From Our Land to Our Land by Luis J. Rodriguez

Author:Luis J. Rodriguez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: National Book Award, texaco, mexico, current events, incarceration, police brutality, american politics, imperialism, colonization, refugees, borders, racism, american immigration, latinx, immigration, los angeles, biography, essays, biographies, short stories, biographies and memoirs, biographies of famous people, essay, autobiographies, memoirs, autobiography, memoir, book lovers gifts, essay writing, long story short, short story collections, autobiography books, short stories collections, book lover, gifts for readers
ISBN: 9781609809737
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2019-12-14T18:00:00+00:00

Xicanx can find home in Tokyo, this faraway, startling city, at least at the level of culture. Since I visited there, I’ve found out there are cholo/lowriding subcultures in Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, Sweden, Amsterdam, and Spain. This seems right, especially in a world where being rootless and homeless seems to be the poignant feature of our time. If I can stand next to a lowered 1940s Ford truck with magnesium rims in Tokyo, something I could have done in East LA, and still feel the same sensation of joy that such a car can bring in both countries, then I know—it’s time for borders to come down.

Of course, taking down borders is a controversial subject, especially in a time of “build that wall.” There are arguments about trade and home markets and so-called terrorism used to scare residents of the most developed countries into closing in on themselves. But we have seen how divisions by race, by nation, by religion, even gangs, has led to fear and, too often, violence. I visualize a world with no borders, but also where people can be their own special kind of human being—not homogenized but driven by their own passions and geniuses—and yet still have indispensable things that bring us together.

In October 2017, Shin, Quetzal, Martha, Tex, David Gomez, and I had a reunion of sorts at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Shin had brought a team to LA to organize a concert featuring Mexican and Japanese acts, poets, and musicians. There was even a conjunto band with Mexican-style charro hats, shirts, and pants. I thought they were paisas (two of the guys looked Mexican)—in the green room I began to address them in Spanish. One said, “No understan’ . . . we Japon.” They were a Japanese group that had learned the words of Mexican corridos in Spanish without knowing Spanish!

The last act was Quetzal and Martha with their full band. They played their original rocking and politically charged music. Then Tex Nakamura blew his powerful harmonica and added his voice to a couple of songs. And for one of their longer pieces, I came in and was able to share two poems. The LA community in attendance loved it.

So arigato, Japan. Or as we say in Nahuatl: tlazhokamati. Or in Spanish: gracias. Languages differ, but the sentiment is the same: thank you, Land of the Rising Sun, for opening up to me as a Xicanx poet, and for letting me savor your own magnificent heritage. “Tokyo rifa,” as we say in the barrios of East Los Angeles, meaning “this place lives, demands respect, cannot be erased.”

Con safos.

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