Latinoamericanos/hispanos en EEUU (XV): Desde Luis Valdes hasta José Ángel Gutiérrez, por Javier J. Jaspe

En pocas palabras. Javier J. Jaspe

Washington D.C.  

Esta es la decima quinta entrega de una serie de artículos dedicados a reseñar los nombres y una breve semblanza biográfica de latinoamericanos/hispanos relacionados con territorios que hoy corresponden o se le asocian a Estados Unidos, con posterioridad a que Cristobal Colón descubriera a América en 1492. Los nombres que se incluyen se encuentran principalmente entre los que aparecen mencionados en el interesante libro: Latino Americans (The 500 – Year Legacy That Shaped A Nation), by Ray Suarez. El material usado para la semblanza biográfica ha sido seleccionado de entre textos publicados en Internet, en español o inglés, según sea el caso, los cuales se transcriben en itálicas. Sobre las características y propósitos de esta serie remitimos al primer artículo (http://latinoamericansintheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2017/05/latinoamericanoshispanos-en-eeuu-i-de.html). Este décimo quinto artículo se refiere a nombres de personas que van desde Luis Valdés (nacido en 1940) hasta José Ángel Gutiérrez (nacido en 1944). Veamos:

“Luis Valdez was born in Delano, California, in June 1940. Living the life of a migrant worker, Valdez grew up across California before attending San Jose State College. He began writing plays as an undergraduate and started his own traveling theater company, El Teatro Campesino, after graduating. He soon set down roots with Centro Campesino Cultural in 1967 and settled into a full-time life of activism through both writing plays and hosting cultural events. He has since gone on to write and produce many plays and films, becoming the "godfather of Chicano theater" along the way….. Leaving the flatbed truck behind and planting some roots, Valdez founded the Centro Campesino Cultural in Del Rey, California, in 1967 (it moved to Fresno a couple of years later). Through his work there, Valdez became known as the “godfather of Chicano theater," and accolades followed him and his work. He won an honorary Obie Award in 1968 for his “workers’ theater” and continued to write and produce plays, among them La virgen de Tepeyac, 1971; La carpa de los rasquachis (Tent Show of the Underdogs, 1974), Corridos: Tales of Passion and Revolution (1983) and I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges (1986). Valdez also wrote and directed two films for theatrical release: Zoot Suit (1981) and La Bamba (1987), the latter of which was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama.Valdez is one of the original organizers for the United Farm Workers Union and a founding member of the California Arts Council. He has been awarded the Presidential Medal of the Arts and was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theater at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He has also won three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards (1969, 1972, 1978) and an Emmy Award (1973).  In September 2016, President Barack Obama presented Valdez with a National Medal of Arts. At the ceremony, President Obama said Valdez was being honored "for bringing Chicano culture to American drama. As a playwright, actor, writer, and director, he illuminates the human spirit in the face of social injustice through award-winning stage, film, and television productions."” (https://www.biography.com/people/luis-valdez). (original sin negrillas).

También puede verse: (http://research.pomona.edu/zootsuit/es/espproduction/espautor/);

(http://www.matacandelas.com/Entrevista-Luis-Valdez-El-Teatro-Campesino.html); (http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/luis-valdez); (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0883609/bio);  (La Bamba trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093378/?ref_=nmbio_mbio); 

(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/la-bamba-30-director-luis-valdez-esai-morales-talk-about-n786916).

