Hispanic Heritage Month celebration bridges cultural divide for San Quentin incarcerated

JULIA ARROYO ASKED the crowd to rise to their feet and face the four directions — north, south, east and west. The people stood up and raised their hands to the sky, kneeled, and touched the ground, while Arroyo blew trumpet-like sounds through a large seashell.

Arroyo, the executive director of the San Francisco-based Young Women’s Freedom Center, is a descendant of the Aztec nation. She performed this ancient ritual to kick off the first Hispanic Heritage Month event in the chapel at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.