Eunisses and her mother, Leticia. During elementary and middle school, she was an exemplary student, getting good grades. Her mother was an example to follow.
It was the year 2008 and the recession was impacting the country, hitting working-class neighborhoods the hardest, neighborhoods like the one where now-councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez lived.
“It was very hard, not only for our family but for our friends and neighbors. My mom had to pawn her jewelry and rent out rooms in our house to keep paying for it. It got us out of a tight spot but also put us in a difficult environment,” says the current councilwoman for District 1.
Many years later, Eunisses was able to retrieve the jewelry from that pawn shop and return it to her mother Leticia, as if it were a symbol of giving back all those years she had cared for and raised her during her childhood and adolescence.
“My mom was very hardworking, but she could only manage to pay the monthly pawn fee to avoid losing the jewelry. When I gave them back to her, I surprised her, so there was a lot of emotion when I handed them over,” she says.
The councilwoman has been known for her meteoric career and significant impact. She is fully committed to the community and is not afraid to talk about issues that make people uncomfortable. For her, there are no half measures; she says and votes according to what she believes.
“I have seen many things firsthand, people I know in jail, the damage from drugs, the way rent increases have impacted our community, and the homelessness problem. No one can tell me otherwise because I have seen each of these issues affect people close to me,” says the councilwoman.
During elementary and middle school, she was an exemplary student, getting good grades. But upon entering high school, her life took a turn that led her down the wrong path for a short time.
“Many things were happening, my parents divorced, the 2008 crisis, there was instability in my life. I got lost for a while. Then I reconsidered. I realized I had to change, build something, I owed it to my mom and my younger brother,” she says.
“We have a progressive block that puts us in a good position depending on what we vote on.” (with councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez)
For Eunisses, the year and a half she has been on the City Council has been a learning experience. After having various involvements in activism, she was now part of the other side, the government, which she had always confronted.
“When I entered college, I already had experience with the social injustices in our society. In classes, I realized there was data and vocabulary that supported my desire to fight alongside the community,” she says.
After leaving college, she contemplated joining the police force. “I thought I was going to be a police officer.” But on the contrary, she began working in various organizations, either as part of them or as a volunteer. The issues they dealt with were issues that stayed with her, things that had been and are part of her life.
“My first job was at the organization called Drug Policy Alliance, which seeks to address the drug problem from a non-punitive perspective, as well as promote its discussion. Later, I created a group called La Defensa, which, as its name suggests, seeks to fight for social causes that hit the community from privileged spaces.”
“We were tired of not being heard. So we decided that if a judge didn’t listen to us (they never do), we would promote other judges who would. By showing the danger to their interests, they would be forced to take us seriously,” she says.
“We have a progressive block that puts us in a good position depending on what we vote on. But, for example, if Ysabel Jurado (yellow t’shirt) wins the election and we have her on our side, it will be a great gain.”
In an interview with another media outlet, she is identified as a ‘True Believer,’ and she agrees. Known for saying and defending what she thinks, she doesn’t like to hear ‘bullsh…’ on issues that are important to her community. She knows these problems in-depth and won’t be fooled with words.
“I don’t flip-flop with my vote and my decisions, I don’t compromise on what I think. I don’t ‘bullsh..’ I have seen things in real life,” she says.
One of the things she is most concerned about is the number of evictions that occur each week; these are people being sent to the streets. She says she will be very attentive to the elections in November.
“We have a progressive block that puts us in a good position depending on what we vote on. But, for example, if Ysabel Jurado wins the election and we have her on our side, it will be a great gain. District 1 and District 14 coexist side by side. Right now, we haven’t been able to have a good relationship to tackle issues impacting our communities. For example, there is literally a line that separates the two districts. A homeless person can stay on one side of it (District 1) but not on the other (District 14). Imagine, Ysabel is a lawyer specializing in tenants. It will be phenomenal to have her experience when we promote initiatives to protect these people,” she says.
Eunisses does not consider herself a ‘powerful woman’ but a woman who is in a position of power and uses it for the benefit of the causes she believes in.
“One of my goals is not to forget where I come from. I keep it in mind every day. My mom and my brother didn’t believe I was going to become a councilwoman. They had no idea what it represented. But when they saw that I won, they realized how big it was. We came from an immigrant family, and I, getting to the City Council, was incredible. My mom is very shy; when I was sworn in, she didn’t say much, but you could see how excited she was; her eyes said it all. Recently, an aunt from Guadalajara came, I took her to the council chamber when it wasn’t in session, she couldn’t believe it, she took a photo where I sat, where my name was, she sent the photo to our relatives there,” she adds.
“I would like to become an educator, to teach children and young people what this type of work is and represents, to tell them what needs to be done to get there, to empower our youth,” she says and concludes, “I would also like to have a farm with animals.”
Eunisses has a full agenda, packed with events, sessions, and commitments. In her first year, she neglected herself and got sick.
“I told myself, ‘I have to take care of myself, this is an absorbing job with which I am fully commited. This is a marathon.’ After that scare, I take better care of myself. I have a therapist, I meditate, a trainer, and a fabulous team at work. They keep me very organized and well taken care of. Everything is perfectly scheduled,” she says.
Despite this busy life with so much responsibility, Eunisses is full of dreams.
“When I complete my cycle in City Hall, when the community says so, I would like to become an educator, to teach children and young people what this type of work is and represents, to tell them what needs to be done to get there, to empower our youth,” she says and concludes, “I would also like to have a farm with animals.”
Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez wants to pause Dodgers gondola project
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