Paloma Aguirre is a young Latina woman who is from San Francisco, who now resides in Imperial Beach and is an IB City Council member. Topic or details that Paloma shares is her origins of being a binational/cultural woman, first-generation, whose family is from Nayarit/Jalisco and living in the United States. Paloma shares that she came to live in Imperial Beach around the 2000s to explore her hobby of surfing and fell in love with the waves. She has lived in IB, worked here, and studied in San Diego. It was her passion of surfing that she got into conservation by becoming an activist as to how water pollution affects IB and its residents. Also, Paloma mentions that it was eye-opening for her, which catapulted her to run for City Council in IB to advocate for her community which is largely Latino/a/x. Lastly, this interview covers how Paloma manages her elected office position while “wearing many other hats” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Topics covered are: binational identity, race, class, gender, marine conservation, environmental justice, Imperial Beach residents, inequities, Imperial Beach City Council, housing and food relief, Covid-19, mutual aid, San Diego/Tijuana region.
I met Paloma through a San Ysidro High School teacher, my community partner. This interview was conducted on via Zoom in order to practice social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The interview was conducted by Jeanine Santacruz Hernandez, a fourth year History major at UCSD who is interested in archiving oral histories and becoming a librarian in the future.
