Kraken Fighting Spirit: 'Hood Healing'

As an organization that believes in the power of storytelling, the Kraken aspires to report about the journey of our hockey team and much more. Fans can count on us to celebrate the region and its residents as we seek out unique tales showing why the Pacific Northwest is such an extraordinary place to live and root for our teams.
Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 started Sept. 15 and runs through Oct. 15 to inform and imbue the Latinx rich history and experience here in the United States. To honor its celebratory intent, the Seattle Kraken and its partner, Modelo, have joined together to fete local Latina women who are making a difference in their communities with equal parts talent and tenacity.
In the third of three parts of our "Kraken Fighting Spirit Presented by Modelo" series, let's examine the no-quit commitment to community and visionary thinking of activist Roxana Pardo Garcia that she applies in full measures to empowering youth of color and purposefully nourishing Hispanic families.

When Roxana Pardo Garcia was a high school junior, by her own account, she was "an incredibly angry young person." She resented living in poverty, she resented that none of her teachers looked like her. She noticed and resented that none of the "people in power" in her Burien school district looked like her and "I opened my textbooks and no one looked like me."
Then Pardo Garcia and her deep-seated resentment encountered Jackie Martinez-Vasquez, a Salvadoran American teacher who not only resembled the teen but recognized Pardo Garcia for what she could and has become: A powerful, true-to-self activist who is unfailingly committed to empowering and healing youth and families of color in her community.
"She was an amazing teacher and mentor," says Pardo Garcia. "She taught me to 'speak your truth no matter where you are at.' She found ways for me to be in visible places. She was strategic about putting me [in meetings] with school officials but also making sure I was outside the school walls. She saw the fire in me."
When Pardo Garcia was most angry, her mentor Martinez-Vasquez would be "intentional about asking where the anger came from." The process made an indelible mark on Pardo Garcia's self-esteem and the arc of her life's work. She transported from an angry teen to owner and founder of La Roxay Productions, which offers "knowledge sharing" workshops for youth, "experiences" for youth and families, speaker services, policy analysis for organization and companies, and more.
"There's a negative connotation when brown and black young people are angry, but it's not about anger as fuel," says Pardo Garcia during an interview for the "Kraken Fighting Spirit Presented by Modelo" series. "It's about finding a safe space [to explore the anger]. My mentor
would sit me down to interrogate the anger: 'Is it yours? Are you reacting to something? Is it coming from personal insecurities? Is the system oppressing you and that was your reaction?' "
Pardo Garcia says the compassionate attention from Martinez-Vasquez (then a teacher-community engagement specialist, now chief equal employment opportunity, equity and inclusion officer for Sound Transit) started a journey of healing that emphasized being true to her teen self and welcome in the wisdom and resiliency of her Mexican Indigenous ancestors.
When we start on journey to heal, we start to liberate ourselves," says Pardo Garcia. "That means we become are joyful. We are moving past survival into thriving."
The liberation for Pardo Garcia included encouragement from her mentor: When you talk to white administrators, speak to them like you would speak to your friends. Don't dress professionally, show up like any other school day; let them hear you for your experiences not for a performance you are putting on."
Pardo Garcia passes on the encouragement for authenticity in her youth knowledge-sharing workshops: "That's a part of respectability politics. We are conditioned to get rid of our slang and dialects ... People want to be inspired by pain and trauma. That's not what should inspire them, me bringing solutions and ideas to address the pain and trauma is what should inspire them."
When talking to youth of color in groups or 1-on-1, she delivers a consistent message: "You have gifts, racism is telling you that you don't. My job is to pull out the gifts, what I call self-excavating. I want to see the fire them."
Pardo Garcia reflects and smiles at her come-full-circle comment. She smiles often during the interview, including a reference to American Puerto Rican/Dominican comedian Aida Rodriguez who says, "I am everything because the hood loves me."
"I am everything because the hood, the community, my elders, my family, my friends all loved me," says Pardo Garcia. "My anger wasn't vilified. It was honored and respected."
"Hood healing" is vital to La Roxay Productions' mission, says Pardo Garcia. She is focused on experiences (what folks call "events") and knowledge sharing ("workshops, presentations, speaking engagements") but nimble about opportunities to heal families of color. One example: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pardo Garcia and her La Roxay partner organizations started a food bank that serves families of color with the cultural customization (please check out the video included with this story). Rather than a standard box of staples, the food bank welcomes families to pick up one of three boxes with staples plus variations in produce and spices: Mexican, Central American and Caribbean.
"Part of white supremacy culture is urgency, to do something immediately," says Pardo Garcia. "But when you operate from urgency, you can miss important steps. We took three weeks to plan first. If we didn't, we might have missed the Central American concept."
Pardo Garcia is seeking funds to roll out "Phase 2" of the food bank effort, applying for a grant for funds and looking to add a delivery service. She is putting together a formal donation process and currently has a GoFundMe account. She continues her work with youth to "sense the living and realities of BIPOC people in the community, engaging in workshops from Everett down to Portland as social distancing protocols allow.
"I am interested in the healing justice framework for BIPOC communities to have access to spaces and experiences that promote healing and bring forth joy," says Pardo Garcia. "I think being in communities that are joyful is so incredibly important."