From left to right: Tiffany Solano (Lucha), Molly Hernandez (Isabel), Amanda Raquel Martinez (Gabby), Gloria Vivica Benavides (Soyla), Christopher Llewyn Ramirez (Mateo) and Lucy Godinez (Boli) in “American Mariachi” by Jose Cruz Gonzalez, directed by Henry Godinez at Goodman Theatre. The show runs through Oct. 24. | Photo by Liz Lauren

Local theater companies that are part of the Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theater Festival are giving Latino audiences the chance to see themselves reflected on stages at several neighborhoods throughout the city.

Benavides. Cervantes. Godinez. Gutierrez. Gonzalez. Hernandez. Ramirez. Solano.

These are among the names of the writer, director and cast of “American Mariachi,” a play at the Goodman Theatre about five Latinas who go against machismo and tradition to start their own mariachi group in the 1970s.

A production such as this, where Latinos are in charge of their own narrative, is a rare sight at any major theater in Chicago. But when we attended a weekday performance last week, we discovered a good-size and diverse crowd laughing, crying and clapping along, evidence that Chicago theatergoers are up for shows with largely Latino casts and themes.

The Goodman is one of six local theater companies and four visiting troupes — from Miami, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Mexico — participating this fall in the 4th annual Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. The other five local companies are Aguijon Theater, Teatro Vista, Latino Vision, Teatro Tariakuri and the Urban Theater Company.

“These are our stories, our own narratives and our own experiences. They aren’t influenced by a white director who says you have to look a certain way or have an accent when you speak English,” Myrna Salazar, executive director for the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance and lead producer of the festival, told us. “We want things that show the value of what it is to be Latino, whether it’s through our history or the flavors we bring to the country. And to put that on stage, it’s very important.”

What is particularly notable about the Destinos productions, we which see as a welcomed reflection of the cultural richness of Chicago’s growing demographic diversity, is that they are being offered outside the Loop theater district and the usual North Side neighborhoods. Performances are being offered in more working-class neighborhoods such as Belmont Cragin, Wicker Park, Marquette Park, Pilsen and Humboldt Park, where some people in the audience for the first time might be seeing people who look like them on the stage.

The story lines, as well, often take a more personal Latino turn.

There is the play, “Corazon de Papel,” for example, which is set in the devastation of Puerto Rico, post-Hurricane Maria. It will be performed at Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St., from Oct. 14 to 17.

And there is the play “Y Tu Abuela, Where Is She?” It tells the story of an interracial couple who are accepted into a program that allows them to modify the genes of their children before they are born. The two are excited about the possibilities until they become stuck on one question: What color skin should their child have? The play will run at The Den Theater, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., from Oct. 14 to 24.

Chicago has been a celebrated theater town since at least the 1970s when pioneering companies such as Steppenwolf and Wisdom Bridge first set up shop in ordinary Chicago neighborhoods to tell powerful stories.

The Destinos festival continues that tradition — with a more Latino twist, like our city itself — and we urge you to check it all out.

For tickets, visit CLATA.org

Send letters to [email protected].

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Lou Reed and his band are profiled in “The Velvet Underground,” screening Wednesday in the Chicago film festival and premiering Friday on Apple TV+. | Apple

The 57th fest, opening Wednesday, screens movies from 57 different countries online and/or in theaters.

Revelatory and resilient, the Chicago International Film Festival brings back in-theater screenings, along with less costly virtual screenings. Last year nearly all of the festival occurred online. Either way, cinema is the venerably virtual way to widen our horizons limited by COVID-19.

“The French Dispatch” — another ensemble treat by the inventive and diverting Wes Anderson — launches the festival at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Music Box Theatre. Tickets are $40. This U.K./France/Germany co-production opens Oct. 21 in Chicago.

