hit me
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final luis rodriguez here please
By americancultureshit me
December 4, 2006 at 2:35 am
Ben Basque
Human 6 1395
Always Running Final
Some of the web sites that I visited and found to be a source of credible information about The Movement and The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo were http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1848hildago.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty.html -This link is the Hispanic reading room and gives you their perspective on the events of 1848.
http://www.azteca.net/aztec/guadhida.html -This link gives you a copy of the treaty so that you can read it word for word.
http://www.archieves.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hildago/index.html -This site was really easy to read and it gives great background about the circumstances surrounding the Treaty and opinions about what happened and why.
http://www.chicano-art-life.com/movement.html- This site tells about the Chicano Movement and understanding the Chicano experience. I liked this site because it talks about artistic expression. Luis Rodriguez also talks about artistic expression and it brought Always Running and the Movement together for me. “Much of Chicano artistic expression, however has been excluded from mainstream museums……….(Chicano-art-life) “Our expressive powers were strong and vibrant. If this could be nurtured …….We needed to obtain victories…built on an infrastructure of self worth.” (Always Run, 219)
Chente creates an environment of support for Luis by getting him connected and advocating for him. Chente gets Luis involved in school, his community and helps him to get a job. When Luis gets into trouble Chente seems to be the one he takes action to help Luis. He does not seem to enable him, but he continues to help him. One example of this community involvement is when Chente takes Luis to a community meeting about solutions for the violence in the barrios. “It became important for me to find a way fro the barrios to unite…one staff member asked me what I thought and my answer was “ I don’t know about the violence, but it wouldn’t hurt if we had jobs.”(194)
Chente get Luis to go back to school and through his connection in school he becomes involved with Mrs. Baez. Mrs. Baez helps to give Luis a way of belonging to his school and having a vested interest in the success and feeling of being connected for all the Latino students. “In my senior year, I became ToHMAS President. The club had succeeded in obtaining a Chicano Studies class. I also became the Student Councils Speaker of the House and a columnist for the student newspaper.” (212)
Ben Basque
Human 6 1395
Always Running Final
Pg. 2
Luis finds himself in jail for attempted murder. His family seems to have distanced themselves from him again and Luis feels alone. He seems to feel alone much of his youth. The one constant person seems to be Chente. “From the age of 13 on I ended up in cells like these…..sometimes the police just held me over the weekend…..but at 17 I faced a serious charge of attempted murder. This time Mama didn’t come for me.” (189) His parents refused to see him but once again Chente comes to see what he can do to help Luis. Chente told him that he screwed up and that “The center is trying to get you released.”(191) Chente continues to stick by Luis and try to show him that there is another way in life. Chente has to intervene in Luis’ life to the point of getting him away from the neighborhood and to a place that is safe. “There comes a moment when one faces the fresh features of an inner face; a time of conscience rebirth, when the accounting’s done. the weave in its final flourish, a time when a man stands before the world, vulnerable, nothing owed and considers his place in it. I had reached such a moment.” (238) The long journey that Luis took to finally reach the point when he finally realized that the world was bigger than him and he needed to rely on others and make peace with himself and his actions was costly to him and all those that loved him, but I see that it can give him the power to reach others in a similar situation and help them to avoid some of the pain. It seems like Luis has the chance to influence his community in the same way that Tookie could have done had he been allowed to live.
December 4, 2006 at 3:16 am
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 3
December 3, 2006
moxiedonna@gmail.com
Human 6, Section 1395
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo websites:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hidalgo/
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/muzzey.html
http://www.mchsmuseum.com/treaty.html
http://www.azteca.net/aztec/guadhida.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty/
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/TT/nbt1.html
academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/guadalu1.html
http://www.geocities.com/rubyhatchet/guadalupe_hidalgo.html
http://www.historicaldocuments.com/TreatyofGuadalupeHidalgo.htm
The Chicano Movement, like the Black Movement and the Feminist Movement, was a cultural movement brought about by the intense need for social and cultural change. For too long minority groups (groups of color and women) had been repressed and held down by everyone else and started to rebel, to rise up and create their own force of change. The minorities had been held down for too long, had been part of the hegemonic power of culture and society. It was time to change all that – it was time for each person, no matter race or sex, to become equal and to be treated equally. While it didn’t work perfectly as we can see by the racial and sexual lines that are still evident today, the Movements were powerful. We desegregated, we grew as a people, we blurred the color and culture lines.
I think one of Trouillot’s quotes that defines the cultural and social movements of the 1960s is “in history, power begins at the source” (29). It is a simple quote but I believe it means a lot when taken in the context of the civil rights movement. Each one of us is the source and together we have the power to create and change history. It is up to each person to become responsible for their actions and to help form a power that will move across the cultural and class lines.
When Luis was 13, he helped stage a walkout at Garvey School in protest of the quality of education they received. When he started attending Keppel High School again, Luis became part of the Chicano Movement there, joining ToHMAS –To Help Mexican American Students – and spent much of his free time in the Chicano Student Lounge. The culture barrier was just beginning to break down and there were Chicano students in the journalism club and the pep squad. Still Luis felt like an outsider during his first period there, possibly because it had been so long since he had been in school and he had seen so much on the streets.
ToHMAS started out as a benign force at the school – they mostly planned Cinco de Mayo activities and the staff helped break up fights. There were meetings every week and Luis didn’t get actively involved at first – he was
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 3
just biding his time for the right moment, the right activity to spark his attention. Finally, as ToHMAS started to become more involved in the activities at the school, Mrs. Baez convinces Luis to try out for the part of Joe Aztec, one of the school mascots. Luis and another student studied hard and learned true Aztec dances and chants – they wanted to bring the dignity back to the culture. Historically, Anglo students played the parts of Joe and Josephine Aztec and ToHMAS thought it was time to hand it over to the descendents of the Aztecs. Luis and his partner, Esme, won the contest and became the school mascots. This was a huge step for Keppel High School and was another chunk taken out of the cultural barrier between the Chicano and Anglo students.
I believe Luis felt at home in the movement – he felt like he was doing something, accomplishing something for his people. But at the same time, the old gang lifestyle still had its hold on him. Luis still seems torn between what to do – he knows he wants to do something, to help change. But I think he is still somewhat torn between how to do it – which is better, violence or educated action? Chente and the others help guide Luis toward the educated path but I believe his feeling of power that comes from violence still pulls him. When educated and planned action don’t work fast enough, violence is always there. Violence is action and power, whether they are right or not. Violence brings focus to the problems of the barrio and the people in general. But violence begets more violence and often has harsh consequences.
“Change is constant, stagnation is relative” (185). Chente tells this to Luis in an attempt to show Luis that people are all the same, that there are no color lines or social lines. Each person has the same needs and desires – no matter their skin color. Chente and the other members of the movement tried to show this to Luis, tried to tell him that the blurring of cultural lines could happen and that we could all be blind to each other’s skin color and class but Luis had a hard time accepting that as truth or as a societal goal.
Luis and other students staged a walkout at Keppel to protest the lack of Chicano studies and to protest the way they are treated. This is done without any of the teachers’ or advisors’ knowledge. Over 300 students leave the school and stand on the lawn and eventually the entire school ends up in the auditorium. “We’re scared of each other, we’re ignorant of each other, and then we’re surprised when people get up like this with so much hatred…something drastic has to change, or there’s going to be even more anger” (182). I believe Luis finally starts to see that violence and harsh words don’t get the right results and that organized action is the better way to go. The school starts a new course on Chicano history and culture and agrees to back Project Student, a project targeting the physical aspect of the school itself and a way to fix the leaking roof, erase the vandalism, every harsh condition the students had to endure just to go to school!
