WEBVTT

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The scourge of history

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are on my face,

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and in the veins of my body that aches.

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I do not ask for freedom.

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We are freedom!

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♪ We are not afraid ♪

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A lot of people
didn’t understand, what is Chicano?

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Well to me, Chicano is not necessarily
someone that was born in a certain place

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but rather a state of mind
and a state of heart.

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And I look back
on pictures then, and I thought

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oh my God, we were poor,
but I didn\'t feel poor at the time.

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Things were very simple.

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It’s like the Wizard of Oz says,
“There’s no place like home.”

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You’re talking about Chunky Sanchez

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from this little small
California rural town, Blythe,

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where it\'s like a blip
on a radar screen, you know.

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Growing up,
Chunky and his siblings

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were virtually invisible
to the larger society.

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Chunky would escape
these rural beginnings

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and discover a special gift

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that would change the future
of his community forever.

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His journey is
a remarkable lens on a time

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when young Mexican Americans
became Chicanos.

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He was absolutely
Cesar Chavez’s favorite musician.

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They were ordinary young people

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who found the courage to fight
for self-determination and justice.

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- We went in there and did - two or
three songs and everybody was ready

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To go out and challenge the world.

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It was powerful,

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it was penetrating to the soul.

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How did this young kid

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from a small rural town
in the middle of nowhere

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become one of the leading musicians
of the Chicano civil rights movement

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and go on to receive one
of his nation’s highest musical honors?

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How did he and his generation
find the courage to fight

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for social justice in the face
of racism and discrimination?

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How did he learn to use music

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and imagination to take us on a journey,

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a journey towards freedom?

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Pocho, take three!

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♪ “Pocho”,
a name I was called as a kid ♪

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♪ With the intentions
of degrading and humiliating me ♪

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♪ “Pocho”, I wasn’t exactly sure
what it meant at first ♪

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♪ I felt emotional pain before I ever
comprehended its verbal meaning ♪

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♪ “Pocho” ♪

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♪ It promoted self-hatred
and confusion ♪

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♪ As to who I was
and what I was doing here ♪

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♪ “Pocho” ♪

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Chunky’s journey
began in Blythe, California.

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It’s a small rural community

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about 90 miles north
of the U.S.-Mexico border.

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It was a world, with two languages
and two cultures existing side by side,

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often in an uneasy relationship.

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When my mother took me
to kindergarten, I was scared.

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I didn’t know where I was going.
I walked in the classroom.

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She took me in the classroom,
everybody was speaking English.

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I didn’t speak any English at the time,
even though I was born here.

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I was scared. My teacher looked at me.
I looked at her.

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I thought I was like
in a foreign country or something.

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I started crying. I ran out after her.

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This went on like for two weeks,

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I went in and out
and finally I got used to it.

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Like many
of his Chicano classmates,

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Chunky spoke only Spanish
when he started elementary school.

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Many schools had little respect
for the language and culture

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that young Chicanos brought
to school with them.

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♪ My name was Ramon
when I started kindergarten ♪

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♪ But by the third grade
everybody called me Raymond ♪

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Raymond, Raymond, hey,

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I was trying to adjust to this,
you know what I mean,

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and if there was a girl named Maria,
her name became Mary

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and Juanita became Jane.

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Until one day we got a new student
by the name of Facundo Gonzales,

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Facundo Gonzales.

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When he came to school,

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we noticed they called
an emergency administrative meeting.

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We could kind of hear them
talking through the door.

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What are we going to do with this guy?
Man, you know what I mean.

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How are we going to change
his name, you know.

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One teacher goes, well, you know what,

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why don’t we try to shorten
the name a little bit.

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And they go, yeah,
but how do you spell it?

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F-A-C-U-N-D-O.

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Why don’t we just spell it FAC?

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Well one of the teacher says,
that means his name would be “Fac”

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and the other teacher
looked at him and said,

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“No that sounds too much
like a dirty word.

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You can’t be saying,
“Fac, where’s your homework?

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Where’s Fac at?”
you know what I mean.

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But that was a trip that
we always remembered

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going through elementary school

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because Facundo was the only guy
who never got his name changed.

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In changing your name
you lose identity,

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you lose who you really are,
who your parents named you.

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We became ashamed
of ourselves of who we were.

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You know, like I said
I was still bringing burritos

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but even so I was kind of ashamed,

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you know,
to bring the burrito out for lunch.

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I would go hide behind the building
to eat my burrito man, you know.