The 57th annual festival draws cinema co-produced in 57 different countries, coincidentally. The schedule has 89 feature-length films and 10 programs of shorts. Documentaries include world premieres of works about Mayor Harold Washington, chef Charlie Trotter and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“Accessibility” is the 2021 watchword. “Everybody misses the face-to-face aspect,” admits artistic director Mimi Plauche, now in her 16th year at the non-profit Cinema/Chicago that presents the festival. “You can’t replicate that in-theater experience.” But she loves how audience members now connect through chat boxes during livestream Q&A sessions. “I think there’s a new ease in communication.”

To attend in-person, indoor screenings you need proof of full vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test results. More details are at www.chicagofilmfestival.com/festival/safety/

Here are 10 films recommended to see on the big screen or stream at home (tickets for both in-person and streaming options available at chicagofilmfestival.com):

DRAMAS

“Amira” (Egypt/Jordan/UAE/Saudi Arabia) Egyptian filmmaker Mohammed Diab crafts a moving thriller about a 17-year-old Palestinian woman seeking truths about her birth. Imprisoned by Israelis, her father had nonetheless impregnated her mother. DNA tests now create a tragic conflict of identity. (5:45 p.m. Oct. 19, AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois St.)

Provided
“Amira”

“Bergman Island” (France/Belgium/Germany/Sweden) Two writers work on new scripts on the island Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman made famous. Their issues resonate with Bergman’s storied marital and artistic issues. Mia Hansen-Love seamlessly morphs their own film into one or two others being made. (8 p.m. Oct. 14, AMC River East 21)

“The Last Execution” (Germany) Franziska Stunkel re-creates the Kafkaesque plight of an East Berlin academic coerced by state security agents to destroy a soccer star who defected to the west. As in other politically acute entries this year, men leverage women in power plays. The title refers to the June 26, 1981 execution of Werner Teske, whose story inspired the screenplay. (8:45 p.m. Oct. 16, and 5:15 p.m. Oct. 21 AMC River East 21)

Provided
“The Last Execution”

“Paris, 13th District” (France) Three young Parisians are variously roommates, co-workers, lovers, ex-lovers and lovers once more. Shooting in black-and-white, Jacques Audiard serves a wonderful slice of Paris romance. Yes, it’s familiar French fare but these characters and actors really are winning. (8:30 p.m. Oct. 16 and 8:15 p.m. Oct. 19, AMC River East 21)

“The Tsugua Diaries” (Portugal) Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes co-direct a playful film about three young Portuguese spending time in a large house in the country doing not much. It starts on Day 22 and counts back to Day 1. We will learn who they are and how they got there. Spoiler: A film crew comes into view and COVID-19 rules are spelled out. (5:15 p.m. Oct. 14 and 8:30 p.m. Oct. 22, AMC River East 21)

DOCUMENTARIES

“Babi Yar. Context” (The Netherlands/Ukraine) Sergei Loznitsa assembles a searing montage that contextualizes Germans and Ukrainians shooting 33,771 Jews near Kiev on September 29 and 30, 1941. Adding natural sounds and actors voicing actual words, transcribed and broadcast at the time, lends uncanny impact to the originally silent footage. Some was home movies by German soldiers. (12:15 p.m. Oct. 17, AMC River East 21)

Provided
A Stalin poster is torn down in an image from “Babi Yar. Context.”

“Cow” (U.K.) In her press notes Andrea Arnold (“American Honey”) cites The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness as background for this intimate, intriguing chronicle of a cow in a barn. Luma looks enslaved yet enjoys a few lovely episodes of outdoor mobility, if not liberty. Interspecies empathy ensues. And a little sly humor. The wrenching end is a blindsider. (6 p.m. Oct. 19, AMC River East 21)

“The Last Forest” (Brazil) Luiz Bolognesi won a Silver Hugo for “Ex-Shaman” in the 2018 festival. He returns to the rainforest to further document the further struggles of ex-shaman Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, credited here as co-writer. He stars as himself. Their shared perspectives defend an imperiled way of life from invasive miners and mercury ruining the water. (6 p.m. Oct. 20, AMC River East 21)

Provided
“The Last Forest”

