our birthright to find joy. And I think about this a lot because I have days when I feel really positive and great and then I have days when I’m looking at these videos and I feel really horrible and I’m like, damn, I can’t even, you know, I feel guilty for, for enjoying my life.

And I think a lot of you can feel the same way. I’ve been hearing this from clients over and over. Even just showing up for my business has been difficult. But the truth is that if I don’t show up for my business, I don’t make money. If I don’t make money, I don’t have money for mortgage or my mortgage for my food for survival, right?

And it’s like everyone else is still going to work sad, but still going to work and I still have to show up for work. So I have had to really sit with, this is why I created a purpose-driven business, because when I show up for my business and my clients get result, guess what? When they get results, our community elevates.

Our communityidentifies what needs to happen to [00:06:00] elevate our community. So by me showing up for my business, it’s actually supporting our community. 

And before getting into this episode, I would like to mention that I have. A good amount of privilege. I am a born US citizen. Both of my parents are now citizens, even though they were immigrants. And I mean, I have things like global entry, so I could easily float in and out of the country and travel and I, I get to travel a, a good amount.

So I’m aware of my privilege and I’m aware of the privilege of even recording this podcast episode. Right. If I was undocumented, I probably. Would not be outspoken. I would probably feel the need to, to hide. So if you yourself are undocumented or if somebody in your family is, and you don’t feel safe speaking out, do what you need to do to feel safe.

But for those of us that do have privilege, I think this is our call forward. This is our call in which if you’ve always wanted to give back, this is our time. To give back and hopefully this podcast episode will give you some [00:07:00] inspiration with how it is that you can give back. And, you know, a lot of times it’s really showing up for our full purpose and showing up for our full potential and, and speaking up even when we feel a little bit of doubt.

And I’m not telling you, you have to go be this activist and like go out on the streets and protest. If that’s your calling, please go do that. But if that’s not what you’re comfortable with, maybe your way of supporting the community is through art. Maybe it’s through writing, maybe it’s through another form, and we’ll talk about that a little bit today.

How Bad Bunny has been able to really elevate the community through non-violence. And through his art. So with that being said, let’s get into it. So what is it that’s happening right now? Obviously if you’re located in one of the cities of Los Angeles or Chicago, then you have seen it firsthand what is happening with ICE raids, how they’ve been using tear gas and pepper balls in on crowds and multiple arrests and just some aggression and how.

This [00:08:00] is affecting the way that our community is showing up because. If you have a family member that is undocumented or you yourself are undocumented, what do you wanna do? You wanna be invisible. You don’t wanna be seen. Maybe you don’t even feel comfortable going out to get groceries. Maybe you are skipping your doctor’s appointments.

Maybe you’re sick and you’re not calling. Or if there’s a domestic violence case, maybe they’re not calling law enforcement for fear of being deported. They stay off of social media. They literally are taught to hide, not taught, right? But like this fear is, is making them want to be. Invisible. And again, our data shows.

The data that um, has been, that has been shared with us shows that 71% of people held in ice detention have no criminal convictions, which heightens the sense that anybody in our circle could be next. And I think we’ve seen these videos of the Los Angeles Street vendors be just like cars that aren’t even.

Labeled as ICE or as [00:09:00] part of the government are literally pulling up and just trying to attack these street vendors that are just trying to make a living who pay. A good amount of taxes and guess what? Do not reap the benefits of those taxes that they pay. They’re literally paying into US citizens having the benefits they have because undocumented individuals actually do not have access to healthcare.

They actually do not have access to social security, to all of the other benefits that documented folks do have. So fear isn’t just a feeling, it’s literally a survival response. And if we don’t name it, it runs our calendar and our dream, right? It like really makes us invisible. So I wanna talk about this fear, and if you’ve read the book, it didn’t start with you then you already know this, but if you didn’t read it, this book is all about generational trauma and how sometimes the trauma that we experience actually didn’t even start with us, but it talks about how.

Trauma can echo [00:10:00] across three generations. So they, they actually did this experiment on mice because mice reproduce a lot faster than us. So they had three generations of mice, and this grandparent was, I believe it was lavender. Lavender was the set that they gave the rat or the mouse.whatever.

We’re just gonna call ’em rats. So this grandparent was allowed to, not allowed, the grandparent was. Exposed to the scent of lavender. And then whenever they smelled lavender, they would get a shock. And ev they, they trained the rat to associate. Okay. Lavender shock. Lavender shock. Lavender shock. So then the, their children inherited.

That trauma response, which was for survival. Oh wait, you know, lavender means a shock. That’s scary. So the child of the grandparent, anytime they smelled lavender, they [00:11:00] reacted in the same way as. The grandparents, even though there was no shock. And then that generation then had babies. So the grandchildren of that original rat that was exposed to the shock and the lavender and even the grandchildren were afraid of the scent of lavender.