During everything Luis is trying to change at Keppel, he ends up in jail on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder stemming from a gang retaliation against a biker gang, the Sinisters. However, during the trial the
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 3
bikers refused to identify Luis, who had actually shot one of them, and instead focused on the person who supplied the gun, Roger. There was a longstanding rivalry between The Sinisters and Roger’s family and this was their way to get Roger back. Luis talks to Chente about what is happening and recognizes that while he doesn’t want to go to jail, he doesn’t think it’s right for Roger to be falsely accused. Chente says “the law isn’t always about truth” (192). Eventually, Roger is found not-guilty and Luis is able to focus on school and the movement again.
The community centers try to set up a meeting between all the warring gang factions in an effort to dispel the barrio violence. Luis tries to get his old buddies interested in the meeting, tries to deter them from the gang lifestyle, but doesn’t really succeed. Chicharron agrees to attend the meeting but the big break comes from Cuervo, who admits that he is sick of the violence and the shit. Unfortunately just before the meeting Cokie is found murdered at a park in Sangra – rumors were going around that someone from Lomas did it and the barrio meeting was canceled.
Luis becomes more and more active in school and the membership of ToHMAS explodes. He and Esme perform as Joe and Josephine Aztec at the football games – quite the different from when Luis was part of “the tradition” and beating people up under the bleachers at the same football field. They sponsored Brotherhood dances in an effort to combine all the Chicano students, to unite them instead of divide them by barrio.
Chente also helps steer Luis in a better direction by getting him involved in a mural painting project over the summer. The murals on Luis’ garage room are barrio images, inspiring Chente to choose him to head the project. It’s another way for Luis to focus his creative attention on something good and one more step away from the gang lifestyle.
Luis hears that one of his old friends from elementary school, Miguel, is brutalized by the police. Miguel fought hard to stay out of the gangs and violence and instead focused on sports and became a leader in his high school’s MASO club (similar to Luis’ ToHMAS). It started when the cops lined up a group of guys outside on the street for suspicion of drinking and Miguel’s older brother, Mooney stepped outside. One of the cops recognized him as having an outstanding warrant and followed him into the house as he ran back inside. Mooney ran through the house and the deputy shot at him. Miguel jumped on the deputy, who threw him off and shot him in the stomach. Everyone in the house, Miguel’s father with his legs in casts, his mother, his friend, Mooney, is arrested. Miguel was hospitalized in critical condition and eventually died. His death was announced in the middle of the barrio meeting that was to bring a truce between Sangra and Lomas. A truce agreement was signed to thunderous applause.
After Miguel’s death, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy was charged with his murder and the barrios began a warfare against the police. People shot at police cruisers as they made their patrols through the barrios and shot at the police helicopter as it flew over. The tenuous peace between Lomas
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 3
and Sangra fell through when Santos and a friend, Indio, were gunned down in Indio’s front yard in front of Indio’s three-year old son and it was rumored that Sangra was responsible. Puppet decides to retaliate against Sangra and assembles a group of people in his basement but Luis tries to talk them out of the hit. Luis tries to tell everyone that he thinks the police are responsible for Santos and Indio’s deaths and not Sangra. He implores Puppet to think about who the real enemy is, to realize that the Sangras are just like the Lomas. For his talk of peace, he is punched in the mouth and the hit continues. Foucault says “the criminal must not be glorified, the crime must be seen as a misfortune (112). I believe this is what Luis is trying to make Puppet and the other see – that retaliation only glorifies the crime and the person committing it. It does nothing to make life better or easier – the violence and constant fighting only make life harder.
As Luis tries to navigate his way through the violence and educated uprising, he finishes school at Keppel. He is made president of ToHMAS and is a role model to many of the students there – they come to him for advice and when they are wronged, either by teachers or other students. Mrs. Baez, the ToHMAS sponsor, has read some of Luis’ poetry and writings and convinces him to attempt to get them published. They enter them into a Chicano Publishing Contest sponsored by Quinto Sol Publications and Luis is eventually awarded a publishing contract out of Berkeley. Luis’ last year at Keppel is a changing one, one in which the other students there began to realize what the Chicanos were facing and one in which the cultural lines blurred even more. Anglo students started to make their own demands for better education and better treatment and began to realize that “as long as some students were deprived of a quality education, they all were” (221).
Luis continues to change the power he holds over himself from negative to positive. As Luis separates himself more and more from the violent past of his gang lifestyle, old homies began to get in more and more trouble. Tiburon is found guilty of the murder of a 16-year old Sangra and Chicharron is found guilty of being an accessory to that murder. Luis and Chente talk about how insignificant Loma is compared to the rest of the world – Chente points out that Lomas doesn’t even appear on a map. Something that Luis has fought so hard to protect and defend isn’t recognized by the rest of the world and is so small that no one outside of The Hills even knows it exists. “The vatos defend a land which doesn’t even belong to them” (236).
After Luis is nearly killed by his former friends, by the vatos he stood with for so long, he leaves Lomas with Chente’s help. He says goodbye to his parents and finally gets something he needed from his mother – her respect. After he leaves, Luis is still affected by change. Lomas changes, his family changes, even the neighborhood they live in changes. Old friends and acquaintances are killed or jailed. PCP sweeps through the barrio and causes casualties, both of people and places where Luis used to hang – like the La Casa Community Center. His murals were whitewashed and youth centers and other community projects stopped.
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 3
Luis is a powerful narrator and leader – his ability to incite people to change is wonderful. Luis becomes more involved in cultural and social change as he grows and changes. He marries Camilla and becomes a father. The last few pages of the book, in which Luis is confronted by Chava, are moving and so poignant. He hugs Chava and the violence finally leaves both of their bodies. “I hear the final tempo of the crazy life leave my body, the last song before the dying” (246).
December 4, 2006 at 5:45 am
Melissa Duffield
Always Running #3
12/3/06
meld731@yahoo.com
Number of words: 1335 1
The movement that Luis joins along with the support of Chente help Luis stay grounded and away from the violent street life. Chente believes in Luis, Chente believes that if Luis is given the right resources and pointed in the right direction then Luis can make something off himself. I feel that Luis believes in himself but needs the extra support and guidance of Chente to help build his confidence. Luis wants to and try’s to prove to everyone that he can be successful. When he does not succesed he feels that he has not only let himself down but also everyone around him who may have been counting on him. I think that Chente was so important in Luis life because he guided him like a father may do but never became angry or disappointed in Luis. When Luis showed up to a meeting “messed up” Chente did not yell or became angry with Luis he simply said “ when you win, we win: but when you go down, you go down alone.” (159) Meaning that the group will be there to help and support each other as long as your on the right track but if you make a poor decision the group will not let it affect them negatively. I think that this group hit home with Luis and he realized that in order to have a support system one must make good desions fro themselves as well as for the group. The Chicano movement was started in 1950 by Mexican-Americans who wanted more respect and equality in the United States of America. The word “ Chicano” was first used as a derogatory word but then accepted as a symbol of self-determination. After world war II and by the 1960’s and 1970’s “Chicanos” became more politically active. They wanted many things in the United States to change including equal employment opportunities and voter registration. The Chicano movement helped the United States grow as a country and proved
Melissa Duffield
Always Running # 3 2
more equality between all ethnicities.
It seems that although Luis moves on with his life many of his ‘homies” do not. When he attends a dance with his wife and child he has an encounter with Chava and finds that Chava has not moved past the Lomas and Sangra rival days. Chava still wants revenge and luckily Luis is able to talk Chava out of hurting him and Luis finally can close the chapter of his gang life involving Lomas and Sangra. Luis also mentions in the last part of the book that many of his “homies” have either ended up in jail or are dead. In the begining of the book it seemed that unlike Luis brother Luis was going to become involved in the real violent street life style. Luckily with supportive people and joys of having responsibility and helping people Luis was on of the lucky ones that escaped the gang life, following his brother.
