AS SAY ER OF STUDENT OPINION
THE UNI V ERSIT Y OF TE X A S AT EL PA S O
August 1, 2025
THEPROSPECTORDAILY.COM
NEWS Page 3
ARTS & CULTURE Page 6
SPORTS Page 9
Blasting off with success at the IREC
Traveling through El Paso’s coffee scene
Leveling Up: The Ride of esports in El Paso
Digital Summer Edition Photo from The Prospector Archive
All in it together B MIA COLMENERO Y CONTRIBUTOR • THE PROSPECTOR
Through art, messages can be conveyed in various ways. Tim Z. Hernandez explores his form of art by writing books and now a film to tell a story about deportees dying in a plane crash, conveying the message that we all have the same fate no matter our race. Hernandez is a creative writing professor at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and an author, publishing eight books and notably writing “They Call You Back.” He is now a director of a documentary based off his latest book “All They Will Call You.” The story revolves 15 years of research behind this plane crash that killed 28 Mexicans and four Americans in 1948. Hernandez became the voice of many families who were affected by this unknown tragedy. Originally from San Joaquín Valley, Hernandez grew up in a community built by farm workers, including his family, spending his early years surrounded by campesinos. Through his upbringing, it inspired him to create the film that reminded him of his own identity. “I grew up in the field as a kid
and saw injustices that were happening,” Hernandez said. “When we come from families whose parents are working class, humble people, we also see the times they’re silenced, they don’t feel they have the power to speak up.” Deportations are not a brandnew concept, especially in the uprising of current political events. Hernandez traces deportations from the 1930s during the “Mexican Repatriation Act” which deported 600,000 to two million people. “What’s happening today is exactly what was happening then, which is racial profiling. They’re not even looking if you’re a U.S. citizen or not,” Hernandez said. “They’re just checking if you’re brown, then they will take you away. I remember thinking, that can never happen, that was back then it couldn’t happen again.” This subject came to Hernandez in 2010 while reading a newspaper while doing research. Learning that this tragedy happened close to home when living in California, Hernandez found a mass number of graves of Mexicans without names. “It didn’t sit well with me, see DOCUMENTARY on page 4
Director Tim Hernandez inspects the set while he is in production for “All They Will Call You: The Documentary”. Photo courtesy of Tim Hernandez.
Interviewing the individuals, Hernandez films two family members whom recall how they remembered their late loved ones. Photo courtesy of Tim Hernandez.