“A Hero” (Iran) Asghar Farhadi offers a masterly drama of a man dealing with a debt to his ex-father-in-law that got him in prison. During a two-day release he implicates the warden and a prisoner charity in a feel-good news story that backfires. One lie inspires other lies, all in defense of reputations. Farhadi critiques media and social media for treating virtue as spectacle. “A Hero” won Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix.” His earlier “Fireworks Wednesday” and “The Salesman” won Hugos at the Chicago International Film Festival. (7:45 p.m. Oct. 19 and 8:15 p.m. Oct. 22, AMC River East 21)

“The Velvet Underground” (U.S.) In 2007 Todd Haynes made “I’m Not There,” an odd biopic with six actors playing Bob Dylan. Now he profiles the late Lou Reed, his band The Velvet Underground and the surrounding Andy Warhol scene. This artfully composed portrait of New York City musicians generously samples experimental filmmakers, including Stan Brakhage. (7 p.m. Oct. 13, Pilsen ChiTown Movies Drive-In, 2343 S. Throop St.)

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Immigration advocates hold signs during a press conference where they called on U.S. representatives to back the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship in the upcoming budget reconciliation package at Federal Plaza in the Loop on Aug. 18. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The Biden administration has vowed to end the backlog of DACA renewal requests, yet the U.S. Immigration and Customs Services continues to fail to fix the problem.

For eight days in August, Ana Estrada fell off the cliff for legal status in the United States.

It cost her her job, her vacation time and her health insurance.

To understand why it is imperative that the federal government finally catch up in processing two-year renewal requests under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants protections against deportation for “Dreamers” — young adults who were brought to our country illegally as children — consider the nonsense Estrada had to go through.

She is one of some 30,880 DACA recipients living in Illinois. The United States is the only country she has ever known as home. But when her DACA status expired on Aug. 16, she was dismissed from her job at a warehouse because she instantly was ineligible to work in the U.S.

Estrada regained her legal status just days later, on Aug. 24, when her DACA renewal application finally was approved, and weeks later the warehouse rehired her. But as a “new” employee, she lost the vacation time and free health insurance she previously had earned.

This is nuts. Dreamers like Estrada are playing by the rules but getting kicked around all the same. The Biden administration has vowed to end the backlog of DACA renewal requests, yet the U.S. Immigration and Customs Services has failed to fix the problem for almost a year.

Not only do the delays throw life up for grabs for Dreamers in the short-run; they also make it more difficult for Dreamers to qualify for more permanent family-based and employment-base green cards. Their supposed “unlawful presence” — even if only for a day — goes on their record and is held against them.

Who could help? Maybe your local member of Congress. At the very least, many congressional offices could work more with local immigrant-rights groups to help DACA recipients understand where their applications for DACA renewal status stand.

Send letters to [email protected].

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The Astros score a lot of runs — which proves nothing. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Astros are a bunch of cheaters, and it doesn’t matter whether or not that’s actually true.

Stolen signs. Garbage cans. Boos and taunts — wherever they go.

The Astros are a bunch of cheaters, and it doesn’t matter whether or not that’s actually true. They’re still treated as such by baseball fans all over — and opponents such as the White Sox — since they were busted for institutionalizing rogue practices during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

“There’s nothing you can do about perception,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said Monday, “because perception is whatever you perceive it to be.”

Exactly. Wait, did that make sense?

But never mind that. How dare the Astros continue to sully baseball’s pristine image?

Gambling, racism, cocaine, steroids … OK, so this is just sign-stealing everybody’s suddenly flipping out about (again) since Sox reliever Ryan Tepera heaved a Molotov cocktail into the opposing clubhouse after Game 3 of the American League Division Series. Tepera claimed the Astros still have a reputation for doing “sketchy stuff” and implied their victories in Games 1 and 2 in Houston were — how to put it? — ill-gotten.