Luis was brought up in a violent neighborhood where he, by peer pressure and his family situation sucked into the street life. His behavior was truly rebellious and dangerous at a young age getting into many situations that many people I know will never experience in their lifetime. Even though many of the events Luis participated in he knew were wrong he went along with it because it was the “cool” thing and everyone else was doing it. It seems like from the start Luis was an extra special child who could stand-alone and change people’s lives if the was pushed in the right direction. He had a gift that not many of his friends had and that was the he cared about other people. When all of his “homies” were out to get there own Luis was always questioning how it would effect others and whom his behavior would harm. Sometimes he listened to his gut and stayed out of the trouble and sometimes he went along with what the rest of the gang was doing. Another gift that Luis had was that he was a natural
Melissa Duffield
Always Running #3 3
born leader but did not have the self-confidence to believe in himself. When Luis meet a few supportive adults that could help change his life and give him the support he needed it was not long before he found out that he could make a difference in his life and others around him but also that he was a natural born leader. As Luis become more involved in school, the ToHMAS, and with Chente his self-confidence grew and he started to become a leader. Luis realizes how much he has changed when there was an incident at his school. He was standing up in front of crowd and realizes “Now I was somebody they couldn’t dismiss-somebody who had to be heard.” (218) When Luis first entered school he was pushed aside and not noticed but now here he was standing in front of his school with all of his classmates listing to him, all his classmates of different ethnicity and he was making a difference. I think that was the metamorphosis of Luis.
After he graduates from high school he falls into some more trouble by help out a lady named Licha who was being harassed by the police. Although Luis ends up in the county jail he manages to pull himself up and marry Camila. Luis continues with his work of helping the under privileged youth and trying to give people hop in their lives. Luckily Luis took all the negative situations and event in his life and instead of holding on to them he turned them around and made something positive out of it. He did not hold on to them like Chava did and try to seek revenge on all the people that hurt him. Instead he let go of the past and looked forward to the future and seeked out opportunities that would take him of the streets and into a better life style.
I noted in the new introduction The long run: New Introduction to Always Running
Melissa Duffield
Always Running #3 4
Luis talks about many schools and clubs that have the youth read the book Always Running. The significant part of Luis metamorphosis, I believe, is how his life will effect and change other people’s life. All the hardship and pain that Luis has experienced will help other young people and hopefully shed some light on their situation. Hopefully a young person reads this book and can relate to Luis and will be strong enough to seek help from organizations that are there to support them. Luis also talked about how he now goes to school and travels to different place to speak about the experiences he has gone through. I think that many children from minorities that may be in a gang or living a rough lifestyle will be able to relate to him. One can hope that the youth that Luis talks to will not only listen to what he says but take it in and analyze it and reflect on their own situations and experiences.
I really respect the metamorphosis that Luis underwent. He went through a lot in his life and instead of being dragged down by it or settling for that life style he was strong enough to take a stand. He was strong enough and daring enough to stand up for what he wanted and what he believed in and change himself. Many people I know would not have the strength or discipline that Luis had to change their life. Many of us have a hard enough time sticking to a healthier eating plan or a better exercise plan, imagine taking a chance to change your whole life. I am inspired to know that by Luis story as long as you put your mind to something you can change and be successful.
December 5, 2006 at 12:55 am
This is the second Luis Rodriquez paper.
Jade Dant
Always Running 5pg paper
12/4/06
italianbooty143@yahoo.com
Online 1395
Luis Rodriquez had to deal with an unbelievable about of violence and heart ache, but his story isn’t just his but of many of the gang members in L.A. Each one of them has to deal with death and prison. A lot of terrible things happen to Luis’s friends, but if they didn’t would Luis be where he is today. Did it take the violence to insight a Chicano Movement? Going down the list maybe make his friends seem like numbers to us, but they were family to him. One of his first friends named Tino was chased by the police on top of some roofs this caused Tino to fall and die. Later in life Luis is with his homies and a drive by of Sangra violence showed up and shot up the pavement landing his friend Clavo in the hospital with a shot up face and missing eye. When Luis joins the “tribes” gang their leader John Fabela is gunned down. Little man was shot and killed by an angry Sangra member who just had a fight with his girlfriend. One of his original friends Wilo decides to move away with his family to get away from the violence, but a couple days after the move was brutally murdered. Yuk-Yuk and Daddio race away after robbing a place only to be chased by the police and their death was a result of a car crash from the high-speed chase. An X gang member by the name of Miguel Robles was shot down in his own home after police come in chasing his brother who had warrants out for his arrest. Miguel had no weapons and didn’t try to hurt the police as they bardged in, he was a victim of police brutality. Miguel was an example of barrio success story, where he turned his life around and was heading in the right direction only to be impeded by the
Jade Dant
Always Running 5pg paper
police and their racist shooting. The leader of Las Lomas, Santos was killed by a sharp shooter, many believe it was the police because of the planned out and on target shot. Not every friend of Luis died, but many had other troubles. For example many of his friends ended up in jail, and Chicharron ended up with a baby and the mother was a prostitute. As one can see Luis’s family was desecrated and one by one the violence of the streets and police consumed them.
Luis’s consciousness arises through the violence to be morphed into a political power machine and later a loving father fighting his son’s battles with the ghetto. Though Luis does change his race does not and with that there is still racist remarks and problems. Luis absorbs much of the negativity around him, many of the times he doesn’t even know how to cry. Luis has a conversation with the sister of Wilo after his death Payassa says, “You Know, I’ve forgotten what it is to cry, I don’t know why”( A.R.124).
Luis says back, “Me Neither, but I know one thing, we better find out”( A.R. 124). Later on Luis says in his mind, “Everything lost its value to me: Love, Life, and Women. Death seemed the only door worth opening, the only road toward a future”( A.R. 125). This shows the bottling of emotions and taking in only the bad without reflection like asha bandele who protects herself with denial and repressed memories. All negatives would include: deaths, drugs, sniffing, gang initiations, police brutality, racism at school, his mother’s sickness, and his dad’s job. Luis says, “It never stopped, this running. We were constant prey, and the hunters soon became big blurs: the police, the gangs, the junkies, all smudged into one. As time passes Luis begins to asses its effects. Before robbing a convenient store by gunpoint with friends Luis contemplates, “To me, stealing
Jade Dant
Always Running 5pg paper
and taking someone’s life were two distinct capabilities. You can kill for a lot of reasons, or no reason at all, but killing for stealing didn’t sit well with me”(76). Luis seems like to me, not a mindless killing machine, but a brain with wants of its own. After watching death at his doorstep Luis begins to transform by attending rally’s against the war. When Luis met Chente he said, “By 1970 I felt disjointed, out of balance, tired of just acting and reacting. I wanted to flirt with depth of mind, to learn more about my world. Ny society. About what to do”(113). That sounds like a good realization to me. Luis tried to fill his time with helping people instead of filling it with violence or rape. Luis then finds the library, a place where political books were held and the history of his culture was there before his eyes. Luis read and soaked up as much as he could. Luis then goes back to school to make change and become the leader of a Chicano support group called ToMAS where he organized school walk outs and meetings with the principal to make change. Young Luis also becomes the school mascot bringing back the culture of the Aztecs back into reality. This is where Luis really became a political movement, a body of change. Luis ends up in jail only to befriend a rival gang member named Night Owl. Luis tries to have barrio unity meetings to help end the gang wars and really concentrate on the oppressor. At one point following a fellow gang member’s death, Luis tries to convince his leader not to react, that that is what the police want. Luis stops taking drugs all together and is an example for young new gang members who were torn between falling in line and taking drugs. As a new man, a powerhouse he graduates from high school with a career as a muralist. Luis goes off to college, jail follows pursuit only
Jade Dant
Always Running 5pg paper
to deter him from his goals for a while. Social action was what Luis became and was all about. Luis’s rebirth is evident when he says; “There comes a moment when one faces the fresh features of an inner face; a time of conscious rebirth, when the accounting’s done. The weave in its final flourish, a time when a man stands before the world—vulnerable, nothing-owed—and considers his place in it. I had reached such a moment”(A.R. 238).
