“Nosotros queremos unos taquitos allí en la esquina,” said Jesus Ortiz Paz, lead singer of the Mexican regional group Fuerza Regida during their tour announcement event on Tuesday. “We want some tacos from the corner you know.”
The group from San Bernandino California kicked off its U.S. tour by giving back to hardworking street vendors who line the streets of Los Angeles. They donated a total of $20,000 to the CA Street Vendors Campaign.
Inclusive Action for The City who was present alongside street vendors said in a post on Instagram that the money will go toward the campaign and will support its efforts to make sure that all local and state street vending laws are implemented to help street vendors flourish.
Vendors who were in attendance danced and chanted while they waited for the group to come out.
They played Fuerza Regida’s and Grupo Frontera’s latest hit song “Bebe Dame” on their phones while holding signs that read “Los vendedores abulantes apoyan a Fuerza Regida.” “Street Vendors Support Fuerza Regida.”
The vendors that often chant “Se Ve Se Siente El Pueblo Está Presente” or “You See It You Feel It The People Are Present” at protests changed their chant to:
“Se ve se siente Fuerza Regida está presente” (“You See It You Feel It Fuerza Regida Is Present”)
At the event, Rudy Espinoza of Inclusive Action for The City gave his thanks to the band and to Rancho Humilde for collectively donating the money in an effort to support street vendors in their fight towards making street vending 100% legal.
“All the street vendors that are here have fought for many years to legalize street vending in Los Angeles,” he said in Español to the group. “I want to thank Jimmy Humilde and Fuerza Regida because there's a lot of problems in this city and vendors know this and we need artists like you that can tell the stories of our communities.”
As for why Fuerza Regida wanted to donate to vendors in Los Angeles it’s simple, the group expressed having deep ties to the street vending community. They all grew up with street vendors around them and they respect people wanting to work hard to feed their families. In an interview with Remezcla, it was noted that even Rancho Humilde’s CEO Jimmy Humilde was a taco vendor in Inglewood for around 14 years.
“It’s not about the donation. It’s about supporting the vendors. The donation is the least of it,” Ortiz Paz told Remezcla a day after the donation. “We want to see our people support the street vendors. I know most of them are Mexican… but if they’re Black, white, whatever, support street vendors because since we’ve been little, we’ve been buying from street vendors. It’s a normal thing. And we don’t like that they’re just harassing these people.”
If you are looking to support street vendors and their efforts visit: castreetvendors.org/donate
