>> i love my heritage. i love my culture, the strength of the identity of what my culture is. >> the passion and the, like, vibrancy to be who you want to be and the family aspect of it, like, there's so much beauty in the family of the cultures. i think that's what brings us all together. ♪ >> rising from many cultures, languages, and faiths, now 62 million strong and growing in the united states. yet, as latinos, we have faced a disproportionate burden of the covid-19 pandemic while strivin >> people are not seeing us as americans. >> got to remember who we are. we have to be proud of our

heritages. >> people will talk about indigenous people in the history books. we're still present. >> all the latinx communities does include black people, it does include indigenous people, it does include all of these different types of peoples. >> i celebrate and embrace my african roots -- afro-puerto rican. >> essential workers and educators, leaders and change-makers, entertainers and artists, innovators and achievers. it's time to celebrate the rich cultures that hispanics and latinos have shared for generations. this is "our america: todos unidos." ♪ welcome to "our america: todos unidos." i'm anabel muñoz, reporter at abc7, los angeles. in the next hour, we celebrate latino and hispanic culture and the many ways we are touched by its richness. whether our roots are in the

americas, europe, africa, or a mixture of them all, our community's undeniable impact is a source of pride. we identify in many ways. for many of us, it's our family's country of origin. we also choose different terms, like hispanic, latino, or latinx. >> i am latina. >> i consider myself latinx. >> yo soy españa. >> latina. >> i'm latinx. >> i am hispanic. >> and i am latino. >> i consider myself hispanic. >> i am dominican-american. >> i am latina, and i hold space for my latinx community. >> my name is mario, and i consider myself latino. >> my name is carlos. considero español. >> hispanic, latino, latinx. it's complicated, but it's evolving. we can see progress being made by just looking at these terms, examining them, and identifying the differences that really bring us together. ♪ >> my parents have always identified as hispanic.

me, i identify as latino. >> [ speaking spanish ] >> hispano. >> "hispanic" tends to refer to language. many people from spanish-speaking countries will oftentimes refer to themselves as hispanic. >> so, my mother has costa rican and nicaraguan roots, and my father has a salvadorean and cuban background. i identify as hispanic versus my parents identify as latino. >> my parents are from a very small town in los altos de jalisco, in mexico. but here in the united states, we've always coined the term latino. >> we definitely see the terms used interchangeably. "latino" tends to refer to geography, so latin american countries would include people of latino descent, but, of course, although these are separate terms, they do overlap in many ways. some people refer specifically to the country that they are from. >> when people ask me what i am,

i normally say i'm salvadoreña, colombiana, and american. but if i had to check a box, i would check "latina." >> it can also depend on your generation. >> [ speaking spanish ] >> i consider myself latinx, and my son is afro-latino. >> my cuban parents call themselves hispanics. i call myself a latina. and my daughter, luna, prefers to be called latinx. >> my parents definitely identify as latino and latina. i don't think they've come around to understanding latinx. >> well, we know there's a lot of controversy around the term "latinx." critics say that it takes away from the spanish language, which has gendered pronunciation. however, people that support using the term, some of them say that this is a way to be more inclusive. >> as someone who was born in mexico, came to the united states when i was a year old, i never felt like i was enough mexicana or enough from

the u.s., american, right? like, i always struggled in this in between. so when i saw the word "latinx," it made me feel more comfortable. and, for me, latinx is, it's another option for people to feel seen and heard. honestly, i feel like that's really valuable to really be able to see -- see everyone for who they want to be and who they tell you they want to be. >> it's important, no matter what your background is, no matter what your nationality, no matter what your gender preference is, whether we're documented, whether we're undocumented, that's where i feel "latinx" is a very powerful word. >> we know that pew research did a study that one in four u.s. use thinofhad heard of "latinx" wh it comes to the a tt term a t "latinx." >> and now, another concept that i've been hearing that i kind of like is "latine," with an e. it's interesting, because it's

gender-inclusive, and it's more -- more friendly to the ears of latinos themselves. >> and we know with some of these labels, they don't completely cover everyone. it's hard when you have to check a box that says "other." who wants to check a box that says "other"? >> i choose both boxes. my mom is mexican, my stepdad is puerto rican, and my biological father is black. my familia and i am afro-latina. my parents did a very good job of making sure that i was immersed in the black community, with my school, and i'm so grateful, because i was able to be represented, right? like, representation matters. but when i came home, you know, it was, you know, arroz con gandules for the puerto rican side and, you know, enchiladas and mole on the mexican side. >> it's really important to recognize that there's not one label that people identify with, and that is what it so beautiful about what makes up people's backgrounds. and we need to embrace those

