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).
(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.
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….