What was the Chicano Movement that Luis fell deeply into? According to Wikipedia, “The Chicano Movement encompassed all political, social, and cultural movements by Mexican Americans. The political movements included the struggle for the restoration of Spanish era land grants to their original owners in New Mexico, to desegregate schools, for the election and appointment of Mexican-American governmental officials, against police brutality, and for the collective bargaining rights of agricultural laborers, many of whom were Mexican and Mexican-American.” The Chicano Movement also encompassed art as a huge part in getting their messege across. They developed new iconography and symbolic language to empower their youth and movement. It has to do with identity and history by Rolf Trouillot’s standards because that is where it started. It its history is the reason for the movement especially the Guadelupe Hidalgo Treaty causing Mexicans to lose a lot. I think the best quote that sums up the national pride movemtns of the 60’s is, “To acknowlege resistane as a mass phenomenon is to acknowledge the possibiltiy that something is wrong with the system”(STP). I think the people in the 60’s realized a problem with the sytem and were
Jade Dant
Always Running 5pg paper
rioting for a change while the government would deny the problem because if they said there was a problem the whole system would be nule and void. The government didn’t want people to national identify themselves as a race and let alone ask for rights. Whites would have to reflect on their celebrations for San Gabriel days or Colombus day. The 60’s were all about breaking out of the sytem that proclaimed normalcy.
December 5, 2006 at 2:26 am
Hi Jade:
I really liked how you summarized one death after another in the first paragraph. I had an extremely difficult time keeping everybody, and all the deaths straight.
“An X gang member by the name of Miguel Robles was shot down in his own home after police come in chasing his brother who had warrants out for his arrest. Miguel had no weapons and didn’t try to hurt the police as they bardged in, he was a victim of police brutality.”
I think that this happens a lot in our communities, and we just don’t hear about it. The media are the gatekeepers, and “silence” the information.
December 5, 2006 at 2:28 am
Hi Melissa:
I felt the relationship with Chente was really interesting. Even though Chente was a grounding force like you say, it still took a lot of struggling between the life he had and the life he wanted.
December 5, 2006 at 2:30 am
Hi Ben:
I forgot completely about the art that Luis got involved in, thank you for bringing it up. I think that Art has a strong place in our culture, and helps ground all of us. Its taken for granted and forgotten by many, but its a great way to transform the graffiti walls.
December 5, 2006 at 3:14 am
Jade- HI, Good job on your paper. I think the quote ““To acknowlege resistane as a mass phenomenon is to acknowledge the possibiltiy that something is wrong with the system”(STP), applies very nicely to the Chicano movement as well.
December 5, 2006 at 5:49 am
Dave Bynum
Human 6
American Cultures 1395
12/04/2006
Medic811@sbcglobal.net
Always Running – final paper
The Black, feminist and Chicano movements are all about inequality: educational, political, employment and societal. In the work field today, it is not uncommon for a woman to make less than a man doing the same job. If a person has a different skin color, does it still mean “less than?” To dehumanize these groups is a tragedy and “it takes a scientific approach to uncover the source of exploitation to unravel society’s delicate and intricate tapestry stitched with the skin of our mothers, the bones of our ancestors and the blood of all who toil” (184).
Chicano began as a derogatory word for Mexican-American; however the Mexicans changed the word as a prideful term. The Chicano Movement was a time of turmoil in the 1960’s and 70’s but it began 400 years ago when the Europeans invaded this land. The Mexican-Americans were a conquered people trying to regain their culture (Wikipedia). The movement had an uprising around 1848 during the Mexican-American war. This movement is about social, political and educational inequality. Our nation was built on freedom yet in the 1960’s it was forbidden to speak Spanish in public schools.
An integral part of the movement began with the Treaty of Hildago in 1848. Mexican cession was the end of the Mexican-American war. Since 1810, Mexico gained its freedom from Spain to turn around and gain freedom from Americans. The Treaty of Hildago was a purchase of land with “terms.” Mexico sold 6 of our western states to the US for 15 million and paying off 3.2 million in debts (Wikipedia). In this treaty, the Mexican government wanted their people to remain here so a clause was put in to allow citizenship for Mexicans residing in the US for over a year. Unfortunately article 9 in the agreement provided a loophole saying citizenship is to be approved by Congress. Also under article 9, Mexicans were to be granted the same rights as all citizens, of course under the “Almighty God.”
This is the first time I have heard this information. I was not taught this in school because two plays of power were involved here. The first being “what happened and what is said to have happened” by Trouillot and a hegemonic, bio-power from Foucault segregating the races. I can’t imagine being a 5th grader and learning that we promised Mexicans the same citizenship in 1848 yet we have not given it to them. What our schools teach is a form of power and control; another form of prison. This treaty, the law, is supposed to be enforced but “the law isn’t always about truth” (192).
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
The Chicano movement is about a race being dominated. Trouillot states that “built into any system of domination is the tendency to proclaim its own normalcy” (Trouillot 84). This land has been all about domination and to admit our faults is to admit something is wrong with our system (Trouillot). Our country has devised “formulas to repress the unthinkable and to bring it back within the realm of accepted discourse” (Trouillot 72). If our schools taught that America did not really honor the treaty, our government would lose power. We have rewritten history to be acceptable.
Luis was part of the Chicano movement. He was deprived of educational and political rights based on his skin color and heritage. This movement was about protests and violence as well. Luis was in jail during the infamous East LA riot when Chicano journalist and leader, Ruben Salazar had been killed (163).
After he got of jail, Luis went back to school with a new attitude. The school’s principal promised change, equal opportunities for all. Chente encouraged Luis to give the principal “the benefit of the doubt, but not to let him off the hook either” (171). Chente said “the students had to play the leading role in insuring” (171) the advances. Chicanos were 40 percent of Keppel High School (172), almost half. During this upheaval, the Chicanos decided to start their own groups in school and Luis’s club was called “To Help Mexican American Students or To.H.M.A.S” (172).
A tradition at their “Aztec” school was to parade as Indians at the football games but Luis believe the “Anglos [were] putting down our culture” (174). Luis and another student, Esme, learned the authentic Aztec dance and ending up winning the contest. This victory meant “another barrier had been torn down and an important aspect of our culture recognized” (177).
The To.H.M.A.S. became more involved in the school and demanding changes. The Mexicans did not want to be treated as second class citizens anymore. As the situation escalated between the Anglos and Mexicans, Luis stood up and made a strong statement. He felt these groups “we’re scared of each other, we’re ignorant of each other and then we’re surprised” (182) about all this hatred? Luis’ comments led to a Chicano culture class at the high school to educate other groups about who they are instead of assuming ignorance; “we have only just begun” (183).
Despite the challenges at school, Luis had to deal with problems in his neighborhood as well; the barrios were at war. Luis shot a man at the age of 17 ending up in jail to be tried as an adult. He faced a charge of attempted murder but “this time, mama didn’t come” (189). Chente came to pick him up and said “you messed up Luis” (191) and Luis knew it.
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
Chente admired some drawings Luis did in his garage and encouraged him to get involved in mural painting. Mural painting is an expression of Mexican culture. This was another avenue for their culture to express themselves without violence and conflict; “it opened up another world” (201) for Luis.
Luis enjoyed this new world yet the wars continued. Two of Luis’ homeboys were taken out in a drive by shooting. His gang, the Lomas, wanted revenge. His gang congregated to discuss the avenues of revenge but Luis didn’t want any part of it. Luis encouraged the use of brains and to determine who the real enemy is here; members of these rival gangs are just like us (208). One of Luis’ homeboys punched him in the face because he feared the possibility of change.
Another opportunity presented itself to Luis; his teacher Mrs. Baez discovered his writing talent and encouraged him to follow this path. Luis did not believe his writings were of any value because he “had fallen through the chasm between two languages. The Spanish had been beaten out of [him] in the early years of school – and [he] didn’t learn English very well either” (219). But together Luis created his own art form and his “expressive powers were strong and vibrant” (219).
Luis finally graduated high school and it left him with “numerous scars, but there were also victories” (221). Luis picked up a book contract and even enrolled in college. His life was changing the street wars continued on. Another mishap landed Luis in jail; he was the victim of police brutality. Eventually he was sentence to county jail for a time but after this, he dropped out of college.
