Justin Akers Chacón Oral History

I met Justin Akers Chacón through Detention Resistance, one of the many ways in which this 50-year-old Chicano educator, author, and activist who was raised in Ventura, California remains involved in border Resistance in San Diego, California. Chacón was raised in a working-class Mexican barrio, an upbringing that politicized him and informs his activism today. At 17, Chacón left Ventura to go to college and today he teaches Chicana/Chicano studies at San Diego City College, a community college in San Diego located in a working-class community. Chacón has been involved in activism since 1994 and thus talks to us about how the border resistance movement has grown and changed. This interview covers topics such as Chicano/Chicana studies, community college, activism, border resistance, agricultural economy in Ventura, working-class people/communities, immigration policy, class consciousness, organizing, detention abolition, detention center, Otay Mesa Detention Center, militarization, and La Gran Marcha of 2006. The interview was conducted over Zoom to practice social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interview was conducted by Katherine Duran, a fourth year Ethnic STUDIES AND Political Science double major and a San Diego local queer, low-income Chicana interested in becoming more politically active within border resistance in her community.