UH Manoa student event celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month through lowriding

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – UH Mānoa students are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with an event showcasing lowriding, culture and community.

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Vice President of Latinos Unidos Julian Pacheco, President of Black Student Association Ariel Hall and Dr. Ruben E. Campos III, a faculty and student service specialist at UH Mānoa, joined Hawaii News Now Sunrise to discuss the event and the importance of celebrating diverse cultures.

“Hawaii Side Story: Lowriders Culture and Community,” will take place October 15th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Legacy Path.

The event will bring together live vehicle builders and their cars, creating opportunities for student and scholar interviews and conversations about lowriding’s cultural significance.

Organizers say lowriding represents a significant intersection of Latinx and local visual art, cultural expression and community history.

“The focus of this event is to bring connections between Latino car culture and local car culture,” Pacheco said. “We thought bringing it here would be especially important.”

Latinos Unidos and other campus organizations are collaborating to recognize the communities where lowriding has a strong presence and explore the cultural connections that bring people together.

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Hall said these partnerships have developed naturally through students’ shared experiences and familiarity with one another.

“I’d say it comes from all of us growing up within each other’s cultures,” Hall said. “It comes quite naturally to us. We’ve had a couple of collaboration events in the past. We did a Super Bowl watch party for the Bad Bunny halftime show this past semester, and we also had a karaoke night with Native Hawaiian Student Services, Latinos Unidos, and the Black Student Association. We’re pretty familiar with each other.”

Campos emphasized that these connections create opportunities for students, faculty and staff to celebrate their backgrounds and learn from one another.

“These connections are happening whether we’re ready for them or not,” Campos said. “Our students, faculty, and staff are here and want to celebrate together and enjoy each other’s cultures. Those important ways of connecting are there for us to take advantage of.”

By bringing together Latinx and local car cultures, organizers hope to highlight the shared histories, creativity, and community ties that connect people across backgrounds.

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For more information on how to get involve, visit their Instagram.