Assemblymember Joaquín Arámbula honored with 2021 Ohtlí Award at the Consulate of México in Fresno
When Assemblymember Joaquín Arámbula took the podium to accept the 2021 Ohtlí Award at the Consulate of México on Nov. 12, he talked about the injustices he saw firsthand as an emergency room doctor in Selma and how those experiences shaped the work he does at the state level for the community he now represents.
“It was in that service working on the front lines of health care that I saw an injustice firsthand. It was there working in the emergency department that I saw what occurs to our communities, to our immigrant brothers and sisters,” said the 44-year-old Arámbula, who represents the 31st assembly district which includes the southern and western Fresno County.
The Ohtlí is awarded by the Mexican government through the Institute of Mexican Abroad, to those individuals who devoted their work to the advancement of the Mexican community.
“We saw those disparities bear outs during this last pandemic, but they existed long before this pandemic ever began,” said Arámbula. “And so we must call out and acknowledge that we live in a community that is desperate for comprehensive immigration reform. And so it’s with that spirit that I champion and stand up for our immigrant communities.”
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Arámbula, who was born in Delano and grew up in Fresno where he went public schools, attended the ceremony with his wife and three children as well as with his parents, Amy and Juan Arámbula.
“Because when you see what occurs to our immigrant brothers and sisters, when you see what happens to our lifespans within our communities, it would inspire you to want to do more as well,” said Arámbula, who graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine and the University of Minnesota Medical School, returning to Fresno to work as a doctor in the Central Valley.
This year, head consul Adriana González presented the award to Arámbula, whose efforts have been focused on the empowerment of the Mexican community in the Central Valley, including promoting access to health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What he did in the state legislature this year was very, very significant,” said Dolores Huerta of Arámbula’s work to pass a bill which would provide medical healthcare access to people 55 years and up regardless of their immigration status.
The 91-year-old Latina icon, who also received the Ohtlí award in 1998, delivered a congratulatory message to Arámbula, who was first elected in 2016 and is the first Latino physician elected to the Assembly.
“His degree to serve the public, to serve the poorest of the poor. That is what makes Dr. Joaquín Arémbula different from many, many other people,” Huerta said.
Arámbula’s father, a former state Assembymember, said his son “continues to fight for the rights of everyone, especially farmworkers and immigrants” during special remarks on the awardee.
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Fresno City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria said Arámbula is a leader who is “willing to stand up and fight” for the community.
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias thanked Arámbula “for not being a status quo-elected official. Thank you for giving us the additional work and to the rest of you. You now have a doctor within the ranks of the kind of special people that México produces and the United States benefits from.”
“And so, it’s with those who we worked with on the front lines doing vaccine clinics. It was those who we were working side by side to do food distributions, and it was the 50,000 people who I saw firsthand in the emergency department who inspired me to want to give back to our immigrant communities,” said Arámbula.
“That’s my WHY. That’s why I fight so hard because I see the human beings, I see the people in my community who are starving for resources. I see the rural communities and our poor communities who need help and need people who are standing up for them,” said Arámbula. “That’s what I was taught to do, and that’s the way in which I serve right now.”
Besides Arámbula and Huerta, the Ohtlí award has been given to: late Judge Armando Rodríguez, (2002); Teresa de la Rosa (2006); late Betty Rodríguez (2009); Luz Elava Gonzalez (2010); Dr. Joseph Castro (2016), Lupita Lomelí (2017); Raúl Moreno (2018) and Margarita Rocha (2020).