Ritchie Valens: “Ritchie Valens, cuyo nombre verdadero es Richard Steven Valenzuela, nació en las afueras de Los Ángeles en 1941, y fue el primer músico de rock chicano que logró popularidad nacional en los Estados Unidos, así como una de las primeras “estrellas del rock”, como las conocemos hoy. Su corta carrera profesional terminó el 3 de febrero de 1959, “El Día que Murió la Música”, cuando murió a la edad de diecisiete años, en un trágico accidente de avión donde también murieron los músicos Buddy Holly y Big Bopper. Valens comenzó a tocar la guitarra desde temprana edad, y en 1958, ya era un intérprete aficionado cuando hizo su audición para el productor Bob Keane del sello disquero Del-Fi Records.  A pesar de la juventud del cantante (Valens todavía estaba en la escuela secundaria), Keane reconoció su talento y potencial y lo contrató para comenzar a grabar inmediatamente en Los Ángeles. Valens grabó cuatro discos en 1958, incluyendo sus aclamados éxitos Donna y La Bamba. La Bamba resume lo que es el género híbrido del rock chicano innovado por Valens.  Se trata de una interpretación moderna del son jarocho, un estilo musical popular de Veracruz, México―un área con influencias musicales africanas y afrocubanas. La yuxtaposición de una canción distintivamente latina con ritmos completos de doo-wop y rock ‘n’ roll simboliza perfectamente las dos culturas de los latinos que viven en el Sur de California. Como muchos jóvenes mexicano-americanos de su generación, Valens no hablaba español y aprendió las letras de La Bamba fonéticamente.  La Bamba alcanzó el número 22 en los Hot-100 del Billboard, mientras que la pista del lado A del disco, titulada Donna, saltó al número 2. Con su repentina fama nacional, Valens viajó a la Ciudad de Nueva York a finales de 1958, se presentó en la televisión nacional y fue incluido en una gira por el oeste medio de los Estados Unidos a principios del siguiente año con uno de los más famosos cantantes de rock n’roll de esa época, su ídolo Buddy Holly.  Fue durante esta gira que la carrera en ciernes de Valens terminó en una tragedia inesperada con el accidente de avión en Iowa.” Aunque la carrera de grabación de Valens fue increíblemente corta con sólo dos álbumes de material, su huella en la historia del rock n’ roll es indeleble.  Como inventor del género del rock chicano, Valens es considerado como influencia principal por una amplia gama de artistas,  desde la banda de rock chicano Los Lobos, de los años de 1980 en Los Ángeles, a Los Beatles.  Aunque su talento natural como guitarrista, cantante e intérprete nunca se realizó plenamente, su legado como pionero del rock n’ roll se mantiene vivo hasta nuestros días. La trágica historia de su vida ha sido contada en numerosos libros y en la película de 1987, La Bamba.  Ritchie Valens fue elevado al Salón de la Fama del Rock and Roll en 2001.” (http://americansabor.org/es/musicians/ritchie-valens). También puede verse: (http://www.nacion.com/viva/television/pagina-negra-ritchie-valens-el-dia-que-murio-la-musica/CLCNVWX5HBGIZPXWTAOV5QESVM/story/);( http://www.ritchievalens.com/); (https://www.biography.com/people/ritchie-valens-38193); (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hto-UMuYkwk); (https://www.buscabiografias.com/biografia/verDetalle/6421/Ritchie%20Valens).

