The Wall Las Memorias team works to bring health care, education and support to underserved communities throughout LA.
The Wall Las Memorias team works to bring health care, education and support to underserved communities throughout LA.
On the northern edge of Lincoln Park lies a collection of painted walls whose panels depict six murals with more than 360 names etched into the stone. They are the names of individuals who have died from AIDS.
In 2004, the Las Memorias AIDS Monument became the first publicly funded AIDS monument in the country. While the walls stand as memorials to those who have lost their lives to AIDS throughout the years, the organization behind the monument continues to help members of LA’s underserved communities today.
The Wall Las Memorias was founded in 1993 by Richard Zaldivar to provide health and wellness programs and services to Latino, LGBTQ and other populations that are often overlooked regarding health care. The nonprofit offers HIV prevention and testing as well as substance abuse prevention services, using education and advocacy to inform DTLA’s next generations.
“Our community has elected political leaders, and then we have people who lead us in what’s called civil society,” Councilman Gil Cedillo said. “Richard is one of those leaders. He operates at the highest level of professionalism and competency.”
Cedillo recalled that, back in 1993 when he was a leader at the health care union SEIU Local 660, he received a letter about the concept of The Wall Las Memorias and called Zaldivar.
“Richard answered the phone and we proceeded into this conversation about social justice, creating monuments and memorials about the devastation in the ’80s, and its impact on our community and about the need for Latinos to have this space.
“All the things that we’re talking about today were heresy, were controversial, were unheard of. And Richard led us that way. … Come The Wall and the controversy to building it and our need to broaden our coalition, to think about our Latino community, to respect the cultural values that come but also to understand that we have to step forward and lean into these challenges.
“I’m so proud of the monument today. When people come from other countries, and I host people frequently, I take them there. It’s a place of respite, a place of dignity, a place of respect and a place where our families can be proud.”
While Cedillo finds pride in what the monument represents, California state Senator María Elena Durazo added that its construction was no simple feat, as it was heavily opposed by many members of the community who vocalized their hatred toward the idea outside of a city council meeting in Lincoln Heights.
“The folks who were opposed to The Wall, they weren’t just homophobes. They were violent. They were threatening,” Durazo said. “It was quite an experience to go through that in the ’90s in LA when you think about those stories being way back, like in the ’50s or ’40s in the south, but that’s what was going on here. I think what they were afraid of is the power of this community … but it was hard work to go and talk to people one by one, to organize and bring that consciousness because we know that taking something on like HIV requires our entire community.”
The core of The Wall Las Memorias’ mission is to provide access to health care, whether it’s testing, counseling or support, to every member of their communities across LA, from their office in Boyle Heights to their Downtown hub.
“We’re fighting for health care for everybody,” Durazo said. “It doesn’t matter who you love. It doesn’t matter what your immigration status is or your gender. What matters is you’re a human being and you deserve the right to health care, period.
“We’re going to end the HIV epidemic. We’re going to end it, and we’re going to give health care access to everybody. We’ve come a long way … and we’ve got to keep doing this work.”
Amid a reported increase in meth use and addiction across LA county, The Wall Las Memorias recently began providing crystal meth prevention services on July 1 and recently concluded the Act Now Against Meth coalition, which gathered over 20 community organizations to work together for two years to help reduce meth addiction and overdose. The coalition’s community engagement model was even recognized by the National Academy of Medicine as one of the best practices for community engagement.
“The work of The Wall now is not only a model in terms of policy, but it’s also moral leadership and the type of leadership that’s essential for us to engage in,” Cedillo said. “So when somebody talks about bodily autonomy and everybody should be able to do drugs, that’s irresponsible because they don’t think that there’s going to be a baby born in the hospital tomorrow likely to be abandoned because of the impact of drugs on people’s rationality and the impact on their brain and their ability to make rational decisions, that there will be Latino babies born tomorrow left and abandoned with meth in their system.
“This fight against meth is a fight for today, but it’s a fight for the future. It’s a fight for our children. It’s a fight for our community.”
By serving low-income and hard-to-reach communities across LA and raising awareness about HIV and AIDS, substance-abuse prevention, mental health stigma, and transgender and nonbinary health and wellness, The Wall Las Memorias has served as both a safe place where people of all backgrounds can seek support and education as well as an organization fighting for social change.
“The fight for justice is one that transcends borders, one that is ongoing and perpetual,” Cedillo said. “And we will be there for you.”
The Wall Las Memorias
WHERE: 800 W. Sixth Street, Suite 750, Los Angeles
HOURS: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday
INFO: thewalllasmemorias.org
Arts District, Kevin de León, City Council Candidate, Election Night Celebration, March 3, 2020.
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