Luis returned to the hood and wanted to defend his homeboys again but Chente insisted that he look at the situation with a different set of eyes. Chente wanted him to look at the global aspect and not just the neighborhood but Luis wanted “to stop the killings in [his] own way” (236).
Another pivotal point was when Luis refused to do drugs with the homeboys and he started a trend. Luis felt “if they had something more meaningful in their lives” (237), they wouldn’t need the wars and the drugs. Some of the homeboys did not like the changes Luis invoked and they turned on him by sending out warning shots. Luis felt pain and hurt because he “would have died for them” (238).
Luis had an epiphany or “conscious rebirth” (238) at this time; “when the accounting’s done, the weave in its final flourish, a time when a man stands before the world – vulnerable, nothing owed – and considers his place in it. [He] had reached such a moment” (238).
His life had changed drastically. He made peace with his parents. His mother never liked his walk outs or protests but she respected him for standing by his beliefs (239) and he valued his father instead of looking down on him. Luis traveled to Chicago with Chente and returned to the neighborhood. He was approached by a former gang victim, Chava. Chava was left disabled and blamed Luis and the Lomas for his tragedy; he wanted someone to pay for it. Chava breaks down and Luis hugs him. Both were from different gangs but both “capable of so much ache beneath the exterior of so much strength” (245).
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
Luis led a hard life; a life he did not want for his son, however his son inherited the problems of his generation. Sometimes society accepts normalcy because it is all they know. Luis was “somebody who had to be heard” (218). He turned his entire life around with the support of Chente. He learned “to challenge how power is held in America” (249).
Website research sources:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hidalgo/
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.azteca.net/aztec/guadhida.html
http://www.chicano-art-life.com/movement
Dave Bynum
Human 6
American Cultures 1395
12/04/2006
Medic811@sbcglobal.net
Always Running – final paper
The Black, feminist and Chicano movements are all about inequality: educational, political, employment and societal. In the work field today, it is not uncommon for a woman to make less than a man doing the same job. If a person has a different skin color, does it still mean “less than?” To dehumanize these groups is a tragedy and “it takes a scientific approach to uncover the source of exploitation to unravel society’s delicate and intricate tapestry stitched with the skin of our mothers, the bones of our ancestors and the blood of all who toil” (184).
Chicano began as a derogatory word for Mexican-American; however the Mexicans changed the word as a prideful term. The Chicano Movement was a time of turmoil in the 1960’s and 70’s but it began 400 years ago when the Europeans invaded this land. The Mexican-Americans were a conquered people trying to regain their culture (Wikipedia). The movement had an uprising around 1848 during the Mexican-American war. This movement is about social, political and educational inequality. Our nation was built on freedom yet in the 1960’s it was forbidden to speak Spanish in public schools.
An integral part of the movement began with the Treaty of Hildago in 1848. Mexican cession was the end of the Mexican-American war. Since 1810, Mexico gained its freedom from Spain to turn around and gain freedom from Americans. The Treaty of Hildago was a purchase of land with “terms.” Mexico sold 6 of our western states to the US for 15 million and paying off 3.2 million in debts (Wikipedia). In this treaty, the Mexican government wanted their people to remain here so a clause was put in to allow citizenship for Mexicans residing in the US for over a year. Unfortunately article 9 in the agreement provided a loophole saying citizenship is to be approved by Congress. Also under article 9, Mexicans were to be granted the same rights as all citizens, of course under the “Almighty God.”
This is the first time I have heard this information. I was not taught this in school because two plays of power were involved here. The first being “what happened and what is said to have happened” by Trouillot and a hegemonic, bio-power from Foucault segregating the races. I can’t imagine being a 5th grader and learning that we promised Mexicans the same citizenship in 1848 yet we have not given it to them. What our schools teach is a form of power and control; another form of prison. This treaty, the law, is supposed to be enforced but “the law isn’t always about truth” (192).
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
The Chicano movement is about a race being dominated. Trouillot states that “built into any system of domination is the tendency to proclaim its own normalcy” (Trouillot 84). This land has been all about domination and to admit our faults is to admit something is wrong with our system (Trouillot). Our country has devised “formulas to repress the unthinkable and to bring it back within the realm of accepted discourse” (Trouillot 72). If our schools taught that America did not really honor the treaty, our government would lose power. We have rewritten history to be acceptable.
Luis was part of the Chicano movement. He was deprived of educational and political rights based on his skin color and heritage. This movement was about protests and violence as well. Luis was in jail during the infamous East LA riot when Chicano journalist and leader, Ruben Salazar had been killed (163).
After he got of jail, Luis went back to school with a new attitude. The school’s principal promised change, equal opportunities for all. Chente encouraged Luis to give the principal “the benefit of the doubt, but not to let him off the hook either” (171). Chente said “the students had to play the leading role in insuring” (171) the advances. Chicanos were 40 percent of Keppel High School (172), almost half. During this upheaval, the Chicanos decided to start their own groups in school and Luis’s club was called “To Help Mexican American Students or To.H.M.A.S” (172).
A tradition at their “Aztec” school was to parade as Indians at the football games but Luis believe the “Anglos [were] putting down our culture” (174). Luis and another student, Esme, learned the authentic Aztec dance and ending up winning the contest. This victory meant “another barrier had been torn down and an important aspect of our culture recognized” (177).
The To.H.M.A.S. became more involved in the school and demanding changes. The Mexicans did not want to be treated as second class citizens anymore. As the situation escalated between the Anglos and Mexicans, Luis stood up and made a strong statement. He felt these groups “we’re scared of each other, we’re ignorant of each other and then we’re surprised” (182) about all this hatred? Luis’ comments led to a Chicano culture class at the high school to educate other groups about who they are instead of assuming ignorance; “we have only just begun” (183).
Despite the challenges at school, Luis had to deal with problems in his neighborhood as well; the barrios were at war. Luis shot a man at the age of 17 ending up in jail to be tried as an adult. He faced a charge of attempted murder but “this time, mama didn’t come” (189). Chente came to pick him up and said “you messed up Luis” (191) and Luis knew it.
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
Chente admired some drawings Luis did in his garage and encouraged him to get involved in mural painting. Mural painting is an expression of Mexican culture. This was another avenue for their culture to express themselves without violence and conflict; “it opened up another world” (201) for Luis.
Luis enjoyed this new world yet the wars continued. Two of Luis’ homeboys were taken out in a drive by shooting. His gang, the Lomas, wanted revenge. His gang congregated to discuss the avenues of revenge but Luis didn’t want any part of it. Luis encouraged the use of brains and to determine who the real enemy is here; members of these rival gangs are just like us (208). One of Luis’ homeboys punched him in the face because he feared the possibility of change.
Another opportunity presented itself to Luis; his teacher Mrs. Baez discovered his writing talent and encouraged him to follow this path. Luis did not believe his writings were of any value because he “had fallen through the chasm between two languages. The Spanish had been beaten out of [him] in the early years of school – and [he] didn’t learn English very well either” (219). But together Luis created his own art form and his “expressive powers were strong and vibrant” (219).
Luis finally graduated high school and it left him with “numerous scars, but there were also victories” (221). Luis picked up a book contract and even enrolled in college. His life was changing the street wars continued on. Another mishap landed Luis in jail; he was the victim of police brutality. Eventually he was sentence to county jail for a time but after this, he dropped out of college.
Luis returned to the hood and wanted to defend his homeboys again but Chente insisted that he look at the situation with a different set of eyes. Chente wanted him to look at the global aspect and not just the neighborhood but Luis wanted “to stop the killings in [his] own way” (236).
Another pivotal point was when Luis refused to do drugs with the homeboys and he started a trend. Luis felt “if they had something more meaningful in their lives” (237), they wouldn’t need the wars and the drugs. Some of the homeboys did not like the changes Luis invoked and they turned on him by sending out warning shots. Luis felt pain and hurt because he “would have died for them” (238).
