Oops They Did it Again...

I’m beginning to see that Seattle Police are a lot like the Border Patrol in Texas, specifically El Paso. They both seem to only acknowledge inappropriate incidents occurred once it’s been caught on video, and both seem to assault teens who “illegally cross,” and they both claim to be “threatened” and therefore resort to violent means. Both have polished professional spokespersons speak on their behalf and speak of investigations and inquiries and needing more evident before jumping to conclusions.

In both places, communities want change and authorities who conduct themselves with professionalism and trained in de-escalation techniques. In both situations, the victims are people of color. A Seattle office punched a young black teen in the face. A Border agent shot a brown teen for throwing a rock.

I remember when I first got here there was another case involving a Deputy Sheriff assaulting a teen in her cell because he claimed he felt threatening by the teen. He first claimed the teen assaulted him, but surveillance video revealed that in fact the officer wasn’t in the cell at all and that he was indeed the first to push, slam against the wall, punch, then slam the girl to the floor. The video reveals the threat was that she crossed her arms and kicked her shoe off. Check it out. By the way, she too is a young teen of color.

Indeed, this is why it is hard to feel safe when la placa drives by, when they turn up behind you, when you’re chillando at the park. Maybe this is why I have never ever said, “oh great, a peace officer is driving behind me and now I feel safe.” It’s usually a “chingado, did I do something wrong, is the music too loud, did I stop enough at the stop, or am I looking too Chicana today?”

When I’m in town and la jura is present, I tell my friend Luz or whomever is with me to not leave my side because in Seattle, la chota likes to kick Mexican piss out of brown people (even if they're not Mexican, apparently). I think the exact quote was “I’m going to kick the Mexican piss out of you homey. You feel me?” He was already handcuffed and on the floor. I'm sure he felt it. Being a Messican, not a Messican’t, and not wanting to deliver a “can’t we all just get along” speech before the media, swollen and bruised, a subsequent trial where no one is found guilty, I keep my distance from them, like I did with El Paso chotas and La Linea Keepers del paso del norte.

I’m more fascinated, however, with language, and not just because I’m a poet. That is, despite the many moves I’ve made, the many cities I’ve lived in and regions I’ve visited, people of color share more in common than not, and officials too. Words and phrases have meanings and semantic nuances, poetic liberties and leniency for exaggeration, but when you combine them with “reality” images, it's hard to find the words to justify authority’s use of power in the name of the law. Words of interest: escalation, felt threatened, trained to protect, paid leave pending an investigation, Urban League, Hispanic leaders, unjustified force, victims, injury, arrest, once again in the news, trouble, teens, no respect, youth, them, those people...back in the day, people knew their place...

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Police: Officer under review after punching incident caught on camera
By Gabriel Falcon, CNN
June 16, 2010 2:52 p.m. EDT
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/16/police.jaywalker/index.html?hpt=Sbin





Border Patrol bears increased criticism over death
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 9, 2010 8:32 p.m. EDT

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/09/mexico.border.shooting/index.html?iref=allsearch

Creative Godparents: Poecía, Palabra y Protesta con Amor

I spoke with Noelia La Furiosa de Sacras yesterday and I heard from her el Maestro José Montoya is not well. I fact, I don’t know if this is a secret (sorry but I had to write!). I called a few people who might have his contact info (his last number I had is disconnected). I’m both saddened and angry I have not made more of an effort to remain in closer contact with my elder and friend. I remember when we almost lost Dolores Huerta several years ago. It impacted me so much that I had to write a poem for her called Dolores Huerta Boulevard.

I don’t want to lose any more of our teachers and elders and creative god parents, like Phil Goldvarg, and Ricardo Favela., or good friends.

I remember several years ago, before the “craze” or spoken word took off (early to mid 90’s), he cautioned me (and the other Rudos) not fall for trends, that good poetry didn’t need to be yelled, that it could be subtle and quiet and “very Chicano” without all the yelling or “bells and whistles.” I never forgot that and finally understand what he meant by find the music in the poetry, the natural rhythms and beats and breaths.

He wrote me an outstanding Letter or Recommendation when I applied to the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso (the only Bilingual MFA in the country). I retrospect, how honored and privileged am I that he read my stuff BEFORE I learned to writer or be a “writer” with a “degree,” and that maybe he found in my work some thread of worth, maybe even potential.

 I remember the time we had a FLOR Y CANTO event in my backyard in Southside Modesto; we borrowed the stage from Kinán from ETC. Maestro Montoya showed up with Xico Gonzalez and other poetas from Sacras! I’m pretty sure Grace and la familia did as well, Sal y Destiny and other Rudos. That event in my backyard has been a highlight in my life, one that showed me how la palabra can build and bring community together. My mother, a conservative Mexicana tapatía, I think, for the first time understood what I was into, the poetry I loved, the method of expression, the community I loved and that loved me, and the power of word and song. I think she is still skeptical of the word Chicano and what it is we keep complaining about or “protestando”.

But it’s that subtle protest that I heard in that poem “El Louie.” Hoy enterraron al Louie, and I wanted to know Louie, and discovered I knew Louie's, vatos not in their fifties but teens and twenties, lost on the barrio streets of Aztlán.

Hoy enterraron al Louie.
And San Pedro o san pinche
Are in for it. And those
Times of the forties
And the early fifties
Lost un vato de atolle.
— El Louie, 1969

 So instead I celebrate life and I celebrate him NOW, and wish you better health, Maestro. I love you and appreciate all that you have taught this Chicana de Modesto’s’ Southside, by way of Jalisco, side tracked in Ensenada. Maestro, get better soon; I need you to read the completed collection of my work, work that you helped shape, and the dedication... Ometeotl.

__________________________________________________
In Formation: Twenty Years of Joda by José Montoya
This collection of poems by the seminal poet José Montoya, one of the founders of the Chicano Renaissance of the late 1960's, is an historic chronicle of the poet's work from the beginning of his writing to the 1990's. Included is his classic contribution to the Chicano legacy, the poem "El Louie," the timeless narrative of Louie Rodriquez, the embodiment of the Pachuco, who rebelled against the social norms of the 1940's and 1950's. The images contained in his poems and artworks are remarkable. Montoya's In Formation displays his astonishing talent.
Soft Cover, 252 pages, ISBN 0-9624536-1-7, Price $24.95
ABOUT THE AUTHORBorn by the Monzano Mountains in Escoboza, New Mexico, Montoya was raised there, in Albuquerque, and in California. He is a multi-disciplinary artist: poet, painter, writer, and musician. Montoya is a founding member of the Rebel Chicano Art Front, better known as the Royal Chicano Air Force, a group of artists and poets in Sacramento, California. A pioneer in Chicano literature and the use of caló, José is also a retired professor of art from California State University, Sacramento. He is currently working on his next book, How I Came to America, a collection of poetry, short stories, and memoirs to be published by Chusma House. José also performs with the musical group Casi Indio.

http://www.chusmahouse.com/titles.htm  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Montoya
  http://rehistoricizing.org/jose-montoya-esteban/  


Jose Montoya Esteban from Rehistoricizing.org on Vimeo.