Lalo Guerrero: “…Eduardo “Lalo” Guerrero nació en la Nochebuena de 1916 en Tucson (Arizona) y fue su madre, Concepción Aguilar, quien le enseñó a tocar la guitarra y cantar dentro de un ambiente cien por cien latino. “Vivíamos en la parte suroeste de la ciudad y los güeros (los blancos) vivían en el noreste, al otro lado de las vías (…). Estábamos tan segregados que nunca supe que era parte de una minoría hasta que fui al instituto”, recordó el artista en su autobiografía “Lalo, my life and music” (2002). Desde pequeño, viendo musicales en el cine y escuchando los éxitos de las canciones norteñas, soñó con ser una estrella del mundo del espectáculo, y sus primeros pasos los dio en Tucson con Los Carlistas, un improbable nombre para un conjunto chicano tomado del movimiento político del siglo XIX en España que defendía los derechos al trono de Carlos María Isidro de Borbón. En los años 40 y 50, Guerrero se echó a la carretera para recorrer los cafés y salas baile de las ciudades fronterizas, aunque fue en Los Ángeles donde encontró un entorno ideal para sus canciones en clubes como El Sombrero, El Babalú, La Bamba o La Casa Olvera. “La escena musical latina en Los Ángeles tras la guerra era muy emocionante y diversa (…). Los clubes estaban llenos casi cada noche”, escribió Guerrero, cuyos temas, muchas veces compuestos en inglés y español, mezclaron con el tiempo corridos, música norteña, swing, bolero, mambo y los primeros coletazos del rock. Muchas de sus canciones eran humorísticas y satíricas, como “Marihuana Boogie”, “There’s No Tortillas”, la parodia de un Elvis hispano en “Elvis Pérez”, “Pancho Claus”, dedicada al “primo mexicano” de Santa Claus, o la popular serie de discos infantiles de Las Ardillitas. Pero Lalo Guerrero también tenía una vertiente más seria o reflexiva, como la de “Canción Mexicana”, “No Chicanos on TV”, sobre la falta de personajes latinos en la pequeña pantalla, o el “Corrido de Delano”, ésta última surgida de su apoyo a la Unión de Campesinos (UFW) y la lucha sindical de César Chávez y Dolores Huerta en los años 60. “Los cambios reales en la sociedad llegaban muy lentamente, pero estábamos preparados para escuchar a César cuando apareció en escena. Su lema era ‘Sí, se puede’. Nos mostró lo que podíamos hacer si estábamos unidos. Empezamos a oír hablar acerca del ‘poder latino’ (brown power) y ‘la raza'”, rememoró. Con el paso del tiempo, la figura de Lalo Guerrero ganó peso y fue objeto de reivindicación por parte de nuevos artistas de focos creativos como East Los Ángeles que le consideraban un auténtico pionero. Como muestra, Los Lobos grabaron con Guerrero el disco “Papa’s Dream” (1995) y Ry Cooder contó con él en el álbum “Chavez Ravine” (2005) para versionar el tema “Barrio Viejo”.No obstante, la cima de su reconocimiento fue la Medalla Nacional de las Artes que recibió de la mano del presidente Bill Clinton en 1997, un hecho que le marcó profundamente tal y como dejó escrito en su autobiografía. “¡Fue la primera vez en mi vida en la que realmente me sentí estadounidense! Sabía que lo era porque nací en este país pero nunca me sentí tal. Me sentía un mexicano que por azar nació en EE.UU. Pero sentado en el escenario de ese bonito salón con la medalla al cuello, pensé: ‘Finalmente lo logré. Soy realmente estadounidense’. Y fue un sensación increíblemente bella”, afirmó. EFEUSA” (https://holanews.com/lalo-guerrero-cien-anos-del-padre-de-la-musica-chicana/). También puede verse: (Corrido de Delano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqCAANDBj1A); (Corrido de César Chávez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhEhC4PypUQ); (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRSLoj55DkQ). (https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6397283).