Luis had an epiphany or “conscious rebirth” (238) at this time; “when the accounting’s done, the weave in its final flourish, a time when a man stands before the world – vulnerable, nothing owed – and considers his place in it. [He] had reached such a moment” (238).
His life had changed drastically. He made peace with his parents. His mother never liked his walk outs or protests but she respected him for standing by his beliefs (239) and he valued his father instead of looking down on him. Luis traveled to Chicago with Chente and returned to the neighborhood. He was approached by a former gang victim, Chava. Chava was left disabled and blamed Luis and the Lomas for his tragedy; he wanted someone to pay for it. Chava breaks down and Luis hugs him. Both were from different gangs but both “capable of so much ache beneath the exterior of so much strength” (245).
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
Luis led a hard life; a life he did not want for his son, however his son inherited the problems of his generation. Sometimes society accepts normalcy because it is all they know. Luis was “somebody who had to be heard” (218). He turned his entire life around with the support of Chente. He learned “to challenge how power is held in America” (249).
Website research sources:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hidalgo/
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.azteca.net/aztec/guadhida.html
http://www.chicano-art-life.com/movement
Dave Bynum
Human 6
American Cultures 1395
12/04/2006
Medic811@sbcglobal.net
Always Running – final paper
The Black, feminist and Chicano movements are all about inequality: educational, political, employment and societal. In the work field today, it is not uncommon for a woman to make less than a man doing the same job. If a person has a different skin color, does it still mean “less than?” To dehumanize these groups is a tragedy and “it takes a scientific approach to uncover the source of exploitation to unravel society’s delicate and intricate tapestry stitched with the skin of our mothers, the bones of our ancestors and the blood of all who toil” (184).
Chicano began as a derogatory word for Mexican-American; however the Mexicans changed the word as a prideful term. The Chicano Movement was a time of turmoil in the 1960’s and 70’s but it began 400 years ago when the Europeans invaded this land. The Mexican-Americans were a conquered people trying to regain their culture (Wikipedia). The movement had an uprising around 1848 during the Mexican-American war. This movement is about social, political and educational inequality. Our nation was built on freedom yet in the 1960’s it was forbidden to speak Spanish in public schools.
An integral part of the movement began with the Treaty of Hildago in 1848. Mexican cession was the end of the Mexican-American war. Since 1810, Mexico gained its freedom from Spain to turn around and gain freedom from Americans. The Treaty of Hildago was a purchase of land with “terms.” Mexico sold 6 of our western states to the US for 15 million and paying off 3.2 million in debts (Wikipedia). In this treaty, the Mexican government wanted their people to remain here so a clause was put in to allow citizenship for Mexicans residing in the US for over a year. Unfortunately article 9 in the agreement provided a loophole saying citizenship is to be approved by Congress. Also under article 9, Mexicans were to be granted the same rights as all citizens, of course under the “Almighty God.”
This is the first time I have heard this information. I was not taught this in school because two plays of power were involved here. The first being “what happened and what is said to have happened” by Trouillot and a hegemonic, bio-power from Foucault segregating the races. I can’t imagine being a 5th grader and learning that we promised Mexicans the same citizenship in 1848 yet we have not given it to them. What our schools teach is a form of power and control; another form of prison. This treaty, the law, is supposed to be enforced but “the law isn’t always about truth” (192).
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
The Chicano movement is about a race being dominated. Trouillot states that “built into any system of domination is the tendency to proclaim its own normalcy” (Trouillot 84). This land has been all about domination and to admit our faults is to admit something is wrong with our system (Trouillot). Our country has devised “formulas to repress the unthinkable and to bring it back within the realm of accepted discourse” (Trouillot 72). If our schools taught that America did not really honor the treaty, our government would lose power. We have rewritten history to be acceptable.
Luis was part of the Chicano movement. He was deprived of educational and political rights based on his skin color and heritage. This movement was about protests and violence as well. Luis was in jail during the infamous East LA riot when Chicano journalist and leader, Ruben Salazar had been killed (163).
After he got of jail, Luis went back to school with a new attitude. The school’s principal promised change, equal opportunities for all. Chente encouraged Luis to give the principal “the benefit of the doubt, but not to let him off the hook either” (171). Chente said “the students had to play the leading role in insuring” (171) the advances. Chicanos were 40 percent of Keppel High School (172), almost half. During this upheaval, the Chicanos decided to start their own groups in school and Luis’s club was called “To Help Mexican American Students or To.H.M.A.S” (172).
A tradition at their “Aztec” school was to parade as Indians at the football games but Luis believe the “Anglos [were] putting down our culture” (174). Luis and another student, Esme, learned the authentic Aztec dance and ending up winning the contest. This victory meant “another barrier had been torn down and an important aspect of our culture recognized” (177).
The To.H.M.A.S. became more involved in the school and demanding changes. The Mexicans did not want to be treated as second class citizens anymore. As the situation escalated between the Anglos and Mexicans, Luis stood up and made a strong statement. He felt these groups “we’re scared of each other, we’re ignorant of each other and then we’re surprised” (182) about all this hatred? Luis’ comments led to a Chicano culture class at the high school to educate other groups about who they are instead of assuming ignorance; “we have only just begun” (183).
Despite the challenges at school, Luis had to deal with problems in his neighborhood as well; the barrios were at war. Luis shot a man at the age of 17 ending up in jail to be tried as an adult. He faced a charge of attempted murder but “this time, mama didn’t come” (189). Chente came to pick him up and said “you messed up Luis” (191) and Luis knew it.
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
Chente admired some drawings Luis did in his garage and encouraged him to get involved in mural painting. Mural painting is an expression of Mexican culture. This was another avenue for their culture to express themselves without violence and conflict; “it opened up another world” (201) for Luis.
Luis enjoyed this new world yet the wars continued. Two of Luis’ homeboys were taken out in a drive by shooting. His gang, the Lomas, wanted revenge. His gang congregated to discuss the avenues of revenge but Luis didn’t want any part of it. Luis encouraged the use of brains and to determine who the real enemy is here; members of these rival gangs are just like us (208). One of Luis’ homeboys punched him in the face because he feared the possibility of change.
Another opportunity presented itself to Luis; his teacher Mrs. Baez discovered his writing talent and encouraged him to follow this path. Luis did not believe his writings were of any value because he “had fallen through the chasm between two languages. The Spanish had been beaten out of [him] in the early years of school – and [he] didn’t learn English very well either” (219). But together Luis created his own art form and his “expressive powers were strong and vibrant” (219).
Luis finally graduated high school and it left him with “numerous scars, but there were also victories” (221). Luis picked up a book contract and even enrolled in college. His life was changing the street wars continued on. Another mishap landed Luis in jail; he was the victim of police brutality. Eventually he was sentence to county jail for a time but after this, he dropped out of college.
Luis returned to the hood and wanted to defend his homeboys again but Chente insisted that he look at the situation with a different set of eyes. Chente wanted him to look at the global aspect and not just the neighborhood but Luis wanted “to stop the killings in [his] own way” (236).
Another pivotal point was when Luis refused to do drugs with the homeboys and he started a trend. Luis felt “if they had something more meaningful in their lives” (237), they wouldn’t need the wars and the drugs. Some of the homeboys did not like the changes Luis invoked and they turned on him by sending out warning shots. Luis felt pain and hurt because he “would have died for them” (238).
Luis had an epiphany or “conscious rebirth” (238) at this time; “when the accounting’s done, the weave in its final flourish, a time when a man stands before the world – vulnerable, nothing owed – and considers his place in it. [He] had reached such a moment” (238).
His life had changed drastically. He made peace with his parents. His mother never liked his walk outs or protests but she respected him for standing by his beliefs (239) and he valued his father instead of looking down on him. Luis traveled to Chicago with Chente and returned to the neighborhood. He was approached by a former gang victim, Chava. Chava was left disabled and blamed Luis and the Lomas for his tragedy; he wanted someone to pay for it. Chava breaks down and Luis hugs him. Both were from different gangs but both “capable of so much ache beneath the exterior of so much strength” (245).
