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A photo in the 2010 book "Latino Minnesota" shows a smiling dark-haired woman gazing upward at something off camera. Something in the distance, perhaps. A better day.
The caption says: "Chicana activist. Irene Gomez-Bethke in 1982."
Gomez-Bethke was commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights from 1982-83, just one of the public roles the tireless community leader played promoting Hispanic culture and immigrant rights. Her life's work, according to "Latino Minnesota," a book published by the Minnesota Historical Society in 2009, was fighting the discrimination and injustice her parents experienced as Mexican migrants in this country.
"She's very well known in the Latino community, particularly in the Mexican American community," said Rosa Tock, executive director of the Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs. "She was a foundational figure and role model for Mexican Americans."
Gomez-Bethke was executive...