Chicano Activist and Hollywood Film Producer Moctezuma Esparza lectured students about his life and work as a Chicano activist on Monday, May 1.

“I want you to get that it is possible, not only possible but in fact your obligation to become successful in life, and to achieve whatever potential you can,” Esparza said.

As a series of lectures and events celebrating Chicano Culture on campus, Esparza talked about his beginnings as an activist and the co-founding of MEChA.

“I think its really important to remember your roots and background and have other cultures learn about it,” Nalley Gutierrez, 21, social worker, said.

Esparza has been the only Chicano producer who has worked continuously for forty years, producing movies in Hollywood at a high level.

“Hollywood is still probably at this moment the most exclusionary industry in the United States,” Esparza said. “And this has a lot to do with the core issues of identity and power media controls in this country.”

He was one of the founders of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán(MEChA) in UCLA during the 1960’s, along with other college students alike developed 36 demands to take the board of education. They fought for civil rights and equality of Mexican Americans.

“When he explained his experiences, all his accomplishments and his triumphs I kind of lived that out and gave me hope and inspirations to go through and accomplish my goals and that my goals are very attainable” Marcus Mossette, 23, Biology said. “I definitely, definitely will go to more, this was awesome.”