It literally created a physical and chemical response of fear. When they smelled that. So let’s just think about that, right? Like people that were part of the Holocaust, that maybe their grandparents were, they’re still seeing effects of that trauma. So what’s happening right now to our community of this fear of, oh my gosh, I don’t wanna be seen.

Of course that’s going to affect not only this generation, but three generations to come. And that’s why it’s important for us to name this and to do what we can, especially if you have privilege to speak up against this, to do whatever it is in your, whatever your calling is, right? Whatever your purpose is, do what you [00:12:00] can.

The first step is awareness and knowing that generational trauma isn’t just like, the reason it’s called generational trauma is because it didn’t have to happen to you. It could have happened to your grandparent and it could still affect you. So if we really think about what’s happening now, it’s, it’s.

Allowing our community to feel more comfortable being invisible. attacks on immigration aren’t just going on now. It’s been happening since the, I remember in the nineties when I was like super young that, oh my gosh, LA la. Like we would always hear that. And if that has been happening for generations.

Let’s just look at you and I how this could be affecting us. Maybe you are a US citizen, right? But this is still hitting really heavy for you. If you’ve ever wanted to post content on social media, but you’re afraid of being seen, well, where do you think that stemmed from? Or if you are afraid of speaking up in a meaning, where do you think that stemmed from?

If our community has constantly been conditioned to be invisible, if you have a hard time being seen, that makes [00:13:00] a lot of sense, doesn’t it? So even though this administration and what is currently attacks on our community are currently happening, I have some good news. And the good news is that our Latino latina community is resilient af we are so resilient.

So there is actually research that occurs at Stanford. It’s called the SOLE Summit. So every year they have this something called the SOLE Summit, which is state of Latino entrepreneurship, and they run hard numbers to look at Latino owned businesses and what their foundings found back in March, because I attended their conference in March.

Is that. Latinos and Latinas are resilient af so even though we are under attack, we’re also so freaking resilient. Our community builds. Anyway. So a decade of Stanford research shows that Latino owned businesses grew 44% from [00:14:00] 2018 to 2023, reaching 465,202 firms. So businesses and this growth fuels jobs innovations despite funding gaps.

So we’re less likely to receive funding, yet our businesses are growing at a faster rate. And we also, this research also showed that. Either immigrants or children of immigrants do much better in entrepreneurship because of our ability to face obstacles and deal with change, which is such a necessity as a business owner.

So the translation is that resilience isn’t a vibe. It’s literally measurable. So the thing is that Latinos, we start, we adapt, and we actually lead. So even though all of this fear is going on, even though all of this is going on, know that we are resilient. We really, really are, and we’ve seen it over and over.

This isn’t the first time this has [00:15:00] happened to our community. I also want to take a look at how an artist like Bad Bunny has been able to take nonviolent power in action and how the his 2025 residency. Ran a record setting San Juan residency of No, which I had the honor of going to. It was amazing. It was so fun.

And he intentionally skipped the United States main mainland after saying that he feared that ICE could target venues and fans. And that in itself was a cultural stance through art, not violence. Right? So remember at the beginning I was saying maybe your thing is writing poetry, maybe it is creating art.

Maybe think, I want you to think bigger. Yes, we can go to protest and if that’s alignment in alignment with you, please go ahead and do that. But also think about what it is that you’re being called to do because your curiosity is your compass. If you have this curiosity or this pull towards something, it’s there for a reason.

It’s not [00:16:00] there for no reason. So bad. Bunny’s a great example of an artist that’s using his creativity and even in his songs, 

His song from the latest album as well as, the Hawaii song, right? Like, I don’t want what happened to Hawaii to also happen to Puerto Rico. There’s a lot of, it’s, it’s art, but he’s also giving voice to Puerto Rico, giving voice to Latinos. And this residency of his also operated like an economic engine for Puerto Rico, which historically has not gotten the, the financial support from the mainland yet. It’s been raped for. And I say raped, not in the literal sense. Right. But business owners like Coca-Cola are based out of Puerto Rico because they get all these tax benefits and it’s like they’ve, they’ve essentially conquered the island, but not given the island the, the resources necessary for, for it to thrive.

So by bad Bunny making his residency there, he really acted [00:17:00] like this economic engine and generated. Over $200 million for the island, with some outlet siding, maybe 300 to 380, 80 million when they really considered like the broader tourism and the spends, as well as the tens of thousands of hotel nights and the, the, the rise for local businesses and whatnot.

So while you do not need a stadium. Like bad bunny did to move culture. You do have your story, your offer, your circle, your your creativity. So leverage that. Remember that you get to make a difference by living to your full potential. In moments like these, it can be so easy to be like, oh my gosh, I don’t wanna show up.

Just like I was talking about at the beginning of this episode and how I felt bad promoting my, my business and talking to my community when all of these different things were going on. And I remember I was actually in Italy whenever all the ice raids started in Los Angeles, [00:18:00] and I was journaling about this while I was sitting at the beach and I was like, how can I do this?

