The front entrance of Malegría Latin café off Historic Grand Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona. (Analisa Valdez/CALÓ News)
A recently opened café and community venue near downtown Phoenix is using its platform and patio to promote intersectionality and unity among groups being targeted by the Trump administration.
By allowing local artists, vendors and grassroots organizations to utilize their location off Historic Grand Avenue and Fillmore Street for morning markets and evening events, Malegría is embracing its Latino culture and providing its community with a means to express their own.
Melina Ruan Serrano, owner and chef at Malegría, explained that their coffees, drinks and dishes are Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Mexican inspired. At their shaded patio, they embrace their Latino culture by hosting markets and events, from migrant artists and vendors who sell earrings, buttons, stickers and clothing hand-made or imported from Mexico, to a live painter who hails from El Salvador and food trucks selling pupusas, tacos al pastor and horchatas.
“It feels very nice, honestly, coming into this space. I didn’t realize the support it had behind it, or the excitement, or how people were excited for something near to come. So it was, at first, it was a lot… I was like, ‘What if it’s not worth it or not what they’re looking for?’ But it’s been nothing but support, nothing but appreciation and love from everyone,” Ruan Serrano told CALÓ News. “This is barely our third Sunday Mercado. Honestly, it’s just a get-together for anybody who wants to come in, shop local vendors, shop local artists.”
With a flash tattoo artist on-sight, even more paintings, prints, jewelry and clothing vendors, a live performance from local singer Amalia Rios, an accompanying DJ and even a large ofrenda filled with framed photos of those departed in celebration of Día de Muertos, the last Sunday of October marked not only Malegría’s third morning market, but also the first “The Future Is Queer” celebratory pop-up event, hosted by the the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s (PSL) Phoenix in honor of LGBTQ+ History Month.
“I think this was a really good event. I think it was greater than the sum of its parts, for sure. It was organized since early October and I think with everyone bringing what they can to the table, it really came through,” Jane Dangel, PSL member and event organizer, said. “The main point of this event was to celebrate LGBTQ history month, and, you know, it’s October, so we’re trying to close out the month in a strong way and to kind of cultivate a space of queer joy and community, especially in light of all of the attacks on trans people that are coming from the Trump administration.”
While PSL Phoenix is the local branch of the national political party, it is also well-known for organizing protests on issues ranging from Palestinian liberation and working-class solidarity to immigration and border enforcement. They’ve also made mass calls to action at city council and school board meetings, and held educational information sessions and events similar to “The Future Is Queer” at Malegría.
“Our goal is to really unify all elements of the working class, to [help them] know their power in society, because… workers make the world go round,” Dangel said. “By collaborating with [Malegría] I think we’re really doubling down on that message and highlighting intersections between queerness and the immigrant community and the Black community.”
Arizona — with its polarized political battleground and diverse melting pot of various cultures throughout its centuries-long development on Indigenous land — remains at the forefront of several legal battles in response to civil rights violations made against the state’s diverse population.
Like the lawsuit presented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona against restrictions on gender-affirming care provided by employee healthcare plans. Or on behalf of Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, in response to the civil rights violations made by the Trump administration in barring migrant crime victims from federal assistance programs and the illegal sharing of Arizonans’ private health data in an attempt to target more migrants in this administration’s mass deportation efforts.
Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term this January, there has been an unprecedented spike in ICE activity in coalition with an alphabet soup of federal agencies targeting migrants, particularly Black and Latino migrants — aided since this summer with the $170 billion in taxpayer dollars that are being allocated to funding these multi-agency operations.
According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, over 59,000 migrants were in ICE detention as of the end of September, many of whom face reported inhumane living conditions, including medical neglect for pregnant women and children, abuse of LGBTQ+ detainees and an increase in deaths.
In the face of persecution, Malegria has remained committed to maintaining joy and resistance by promoting migrant voices, art and culture.
“I think just in the times we are in as a world, it’s really important just to highlight where you’re from, to not forget what comes from us, what is originally from us, that we’re heard as well because we do exist,” Ruan Serrano said. “We are here. We’re living here every day and we deserve some of our own community, our own kind of special moments that we can create together.”
Ruan Serrano said she hopes to continue their Sunday Mercaditos and other partnered community events, creating a space where cultural differences are something to be embraced rather than a cause for division.
Analisa Valdez (she/her) is a freelance journalist based in Phoenix. Her reporting includes community & culture, social justice, arts, business, and politics.