differences and not separate them, but we really want to look at all of these differences as something that really brings us together. >> from visual arts to filmmaking, artists can produce much more than what's pleasing to the eye. their creativity carries purpose, uplifting communities and inspiring change. ♪ ♪ >> my name is carlos santana. most people think that i'm george lopez. but i do get confused sometimes with jimmy smits, and some people think i'm andy garcia. but in reality, i am edward james olmos. ♪ i've been very fortunate in being able to work in schools, libraries, community centers,

hospitals, juvenile halls. ♪ it's called the youth cinema project, directly from laliff, los angeles latino international film festival. >> so, the way the youth cinema project was created is that we realized that the cavalry wasn't coming. no one was gonna come save us, so we needed to save ourselves. >> we send in two mentors, and those mentors come in. they're professional filmmakers. it's the full school year. and they learn how to do all aspects ofaking and >> gn llarns. since yoeally i remember i used to write short, like, plays and make puppets out of, like, old socks and put them on for my family. i stopped around, i think, elementary because i didn't think i was, like, good enough. but ycp, when i joined ycp in middle school, i remember we had to write a script, and one of the mentors told me that he really liked my writing and that i should continue, and he sees my -- he sees me being something

in the film industry. that's what really got me going again into film. ♪ [ woman singing in spanish ] ♪ >> i apply to go to college and discovered that i was undocumented. many years later, i asked my mom why she didn't tell me straight up, and she said this line i steal from her all the time -- she said, "we didn't want you to feel different, because dreams should not have borders." define american and the norman lear center did a study on undocumented american representation on television, and what they discovered is that undocumented immigrants on tv are less likely to hold jobs, are less likely to be educated, and are more likely to commit crimes than their real-life american counterparts. and that just shows us that the

narrative of undocumented americans on tv is completely skewed. >> someday, i won't need to do a latino international film festival. that'll be the happiest day of my life. because everybody will be into watching films from all over the world, and, you know, they'll be celebrating the contributions of latinos, african latinos, africans, asians, and indigenous. we're trying to create lifelong learners. >> with the youth cinema project in particular, our goal is to send every student that we work with to college. as the latino film institute, we're trying to create the pipeline, the platform, and the launching pad from our community to the entertainment industry. ♪ i'm greg, i'm 68 years old. i do motivational speaking in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people.

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♪ >> i love being from puerto rico.

>> i love being from argentina. i love our traditions, from sipping maté, which is right here -- it's a traditional tea from argentina. we drink it a lot. and i love eating bananas, we eat a lot of meat, and we also love watching a good soccer match. >> the one thing i love about being mexican-american, about our culture, is the mere fact that so many people also enjoy it. they love our culture. i love it 'cause we can share it with people, be it food, be it music, be it dance. to me, that is a very good impact. >> latinos are the largest racial or ethnic group in the united states, with origins in more than 20 countries -- dominicans, guatemalans, hondurans, and venezuelans are the fastest-growing groups among

u.s. latinos. and with four in five latinos being u.s. citizens, their voting power is growing stronger. an estimated 32 million latinos are eligible to vote. latinos are also an entrepreneurial force, opening more small businesses than anyone else in the country. ♪ >> i love music! i love music. no doubt about that. because i'm born with music. my daddy, he was a musician since he was 14 years old, so i think i got the blood from there. [ woman singing in spanish ] in houston, i was the first promoter. all the famous groups, norteño, from mexico, they come work with me. not only houston. i went to a lot of towns in texas with all those groups. magnolia, i always think that it was good for my record shop. in 1968, i opened up the first memo record shop, and it was a wood house over here on 75th and

canal. i remodeled that house and making it look like a store, and it was the first memo record shop. then, i opened up this building in 1979 but in the same corner. the difference is the buildings. at that time, we sell the vinyl lps, the 45s. in the '70s, we come to 8-track. in the '80s, we come to cassettes. cassettes stayed for a long time. when the cd come out, that's what we sell now. and it looks like it's gonna disappear, too. we got so many customers who come from out of town because i'm the last record shop in houston. you know, in 52 years, only for the problem that we have now with the coronavirus, we close one day a week. but in 51 years, we would never close one day, and i worked every day, and i love it. ♪ when we started the business, there was not many artists like we have now. i remember, in 1968, we came in with norteño music, mariachi, and tejano music. so now we sell merengue, salsa, so many different kind of music.

