理查德T. 卡斯特罗

This legendary alum and Hispanic leader's legacy of transformation lives on.

On April 13, 2015, 24 years to the day of 理查德T. 卡斯特罗’s death from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 44, St. Cajetan’s Event Center was packed with friends, family and a veritable who’s who of Colorado’s Latino community: Ken Salazar, 前你.S. secretary of the interior; Federico Peña, former 丹佛 mayor and U.S. secretary of transportation and of energy; Polly Baca, Colorado’s first Hispanic woman senator, 还有很多其他的.

Testimonials about 卡斯特罗 poured out. Many speakers recalled how he goaded them to pursue higher education, run for office and organize to fight injustice.

“Education’s role in our society cannot be minimized … It is quite probably the most critical investment a people can make.——理查德·T. 卡斯特罗

Peña says it was 卡斯特罗 who encouraged him to run for the state legislature initially. “He was always by my side,” Peña said. “He brought so many of us along with him.”

卡斯特罗 transferred to what was then Metropolitan State College of 丹佛 in 1967, just two years after the college was founded. 那是一段令人兴奋的时光. Inspired by the civil rights movement and Latino leaders such as 丹佛’s Corky Gonzalez, 密歇根州立大学丹佛’s Latino students banded together as United Mexican American Students (UMAS), a national activist organization that was gaining momentum on campuses at the time.

Passionate and newly awakened to the economic and racial disparities in American culture, 卡斯特罗 joined UMAS — he met his wife, 维吉尼亚(B.A. 行为科学(1971), at a meeting — and worked tirelessly to recruit other Latinos to attend school. He and his friends flocked to sociology professor Daniel Valdes’ classes, where they learned that many of the social issues facing their families and friends stemmed from wrongs perpetrated on Latinos dating back generations.

Some people say it was at 密歇根州立大学丹佛 that 卡斯特罗 encountered many of the people and ideas that informed the social activism that defined his life. After earning his master’s in social work with an emphasis in community organization from the University of 丹佛, he went on to fulfill many roles: student activist, 社会工作者, 社区组织者, 州议员, opponent of English-only legislation, 导师, Chicano studies instructor (at 密歇根州立大学丹佛), director of 丹佛’s Agency for Human Rights and Community Relations … and visionary.

An enormous proponent of education and the power of history to inspire and promulgate change, 卡斯特罗 was working on a history of Colorado Hispanic legislators at the time of his death. To honor 卡斯特罗’s commitment to Latino culture and education — and inspire coming generations of Latino students — 密歇根州立大学丹佛 launched the 理查德T. 卡斯特罗 Distinguished 访问ing Professorship, which brings renowned Latino and Latina artists to campus to speak, 表演和授课, educating the community about what is possible when people gather, realize their potential and embrace their culture.

Since 1997 the professorship has hosted author Carlos Fuentes, humorist and art collector Richard “Cheech” Marin, writer Sonia Nazario and columnist Gustavo Arellano, 在许多其他方面.

在最近的卡斯特罗纪念仪式上, Salazar acknowledged the part 卡斯特罗 played in his political life and in advancing the Latino community, but observed that 卡斯特罗’s fight for justice continues.

“Rich’s vision that we are equal and that our culture and history are second to none — we are still in the struggle for that reality.”