VivirLatino

Living & Luchando la Vida Latin@

My First Time in California

November 6th, 2012

I’m usually bored or irritated by election buzz. While I consider voting an important and hard fought for tool in our toolboxes for change, I certainly don’t consider it the end all and be all and frankly I am sick of the rhetoric that reduces non-voters to ignorant lazy asses. I am also extremely bothered by the way DREAMers are being used and patronized in this election by saw called progressive organizations and labor unions. The idea that this group of relatively young people who have made great strides in terms of pushing the conversation of immigration in this country do not have a voice and require people to be their voice is paternalistic and does nothing to build movement. I was very excited to vote today though. Today marks the first time I vote outside of my home city of New York and the first time voting as a Los Angeles, California resident.

The presidential election isn’t very exciting or enticing to me even. I voted for president this morning, accompanied by my partner,a lifelong Angeleno. What is simultaneously fascinating and confusing for me is the whole ballot provisions thing. In California there are 11 state measures and in Los Angeles County 2. The propositions are about sex, death, and taxes.

Last night, I sat surrounded by the official California Voter Guide and all the mailings that my partner and I have received. We even have the Official California Republican Voter Guide which interestingly enough does not have Mitt Romney anywhere! As I filled out little bubbles and read the guides, it felt like I was preparing for a big test, except that everyone passes or fails depending on the collective outcomes.

As someone who is new to the whole proposition process, the combination of mailings, television and radio ads, felt really overwhelming. As a parent of kids in Los Angeles Unified School District Community Schools I see the need for more money in the public schools but I certainly can’t afford higher taxes and I worry about that money going to charter schools instead of the schools in hoods like mine that are struggling and serve primarily poor and working class immigrant families. For the record, I feel like I cheated and voted yes for both Gov. Brown’s Prop. 30 and millionaire Molly Munger’s Prop 38.

Matters of life and death seemed easier. While I am really unhappy that Prop. 34 still continues to feed the prison industrial complex, saving someone’s life, especially people of color who are disproportionately criminalized and sentenced to death seemed like a good enough reason to vote yes. I have a little bit of voter’s remorse reading how one of the ill effects of this measure could be the loss of free legal representation for those on death row.

Connected is Prop 36 which would change the Three Strikes Law to impose life sentences to new violent/serious felony convictions not bullshit drug charges. Again this passing is not going to stop people of color being used as fodder for an increasingly privatized prison system. This is reform not real change but it is something. So I voted yes on 36.

At my new polling site, which also serves as after-school care for my younger child, there were no lines and my name was found quickly. I will tell you that using that little marker thing with the booklet felt more like a childhood game than voting. For the record, I didn’t like when NYC switched from their old, clunky metal machines to the scantron like system. But I voted and even got a sticker and receipt to prove it, something I never got in Queens, NYC.

I’ll be happy to share how I voted on any other propositions or races if people are interested but voting in a new place, with a new system was exciting and felt important. Even my mom called me to make sure I voted today.

How was your voting experience today?

All photos @kmontenegro

Los Rakas in Los Angeles Tonight!

November 2nd, 2012

If you are in Los Angeles looking for something to do tonight for Dia de Los Muertos, Los Rakas is @ The Troubadour while on the Collie Buddz ‘Dark N’ Stormy‘ Tour (running through mid-November nationwide). Raka Rich & Raka Dun hit at 9 PM TONIGHT - see what all the fuss is about LIVE!

The Troubador is located at 9081 Santa Monica Blvd West Hollywood

Photos October 22 Downtown Los Angeles – Day Against Police Brutality

October 23rd, 2012

Yesterday, October 22nd, about 150 people marched through the streets of Downtown Los Angeles remembering the lives of those stolen from communities at the hands of law enforcement. Leading the march that started around Pershing Square in the afternoon and ended at Los Angeles Police Headquarters in the early evening was the families of those who lost their lives to police brutality. The event was organized by the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation but there were many local grassroots organizations present including the Los Angeles Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles Community Action Network, Gender Justice Los Angeles, and the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. There were also plenty of Occupy LA people present.

Check out pictures from the march below.

As someone new to Los Angeles, who has attended Oct. 22 events in NYC in the past, there was some tension between organizations and somewhat poor planning that seems to characterize these events. I was really surprised by how the Los Angeles Police Department isn’t “on top” of protesters, meaning physically close, while they march. They generally allow for a buffer space in both the front and the back of the march,which is something unheard of in NYC where the NYPD is very physically close to marchers.

