Ortiz, Ph.D., is a professor of Chicano and Chicana Studies at San Diego State University and was inducted into the Stanford Alumni Multicultural Hall of Fame. He lives in the College Area.

When Maria Velasquez approached me to take part in the San Diego Latino Legacy project, I was willing to participate because of its focus — the history of local Chicanos and other Latinos — but also because it provided an unprecedented, invaluable opportunity to illuminate a rich, complex and largely unknown history of a community that has refused to become victims and struggled for full citizenship.

This project involves scholars who have studied different aspects of the history of Latinos in San Diego, and it also encompasses community perspectives and voices. So we not only have the scholarly perspective, but we have the lived experience.