“But that’s not really the story,” Tepera added, the Sox having climbed back into the series with a 12-6 win at Guaranteed Rate Field. “We come here to play. We’re going to compete. We’re not going to worry about what they’re going to do.”

Not going to worry? Too late for that, bub. Even with the rain that postponed Game 4 to Tuesday, this Sox-Astros clash is dry-rubbed with resentment and ready to put onto the fire.

Please, somebody else say something inflammatory so we can amp up the phony outrage.

“Are we aware that there are certain teams out there that are better at relaying signs at second base? Yeah, absolutely,” Sox reliever Aaron Bummer said.

It’s not exactly a profane chant like the ones Sox fans directed at the Astros in Game 3, but it’ll move the needle.

Baker referred to the Sox’ insinuations as “heavy accusations” and insinuated himself — correctly, by the way — that one team trying to pick up on another’s sign language isn’t exactly a black art. That’s because, as even Sox manager Tony La Russa acknowledges, all teams do it. It’s a tradition older than crotch-grabbing and tobacco-spitting.

But let’s not let the truth get in the way of a good non-story.

“I don’t get into that stuff,” La Russa said. “I just don’t get into it. But I try to realize this is America, and players can say what they want to and I can say that I don’t get into it if I want to.”

He doesn’t get into it? La Russa gets so into it that, several years ago, when he worked in Major League Baseball operations, he had the big idea that runners on second base should turn their backs to home plate and face center field while the catcher is putting his signals down. The second base umpire would let the runner know when it was OK to turn back around and resume behaving like a reasonably sane human.

“Then you wouldn’t have to go through all this,” he said.

La Russa suggested this tweak to the game around the MLB offices, but — would you believe it? — it fell on deaf ears.

Oh, well. Things as they are aren’t so bad. After two games, this series was a complete dud. Then the Sox made it interesting. And now — with some unexpected, incendiary words — they’ve made it sing.

Baker chimed in with a great, obviously planned zinger delivered Monday.

“I was listening to Eric Clapton this morning,” he said, “and he had a song, you know: ‘Before you accuse me, you need to look at yourself.’ You know what I mean? That’s all I got to say.”

But Baker missed an important detail: “Before You Accuse Me” is actually a Bo Diddley original that Clapton more famously recorded many years later. Chicago music lovers should well know the name of Diddley, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who grew up on the South Side. Did you know he was a die-hard Sox fan, too? I don’t know that, either, but let’s pretend it’s true. How dare Baker appropriate our music?

Just remember, though: No matter what the Sox squawk about, they still own the title of most scandalous team in the history of postseason baseball. Yes, the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. The infamous “eight men out” banned from the game for throwing the World Series. Disgraced men including “Chick” Gandil, “Happy” Felsch, “Swede” Risberg, “Buck” Weaver, “Lefty” Williams and, of course, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.

Which brings us to the most pressing question of all: What the hell happened to all the great baseball nicknames?

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AP Photos

Energized crowd at Guaranteed Rate Field had thoughts for Astros’ Jose Altuve

Crowds at Guaranteed Rate Field have been lively, throaty, fun and edgy all season long. Sunday’s crowd of 40, 288, dressed in black for effect, got downright nasty with Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, chanting “(bleep) Altuve,” their favorite target for venting disdain for the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal from 2017-18.

“It’s America, they can chant ‘fire La Russa’ if they wanted to, right?” manager Tony La Russa said. “I have no problem as long as they show up.”

La Russa was bothered by questions about the chant painting the crowd in a negative light because “amazing thoughts come to mind … when I think about last night and the fans’ incredible support that was so loud,” he said.

La Russa said Sox the electricity created by the crowd was a topic of discussion in the dugout late in the game, when fans often pack up and head home, especially during a game that isn’t close. And this one was on a night before a workday. This crowd, treated to one of the most memorable games at Guaranteed Rate Field in recent memory, stayed for four and a half hours.

“I looked up — we all looked up — and it was four hours, and every seat was filled,” La Russa said. “That’s the damnedest thing I have ever seen.”

