'We’re Trying to Create the Village Again'

SALINAS, Calif.—On a recent Friday, Israel Villa had a lesson to share with the young adults at his office downtown: the meaning of the word palabra. It’s a core concept of la cultura cura, which is Spanish for “culture cures”—the principle that there’s a modern need to teach traditions indigenous to Latin America. Palabra, which translates to “word,” stands for integrity and connection.

And for speaking up for yourself, Villa added, looking to the youthful black and brown faces looking back at him. “It’s a tool that is needed. We should not be suppressed. In village cultures, where community was concerned, everyone was sacred,” he went on. “Everyone was approached like they had power.”

Villa, age 39, is a program assistant at MILPA, a nonprofit group designed, in part,