Like, and I just felt very connected to. Mother Nature, because I’m sitting at the beach and I was like, how can I be the most authentic in this moment? And that what I came to was I get to. Run my business in the way that I want. And I said, what if I donate a percentage of my enrollment to support an immigrant nonprofit?

And I ended up finding this nonprofit called The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. So they support children who’ve been separated by their family. They also, they just help children that been separated through. Everything going on with immigration. So whether these children have to represent themselves in court, whether they, maybe have been traveling on their own to the United States, because there’s also a lot of minors who make the journey on their own, and this organization specifically supports them.

So I was like, okay, I want to donate money to this organization, and I did. And we [00:19:00] ended up donating almost $1,500 from the last enrollment of Courage driven Latina. And then guess what? This organization called me directly and they thanked me so much for the donation. We’ve now been in contact. Now there’s possibilities of like maybe working together and so many beautiful things can happen whenever you open your mind and don’t allow yourself to play small.

So if you are wondering like, okay, how is it that I can do something right now? First I want you to know your fear is very valid, but use your fear like fuel. How can you convert that fear to strategy? Maybe you get to just share things on your social media about Know your rights, so, right. Maybe you can, you can do like Spanish printable cards where you do the know your rights and you maybe teach your household a simple script in case somebody knocks at the door.

Or maybe you offer to go to your local, um, church, right, [00:20:00] and talk to people there. Or maybe you can. Do some volunteer work with a nonprofit, or maybe you can talk to the company that you work for about doing an information session about what’s going on. I mean, there’s so many things you can do. If you love poetry, write poetry, share it with the world.

If you love painting. Paint, share that with the world. It doesn’t have to be super public. It doesn’t have to be like for me, where I donated 10% of my sales. You get to do it in whatever way feels authentic for you. Even doing like a prayer, right? Prayer for people that you don’t know or that have been separated from their family, or maybe people who are living in fear or if you know somebody who’s undocumented and they’re afraid of going to the grocery store, can you go get groceries for them?

There’s so much that we can do when we get ourselves out of survival mode. But whenever we are seeing these videos and we just get so enraged, it’s like our immediate reaction is to be back in survival mode, and that’s exactly what they want of us. So [00:21:00] how can you honor a space for being upset, but maybe take time in your journal, reflect on what it is that you wanna do.

Maybe you meditate on it, maybe you talk to people that you care about. You hold space for one another. But we don’t allow ourselves to let the fear be what holds us back, especially if we have. Privilege. This is really a call for you to step into your complete purpose right now. If you’ve wanted to do something but you’ve been afraid of like, oh my gosh, what if I fail?

What if, you know, what if people. Think I’m not qualified to do this. This is your, your wake up call where your purpose gets to be. what propels the community forward. I always think about with Hurricane Katrina and how Beyonce did more for Hurricane Katrina than the US government did and we.

When we allow ourselves to be the most abundant version of ourselves, the most successful version of ourselves, everybody benefits. Everybody benefits. [00:22:00] And this is exactly what this administration doesn’t want. So as you think about what you can do if you are a creator or a professional, can you maybe post one story this week with what you do, who it helps.

How to hire or book you, because remember that this visibility also funds our community stability. 

 Or like I mentioned earlier, maybe you can volunteer at places like the A CLU or your local nonprofit, or maybe you even just find out, hey, what are the nonprofits? What resources are available?

So what I’m actually gonna do is I’m gonna include some resources down below in the show notes. But the whole purpose of this podcast episode is to validate your anger, validate your fear, but also remind you that you hold a lot of power and they would not be coming after our community if they didn’t know how powerful we are.

There is no better time to be Latina. There is no better time to be Latino. What we do [00:23:00] now in response to what’s happening to our community dictates where our community goes. So may we take inspiration from Bad Bunny who used his art and creativity for political movement, for economic impact, and embody that in whatever way it makes sense to us.

If you yourself are undocumented, we see you. We are here for you. We are fighting for you. Reach out to somebody that you trust and don’t force yourself to do anything that feels outside of your comfort zone. And for those of us who are the allies, may we show up for them. Okay, friends, thank you so much for joining me.

This was definitely one of those episodes that wasn’t very planned. It was more something I felt the need to speak about. I am hosting a webinar all about how to make, 2026 your main character year, which actually is very fitting, right? Because what they wanna do is [00:24:00] silence us, make us invisible. And this webinar is all, it’s a free training, all about how to show up for yourself, how to make yourself the main character of your life, because when you do that, you get to support other people as well.

So we’ll link that down below. And as well as all of the, the resources including the Know Your Rights, ACL U, like even in Spanish as well, the Know Your Rights card, as well as a printable red card, which is just kind of knowing like what the scripts you can use for your home and work encounters. I’m also going to include, detention data as well as the bad bunny residency impact ’cause there’s been some articles written on that.

So I’m gonna include all of that down below. If this podcast episode resonated with you, let me know. I love to hear from you. Share this with a friend and I’ll see you next week. [00:25:00]