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But all that ashamedness, you know,

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came into play there
and it molded you as a person

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and it wasn’t good,
it wasn’t healthy for you,

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because you were trying
to be something you weren’t.

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My mother was a housewife,
stay at home.

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My dad was a foreman

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for one of the farming
companies here in the valley.

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Our home was situated
on a piece of land

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with a bunch of agricultural fields
behind us and to the side.

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My mom and father
came across that border

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with no papers back in the ‘30s.

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Back then, immigration really
wasn’t a big deal you know.

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And eventually,
they got naturalized here in Blythe.

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I believe my mother came
through Sonora and into Mexicali.

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They gathered enough money to,
one by one immigrate

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my grandmother and the rest
of the siblings from Mexico.

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And then they were all together
as a family again.

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I personally never felt deprived

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because my parents always
had a roof over our head,

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and it was a house
they were able to buy.

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We were never hungry.

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So for me I was like,

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“Hey, I’m living the American dream.
What\'s the problem here?”

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My mother liked
a lot of Louis Armstrong songs.

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And she liked the trumpet,

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so she decided Chunky
was going to get music lessons,

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and he was going to play the trumpet.

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So she rented a trumpet
from one of the only music store

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in Blythe at the time.

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Even though he was okay,
he was never fantastic on the trumpet,

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but he would basically use
the trumpet to torment us as kids,

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because, I remember, oh we might
have been about 9, 10 years old,

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and every morning Chunky
would wake up in the morning

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and play “Reveille”.

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And he\'d wake up
the whole neighborhood.

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And I was never a morning person,
so I really resented that

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and then of course every night,
as the sun was setting,

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he\'d go out and he’d play “Taps\".

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So that was the, first like,
musical moments that Chunky had.

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But as I was playing trumpet,
I was picking other things up.

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I started playing the drums.

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I got pretty good at it.
I got recruited into a band.

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So as a teenager I was playing
in a band there called Soul Patrol.

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We did a lot of, a lot of Motown
stuff like that, you know.

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My mother would teach
Chunky how to harmonize.

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And then of course he took an interest
in the guitar because of my uncles.

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They had the musical background.

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They played guitars, they sang,
my mother and her brothers.

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They did a lot of old classical stuff
like from Los Trios, from the thirties.

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That influenced us
as we were growing up.

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My dad was old school

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and had a very clear definition
of sexual roles.

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Girls were with their mothers.

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They were in the house.
They did housework. They cooked.

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They did your laundry.
That\'s where they functioned.

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Men and boys went out
to the fields and worked.

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And so, Chunky being
the oldest son he had,

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my dad would take Chunky
with him at a very early age.

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And he taught Chunky
how to drive a pickup truck

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when Chunky was 10 years old.

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He taught Chunky how to plant,

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so Chunky had that fieldwork
experience very early on in life.

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Working in the fields
with his father,

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Chunky wondered if this was his future.

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Chunky’s father and mother
were like a lot of Mexican workers

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who had been crossing
the border for generations.

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There was always
a huge demand for their labor

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in the mines, on the railroads

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and in the booming agricultural
fields of the southwest.

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Some were actively brought here
by U.S. labor recruiters.

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By the 1960s, a young community
organizer named Cesar Chavez

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had been remarkably successful
in organizing our country’s poorest

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and most forgotten workers –

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the farmworkers who were responsible
for the food on our tables.

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Chavez preached
a philosophy of non-violence

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and imagined a better world
for these workers.

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Tactically,
nonviolence is extremely effective.

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But we say even more,
we say that as a philosophy,

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as a way of life, perhaps,

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it’s even more important.

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Cesar Chavez came to Blythe
I remember one time

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because there was a field office
that was set up

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right there in Blythe
right on main street.

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I remember it created
a lot of controversy.

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He wasn’t there that long but he came
and gave a speech about organizing

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and he stirred up the town,
let me tell you.

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Chavez and Dolores Huerta

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co-founded the United Farmworkers Union.

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Before that, farmworkers had been
virtually abandoned by organized labor.

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Chavez and Huerta began
the difficult task of organizing them,

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emphasizing the importance
of self-determination

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and the dignity of their work.

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They seized upon a novel approach
against the growers

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in order to improve
the wages of farmworkers –

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a nationwide boycott
against eating grapes.

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In a surprising victory
beyond anyone’s expectations,

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the boycott garnered
the attention of Robert F. Kennedy

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and captured the imagination
of many Americans

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who knew very little about how our
got on to our nation\'s tables.

