Political & Civic Engagement

Ed Idar


By Liliana Martinez

When Ed Idar was a teenager living in Buenos Aires, a neighborhood in Laredo, Texas, he never thought he’d volunteer as a civilian for Station X in England, and go to India and China while in the Army.

"I came to realize how big the world was, how many societies and cultures there are in this world," Idar said. "Seeing poverty makes you wonder, ‘Why can't we do things to help people?’"

And it was his thirst for helping others that pushed him to devote much of his life to working for the Mexican American community.

Joe David Casillas


By Nora Ramirez

World War II is over, but the fight against discrimination is far from finished for Joe Casillas, a WWII veteran who lives in San Diego.

His father, Felix Ledesma Casillas, was a migrant worker who came from Jalisco, Mexico in 1914 and worked in copper mines. Working conditions were terrible so he decided to move, buy land, and build a house.