Sox right-hander Ryan Tepera randomly suggesting the Astros might have been up to “sketchy” old tricks will undoubtedly ramp up hostilities against the Sox at Minute Maid Park if the Sox can win Game 4 Tuesday and bring the series back to Houston for a deciding Game 5.

The Sox, who have the best home record in the American League, will welcome one more boost Tuesday afternoon. That is, if the crowd is up to it again.

“This place was rocking,” catcher Yasmani Grandal said. “Hopefully we’ll have it tomorrow again, and you know, keep rocking.”

Three more hits for Tim

Tim Anderson had the fifth three-hit game of his six-game postseason career, and is 16-for-29 in three games against the Athletics in the Wild Card series last season and three against the Astros. The 16 hits are the most by any player in a six-game span in the postseason. Fourteen of the hits are singles.

Leury Legend

Leury Garcia’s 436-foot, go-ahead three-run home run was the longest of his career. Garcia, the longest tenured Sox player, was a goat in Game 2 for misplaying a deep drive into a game-changing double. Garcia faced two Garcias in the at-bat, Luis and Yimi.

“You have to leave the past in the past,” Garcia said.

Sunday leftovers

The runs scored in the 12-6 win in Game 3 Sunday are the second-most in a postseason game in franchise history, and the 16 hits were a franchise postseason record.

*Before Grandal homered in the third inning, the Sox had 20 consecutive singles to begin the postseason, the longest such streak in MLB history, breaking the previous streak of 19 straight singles by the 2008 Angels.

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President Joe Biden salutes as he steps off of Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 11, 2021. | AP Photos

This is the real deal. The argument isn’t about whether we can afford President Biden’s Build Back plan. It is whether we are so foolish not to do it.

In Washington, the big debate over President Biden’s Building Back Better program is coming to a head. It will soon be settled — one way or another.

Most Americans who work hard, worry about the pandemic, fear for their children in school, and struggle to plan in this troubled time have neither the time nor the faith to pay much attention to posturing politicians.

This time, however, it is important to understand what is at stake. The press focuses on the debate over unimaginably large numbers — $3.5 trillion against $1.5 trillion, and the $550 billion infrastructure bill against the $3.5 billion reconciliation bill. But this isn’t a debate about numbers. It is an argument about morals, about what kind of country we are, and what kind of country we want to be.

The dollars are the least interesting thing about the Biden plan. What is compelling is that it addresses pressing needs and offers action. Aid to families with children that would cut the number of children in poverty in half. Paid family leave so that working mothers and fathers can have the time to care for their babies or their family in time of sickness. Major steps to make daycare affordable so that young couples won’t be afraid to have children and mothers and fathers can afford to work.

Tuition-free community college and advanced training so that young people can afford to go to college no matter their parent’s income. Medicare coverage for dental, eye and hearing costs so that seniors can afford the treatment they need. Lower prescription drug costs so we can afford the drugs we need, and the government can save billions that would otherwise be ripped off by the drug companies. The first modest down payment on addressing the real, present and growing costs of extreme weather and climate change.

This is the real deal. The argument isn’t about whether we can afford to do it, but whether we are so foolish not to do it. Opponents focus on the price tag because they dare not argue against the necessity of the wildly popular reforms.

We don’t know what will happen. The 50-50 split in the Senate and the four-vote Democratic margin in the House, along with unanimous Republican obstruction, means that Democrats must unite to get anything done. That allows the wealthy and corporations to focus their legion of lobbyists and millions in ad campaigns on a handful of politicians.

Joe Manchin, one of the most notorious foot-draggers, said one thing that is true: If Democrats want to see change, “elect more liberals” (read “reformers with integrity).” To forestall that, Republicans in states across the country are passing laws to make it harder to vote, particularly for the young, for people of color, for the infirm. And they are empowering legislatures in states they control to overturn the results of an election if they don’t like the outcome. That’s a good part of the reason pundits say Democrats are likely to lose seats in the House and Senate in the midterms next year.

