[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]n two neighborhoods of metropolitan Los Angeles, a group of Indigenous Mexicans from Oaxaca are organizing and practicing their traditions of mutual aid among their own communities. Known in Zapoteco variants as gotzona or guelaguetza (Sierra Juarez and Central Valleys Oaxaca, respectively), it is the practice of reciprocal exchange and looking out for one another.
Even though they are over 2,000 miles away from where this year-round practice started in Oaxaca in Mid-City Los Angeles, the group of indigenous Angelenos maintain the generous tradition in the U.S. Recently, the receivers have been the most underserved and underfed communities hardest hit by the pandemic.
According to a March 2021 report by the California Employment Development Department and U.S. Census Bureau, unemployment in the City of L.A. was at 10.6 percent. Most who filed for unemployment since the first City lockdown in March 2020 were BIPOC communities at 65.3 percent where women (6.4 percent) filed more than men, and younger workers between the age of 25 to 34 had the highest recorded unemployment than years before (WDACS). There is some sense of momentary food relief where multiple small businesses are popping up their grills, charcoal, table, and tablecloths!
Yeaj Yalhalhj, is a Zapotec family-owned and run flower shop on Pico Boulevard in Mid-City LA. Aside from selling flowers, you can also find traditional clothing, jewelry, and other artisanal creations from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. In the Pico-Union area, sisters Anahi and Melina, organize and distribute fresh produce bags full of produce as part of the Veggie Mijas BIPOC womxn-led collective in front of their mom’s business, Royalty Cleaners, also located on Pico Boulrvard.