besides that, we've got movies. if i don't have it, it's because it's not existing anymore. there's no more record shops. i'm the only one left. since the new technology, we have different customers. young people, they don't buy no more records. my customers now are from 40 years and up. customers are very important, because once they walk into the store, you have to say thank you because this is a privilege to anybody who walks into your business place. and i love to treat people right. i love that. i like treating them like they are my family. one of the most famous guitars in this place is one that's autographed by carlos santana. a lot of people take pictures of this guitar over here. it was 1971 when he makes the first record of juan gabriel. incredible. it's still got the label of my shop, which he was a hit all over central, south america, mexico, united states. ♪ my first love of music was my daddy. my father was a musician. he worked every day in the music business, playing different places and forums.

so the music comes from there. well, when i come to houston in 1956, i was not a promoter. i don't have anything. i was working in the produce market. i was driving a truck, and i delivered some huge boxes to the farmers. that was my first job in houston. i didn't come with a lot of money, but i come with a big dream. 52 years in business over here in magnolia. we never close, because when we move into this building, we move the merchandise in the night to the new building. i love it every day. every day, i walk and open the store, i say, "thank god. thank you for giving me some work, and thank you for giving me some help." every day i do the same thing. if you don't hear music here, i hear it in my house. but, i mean, music, for me, is my life. ♪ >> corn masa. soft dough inside. cheese, shredded beef, beans. there's fried plantains. here we go with the arepa de pabellon. this is a taste of venezuela.

papusas are tortillas mixed with masa flour. they use cheese and beans and mostly meats. >> [ speaking spanish ] >> and it's recognized by all salvadoreans everywhere you go. >> we are traditional mexican restaurant cooking. they will be directly made when you order. now we're ready to fill them up. we have our ground beef with potato that we call picadillo con papas. it's a favorite. ♪ >> my name is victor aguilera. i'm the chef and founder of arepas en bici. my signature dish would be the arepas de pabellon. that's not only my signature dish, but it's a venezuelan classic. right now, we're letting the dough rest. it's almost there. usually, if you leave it alone, it comes together. so, the corn masa that's used for arepa, i prefer to use white corn flour, and you can feel the different taste.

the texture will be a little different as well. masa is what's used for corn. it's pretty much dough. it's not only very cheap to acquire, in venezuela, we call it the poorest people's food. for the arepa, we make the dough, we make the disk, we flatten the disk. it's not as skinny as the papusa, because the papusa does inflate a little bit. and i think it's very important to stretch the knowledge of what the masa is, because not only is it a gluten-free option, the things that you can do with it, you know, you can fry, you can grill it. right now, i'm getting ready to flip the arepas. they've already cooked enough on one side. i've been doing arepas since i was 4 years old. my dad, he would only make it on sundays at home, and i would wake up early in the mornings, make arepas, and then bring them back to bed. i never really knew that i was gonna be an arepa chef 20 years later. when you think of latin american food, you automatically think of central america, which is tacos and mexican and salvadorean cuisine, not really south american cuisine. so i think it's very important,

at least for me, to keep showing, like, "hey, this is a part of my country, and i'm gonna keep it as traditional as i can." ♪ >> my grandmother started it in san francisco. it was born in mission. my grandmother taught everyone from my cousins to aunty, and now my mom teaches everyone. the papusa is a special dish. it's the essential dish of the salvadorean home, and you can have it any time. and most people will wonder where it is if you don't have it. we grab a ball of masa, we roll it up, and then we flatten it down, and then we get the ingredients, we put it inside, we close it up. the top will have a little bit left over. we toss that to the side, and then we flatten it down again and throw it on the grill. now we have a lot of regulars come, and they tell us how amazing the food is. >> [ speaking spanish ] >> yeah, she says that they're very different because papusas are closed, and they don't have cream inside, and the mexican gorditas are open.

