Seeing the words “Santa Ana vs. Everybody” on a T-shirt, the average person might think it’s a hostile catchphrase created to divide the city from other people. But for Benjamin Vasquez, the meaning is more political than confrontational. “Some people are like, ‘Oh, my god, this is so violent,’ but why don’t [they] ask me about the kids who are deported that [they] never stood up for or the 50 percent of kids who aren’t graduating from school?” he asks.
The man knows what he’s talking about: He’s a teacher at Valley High School, a volunteer with El Centro Cultural de México, an event organizer and a lifelong santanero. This infernal rag has reported Vasquez’s previous efforts to combat the heavy stream of youth deportations, poverty and gentrification affecting the city beneath its image of hipster-friendly hotspot. He coined “Santa Ana vs. Everybody” as a hashtag playing off the Eminem song “Detroit vs. Everybody” (itself a riff on a popular Motor City boast). The hashtag took off, and Vasquez decided to print the words on T-shirts so santaneros can wear their pride on the outside. He also printed shirts that say, “Santa Ana Looks Like This,” hoping to dispel the stereotype that SanTana is riddled with “fighting gangster cholos.”
The shirts will be sold for $20 each as a fund-raiser to benefit El Centro at the Música en Movimiento Art and Music Festival. The event, which Vasquez helped to organize, will include bands, poets, live artists, dancers, public speakers and vendors. Vasquez doesn’t discount the possibility of producing more shirts in the future, but for now, they’re offered this Saturday only. So go support Vasquez and El Centro in their mission to bring more culturally relevant, socially conscious events to their beloved city.
Música en Movimiento Art and Music Festival at El Centro Cultural de México, 313 N. Birch St., Santa Ana; elcentroculturaldemexico.org. Sat., 1 p.m. $5 suggested donation.
Aimee Murillo is calendar editor and frequently covers film and previously contributed to the OCW’s long-running fashion column, Trendzilla. Don’t ask her what her favorite movie is unless you want to hear her lengthy defense of Showgirls.