José Ángel Gutiérrez: “Born on October 25,1944, José Ángel Gutiérrez was the son of a medical doctor in the South Texas town of Crystal City. Although better off than many of the farm workers who worked the crops of South Texas, Gutiérrez grew up witnessing first hand the discrimination that Mexican Americans experienced in South Texas where restaurants and bathrooms often had “White Only” signs displayed…” (http://latinopia.com/latino-history/jose-angel-gutierrez/)...”Dr. Jose Angel Gutierrez is a Crystal City, Texas native. He has degrees from Texas A&M University at Kingsville (B.A. 1966), St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas (M.A. 1968), University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D. 1976), and University of Houston, Bates College of Law, Houston, Texas (J.D. 1988). He is a Professor of Political Science at University of Texas-Arlington and founder of the Center for Mexican American Studies in 1994 at that institution. He has authored and co-authored 13 books; three are revised edition of a text on Texas politics. A biographical manuscript on a political figure from San Antonio, Texas is pending publication in 2010. He also has written several articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries over the years. Beginning in 1996 he has conducted video interviews with significant public figures and some musicians in Texas. See  http://libraries.uta.edu/tejanovoices/. He is a member in good standing of various bar associations and licensed to practice law in various jurisdictions, including the Texas Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Claims, Federal Courts in Texas (Northern and Southern districts) and Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Gutierrez also heads the Greater Dallas Legal and Community Development Foundation, a civil rights litigation unit.                Dr. Gutierrez was a Chicano activist and community organizer during the Chicano Movement of the 1960s. He co-founded the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), the Raza Unida Party of Texas, and Ciudadanos Unidos (hometown association) and Obreros Unidos Independientes (labor union). He was a key figure in the founding of the Mexican American Unity Council, the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Midwest and Northwest Voter Registration and Education Projects, and the Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement. He was elected and appointed to public office since 1970. He has served as an elected Trustee and President of the CrystalCityIndependentSchool   District (1970-1973), Urban Renewal Commissioner for Crystal City, Texas (1970-1972), County Judge for Zavala County, Texas (1974-1978, re-elected 1978-1981), Commissioner for the Oregon Commission on International Trade (1983-1985), Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs (1982-85). Administrative Law Judge for the City of Dallas (1990-1992), member of the Ethics Commission (1999-2000) and the Judicial Selection Commission (2009-present) and Mayor’s 2010 Census Committee for the City of Dallas, and State Treasurer for the Mexican American Democrats (2000-2001, 2010 to present).  He also is an elected advisor delegate from the United States to Mexico’s Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME, 2009-2011).” Additional information, including on professional preparation, appointments, memberships, awards and honors, news articles and other activities may be seen at: (https://mentis.uta.edu/explore/profile/jose-gutierrez). También puede verse: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_%C3%81ngel_Guti%C3%A9rrez); (MAYO: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wem01); (http://www.worldhistory.biz/modern-history/86656-la-raza-unida.html); (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/war01).

Apéndice

La Raza Unida Party’s National Convention 40 Years Later: Time for a Third U.S. Political Party?

By Herman Baca  /  August 29, 2012  / Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR)