The Republican agenda and pundit projections are based on business as usual and on a distracted, low-turnout electorate that can easily be turned off by making voting more difficult.

In that assumption lies our power. As Dr. King taught us, we can mobilize and vote in large numbers to teach them the cost of their insult. We can elect new, large reform majorities that cannot simply pass the Build Back Better Agenda but go beyond it to address the inequality and injustice, the market fundamentalist idolatry, the rigged system that fails most Americans.

In primary elections and in general elections, we can choose reformers over the corrupt, those who represent their voters over those who serve their donors.

That can start now. On campuses, young people flock to class and to football games, but they would flock to register and vote if they knew the stakes. They should be able to vote where they currently live and get their mail, which now is on their college campus. Working and poor people could ensure they are registered and know where to vote as the rules are changed. Parents and teachers can inform one another on the possibility of real change.

In 2020, the turnout of voters for both parties exceeded all expectations. We should start now to let politicians know that they will be rewarded for leading, not obstructing, the change we need.

Send letters to [email protected].

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This vintage silver print photograph of Al Capone and his associates at Hot Springs, Arkansas, was available for auction at Witherell’s. | Sheldon Carpenter/Witherell’s Inc

The starting bid was $50,000 for Capone’s .45-caliber Colt model 1911 semi-automatic pistol, his “favorite” weapon. It sold for $1 million, Brian Witherell said Monday.

A once-in-a-lifetime auction of Al Capone’s personal effects, including his “favorite” gun, garnered more than $3.1 million — four times more than what the Sacramento-based auction house expected.

More than 1,200 bidders registered from all 50 states and several countries participated in “The Century of Notoriety: The Estate of Al Capone” Friday night. Several dozen flew into Sacramento to attend the invite-only live auction, which was closed to the media.

The priciest item was Capone’s .45-caliber Colt model 1911 semi-automatic pistol, which had been deemed his “favorite” weapon. The starting bid was $50,000, and it ultimately sold for $1 million, according to Brian Witherell, head of the auction house that was tasked by the Chicago mobster’s three granddaughters with overseeing the sale of 174 lots. It’s believed to be the most expensive 20th Century firearm sold at auction.

The gun’s buyer requested to remain anonymous as of Monday.

Another of Capone’s guns — also a Colt semi-automatic handgun — went for $242,000.

“All of it was shocking in a lot of ways,” Witherell said Monday. “Even when I thought, if all the stars aligned, it doubled that.”

Other highlights from the night included Capone’s cigar humidifier, which sold for $145,200; his platinum-and-diamond Patek Philippe pocket watch ($229,900); his gold money clip ($54,450) and a diamond monogram pendant ($72,600).

A letter Capone wrote from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary to his only son, Sonny, was purchased for $56,700.

Witherell said the auction drew so much attention online that the traffic overwhelmed their website, causing some people to experience delays and lags in the bidding process.

“I think we planned as well as we could have planned for it and I think it went off better than we could have anticipated,” Witherell said.

“It was lovely,” said Capone’s granddaughter, Diane Capone, who attended the auction. “We were very pleased. It was a bit emotional at times.”

It was also a bit of a roller coaster for Craig Showalter, who sipped on pinot noir while watching auction results come in on his iPad from his home in the Glenview area.

“I called in a bid on Capone’s money clip for $3,000 and they said, ‘Well it’s already up to $48,000,” said Showalter.

And that’s how the night went for Showalter, a physician who specializes in addiction medicine, as he bid on 12 items but came up empty-handed.

“I bid $9,500 on a rug, but lost that too. It was a Chinese-style rug, red rug with a bird design in the center, really a very attractive rug. It had burn marks from Capone’s cigar. That might have been a little embellishment, but I thought it sounded very nice and would have liked to have had that for my living room,” he said.

“People do get auction fever,” he said. “Being an addiction medicine doctor, I limit my drinking to infrequent and not much. This was an occasion, but yes, you have to be careful. If you sit there and drink a bottle of wine and next thing you know you owe $50,000 for something, and they don’t take credit cards.”

