Discussion Question

by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales

1967

I am Cuauhtémoc, proud and noble,

leader of men, king of an empire civilized

beyond the dreams of the gachupín Cortés,

who also is the blood, the image of myself.

I was part in blood and spirit of that

courageous village priest

Hidalgo who rang the bell of independence

and gave out that lasting cry--

El Grito de Dolores

"Que mueran los gachupines y que viva la

Virgen de Guadalupe..."

I sentenced him who was me I

excommunicated him, my blood.

I am Joaquin.

I rode with Pancho Villa,

crude and warm, a tornado at full strength,

nourished and inspired by the passion and

the fire of all his earthy people.

I ride with revolutionists

against myself.

I have been the bloody revolution,

The victor,

The vanquished.

I have killed

And been killed.

I am the despots Díaz

And Huerta

And the apostle of democracy,

Francisco Madero.

I rode east and north

As far as the Rocky Mountains,

And

All men feared the guns of

Joaquín Murrieta.

I killed those men who dared

To steal my mine,

Who raped and killed my love

My wife.

Then I killed to stay alive.

I stand here looking back,

And now I see the present,

And still I am a campesino,

I am the fat political coyote–

I,

Of the same name,

Joaquín.

In a country that has wiped out

All my history,

Stifled all my pride,

In a country that has placed a

Different weight of indignity upon my age old

burdened back.

Inferiority is the new load . . .

I look at myself

And see part of me

Who rejects my father and my mother

And dissolves into the melting pot

To disappear in shame.

La raza!

Méjicano!

Español!

Latino!

Chicano!

Or whatever I call myself,

I look the same

I feel the same

I cry

And

Sing the same.

I am the masses of my people and

I refuse to be absorbed.

I am Joaquín.

The odds are great

But my spirit is strong,

My faith unbreakable,

My blood is pure.

I SHALL ENDURE!

I WILL ENDURE