>> my name is cecilia chairez arevalo, and i'm the owner of mi zacatecas mexican food. we make our own fresh handmade tortillas. they will be directly made when you order. you grab a little piece of masa, a piece of dough. what i try to do most with my food, too, is educate the people about the difference of mexican food. we use a little plastic, and we mash it with a plate like that. i always was in the kitchen with mom. mom always cooked these gorditas. like, i would take it when dad would go out to the field. you see now how it's getting, like, a little baggy? so, this is almost ready. make a little bag in there. you see now? this is where we're gonna fill it up with the stuff for the gordita. we have our ground beef with potato that we call picadillo con papas. it's in a red salsa, too. it's a favorite lunch. the kids love it. we always eat the food, so for me, it was to show something

that is so unique that i learned from mom. so i can keep her tradition going. >> i find it very important to follow these traditions, educate people on more latin american food. >> we hope that they're always comfortable here and making this place their home, too, 'cause they'll always find a little bit of el salvador here. ♪

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♪ >> the tapestry of the latino community in the united states is multifaceted and multiracial. afro-latinos of many cultural backgrounds celebrate their identities and let their voices be heard. in new york, a dominican activist and social entrepreneur is having her say, changing the world one curl at a time. ♪ >> i think, as black people and black women, we are taught since we're very little that we came

broken, and so we got to fix it. but why do you have to fix something that was never really broken? >> i'm dominican, so we naturally have curly hair, right? the beauty standard is to have slick, long hair. i was 9, and i got my hair permed. my dad was like, "i can't deal with your hair. send her to a salon. i want that hair straight," right? easy to manage. so, as i got older, i was managing my own hair, and it was just so hard and so frustrating. and about two years ago, i went fully natural. i came and i got my first big chop here. ♪ >> miss rizos started 10 years ago in the dominican republic. while being here, i decided to cut off all of my relaxed, straight hair in efforts to be practical, 'cause it's hot, humid. and then, also, and most importantly, because i wanted to embrace my identity and embrace what naturally came out of my scalp. a lot of women would stop me in santo domingo in the streets,

just asking me how i did it, where did i get the courage to cut it, and what products was i using. and so i was motivated to create an online platform where i could document all of the things that i was doing for my hair and simultaneously inspire and empower women to also go on this journey. people were traveling from all around the country, four, five, six hours, to my little apartment to just do their hair. and one thing led to the other, the project started growing, and it was kind of, like, the next thing, you know? and so i started the salon in the dominican republic, and we're in new york city. we're in washington heights as well. i go back and forth between the city and the dominican republic. >> my stepdaughters, they have really beautiful, curly hair. i feel like showing them that you can still look very nice and look very aesthetically pleasing with your hair curly is important, because when i was younger, i didn't have that. >> we cater to women with

natural hair and helping them embrace their natural beauty. all of our clients leave with a routine card where we put down any products that we've used on their hair, where we put down any recommendations that might help them, especially our transitioning clients, 'cause a lot of the work isn't just here in the salon, right? it's the at-home care. >> and that's what we teach them. through a hair pick or a brush or a product, there's a lot of power. ♪ with the curly-hair movement, i feel like there's definitely a racial shift when it comes to acceptance and when it comes to self-love. being proud of who you are and being proud of your connection to the diaspora, even. i think one of the reasons why it took a little longer to get here is because we do have less representation. dominicans are watching a lot of telenovelas from brazil or from venezuela, and there's no mainstream representation of the black woman as a beautiful woman. 10 years ago, when i started

this work, we weren't allowed to work at banks, and that's something i've been fighting for internally for many years in trying to change current policies, current acts of discrimination against women with curly hair. it's really important for me to also show up as a businesswoman and to also show up as a creator, because, again, it creates a reference for women and what they can accomplish and what they can do. just for some reference, the dominican salon is on the same street where our ancestors were once sold as slaves. and so i am a descendant of them. brown business owner, women business owner. and the same street that they were once considered property, i think it's just so powerful to have the name miss rizos on that street. i think it represents just resilience, and it represents, i think, me maybe, initially unconsciously but now very consciously, upholding their wildest dreams. ♪