Dave Bynum
Always Running – final paper
Luis led a hard life; a life he did not want for his son, however his son inherited the problems of his generation. Sometimes society accepts normalcy because it is all they know. Luis was “somebody who had to be heard” (218). He turned his entire life around with the support of Chente. He learned “to challenge how power is held in America” (249).
Website research sources:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hidalgo/
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.azteca.net/aztec/guadhida.html
http://www.chicano-art-life.com/movement
December 5, 2006 at 7:12 am
Ryan McGraw
Lois: The Final Pages
12/4/06
“The Invisible Minority”
–Jesus Salvador Trevino
“The Chicano Movement, also knows as la lucha (the struggle), la cause (the cause), or simply el movimiento (the movement), was a social uprising led, primarily, by the first generation of Mexican American youth who rejected American identity of inferiority that labeled them as ‘socially disadvantaged’.” (Chavez).
As I read about the immigration into America I found that Mexican “protonationalism” was due to the over all result of police brutality, limited political representation and urban renewal that displaced their communities. As World War II waged on the equalization of Mexican people was found to be great in the war efforts. Many diverse groups came together but as they returned home they found nothing for them in terms of equality and escape. It was much more racist and much less understanding then when they went off to war. The “residual culture”, as Chavez called it was a testament to traditions and family’s that still hung on to there culture as the new Americas came and took over. The movement was a single “situation” that spawned a new generation of thinking, not an annual event like many other “movements” that were mentioned. (Trevino)
“In formally granting the ethnic Mexican population in the Southwest all the rights of American citizens in 1848, and yet denying them the possibility of exercising those rights, Americans planted the seeds of continuing ethnic discord in the region”. (“David G. Gutierrez”, Chavez)
“…Understanding the Chicano movement requires comprehending the condition in which the ethnic Mexican community lived and which shaped identities of its residents.” (Chavez)
“The language of Americanism is best understood in terms of four over lapping dimensions: nationalist, democratic, progressive and traditionalist.” (Chavez)
“…The collapse of the Chicano movement resulted from the failure of its constituent arts to recognize the dynamic heterogeneous nature of the ethnic Mexican American community in Los Angeles and, indeed, the nation.” (Chavez)
The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was basically a buy out of war the United States gave to Mexico. After we declared war on Mexico in 1846, we found ourselves paying $15 million for Mexico to give up 55% of there territory, which is present day Arizona, California, New Mexico and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah. The battle was over the Rio Grande involving rights to the land. The clash lasted for years, but was found to end as US troops finally occupied Mexico City, and the treaty was signed. (LOC) (Once again the US strong-arming another nation into submission.) I cant help but think how the we would be without California being a part of it.
“One-sided Historicity. For the positivist, power is unproblematic, irrelevant to the construction of the narrative as such. At best, history is a story about power, a story about those who won.” (Trouillot, 5) Luis describes the small battles he has won for his community and for his people. These are minute to the over all issues that surround the Mexican community in East LA. Sure enough he had power but no matter how much he won, it would seem all around him everyone would still be loosing. I believe this quote by Trouillot is very good because it proves how Luis’ life is related to the history of the Chicano movement. No matter how much you push and change there is always more construction to be done. There is only one side of history that we are taught, but the truth is that there are more sides then we have names for which truly make up history as a whole. Silencing the Past, written by Trouillot, gives many examples of historical facts that were left out of books and thinking. The Chicano movement is one of those same issues that were over looked, because the Mexicans “were never holding any cards”. Throughout the last chapters of the story Luis finds himself caught in many situations he does not intend to be in, like when he is caught between the beatings of a young girl and then a shooting breaks out. It seems that no matter how hard you try to change history with the power you have at hand, it is always about who won, not about who tried to hardest or fought the best battle, or even made the most progress. Trouillot proves this point with his statements.
Luis seems to be learning day by day what his overall goals with life are all about. He always manages to get caught up in his surroundings though where he goes and gets involved in. Luis and his homies seem to change direction as they all move on together, like the branches of a tree. They are all connected at the roots but most of them grow out from the tree the farther you get away from the ground. Some branches fall or break off from the tree because there is not enough direction or strength holding them up. His friend Tito is shot by and killed by police, Yuk Yuk and Daddio are killed in a car accident and just as Miguel gets out of the ghetto, he is murdered anyways. We find that sometimes the strongest branches of the tree are usually the ones closest to the ground and in this case, Chente.
Throughout his gang experience he has never questioned authority among his homies, but for the first time in his life he stands up for what he believes in. He had his first experience with this in the gang as he tried to persuade the homies against a return assault on Sangra. In this basement meeting, with an armament of weapons on the table, he confronted Puppet head on and out of turn and said what was on his mind. He was laughed at and almost winded up getting shot for it but luckily they purposely shot to the side to scare him, and give him a warning that there was a line he should not cross. That was his family and he was to show respect.
As his courage grew, he found himself at the forefront of the schools revolution into Mexican studies lead by a teacher Mr. Sosa. He became the columnist for the school newspaper and his ideas founded the basis for a new organization at the school where he attended, Mark Keppel High School. He went there briefly before but was kicked out for problems he had with the staff and students. This time there was a Chicano studies program that was instated and a new principal changed the educational plans, letting more Mexican students enter and be a part of the school. Luis got his first taste of organized backlash when he attended this school. He was the leader of the Mexican students at the school and he was the voice and face for the whole Mexican population in the school. They listened to him and his ideas as how to better the school for educational goals and understanding geared toward the white students. When his and other students ideas were not herd his organization steam was aimed at a walkout that insisted things change in the school. To his surprise students attended, and at way more numbers then he thought which ultimately brought the whole school together to discuss the racial barriers that affected all students at the school. This is the time when Luis’ colors truly shined through. His poise, his voice, his words his actions were amazing as he spoke to the whole school about what he wanted to see and what he wanted to change to make better for everyone. It was a huge step for all of the students.
Toward the end of the book, Luis has started to find his highlight in society and started to grow and learn as a man. “Pity links us in a perverted way, transcending our veneers, joining us in our vulnerability, and at the same time distancing us from one another” (245). Luis’ involvement in the LA riots had got him a first class ticket to prison, where for the last time he sat, as his parents refused to come see him or help him. While in there his dreams started to fade. The school where he attended slowly shut down the Chicano department and Mr. Sosa was removed from the program. The Bienvenidos Community Center where Luis used to volunteer and teach other kids how to stay away from crime and drugs had fallen and the only way that the community could keep the facility the way the built it, was to disband the involvement all together. The dreams he had help built for the community seemed to be lost in a sea of gang wars. His final realization came when one of the other gang members came to try and kill him for retribution for being stabbed 8 times. “I’m ready to leave, Chente. There’s nothing for me here anymore.” (238) This was the smartest thing I had ever heard him say throughout the whole story.
1. Chavez, Ernesto. ““Mi Raza Primero!”: nationalism, identity, and insurgency in the Chicano movement in Los Angeles, 1966-1978”. University of California Press, Ltd. Berkeley, California. 2002.
2. Library of Congress. “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.” http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty/. Hispanic Division Studies. November 22, 2005.
December 5, 2006 at 7:27 am
Dawn Rash
Always Running
November 30, 2006
dawnkrash@hotmail.com
Humanities 6 online
Chente and the Movement create an environment of support for Luis in many ways. The first and foremost level of support is the way that Chente persuades Luis to open his mind to the possibilities of change in his life and his role as a person as an instrument of change in his environment. “Change is constant. Stagnation is relative. But change follows the laws of development, a process that, if appreciated, sets the condition by which people make their own history.” (AR, 185) The members of the Movement pointed out that racism, poverty and hunger were not limited to his little world, that there was a whole way people have lived that needed to be transformed. The first step toward this transformation would be to remove the shackles from their minds. I believe that this foundation set Luis on the course to change the systems around him, such as school and gang activities.
