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| Painting by Emmanuel Martinez of Abelardo and Dolores Delgado |
Lunes con Lalo Delgado
from The Chicano Movement: Some Not Too Objective Observations
The Movement – Drug Cult – Crime
by Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado
The decoys for real movement involvement are many, and the abuses in the name of the Chicano Movement, many more. Mistaking liberation with freedom to abuse is not peculiar of us Chicanos only. All other ongoing movements have their share of phonies and pseudo-involved, semi-committed plagiarists.
Among us, then, are some who think that being Chicanos, declaring ourselves free, will absolve us from any social responsibilities. The contrary is true. By being Chicanos, and by being in the movement, more obligations must be shouldered.
We do not with to go back to the old pachuco battles in which we unleashed our frustrations of living under the dominance of an Anglo culture where we wished to remain intact in our own world by blowing pot, sniffing glue, hitting the needle, popping pildoras (pills), or organizing gangs to knife one another.
We are still, however, doing these things to a letter degree, but trying to do them in the name of the Chicano Movement just won't go. We do not disclaim those Chicanos; for one of the characteristics of the movement is trying to embrace all Chicanos, but efforts are being made, and must continue, to get these Chicanos away from dope and crime, and to join the movement.
Some rationale is even given to shoplifting in relation to the movement. We say we are not shoplifting, but “liberating.” While this may sink with some of us, it gives a wrong impression of the movement and accomplishes what I call losing ourselves in the quest, so that when we find what we are looking for, we have lost ourselves.
It is, however, simple to understand that those bent on crime, who do their thing for mere “kicks” or with little purpose, would do better to risk their lives for something more meaningful.
When another rationale is explained for using drugs, I cannot help bu show how square I really must be in, failing to see it their way. They claim that because Indian tribes used drugs to get a high in their spiritual rites, we, the direct descendants of those tribes, can go ahead and do likewise. If the rationale applies, then we are kind of phony, for we fail to want to emulate many of the other men-things the Indians did.
It isn't that I'm launching an anti-dope movement and using this chapter to preach it, but I have seen much in my thirty-nine years that tell me that those choosing to serve the drug cult serve very little else. A hooked guy is not good to the movement, for his every action is directed in keeping his vicio (habit) well supplied, and he would not hesitate putting movement matters second or betraying his carnales.
The movement calls for priest-like dedication, in which even families must take a second place. It is that serious, and one can do very little else. The question of grass I one that has me puzzled, and I cannot offer a suggestion on something I am not sure about myself. I know many movement people who use the weed, and are neither dependent on it nor interrupted in their quest for justice. The pot question is being presently scientifically debated as being injurious or leading to hard stuff, and the only hang-up is the legal one.
I may say this, “if you are in the movement and can afford to take time out to fight a 'bust' for grass, pay the fine, or discredit the movement in the eyes of the jefitos, then, it is green light for you.” Most of us know that the vast majority of Chicanos are prudish when it comes to this and take no second looks; but go on to condemn blindly even good “Grifos.”
A revolutionary act, as many would like to claim their petty crimes are, is something well thought out and noble and involves a risky sacrifice for La Causa. Few, if any, crimes committed by Chicanos fall into this category.
The Chicano Movement, when you take a good look at what it really is, is not a very attractive thing. The movement calls for sacrifice even beyond that which most of us are already enduring. It calls for creativeness and not merely emulating others; it calls for hard work and for catching very little resting pauses here and there. It is not like the army, a two-year stretch, but a lifetime commitment.
Other parts of this series:
Part IV Goals
More El Paso Writer News
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| Rafael Jesus Gonzalez reads at the Fronterizos in Exile reading, Dec. 29, 2010, Loft Light Studio, El Paso. Photo: Federico Villalba |
Rafael Jesus Gonzalez in Riverbabble
Rafael Jesus Gonzalez has four pieces published in Riverbabble: A Journal of Poetry, Short Fiction, and Criticism. Check them out. Also, Rafael will be reading at the Galeria de la Raze on Feb. 18. Here are the details:
LUNADA - Literary Lounge
Spoken Word * Música * Open Mic
Friday, February 18, 2011 | 7:30 pm
Lunada 2011 Spring Season Opener: "Fronteras Reales e Imaginarias/Borders Real & Imaginary" An evening of poetry, music and visual art, guest curated by César Barragán, featured poet Rafael Jesús González, and hosted by Sandra García Rivera.
The waxing Spring Season begins with an evening of poetry, music and visual art, "Fronteras Reales e Imaginarias / Borders Real & Imaginary"/Jeux Sans Frontiers / Juegos sin Fronteras./Games Without Borders" Guest Curated by César Barragán, the featured poet Rafael Jesús González, will be reading from his new book of moon poems La musa lunática / The Lunatic Muse, and visual artists Joaquín Alejandro Newman and Sean Levon Nash will be featured in a live collaboration.