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When Chunky first saw Cesar Chavez,

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his horizons began
to expand far beyond Blythe.

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He was very dynamic,
he was calm,

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but yet he was powerful.

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The way that he delivered
the things that he was talking about,

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everything made sense.

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It was like he was opening
your eyes, you know,

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about very simple things that we
always took for granted, you know.

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Yeah, you know he’s right.

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We never had drinking water
on the fields.

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We always had to bring our own water.

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You know, we never had
toilet facilities out there,

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we always had to go
into the bushes, you know,

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and the ladies that worked
out there had to do the same thing,

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and that wasn’t right.

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And maybe a little higher wage
wouldn’t be too bad either.

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One day I was working
during the weekends

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at a ranch right there
in Blythe for a rancher.

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And the rancher was down there
watching along with my dad.

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And he told my father,
he said “You know, Ramon,

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some day when you’re not here anymore,

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your son is going to make
a very good foreman on this ranch.”

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So I said this guy has already got
plans for me, man.

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You know what I mean? He’s already
got my whole life planned out.

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And I said I need to get out of here.

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The world around Chunky
was changing dramatically.

00:15:38.371 --> 00:15:41.607
Fidel Castro had consolidated
the Cuban revolution.

00:15:41.974 --> 00:15:45.812
The Vietnam War provoked anti-war
protests around the country.

00:15:46.712 --> 00:15:50.817
An expanding civil rights movement
spurred waves of demonstrations.

00:15:51.717 --> 00:15:55.720
African Americans and others
without access to power and privilege

00:15:55.721 --> 00:15:57.957
demanded a place at the table.

00:15:58.891 --> 00:16:00.792
Mexican Americans were marching

00:16:00.793 --> 00:16:03.796
and demonstrating in cities
across the southwest.

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The movimiento,
as it came to be called,

00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.170
put us on the national stage
for the first time.

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We came here to build
the new Chicano movement,

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that’s what we came here for.

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You cannot close your eyes
and your ears to us any longer.

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You cannot pretend that we do not exist.

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They announced that they
will not recognize the association

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and they will not bargain with us
so, let the strike continue.

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Let the strike continue!

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In our nation’s capitol,

00:16:41.767 --> 00:16:44.769
President Lyndon Johnson
backed landmark legislation

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aimed at securing
and guaranteeing the civil rights

00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:50.610
and voting rights
of powerless communities.

00:16:52.812 --> 00:16:55.080
In order to level the playing field,

00:16:55.081 --> 00:16:57.850
the federal government
created affirmative action -

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a national program
to help historically excluded

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and disadvantaged
students attend college.

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Chunky was a perfect candidate
for the program.

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A local activist and friend
of the family, Miguel Figueroa,

00:17:12.231 --> 00:17:15.101
was instrumental in helping
Chunky apply to college.

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Chunky wasn’t
very impressive back in those days.

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He wasn’t a great football player,

00:17:21.540 --> 00:17:23.808
or basketball player
or anything like that.

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He was just Chunky,
and he wanted to go to college.

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The original plan through the Mexican
American Political Association

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was that we were going
to educate our youth,

00:17:32.919 --> 00:17:34.653
and they were going to come back

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to their respective communities
and build community there.

00:17:37.957 --> 00:17:41.059
They were going to become
the chief of police, the postmasters,

00:17:41.060 --> 00:17:42.761
the superintendent
of schools, the principals.

00:17:42.762 --> 00:17:45.398
They were going
to build our community

00:17:46.198 --> 00:17:48.500
and enjoy the American dream.

00:17:48.501 --> 00:17:50.101
They were going to be
like everybody else,

00:17:50.102 --> 00:17:53.538
only when they became
the leaders, we thought,

00:17:53.539 --> 00:17:55.441
we would end discrimination.

00:17:57.343 --> 00:17:58.710
Not too long after that

00:17:58.711 --> 00:18:01.680
I went to check the mail right there
in front of my house in Blythe

00:18:01.681 --> 00:18:04.550
and there was a letter there
from San Diego State College.

00:18:06.118 --> 00:18:07.919
It had my name on it, so I opened it up.

00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.756
And it said “Congratulations; you have
been accepted to San Diego State.”

00:18:11.757 --> 00:18:16.561
You know I didn’t know
whether to jump for joy or,

00:18:16.562 --> 00:18:17.897
you know or get scared.

00:18:19.332 --> 00:18:21.367
It was a culture shock.

00:18:21.634 --> 00:18:24.303
The town I came from
had like 9,000 people.