Forty years ago on Labor Day weekend (Sept 1-5, 1972), two months before the Richard Nixon/George McGovern presidential election, a call was issued by Reyes Lopez Tijerina, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, and Jose Angel Gutierrez, for a national convention in El Paso, Texas. The purpose; to create a national political party for Chicanos… La Raza Unida Party (LRUP). Numerous individuals from San Diego joined thousands of others from thru-out the U.S. to journey to El Paso to attend and partake in the convention. At that time Chicano movement activists perceived the convention as being the most important political event to be ever be organized by Chicanos in the history of the U.S. Over 3,000 Chicanos from 18 states, the majority from the Southwest, but some as far away as Washington, D.C., Maryland, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin and Nebraska convened at the historic national convention to discuss strategy and policy to create the new national Chicano political party. The convention represented at that time the broadest based number of Chicanos to attend the largest political gathering of our people in U.S. history. Aside from addressing the creation of a national political party, attendees also discussed issues/problems that have historically affected our people in the U.S. The principal reasons for the massive turnout and convening of the convention (I believe) was because of the deep historical anger felt by Chicanos against both the Democratic and Republican parties. The pent up anger was especially virulent against the Democratic Party. A party that our people had supported and blindly voted for, since the 1930 depression era election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Anger was even more virulent against the white controlled Republican Party that was anathema to our people for its historic racism against Mexicans, blacks, other minorities and working people. Chicanos used to politically state that, “for Mexicans, Blacks, other minorities, or working people to vote Republican, was tantamount to a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders,” and “Chicanos always put Democrats first, and they always us put us last!”.  To understand the call for the creation of LRUP in the U.S., one has to review Chicano political history. One has to remember that outside of Texas and New Mexico (that have elected Governors and U.S. Senators) that up until 2012 Chicanos have only been politically involved for 52 years, while Anglos have been involved for hundreds of years! California and other states with large Mexican American populations had no statewide or local political representation. Those were the reasons for the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) being organized in 1960 by Humberto “Bert” Corona, Ed Roybal and Juan Quevedo. At its inception MAPA was nonpartisan, with objectives of electing Mexican-Americans to political offices, caring out voter registration drives, bringing out the vote during elections, and endorsing Democrats, Republicans, Peace and Freedom, etc., candidates for public offices. In 1968 when most of us in San Diego and other areas of California became involved politically with the Chicano movement, it was thru MAPA. In 1968 we in National City (NC), CA organized a MAPA Chapter. However, even at that time the political facts were that after eight years of MAPA being in existence, not one Mexican American had (since the late 1800’s) been elected to a California statewide office, only one Mexican American (Alex Garcia from Los Angeles) elected to the state legislature, and in San Diego County one Mexican American elected, Louie Camacho from National City. During that period many MAPA members participated in electorate politics in SD County, but soon became disillusioned due to the inherent discrimination and racism that they encountered in the Democratic Party. Particularly aggravating to Chicanos was the Democratic Party’s failure to address issues affecting the Mexican American community, and assist/support Mexican-American candidates for public offices. MAPA, after attaining some of its political objectives unfortunately changed, and ended up as an, “endorsing political organization,” mainlyfor Democratic Party candidates. By1971 National City MAPA activists had come to the conclusion that the Democratic and Republican parties were not going to change, or provide the needed solutions to the issues/problems afflicting our people in California, and other states. It was at that time that Texas LRUP founder Jose Angel Gutierrez visited our office in National City. After meeting and talking to him, a vote was later taken by MAPA members to start a political chapter of LRUP in San Diego County. Bert Corona was then LRUP national organizer. The SD County Chapter of LRUP set a goal of registering 10,000 voters to meet the required 67,000 voters needed to become a statewide political party in California. The stated goal of SD County LRUP organizers was that once 10,000 voters were registered, a convention would be held and those voters would provide organizers with a mandate to determine what kind of political party they wanted to create. Either a vanguard party as proposed by Colorado’s Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales that would build power to create a, “nation within a nation” Aztlan. Or an electoral party that would control cities, counties and states politically where Chicanos were the majority as Texas Jose Angel Gutierrez proposed. Unfortunately after years of ideological battles and infighting, that LRUP was unable to overcome, the concept of organizing a third political party to control the politics of our communities’ had to be left to a future generation. This coming Labor Day weekend, participants (after forty years) will again meet in El Paso. Not just to commemorate the 1972 convention, but also to address the fundamental issues of our people’s historical political disenfranchisement. The question for those in attendance will be numerous, but one of the major questions raised will be, what role did LRUP play, or will play in the political future of this nation’s fastest growing population? In my opinion, after having participated in both electoral and movement politics, the legacy that LRUP leaves is numerous, it includes the following political concepts, A) The first to utilize the principal of self-determination to create a political party for our people, that would be controlled and accountable to our people, B) A call for our people to build “political power” to control their destiny C) Political philosophies and ideologies to create mandates, a constituencies and an infrastructure so our people could define issues that affected them, and so they would be able to select and elect their own candidates, etc. In closing, one thing that no one can dispute is the demographic change of the last 40 years…50 million Chicano/Latinos in 2012, projected to increase to 132 million by 2050, and that both the Democrats and Republicans parties continue to fail to represent our people. The Democratic Obama administration has deported record numbers of undocumented Mexican workers, and Republicans have literally “declared war” on our people, with draconian measures such as Arizona’s SB 1070, the elimination of Chicano studies, etc. In conclusion the question for all attending the commemoration in El Paso will certainly be…do 50 million Chicanos/Latinos need to create a third political party like La Raza Unida in 2012?

Herman Baca is a longtime Chicano activist, political organizer and President of the Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR). He has chronicled more than 40 years of San Diego’s Chicano Movement.

Continuará….