>> miss rizos, i feel like they really focus on customer service and making you feel really comfortable, because when you start your natural-hair journey, it's very hard. >> changing the world one curl at a time embodies what we stand for and how we're allowing women to make that change for themselves. >> i'm a dominican black woman immigrant who's creating a space of employment for others in this beautiful safe haven for women, little girls, little boys, men, and everyone to come in and feel like they belong. ♪ >> i came to chicago in the year 2000. i was 23 years old, and i came to go to school, to the graduate school in fine arts at the school of the art institute of chicago, from puerto rico. humboldt park is amazing. it is, like, a thing beyond a vibrant puerto rican neighborhood. ♪ i didn't know this was a puerto rican neighborhood until i got here on division street.

i'm on the bus, coming west, and i saw those big flags, and i'm like, "what is happening in here?" ♪ my name is brenda torres-figueroa, and i'm afro-puerto rican. performance is an art form that work with identity politics and, you know, my way to kind of understanding a little bit more. in puerto rico, we are -- we kind of brag about being part of three cultures, right? a european culture that came, you know, in the 1600s, the taíno culture that is the native people of puerto rico, and then the african culture that they came, you know, through the transatlantic slave trade. it's a beautiful thing that we can have these kind of ambiguous kind of racial identity, but at the same time, in the dynamics of the island -- right? -- and society, sometimes that plays a difficult role. colorism -- that is a very big

thing in puerto rico as well as in latin america. and it's like, "oh, but she's -- you know, she's the good one," right? and all this idea of the binaries, good and bad, connected to color. and it's not just me because i'm a black puerto rican woman but, i mean, all of us. my grandmother, she taught me how to cook, so she's my -- my o.g. part of the conversations that we had, it was like she insisted of me, you know, marrying somebody -- right? -- that was lighter than me. i don't feel like she did it maliciously. it was just a reflection of her experience, right? and also colonization. and also of we internalize white supremacy. i have people, when i talk to them in spanish, they continue speaking to me in english because they cannot connect my visible identity with my actual identity. >> is that hurtful?

>> it is -- it is -- it is somehow hurtful, because i have, you know -- it's very difficult for -- to hear people, particularly in the community, kind of challenging the notions of who you want to identify as. i think being a performance artist, people don't have -- the audience don't have many other options than to look at you, right? and with that, the layers of constructions of ideas that they have of you, you have to challenge them. ♪

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♪ ♪

♪ >> she was detained in texas, and then she was deported. she turned right around, 'cause she was like, "i'm not staying here," and then established herself at the mexican border, just trying to get back to be with her kids. i just thought there was no way. i honestly thought it wouldn't be until we got the kids their green cards that then they would be able to go back and see her. alex was the one who really stepped in to take guardianship of his younger brothers. alex was only 19 at the time. he had also just gotten here, but with their mom having been deported, he was really the one. alex, mino, and eric had become sort of numb to the grief, and they wivg like, "okay.

this is what we have to live with just day by day." the conversations started between alex's mom's lawyer, las americas, that was representing her. they basically agreed to reopen her deportation case and let her in on humanitarian parole, which is basically a way to say, "okay. we're gonna let you in for these, like, extreme humanitarian reasons."

>> [ crying ] >> i am a proud latina. i'm also the co-founder of the united farm workers union with cesar chavez. the myth that we need to dispel is that somehow mexicans don't belong here, because we were here before the united states was the united states. we were americans before the united states of america was a country. the people of north america and south america, including our native americans, were the indigenous peoples of two continents. >> in mexico, there's about 68 indigenous languages recognized by the country. and in the state of oaxaca, there's 16 indigenous languages

and communities. people will talk about indigenous people in the history books like the aztecs, like the mayans, and they talk about the past a lot, but, you know, we're still present. our language has been around for more than 3,000 years. [ bell dings ] >> hola! buenos días. [ speaking spanish ] [ conversing in spanish ] >> my name is felix mendoza. i am from oaxaca, mexico. we opened sabor oaxaca restaurante last april, april 2020. we want everyone to know about the oaxaqueno food, about the oaxaqueno flavor. i am very proud of being an indigenous person from oaxaca. i'm a mixteco. ♪

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♪ >> as a third-generation mexican-american, i don't speak fluent spanish. it doesn't mean that i'm any less of a latina or any less of a person who is proud of their heritage and their culture. >> what i love most about our culture and heritage is our ability to build community wherever we go. >> what do i love about my culture? i love the music and the food, and i love the spirit and the drive of our people.

