Fans of the late Mexican American music icon Selena breathed a sigh of relief when the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles announced it had denied parole to her convicted killer, Yolanda Saldívar, on Thursday.
“It is best that Yolanda stays in prison because that crime was more than gun violence,” Lauren Susan, a New York City-based performer, told NBC News.
Susan, who said she “became obsessed” with Selena’s music after watching the 1997 biopic starring Jennifer Lopez, is among the legions of fans who have been reacting to the news. Some have taken to social media to post memes thanking the board for its decision. Others are wearing Selena T-shirts and revisiting her music to show their long-standing fandom for the “Queen of Tejano,” who was gunned down by Saldívar, then the president of the singer’s fan club.
As the 30th anniversary of the March 31, 1995, shooting approaches, emotions around the upcoming milestone and Saldívar’s parole news are not just “about Yolanda, but it’s really more than Yolanda,” said Sonya Alemán, an associate professor of race and gender studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
When it comes to Selena, “there is just such a love for her, and it gets manifested as a need to protect, and in some way try to demand justice,” said Alemán, who teaches a class based on the life and career of the music idol.
Fans have long felt that Saldívar wronged not just one person but an entire community when she took Selena’s life, Alemán said.
The outpouring from fans this week shows the ongoing adoration around the late singer.
In Corpus Christi, Texas, which has been described as ground zero for Selena fandom, a bronze Selena statue has been recoated and the flowers at a Selena mural have been replaced to welcome fans ahead of the anniversary, according to Mario Gomez, a volunteer who takes care of Selena monuments. The city’s Selena museum draws families and people of all ages.
In the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, fans had gotten together to celebrate the singer’s life for the 10th annual 214Selena festivities.
“We’re just celebrating that legacy, taking the time to hold space for all of those who connect with that Tejano identity,” singer and Selena fan Esti Romero told NBC Dallas.
Selena’s fandom has transformed throughout the years, starting with people like Alemán, who grew up seeing the late singer perform live in south Texas. For them, Selena is a cultural marker for Mexican Americans and Latinos who came of age in the early 1990s.
Through her music and fashion sense, many saw their own bicultural experiences reflected in Selena’s life story. Selena Quintanilla-Pérez became a shining star in the male-dominated genre of Tejano music, winning a Grammy in 1994 and becoming a crossover Latina icon singing in both English and Spanish.
But then Selena gained a ton of new fans of all ages, including Susan, when the singer’s eponymous biopic was released in 1997. Not only did the movie help catapult J.Lo’s career, it also introduced many to the story of Selena’s life and the tragic events around her death.
“That is the first memory that I have of Selena. It’s actually seeing her movie in the theater when I was in seventh grade,” Susan said.
Perhaps that explains why Leila Cobo, chief content officer of Latin and Spanish music at Billboard, says Selena is one of the top five Latin female artists on the charts every year, remaining a pillar of Latin music history in the U.S. and globally.
Anticipation over Saldívar’s eligibility for parole this week had been building over the past year following the release of a controversial docuseries in which Saldívar claimed she did not intentionally kill Selena. In a statement, the parole board said it believed, based on the evidence provided to it, that Saldívar still posed “a continuing threat to public safety.”
Alemán explained that for Selena’s fans, her death “has risen into this level of collective injustice, a collective grief. In the eyes of those who love her so dearly, what happened was so unjust.”
When it comes to Saldívar, “there’s never going to be a point in which she is done paying for this sin that she committed,” Alemán said.
The Quintanilla family and Chris Pérez, Selena’s husband, thanked Selena’s fans “for their unwavering support throughout the years” in a joint statement following Saldívar’s parole denial. “Your love has been a source of strength and healing.”
“Selena’s legacy is one of love, music, and inspiration. She lived with joy, gave selflessly, and continues to uplift generations with her voice and her spirit,” the statement reads. “We will continue to celebrate Selena’s life — not the tragedy that took her from us — and we ask that all who cherish her do the same.”
In her college class, Alemán is helping foster a newer generation of Selena fans who are creating a body of academic work and archives full of stories and memories of the Queen of Tejano music.
“The knowledge that the community carries about who she is, why she matters to them, is worth studying,” Alemán said.