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Marist High School, 4200 W. 115th St. | Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

In a statement, school officials said they are investigating and “are disheartened by the recent events that took place at our Homecoming celebration this past weekend.”

Marist High School in Mount Greenwood is investigating allegations that students engaged in a racist protest during the school’s homecoming dance Saturday.

Elizabeth Pacheco and Maia Trevino, both 16-year-old juniors, told the Sun-Times Monday that some of their classmates knelt down and made derisive comments about Mexicans when a disc jockey played a Spanish-language song.

“If you love our food, ethnic fashion, and energy so much… why do you resent us,” Pacheco asked in the caption of an Instagram video showing the incident that had garnered nearly 150,000 views as of Monday night. “How would you like it if we kneeled to your country music?”

Provided/Elizabeth Pacheco
Elizabeth Pacheco (left) and Maia Trevino pose in their homecoming dresses on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021.

Earlier Saturday, Marist defeated Montini Catholic High School, 34-0, in its homecoming football game. Later that night, hundreds of students attended the dance, which was held on a field outside the school at 4200 W. 115th St.

About an hour into the dance, the DJ spun a Spanish-language version of Billy Ray Cyrus’ hit “Achy Breaky Heart.” Pacheco and Trevino, who hadn’t been dancing, took to the floor.

But a few dozen of their classmates then knelt together in the center of the dance floor, apparently in protest, according to the girls and the video Pacheco posted to Instagram. Pacheco said some students booed and jeered, while others purposely disrupted a line dance. Both girls said they heard one classmate make an apparently racist comment.

“‘Ugh, it’s Mexicans,'” the girls, who are both of Mexican descent, recalled the student saying.

“I’m trying to understand their point of view,” Pacheco said of her classmates. “But when it’s something that’s so wrong that just targets you and your community, it’s really upsetting. I kind of can’t see them the same anymore.”

While Trevino said her family members had warned her about the discrimination they’d faced in the past, that awareness didn’t prepare her for Saturday’s jarring incident.

“I never thought that that would ever happen to me, especially in a school where I felt safe and appreciated and with friends — who I considered friends,” she said. “Seeing them kneel and disrespect what I am … and the culture I represent … it doesn’t feel good.”

Administrators at the Roman Catholic school didn’t respond to interview requests. But Marist spokeswoman Kristine Kavanagh issued a statement saying school leaders “are disheartened by the recent events that took place at our Homecoming celebration this past weekend.

“Our Administrative team, Campus Ministry members, faculty, and staff will use this moment in time to educate all members of our student body, so they have a clear understanding of how their actions, even unintended ones, can be perceived as hurtful to others,” the statement said. “We respect and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion for all and want every student to succeed by feeling valued, seen, and connected.

“We, as a school, promote cultural diversity and are providing professional development on cultural competency for staff and students. Marist High School is fully investigating the events and will address them as appropriate.”

On Monday, some sophomores took a knee during homeroom “to show how we are against racism and add [to] address the problem that happened,” according to social media posts.

Principal Meg Dunneback also met with Latino students, including Pacheco and Trevino. The two said the incident offers a crucial learning experience for their peers.

“You can say I’m sorry [and] be punished, but then you go home and do the exact same thing,” Pacheco said. “They need to understand and be educated that this was wrong. I want them to open their hearts to us and our culture.”

Pacheco said Saturday’s incident isn’t the first time minority students “have felt less than themselves.”

Trevino noted that a similar incident played out Sept. 15, when the predominantly Hispanic kitchen staff started playing Spanish-language music to mark the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month. She said some white students booed, and one mockingly used what she described as a stereotypical Mexican accent.

Though Pacheco and Trevino weren’t yet students at Marist, they also recalled an incident in which two white students were expelled in 2016 over racist text messages that were shared on social media. The girls’ fathers later sued the school in Cook County court seeking $1 million, though no filings have been made in the case since December 2017.

