It all started back in 2001 …
when a group of Latinos and non-Latinos met at a house party during our early 20’s
and late teens. Most of us had been isolated from the Latino culture due to the lack of Latinos @ UC Berkeley.
We all had the desire to get involved with this amazing culture so we started to organize events to socialize with each other.

At first it was only social, but it turned out to be more educational for most of us. We learned political,
social, racial, economical issues regarding Latin America during our late party nights. We used an email list
titled latinos-a-morir to communicate ideas, events, etc. It then became almost a web social forum.

During our time at Cal, we tried to organize social events and invite all the Latino culture loving people. Most of the original members of LAM don’t live in the bay area anymore, some are in Colombia, NY, China, DC, Spain, Michigan,
Denmark, etc.

On my return to Berkeley, I wanted to re-create the tradition of LAM social events. I started hosting events
at my house, followed by an event at Rael’s place, but it became too complicated
and expensive (cleaning the house before and after the event, buying all the food and drinks, getting noise
compliants, limited capacity, etc!).

My goal, at first, was to be able to have social events at convenient places accessible to all Latino lovers without
the hazzle of a house event. Later on, we started organizing more social events with a theme (social dinners,
fundraisers, parties, etc.)

My new goal is to increase the members of this organization so that each one of us can benefit by meeting
people from different backgrounds. In addition, I would enjoy it if we could have a group of LAM in various cities
across the US and then the world. Wouldn’t that be something? So far, we have managed to start LAM social groups in San
Francisco and New York.

I hope to see you at the events!

Giovanni Gonzalez
Founder, Latinos A Morir

Popularity: 9% [?]