Did you participate in any of the Oct. 22 events in your community? Please tell us below.

Queer Latin@ Clowns in Los Angeles – Payasos LA

September 19th, 2012

When I said I would be focusing this month on Latin@ in the media I meant it. I feel like it was fate that brought me and the following video together.

While the following short film wasn’t made by a Latino, (it was made by filmmaker and artist Graham Kolbeins), it raises many issues in terms of queer culture in general, leather culture, Latino queer culture, and clowns.

Payasos L.A. is about a group of gay/bi Latino men in Los Angeles called Payasos L.A. who do charity work and more dressed as clowns, and damn sexy clowns at that if I may say so.

Check it out and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Martes Musica – A NYRican in LA with Bomba Estereo

August 14th, 2012

Foto by Ken Montenegro

I was super thrilled to be able to attend my first free concert in Los Angeles last Friday. I took the bus out to famous Macarthur Park to catch Bomba Estereo at the Levitt Pavilion.

The Colombianos brought their Electro Vacilón to a nice crowd that couldn’t help but shake what their mamas gave them.

Coming from the NYC free summer concert scene there were a few things that surprised me. I expected the park to be much more crowded. My local friends assured me that the crowd was actually a good turnout.

Another thing that surprised me and reveals me as a spoiled ass NY’er, is that there is no alcohol served at the concerts, not that anyone needed any liquid courage last Friday night as Bomba Estereo’s musica as intoxicating enough.

Video/fotos gracias a Ken Montenegro

Los Angeles Event Against S-Comm Today : Undocumented Youth Come Out Against Deportation Policy

August 24th, 2011

Today at noon, PST, five undocumented youth will come out in front of ICE with a simple demand; a speedy end to the failed Secure Communities program.

From the official press release announcing the event:

As Undocumented students we are tired of Obama and his lies and we need to call him out,” said Ruben Barrera who’s brother was detained a day after Obama announced his “policy change” for a broken headlight. Ruben’s brother, Isaac was held for 2 days and was issued an ICE hold after ICE interrogated him numerous times. “It was torture, I was cold, they insulted me and they threatened to come after my family, if it wasn’t for community organizations that helped me get out I could have been deported” said Isaac Barrera.

Barrera will be one of people coming out as undocumented today in front of the Federal Building, 300 N. Los Angeles.

If you are not local to the event but would like to follow what is happening, there will be a live-stream of the event here.

Resurrected, Make/Shifted, and Returned from Los Angeles

May 3rd, 2011

Regular readers will note that posting, tweeting and Facebooking has been light to non-existent. It’s not that there hasn’t been a lot going on : more empty words from Washington on immigration while politicians and the media have seemingly discovered the “R” section of the dictionary and want us to as well when it comes to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Revenge, Relief, Remembrance, Reaction. I was engaged in some “R” words of my own. Reading y Relaxation.

Two Saturdays ago, I had the honor of performing in an amazing collaboration put together by the author and curator of talents, Charlie Vázquez. Resurrection, a series of performance and poetry pieces took place on Easter Eve at los Kabayitos Theater inside the Clemente Soto Velez complex of the Lower East Side of NYC. I shared space with Aravind Adyanthaya, J Skye Cabrera, Lola von Miramar (Larry La Fountain-Stokes), Carlos Manuel Rivera, Vanessa Martir, Charlie Vazquez, y Steven Maldonado. There was also visual art gracias to the Organization of Puerto Rican Artists, Inc. (O.P.Art) before and after the show featuring art by Everardus Bogardus , Giovanni Caravaggio, Pepe Villegas, Rafael Rosario-Laguna,
Luis Carle, and Peter Madero III. I only saw portions of the performance but there will be a video available shortly and honestly the warmth I received from the other artists and the full house really resurrected me as an artist. So thank you to all who came to the show including our own Bianca Laureano, fellow Latina artista Alicia Anabell, City Council Woman Melissa Mark Viverito, and Puerto Rican activist Pedro Julio Serrano.

From there it was onto Los Angeles. What was originally just supposed to be a vacation and participating in May Day LA, turned into my West Coast reading debut thanks to the amazing people behind the Make/shift Reclamation Tour, Jess Hoffman and Hilary Goldberg, who just happened to be in Southern Cali at the same time I was. I read a new poem at Cal State Los Angeles and share space with Jess, Hillary, Fabiola Sandoval, tk karakashian tunchez with Film/Video/Audio by Alexis Pauline Gumbs and imMEDIAte Justice.