Luis walked in the Chicano Moratorium which was a march held in Laguna Park to protest the war in Vietnam. It was the largest antiwar rally ever held in a minority community. (AR,160) The protest was over the disproportionately large number of Chicanos being drafted and dying overseas. Activists blamed the lack of power, poor schooling and poverty as the reason that Chicanos were being taken advantage. The Brown Berets were among the protesters. They are a group of men and women formed in the mid-1960’s who nurtured leaders within communities to facilitate social change and fight injustice. Police brutality was among their major fights. On this day, police brutality took over and the peaceful protest was turned into a full scale riot. Luis describes the scene that played out before him as bodies scurried in all directions in tear
Dawn Rash-Always Running
gas mist. Everyone was screaming and crying. Luis was beat and arrested along with many others. He was a juvenile place in an adult prison facility.
The Chicano Moratorium was not Luis’s first political act. Luis was involved in the Chicano Blowouts in March of 1968. Several thousand junior high and high school students walked out of their East LA classrooms to protest the inadequacies in education funding programs and the lack of Chicano culture in the school curriculum. “Still it became my first conscious political act-I was 13 years old- for which I received a day’s suspension from school.”(AR,165)
Chente was personally supportive in bringing out Luis’s artistic talent. He was the person who opened up the world of mural painting to Luis. Luis had a crew of thirteen people and training from the leading artists. The wealth of knowledge that he gained from achieving so much must have boosted his confidence level to new heights. He had the courage to share his writings with Ms. Baez, which lead to a publishing contract and the most legitimate money that he had ever obtained in one chunk. ( AR,220) Chente was the one constant positive role model that never faded, no matter what the circumstance. He saw something in Luis that he continued to fight for when Luis himself had given up. Chente was there for the Luis in his times of triumph as well as supporting him when Luis had slipped back into the craziness of the Lomas. In the end it
was Chente who physically took Luis to his new life away from all he had ever known.
Luis must have felt very torn by the life that he wanted and the life that was his reality. On one hand he was very involved in the process of changing the status of Latinos in school, but on
the other hand he was still very much involved in his gang. It is quite an accomplishment in his Dawn Rash- Always Running
in senior year for Luis to become the ToHMAS president and student council’s Speaker of the House. He also became a columnist for the school’s newspaper. In one article he wrote, “ It’s important that Chicanos feel this is their school too. It’s about time we became part of America.” (AR,212) He worked endlessly to gain the respect and recognition of right that were entitled to the Chicano community. He worked within the system to the best of his ability. Although Luis’s work involved him in such groups as the Mexican American Leadership Conferences and other LA conferences for youth, Luis did not even attend the ceremony for his own graduation. For all of the progress that Luis had made, he was still an outsider in a system that should have embraced a student with such dedication and drive. Luis did point out that, “most importantly, Anglo students began to grasp the significance of struggle and pressed for their own demands.” Luis did leave a mark on Koppel High School.
In a conversation with Chente, Luis was talking about how he had to defend the Hills because in his eyes there was much to be done. While Chente was pointing out that there was much to be done everywhere, Luis said, “I understand , but I can’t leave now; Lomas is everything, it’s my family, it’s my world.” ( AW,236) Luis has tried to approach some of the Lomas with ideas of non-violence. A couple of guys were tired of the killing and violence, but Puppet thought Luis and his ideas to be spineless. The gang members would naturally follow the lead of Puppet.
It is ironic that the same guy who jumped Luis into the Lomas, would be the same guy to send him out. Topo was the one who pointed a gun at Luis and began to shoot. “The homeboys tried to kill me, vatos whom I had know as brothers, with whom I scurried down muddy streets and slept next
to in jail, with whom I partied and hung out in front of courthouses and the fields; they were dudes Dawn Rash- Always Running
I fought for and with whom I shared a taste of la carga. I would have died for them.” (AR,238)
Luis had reached the moment of truth, that everything and everyone that he had believed in was a lie. He came to the realization that there was nothing left for him in that place. Once again, Chente stepped in and helped Luis out of South San Gabriel and into a new life.
After some traveling with Chente and returning to Los Angeles, Luis married Camilia. “I began a new season of life. Intellect and body fused, I now yearned to contribute fully, embodied with conscious energy, to live a deliberate existence dedicated to a future humanity which might in complete freedom achieve the realization of its creative impulses, the totality of its potential faculties, without injustice, coercion , hunger and exploitation.” (AR,243) This is such a powerful statement, speaking volumes about a man with immense self esteem and direction in life. Luis has experienced the very worse of circumstances throughout his life, but has managed to pull himself up beyond the expectations that society held for him or the expectations that he ever imagined growing up in a life of oppression, poverty and blatant racism. He is truly a remarkable man. It is unfortunate that of the many who grew up in the same circumstance, Luis was the only one of his homeys who made it out of La Vida Voca.
Luis recounts a story of an incident that happened upon a return trip home to celebrate a cousin’s quincenera. He speaks of Chava, who comes looking for revenge for the stabbing done to
him by the Lomas some years earlier. Although Luis tries to make Chava understand that he wasn’t there, Chava wants to kill Luis. Chava says, “Lomas did this -somebody has to pay.” Luis goes on to describe the horror of the appearance of Chavas’ multiple scars left on his torso from stab wounds, compounded by the scars on his face and head that are, “larger with indentations and Dawn Rash- Always Running
purplish membranes.” (AR,244) Luis wants Chava to be glad that he is alive, and I guess when the tally of death due to gang violence is counted, life could be considered a good thing. The original four members of the Animal Tribe were not all so lucky. Clavo, shot in the eye left the scene early on, Wilo was gunned down and run over by another gang after leaving South San Gabriel and Chicharron was in prison for murder. In the end all Luis could do was to hold this broken man and feel pity. Luis maintains that this incident was the final tempo of the crazy life leaving his body.
In his epilogue, Luis talks about the first social response to an economic revolution which began years before: the shift from mechanical productive energy to on based on electronics. He explains how this translated to tens of thousands of jobs lost as major factories closed down. As a result economic decay. (AR,248) Government officials on every level did nothing to help the situation. Additionally, Luis pointed out that whenever possible, the government targeted every organization that worked towards justice and liberation by killing its leaders or incarcerating its members, therefore trying to break up the unity of these groups. Trouillot writes that built into any system of domination is the tendency to proclaim its own normalcy. (STP,84) The domination of Chicanos was ever present in the fact that communities like South San Gabriel all over the United States are segregated and separated from the main stream. The fact that no effort was made to improve the economic situation or educate the people in these communities until the Movements is a powerful force of oppression that silences a race of people as if they don’t exist. Luis states that Gangs flourish when there is a lack of social recreation, decent education or employment. (AR,250) They can only satisfy their needs through collective strength. The constant pressures of the power of society and their impotence within that society will continue to keep Dawn Rash- Always Running
gangs alive. The government won’t step in, in a large part because the life of a gang member as described by Luis leads down one of two roads, death or incarceration. The gang life is its own form of genocide. Larger than gang life, is a whole community of people who need to be heard and recognized. The national pride movements that were held throughout the 60’s speaks to the words that Trouillot wrote, “At some stage, for reasons that are themselves historical, most often spurred by controversy, collectivities experience the need to impose a test of credibility on certain events and narratives because it matters to them whether these events are true or false, whether these stories are fact or fiction.” (STP, 11) The oppressed will eventually rise from the state of domination to change their position in society. Every person needs to feel that they are valued and contribute to society. Most people, if given the choice would choose education, success and inclusion with the world around them. Nobody would choose La Vida Loca.
December 5, 2006 at 3:31 pm
ok sorry mine posted 3 times…??????? copy and paste has a mind of its own
December 6, 2006 at 11:21 pm
Corinne Neuman- Yeah it was confusing to keep everyone seperated, after the first three chapters i started writing quick notes about each chapter and where the pages of major events happened and then i also wrote a character list with the page of their appearance. It was such a time saver when looking for good quotes.