♪ ♪ >> so, we are here in the lower mission where i grew up, where i work, and where i organize. ♪ and that's the grocery store i grew up going to. ♪ my name is gabriela alemán, and i'm a digital illustrator. one of the pieces that i did, it was inspired by these fruit stands. i really like color, and i feel like this is where you can get a lot of those primary colors all in one. i really incorporate a lot of the things and places that i grew up going to into my work. ♪ i love painting and illustrating things around the neighborhood because i just think that even though, to some people, it's simple, to me, it's really beautiful, and there is so much

rich in what we have, even if we don't have a lot in other ways. i'm salvadorean and nicaraguan, raised here in san francisco's mission district. i also identify as a queer woman. and a lot of my experience and upbringing and just where i am today is based on that identity. smug morenita came out kind of by accident. smugness, i feel like, to me, means unapologetic, confident. and then, morenita is just kind of how i was referred to as a child. i did an illustration with disney+. i was part of their pride campaign. i picked belle, and so it was really cool to do my interpretation where she's brown. and i incorporated the pride flag in the flowers in front of her. and then, i included, as a little easter egg, the national bird for nicaragua and el salvador. as a child, i didn't really

relay my identity very much. i remember, there was one instance that, in class, when we were all saying how we identified, i saw that all the girls were saying they were chicana, and so i was like, "i'm chicana," and a young girl was like, "you're not chicana." and i was like, "well, what does that mean?" she was like, "you're not mexican-american." and i was like, "oh. i thought it meant, like, latina-american." and when i asked my dad what that meant, he was like, "it's 'cause you're nicaraguan and you're salvadorean." and i was like, "so, what does that make me?" and he was like, "central american," or, as he liked to call me, "you're a child of the americas." you know, "you're from central america, but you were born in the united states, but at the end of the day, you're a child of this continent." and that has always stuck with me, and that's really behind a lot of the work that i do. ♪ central america, it's always referred to as a space where there's only poverty, there's only violence, there's only repression. and even though those things may be true, it is not all that that community is encompassed of.

and joy is something that still exists. being half and half -- half salvadorean, half nicaraguan -- in itself is an identity crisis, because i never felt fully one or fully the other. [ men singing in spanish ] ♪ i dance nicaraguan folklore because it's one of the very few ways to have access to that part of my identity. when i'm in full, like, folklore gear of sorts, i feel really empowered. it's when i feel the most beautiful and the most present in community, and it's really exciting every time. , 18, erwaan anashrou thigroup, a tol onibutgmy way was to contribute illustrations and to sell them an community work. in early march, we were watching the news, and we were hearing about coronavirus abroad, and we

were like, "when this hits, we are gonna have to organize around our community." and we started making grocery bags. like, it was a state of emergency. mission meals started with $500 and a hundred tamales. and homey started with a few hundred, and now to be feeding thousands is really a testament to the power in being able to do stuff together as a neighborhood. the iconography, the cultural elements, all of that is important, but our community, latinos, like, women, central americans, like, we're multi-dimensional people. like, we don't just suffer, we don't just thrive and survive, we're, like, everyday people, and it's just important for me to highlight that those things are just as important. ♪

♪

>> we are a grassroots organization that started with spanish-speaking, latino, latinx medical professionals who believe that we had a responsibility to our community in particular, especially seeing initially how our rates were, not only with getting the vaccine but just prior to the vaccine the disproportionate effect it had on our black, brown, and latinx brothers and sisters, how covid really affected us, and we believe that we needed to get in there and do more. some of the larger hospital systems, even the cdc would say vaccine-hesitant. it was not vaccine-hesitant, it wanderstand because it's not presented in their language, in their culture, in an understanding or a way that really shows how it affects them and their family. i completely believe that if we hadn't had this partnership with that community outreach center that we do in pennsylvania, they probably wouldn't have gotten vaccinated.

