When UC Santa Cruz wanted to make their 54th annual Chicane Latiné Year-End Celebration unforgettable, they didn’t just book a speaker—they brought home a superstar with deep roots in the region.
Becky G showed up at East Field on Sunday not just as a world-renowned singer, but as a proud Chicana California native ready to talk real with 450 graduates and over 2,000 family members about what it actually means to belong. Her message hit hard:“We simply were not meant to go through this life alone. It’s in the community we share today, where we can proudly celebrate ourselves and each other, that we fill our hearts, recharge our souls, and remind one another that we are part of something bigger.”
But here’s what made her keynote land differently than your typical graduation speech. Becky G connected her words to her own family story in the most direct way possible. Her great-great-grandfather, Alejandro Martin Perez, emigrated from Tepatitlán, Jalisco, Mexico, and worked picking strawberries in the fields of Watsonville—just down the coast from where she was speaking. He lived to 107 and was later given the key to the city of San Juan Bautista before his death in 1999. That’s not abstract inspiration; that’s blood memory. That’s showing up to tell graduates: your roots matter, your family’s sacrifice matters, and you’re standing exactly where you’re supposed to be.
The specificity was deliberate. Before she spoke, Becky G spent time with UCSC professors and staff learning about the graduating class. That homework showed. She didn’t phone in platitudes about following your dreams—she tackled the real psychological warfare graduates face: the feeling that there’s only one seat at the table and it’s not for you. Her response was uncompromising:“We instead should be asking what table are they talking about? Because not our table. We dance on our tables. Everyone eats at our tables.”It’s a small rhetorical shift, but it reframes the entire power dynamic. She wasn’t asking permission for her community’s existence; she was asserting it.
Chancellor Cynthia Larive recognized Becky G’s impact by presenting her with the Chancellor’s Medal for her artistry and advocacy for underrepresented communities. But the real moment came after—when Becky G stayed to hand diploma covers to all 450 graduates personally and take photos with each one. That’s not the move of someone checking a box. That’s someone who meant what she said about community.
Co-speaker Olga Talamante, a longtime human rights advocate, brought her own powerful perspective, reflecting on her journey from working in the fields in Gilroy to becoming an internationally recognized organizer. Her words to the Class of 2026 echoed the same theme:“My family was here with me when I went through my graduation ceremonies in 1973. It was in the middle of harvest season, but they left the empty buckets of prunes, the baskets of garlic, the boxes of strawberries, to fill them instead with hope, with dreams come true, with love, as you fill the hearts of your families.”Two speakers, different generations, same unshakeable truth—that sacrifice and community are inseparable from success.
About the Author
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