An Opening Unveiling LA’s Complex History

April 3rd, 2011

Managing Editor’s Note : The following guest post is by Fabiola Sandoval, an LA based writer, photographer and friend. I feel really blessed that she has joined us here through her words and giving us a little West Coast perspective. Please join me in welcoming her. -Mala

In Los Angeles the opening La Plaza de Cultura y Artes takes place April 16th, located in the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, home to La Placita Olvera. A place of cultural and spiritual significance for many Mexican, Mexican – American, and Central American Angelenos among other communities, and a highly visited location for non – Angelenos, it is considered one of LA’s treasures; currently undergoing redevelopment, as in other areas of the city of Los Angeles.

From La Plaza’s website:

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes is the nation’s premier center of Mexican American culture and arts. Providing an experience unlike any other, LA Plaza’s interactive exhibits and dynamic programs invite visitors to explore as well as contribute to the ongoing story of Mexican Americans in Los Angeles and beyond. Located near the site where Los Angeles was founded in 1781, LA Plaza’s 2.2-acre campus includes two historic and newly renovated buildings (the Vickrey-Brunswig Building and Plaza House) surrounded by 30,000 square feet of public garden.

The land and site have another story, as do most places. The angle of the location’s history includes the Gabrielino-Tongva Indian village before 1781, when the settlement that entailed the birth of Los Angeles began. During the construction of La Plaza it is believed that more than 90 human burials were discovered, resurrecting the knowledge that the area was indeed the oldest recorded cemetery in the city and highlighting the complex history of Los Angeles.

The conundrum lies in the precipitous time line of the construction of La Plaza, in its historic location, and the county of Los Angeles’ response to the Tongva community’s pleas for support in investigating and relocating the remains.

The location brings forth the complex relationship that ties Mexican, Mexican – American and Indian history in Los Angeles. There’s an opportunity, that seems currently trampled by the County Supervisor, Gloria Molina, and other invested players in the time-line of La Plaza, disrespecting a process that affirms the preservation of culture, allowing for a diverse and complex history that recognizes place, preservation of Native culture, and memorializing.

Let’s unveil complex history and celebrate rich diversity, affirming the multiple layers, struggles and beauty that entails the City of Angels.

Citing: City’s Birthplace Becomes Battleground Over LA History, 89.3 KPCC

Irina Contreras activism and info compilation from the – Gabrielino – Tongva Community press release, and other research.

Sorry Nativists, These Are Not the Race Riots You’ve Been Waiting For

September 10th, 2010

When Bianca Laureano posted her review of Robert Rodriguez’s Machete here on VivirLatino, one Facebook fan/friend asked if we had heard about the “race riots” that some were claiming the film was going to cause. I admit I laughed aloud because, no I hadn’t heard about the riots (maybe my invite got lost in the mail) and because it was a ridiculous notion that because Latinos went to see a film that suddenly we would all take to the streets with machetes and start slicing and dicing. I won’t even touch how stereotypical and racist the idea is. As if there weren’t REAL reasons for Latino communities across the country to get pissed and take to the streets (which isn’t the same as rioting).

And lo and behold….nativist organizations, hate organizations and yes anti-immigrant and anti-Latino organizations are taking the protests of community members in Los Angeles, protests that legitimately question the police killing of an indigenous Guatemalan man, Manuel Jamines, and calling those protests the L.A. Machete Riots.

Police in LA Kill Guatemalan Day Laborer, Community Demands Answers

September 8th, 2010

Last Sunday, Manuel Jamines was shot and killed by police in Los Angeles. The why depends on who you ask. According to police, Jamines, aged 37, was drunk and was waving a knife around. Police claim that they ordered Jamines to drop the knife in English and in Spanish and when he didn’t, they shot and killed him. Others say that there was no knife and those that say there was say that directives were given by police only in English. The police claim a knife was recovered at the scene.

Edited to add (2:22 pm EST) that some reports that I am now reading say that Jamines may not have spoken Spanish that well either because he was an indigenous Guatemalan. This draws parallels to what happened with Cirila Baltazar Cruz

For two nights in the row the Latino community has taken to the streets, calling the killing an example of excessive use of police force. During those protests, riot police have fired foam projectiles and arrested over 20 people, mostly for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly.