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FROM UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
MARCH 27, 2004
COLUMN OF THE
AMERICAS
By Patrisia
Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez
Honoring the Trauma of Memory
This week marks 25
years since my life was violently taken
from me by club-wielding East Los Angeles
deputies. The details are no longer
important.
Please permit me to
remember those days -- not by dwelling on
the trauma I received to my body and the
continual dehumanization I was subjected
to -- but by honoring. Through the years,
I've recounted, analyzed and reflected.
But this occasion calls for naming, the
antithesis of silence. Admittedly, an
honoring, akin to a purification or
cleansing ceremony, may not lend itself
to a column, but that's how I choose to
note this occasion.
I honor those elders
-- who've since passed on to the spirit
world -- who dedicated their lives to
truth, peace, justice and dignity, and
who affected my life greatly: Ruben
Salazar (of the Los Angeles Times);
Maestro Florencio Yescas, danza Azteca;
Maestro Andres Segura, tradicion de danza
Conchero; Archbishop Oscar Romero, El
Salvador; Bill Weahkee, caretaker of the
petroglyphs, Cochiti Pueblo, N.M.; Thomas
Banyacya, the Hopi nation; indigenous
rights activist Ingrid Washinawatok; and
human rights champion Cesar Chavez.
Presente.
Among the living,
first, I honor my family, every last one
of them, who not only got me released
from my illegal imprisonment and who
later testified for me, but who also
showed me the meaning of strength and
unrequited love, always. Especially, I
honor my parents, Ricardo and Juanita,
who not only have given me my education,
but have also taught me, by example, what
it means to be human. Gracias, con amor y
corazon.
Next, I honor
attorney Antonio Rodriguez, who defended
me twice, seven years apart, the second
time on a two-day notice (yes, we won).
Tlazocamati.
Next, I honor those
witnesses (Yoya, Josie, Kiki, Rick,
George and Deena) who tracked me down --
amid great peril to themselves -- and who
later stepped forward with great courage
to testify. To this group, I add the
homies of America's barrios (including
the readers of Lowrider magazine) who,
when no one else would listen to me,
provided support and refuge.
I honor my friends,
who offered assistance or inspiration
throughout: Dolores Huerta, Barbara
Carrasco, Consuelo Preciado, Geraldine
Ramirez, Susana Oviedo, Steve Gonzalez,
Dr. Arnoldo Soliz, Porfirio Miranda,
Ernie Longwalker Peters and Warrior
Woman, Jose Montoya, Rudy Acuna, Roberto
Sifuentes, Felix Gutierrez, Antonio
Villaraigoza, Gilbert Cedillo, Sam Paz
and Gloria Romero.
To those who have
guided me toward my own rehumanization
and have helped give me back my voice:
Jerry Tello, Irma Rangel, Maria Elena
Salinas, Dennis and Tere Britton, Gary
Keller and Stuart Dodds (belief in me),
Dolores and Jonathan Sanchez (first job
as columnist), Monica Lozano, Frank
Matthews and Bill Cox (10 years at La
Opinion and Black Issues in Higher Ed,
respectively), Frank Sotomayor (ethics),
Demetria Martinez, Sister Diana Ortiz and
Luis Rodriguez (inspiration), Jose
"Dr. Loco" Cuellar (song),
Chris Clarke (forgiveness), Emma Ortega
(story) Patty Loew (future), and Dona
Enriqueta Contreras, Celia Perez, Raquel
Salinas, Viviana Lopez and Sylvia Ledesma
for literally restoring my voice.
Also, trauma expert
Dr. Bessel Van de Kolk, Boston
University: One can only begin to
overcome trauma when one finds something
more important in life; and danzantes
Lucila and Enrique Maestas:
"Warriors have to die many times in
order to live."
I also honor
everyone named above and their families
and seven other families -- for believing
in me: my colleagues at the California
Chicano News Media Association, the
family at Universal Press Syndicate, the
Chicana/Chicano (Ethnic) Studies and
MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de
Aztlan) families nationwide, the Torture
Abolition Survivors Support Coalition
International, and the danza and Peace
and Dignity Journeys families ... for
preserving the knowledge.
I also honor those
who've suffered similar or worse fates
and/or who continue to be falsely
imprisoned. Similarly, I honor those
officers, journalists, judges, attorneys,
prosecutors and politicians who do
fulfill their sacred public trust. And
for those who don't, that they be guided
back to the way of justice.
And to all
indigenous peoples worldwide and to all
peoples worldwide who struggle for
justice and to regain their humanity --
especially those who do not simply fight
for their/our existence, but who fight
against the desecration of memory.
Finally, I honor my
beautiful wife, Patrisia, for our
"amor revolucionario" y
espiritual -- for helping not just to
heal me, but also for loving humanity,
healing humanity. Beyond that, for
connecting me with creation and teaching
me the language of dreams and the wisdom
that hate can never be an ingredient of
love. Never.
"Inin otik
chichike kanoche nin toyolo" -- This
I write from my heart.
COPYRIGHT 2004
UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
*
If you would like to see Column of the
Americas in your newspaper, please
call/write your local editor.
Also, contact our editor, Greg
Melvin at Universal Press Syndicate GMelvin@uexpress.com
or 1-800-255-6734. Column of the Americas
is available at Universal's website every
Friday at: http://www.uexpress.com/columnoftheamericas/
Gonzales & Rodriguez can be reached
at 608-238-3161or XColumn@aol.com
-- PO BOX 5093, Madison, WI 53705.
For speaking availability, bios,
publications and other info, call/write
us or visit:
http://hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/index.html
* Gonzales is the author of The Mud
People: Chronicles, Testimonios &
Rembrances ($19.95, Chusma House, ISBN:
1-891823-05-1). For ordering info,
go to: www.chusmahouse.com or
email: chusmahouse@earthlink.net
She can be reached at: patigonzaj@aol.com
Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A
Question of Race - Bilingual Review
Press (http://www.asu.edu/brp/backlist/bio/RRod1j.html).
He is also the author of the E-books The
X in La Raza and Codex Tamuanchan: On
Becoming Human (http://www.mexica.net/literat/roberto/).
Both are coeditors of Cantos Al Sexto Sol
- Wings Press (http://www.wingspress.com/
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