00:18:24.770 --> 00:18:27.238
And then we came to San Diego
State and come to find

00:18:27.239 --> 00:18:30.076
that San Diego State had
a population of 20,000 at that time.

00:18:30.343 --> 00:18:33.012
The school was twice as big
as the town I came from.

00:18:34.947 --> 00:18:38.416
There was 68 Spanish surnames,

00:18:38.417 --> 00:18:41.086
not necessarily Mexicans.
It could have been Filipinos.

00:18:41.087 --> 00:18:43.388
It could have been persons
from South America.

00:18:43.389 --> 00:18:45.156
It could have been
people from Mexico,

00:18:45.157 --> 00:18:48.493
but 68 out of a student
enrollment of 20,000.

00:18:48.494 --> 00:18:49.995
He was wandering around campus.

00:18:49.996 --> 00:18:52.198
A little short, well rounded kid.

00:18:52.531 --> 00:18:54.667
He’s still well rounded,
as a matter of fact.

00:18:55.134 --> 00:18:57.570
But it seemed like he was lost.

00:18:57.903 --> 00:19:01.406
Had it not been
for the Chicano Studies Department

00:19:01.407 --> 00:19:04.110
and a professor by the name
of Jose Villarino

00:19:04.643 --> 00:19:08.581
who kind of took me under his wing,
you know, and kept me focused.

00:19:08.881 --> 00:19:11.850
Because you can get frightened
to a certain extent,

00:19:11.851 --> 00:19:13.585
where you just say,
well, forget all this.

00:19:13.586 --> 00:19:17.356
I’m going back home
and be a farmer all my life you know.

00:19:18.057 --> 00:19:20.892
The teachers show up you know
with ties and white shirts,

00:19:20.893 --> 00:19:24.429
and you know long sleeved
shirts and teach a class.

00:19:24.430 --> 00:19:27.365
We took a class called
Aztec thought and culture.

00:19:27.366 --> 00:19:29.702
And here comes Alurista,
a little short guy,

00:19:30.069 --> 00:19:34.406
small, beads around his neck
and talking broken English,

00:19:34.407 --> 00:19:37.243
and Spanish, and slang,
and everything else.

00:19:38.444 --> 00:19:42.547
Dust turns with time and space
remains occupied

00:19:42.548 --> 00:19:46.651
Flesh merely passes
and huesos waited to pulverize

00:19:46.652 --> 00:19:49.754
And be the wind to caress mariposas

00:19:49.755 --> 00:19:54.926
Into papaloteados across
the fleeting light of dusk

00:19:54.927 --> 00:19:56.961
You know it was
a whole different dimension.

00:19:56.962 --> 00:19:59.397
People would look at him,
“Man, this is the teacher?”

00:19:59.398 --> 00:20:03.334
You know we asked ourselves,
“This is the teacher?” OK.

00:20:03.335 --> 00:20:05.804
What it is is what it does

00:20:05.805 --> 00:20:07.439
What it’s done is what it was

00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:09.441
What it will be is what it’ll do

00:20:09.442 --> 00:20:11.176
What it’ll do will someday be

00:20:11.177 --> 00:20:13.712
When what does is what it is

00:20:18.818 --> 00:20:21.820
But lo and behold, man,
the guy, he opened our eyes

00:20:21.821 --> 00:20:24.122
to a lot of things
that we were not aware of,

00:20:24.123 --> 00:20:29.227
growing up as Chicanos that put
a lot of the puzzle together for us.

00:20:29.228 --> 00:20:32.464
And in putting that puzzle together,
we also put our,

00:20:32.465 --> 00:20:35.166
we put our conscience together,
our minds together,

00:20:35.167 --> 00:20:36.836
our souls, our spirits.

00:20:43.709 --> 00:20:45.443
As Chunky’s eyes were opened,

00:20:45.444 --> 00:20:48.146
he learned more
about our community’s history.

00:20:48.147 --> 00:20:51.250
He connected more directly
with his indigenous background.

00:20:51.984 --> 00:20:55.420
His mother’s family
was Yaqui Indian from Sonora

00:20:55.421 --> 00:20:58.757
and he found strength
in his indigenous identity.

00:21:00.459 --> 00:21:02.311
I think we learned

00:21:02.312 --> 00:21:04.163
from the indigenous brothers and sisters.

00:21:04.497 --> 00:21:06.098
We don’t own anything.

00:21:06.966 --> 00:21:10.669
When we die,
we don’t take nothing with us.