Open Mic sign-up at 7:15pm at the entrance. Musicians and first timers are always welcome.
Show starts at 7:30pm
$5 entrance, or FREE with food dish to share, or with Galería membership.
GALERIA DE LA RAZA
2857 24th St (at Bryant) in The Mission.
San Francisco, CA
www.galeriadelaraza.org
info@galeriadelaraza.org
415-826-8009
Granados on Education
Christine Granados is quoted in a San Antonio Current article on funding education by Roberto Ontiveros:
“Let’s set the record straight. When most people, educators, say ‘low income students,’ it’s a euphemism for Mexican-American students,” said Christine Granados, author of Brides and Sinners in El Chucho, which won her the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award in 2006. “We all know and see that the Mexican-American population is growing in Texas and throughout the United States. As a matter of record and fact, Mexican-Americans are at the bottom of the wage-earning scale and are considered low income, poor, or whatever it is we’re calling the non-middle class nowadays.” READ Creativity at Ground Zero.
“Let’s set the record straight. When most people, educators, say ‘low income students,’ it’s a euphemism for Mexican-American students,” said Christine Granados, author of Brides and Sinners in El Chucho, which won her the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award in 2006. “We all know and see that the Mexican-American population is growing in Texas and throughout the United States. As a matter of record and fact, Mexican-Americans are at the bottom of the wage-earning scale and are considered low income, poor, or whatever it is we’re calling the non-middle class nowadays.” READ Creativity at Ground Zero.
Oscar Martinez on Treaty of Guadlupe Hidalgo
Oscar Martinez is quoted in an Arizonan Daily Wildcat article Museum displays piece of history. The article concerns a portions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that will be on display at the Arizona State Museum in February for its 163 anniversary (treaty). READ MORE.
Centro Victoria and Gilb
The Victoria Advocate has an article on Centro Victoria where Dagoberto Gilb is executive director. Gilb is quoted. READ IT NOW.
Paredes on new Texas law school
Raymund Paredes is quoted on a story about a new public law school in Texas: Lean times, yet 2 new law schools pitched.
Saenz on the Chicano Movement and New Award
Ben Saenz is quoted in UT El Paso Borderzine, an article that focuses on the Chicano Movement. Saenz says, "“We move forward all these years—after the civil rights movement and we talk about the Chicano Movement, but there is no movement per se. That doesn’t mean that there is nothing happening,” said Sáenz. “We want to ask ourselves, ‘Where do we stand now?’ It continues in a radically new way.” READ MORE.
Saenz has won the Westchester Fiction Award for Last Night I Sang to the Monster (Cinco Puntos Press). The award honors the literary achievement of up to 10 young adult novels each year.
Chicano Writing News
I caught on Michael Medreno's Facebook wall that there is a Gary Soto Museum
Tragic Bitches documents the process and poetry of three queer Xicana/o artists seeking to revel and heal in the darkest and most vulnerable spaces of love, desire and loss.
Cisneros and Rice on NPR
Check out this very good interview with Sandra Cisneros and David Rice on National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation: New And Established Writers Redefine Chicano Lit. "The situation has gotten worse for us," says Sandra Cisneros.
Victor Villasenor in Wyoming
Victor Villasenor visits the University of Wyoming tomorrow, Feb. 7, at 7:30pm. Villasenor's "Rain of Gold" trilogy is now being developed for a seven-part HBO miniseries. READ MORE.
Barrio Writers Program
Sarah Rafael Garcia, an author and founding director of the Barrio Writers program in Santa Ana and Anaheim, was honored recently by the Orange County Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools with an Outstanding Contributions to Education Award.
Chicana Jane Austen Take
I saw previews of "Prada to Nada" which is suppose to be a take on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Read more.
Monton on Montoya
Monton on Montoya
A nice feature on Malaquias Montoya. "Montoya’s art blends a brutal toughness and a desperate compassion in dealing directly with political themes — torture as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy (plus the denials that we engage in torture — one piece uses the actual words of someone accused of torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib who said “we’re just softening them up for interrogation”), the growing gap between rich and poor in the U.S. itself and the brutality and viciousness with which Americans, especially the military, throw their weight around the world and demand other countries bend to their will. Among the influences he cited were Mexican muralists José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siquieros (two of the three great painters of the Mexican revolution who were called Los Tres Grandes — the third was Diego Rivera), along with newer artists Elizabeth Catlett and Kathe Kollwitz." Check out Chicano Arts Pioneer Takes On Globalization and War.
Rock stuck on your arm?
Check out this American Public Media piece on Tammy Gomez: "t all started innocently enough. She was on her way out the door when she remembered something in her closet. That's when the unexpected happened." READ/HEAR MORE.
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