>> the lack of health insurance is one of the most stark examples. in nearly all of the country's largest metros, latinos are uninsured at least twice the rate of white people. the largest disparity can be found in the durham/chapel hill metro, where 37% of latinos are whe op.it t reasooutreachof is so important in that region. ♪ [ motor whirring ] >> name is edgar vergaraillán. i am the pastor and executive director of iglesia la semilla. assistance, social support, and mainly working towards vaccine equity, educating our community members regarding the covid-19 vaccine and encouraging community members to receive the vaccine itself. [ speaking spanish ] i remember back in april of

2020, i was in one of these food-distribution drives, and i was -- i was by myself. i had a couple of volunteers coming, but i was by myself. and back then, there was so much food available, there weren't systems in place to get the food to the people. i was, you know, frustrated and stressed, and i remember praying, "god, it's time for that seed to sprout and grow." [ chuckles ] "we need some help, we need some people, you know?" and those seeds that had been planted have germinated, sprouted, and grown. [ speaking spanish ] we are here today in cary, north carolina. we are here to provide food assistance for community ooti, d theive a box of food and some other food items. they also receive a ppe kit, and ♪eiva cce.sked if they already

those members of our communities that do not have the documentation that allows them to receive unemployment benefits or stimulus moneys or other types of support were themselves at the front lines of essential work, hence they were at higher risk, and they suffered because of that. ♪ >> i was a nurse in mexico, and i was working for 10 years in a trauma hospital. and i love to work all the time with my community. >> the mission is personal, out of a sense of vocation. [ all speaking spanish ] ♪

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♪ >> thank you for joining us for "our america: todos unidos," for listening to these individual stories that showcase the diversity within so many of our communities. let's keep celebrating, let's keep learning, and let's keep telling our own stories. >> my message to my community and to america as a whole is that we are one. we are one race -- the human race. >> as a proud latina, i would just like to say, keep working, jente. what you're doing is amazing. your contributions to this wonderful country are not going unnoticed. so keep up the good work. >> sí se puede. you can make it happen. >> my message to america would be the same thing that i would tell latinos, is to be proud of who you are, wherever you are.

>> love the fact that our community can rally together around a birthday party, around a quinceañera, and around something as serious as covid. >> my message to america is, thank you. thank you for everything that you have given me, my family, as immigrants, as children of immigrants. >> i would tell america that latinos and the latinx diaspora at large are an undeniable part of the social fabric of this country, and that the sooner we all got on the same page about that, the better. >> i celebrate and embrace my african roots and identity through many different ways of expression, through my -- not only what i create as an artist but also through my cooking, also as well through my storytelling, and also through different mediums. >> is that -- is that it? [ both laugh ] ♪ etr bay

ng forward, nding solutions. 4, 3, 2, 1. [cheering] >> there it is. goodbye 2020 one, hello 2022. new year's celebrations still went on and scaled back because of the pandemic. bay area residents sharing what they hope for in the new year. good morning, everybody. it is saturday, january 1. happy new year to all of you. you are watching abc 7 news at 6:00 a.m. here on abc seven, hulu live, and wherever you stream. let's start with a quick look at the bay area forecast with meteorologist lisa argen. happy new year's to you. lisa: happy new year. and you only want a quick look because it is really cold out this morning.

i had to find something to scream my car off. there is a freeze warning until 9:00 this morning for the north bay interior valleys where temperatures drop into the 20's and lower 30's. so hopefully you have protected sensitive plants and pipes and of course the animals. current numbers look like this, low 30's in santa rosa, 30 san ramon, 30 one livermore, 33 palo alto, and temperatures continue to drop for the next couple hours. two to seven degrees colder than yesterday. nobody at the golden gate bridge. it will be a frosty star through 9:00. upper 40's to near 50. a lot of sunshine, another cool afternoon, not as breezy. another cold night but hopefully not as cold. we will talk about rain chances returning for your commute monday. liz: thank you. it really is cold out. it was a quieter new year's celebration with fewer out in san francisco because of the

firework show being canceled. tim johns went out to see how people celebrate it anyway to ring in the new year. tim: as the bay area gears up to celebrate the end of 2021, new year's eve celebrations were unusually quiet. normally the embarcadero would be packed with people but after the city canceled their fireworks display for the second year in a row, many had to find a different way to reenter the new year. >> people need to be reminded there is a reason to celebrate. it is hard -- it is easy to get caught up in the drama going on in the world right now. >>twer park restaurant, they were busy friday, preparing to welcome their first guests for a sold-out new year's menu. staff told us they provide a fun but safe evening. >> everyone has to be masked when they come in, checking vaccines and eyes when they come in, staff fully maasked the entire time. tim: others wanted to bring in the new year anymore subdued

way. >>