If you stand up for social justice or something that is right, people will stand up and fight for you, and they will help you try to reach your goals - Sylvia Mendez

We weren’t being taught to be smart. We were being taught how to be maids and how to crochet and how to quilt

What I tell my students is that they must persevere, and my mother always told me we are children of god and we deserve to be treated equally,” Mendez said during her speech. “Yes, we still have racism and prejudice, but we must persevere.

I was seeing this beautiful [white] school, large concrete courtyard, a beautiful playground,” she says. “I thought, ‘I know what they’re fighting for. They’re fighting so I can go to that beautiful school and have a playground.’