That January, their attorney told the Chicago Tribune that the girls had reached an agreement with administrators allowing them to receive their diplomas. At that point, other students who were embroiled in the controversy were welcomed back to the school.

Pacheco and Trevino credited school leaders for swiftly responding to their concerns Monday while insisting they aren’t trying to “bash Marist.” Pacheco, however, said she fears administrators could try to sweep the issue under the rug to protect the school’s reputation.

“My main intention is to educate students on racism and discrimination. I think this was really disrespectful to our community,” Pacheco said.

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Gustafsson played 214 games for the Blackhawks between 2015 and 2020. | Stacy Revere/Getty Images file photo

With Caleb Jones, Wyatt Kalynuk and Alec Regula injured, the Hawks signed Gustafsson to a one-year contract Monday.

The Blackhawks addressed their current defensive depth issues by bringing back a familiar face Monday, signing Erik Gustafsson to a one-year contract with an $800,000 salary cap hit.

But as much as general manager Stan Bowman loves reacquiring former Hawks, this particular reunion seemed to have far more to do with Gustafsson’s familiarity with coach Jeremy Colliton, who has known him since the 2017-18 AHL season.

“He’s seen my worst games [and] my best games, and he’s talking to me a lot,” Gustafsson said. “He probably talked to me four or five times today. We know each other a lot, so that’s one [reason] I wanted to come back here.”

“It’s nice to not have to build a new relationship and get a guy totally up to speed,” Colliton said. “There’s things he’s going to need — we’re going to get him understanding what we’re doing — but it’ll be a lot quicker process than it would otherwise be.”

Gustafsson’s addition rounded out the Hawks’ opening 23-man roster, which was finalized Monday.

The final moves were assigning goalies Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia — who both cleared waivers — to the AHL, placing defensemen Caleb Jones (expected to miss six weeks with a wrist injury) on long-term injured reserve and placing Wyatt Kalynuk (two-to-four weeks with an ankle injury) and Alec Regula (out since Sept. 27 with back injury) on normal injured reserve. Philipp Kurashev and MacKenzie Entwistle were also sent to the AHL in paper moves to become cap compliant; they’ll be recalled Tuesday.

Jones and Kalynuk’s injuries created the need for a depth supplement like Gustafsson, even though he may start as a healthy scratch with Riley Stillman and Ian Mitchell being the projected third pair.

The 29-year-old Swede has bounced around extensively since the Hawks traded him to the Flames for a third-round pick in February 2020.

He spent much of last season in Philadelphia, but said he and Flyers coach Alain Vigneault didn’t get along well. He ended the year with the Canadiens, appearing sparingly during their playoff run. He was playing out a training camp tryout with the Islanders when Bowman called Friday to convey the Hawks’ interest.

“It feels like I’ve been gone for the pandemic and come back,” Gustafsson said. “You know all the guys, you know the whole facility, you know the United Center, you know the city. [I can] just focus on hockey right away and not think about other stuff.”

Gustafsson hopes to rekindle his incredible if fluky 2018-19 season when he erupted for an absurd 60 points (17 goals and 43 assists) in 79 games, ranking sixth among all NHL defensemen in scoring.

He joked that playing with Patrick Kane was how he was able to do it — and indeed, Kane was on the ice for 42 of those points — but Gustafsson showed the potential to produce nicely in a sheltered role that masks his defensive deficiencies.

“I moved my feet a lot and played strong every play [that year],” he said. “I know I can do it again… Maybe not 60 points, but I know I can produce.”

Gustafsson might get a look this October as the second power play unit quarterback — Kalynuk was in that spot before he got hurt — but he likely won’t receive nearly as much playing time as he did in 2018-19.

He’s a stopgap option for now, and he’ll have to excel to avoid being waived himself when others get healthy again.

“Nothing has been promised as far as what exactly his role is going to be, but we do think he can help,” Colliton said. “How much he plays will be based on his performance.”

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