00:21:11.604 --> 00:21:13.606
This land is here for everybody.

00:21:18.410 --> 00:21:20.845
Chunky began
to understand the many ways

00:21:20.846 --> 00:21:24.183
in which our community had been
silenced and kept powerless.

00:21:28.954 --> 00:21:30.989
But the next chapter in his education

00:21:30.990 --> 00:21:33.926
would come from a park
which didn’t even exist yet.

00:21:36.996 --> 00:21:39.364
Many cities around the country
were undergoing

00:21:39.365 --> 00:21:42.168
a redevelopment process
called urban renewal.

00:21:42.668 --> 00:21:47.072
It sounded positive but it devastated
many inner city communities.

00:21:47.940 --> 00:21:51.110
In San Diego,
under the guise of urban renewal,

00:21:51.544 --> 00:21:55.581
a new interstate highway divided
the Chicano community in two.

00:21:58.284 --> 00:22:00.151
To make amends,
the state of California

00:22:00.152 --> 00:22:02.555
promised to build
a community park in the barrio.

00:22:03.222 --> 00:22:05.224
Instead, without warning,

00:22:05.558 --> 00:22:09.827
the city abandoned that plan and began
building a highway patrol station

00:22:09.828 --> 00:22:12.698
on the land designated
for the community park.

00:22:15.601 --> 00:22:19.938
The City of San Diego had promised
this land to the Logan Heights community

00:22:19.939 --> 00:22:23.007
and then they reneged,
saying you know “Chale,”

00:22:23.008 --> 00:22:25.944
we are going to build
a Highway Patrol substation here.

00:22:25.945 --> 00:22:29.847
I remember we got a call,
and so they asked for help.

00:22:29.848 --> 00:22:32.550
We talked about it, and I remember
him saying \"Are you going to go?\"

00:22:32.551 --> 00:22:37.589
And I said \"Absolutely.\"
And a lot of students went.

00:22:37.590 --> 00:22:40.625
He was in a Chicano Studies class
and they alerted us

00:22:40.626 --> 00:22:43.362
and we all stopped our classes
and marched over to the park.

00:22:44.063 --> 00:22:46.966
I said to myself,
you know, I want to be part of this.

00:22:47.700 --> 00:22:50.069
I want to be part of this whole -

00:22:50.536 --> 00:22:53.705
I didn’t call it a movement
at the time - but whatever it was,

00:22:53.706 --> 00:22:55.207
I wanted to be a part of it.

00:22:55.641 --> 00:23:00.745
You know here I was, a farm kid
fresh in the city, you know,

00:23:00.746 --> 00:23:02.080
big university, like that.

00:23:02.081 --> 00:23:04.083
I wasn’t sure what
we were going up against.

00:23:04.483 --> 00:23:07.686
People were saying that the police
might be there, we may get in trouble,

00:23:07.886 --> 00:23:10.555
you know, I had never really been
in any serious trouble with the police.

00:23:10.556 --> 00:23:12.457
They would say, “We might go to jail.”

00:23:12.458 --> 00:23:15.627
Well you know we’re already
on our way, I can’t turn back now.

00:23:15.628 --> 00:23:17.328
A lot of things
were going through my mind.

00:23:17.329 --> 00:23:19.331
What are we going to do
when we get there?

00:23:20.366 --> 00:23:24.336
You know being on strike is very boring
because all you do is walk in circles.

00:23:25.204 --> 00:23:28.072
So one day we thought,
“What can we do to liven it up.

00:23:28.073 --> 00:23:30.743
Hey, bring your guitar or something.”
So we brought a guitar.

00:23:37.850 --> 00:23:40.018
And then we realize,
“Hey, there’s things happening,

00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:41.719
let’s write a verse about this.”

00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:43.755
So we began to write verses
about things that were happening,

00:23:43.756 --> 00:23:46.724
next thing you know we got two verses,
then we got three, then we got four,

00:23:46.725 --> 00:23:49.895
hey we got a song now,
La Guitara Campesina.

00:24:30.202 --> 00:24:33.472
When I was there, I looked around

00:24:34.606 --> 00:24:38.010
and I saw the seriousness
of the people, you know.

00:24:38.243 --> 00:24:41.079
It’s something I had never
really seen in people struggling,

00:24:41.080 --> 00:24:44.482
you know,
the kids digging the ground,

00:24:44.483 --> 00:24:48.086
the grandmothers yelling at people
and telling them, “Hey, do this, do that.”

00:24:48.087 --> 00:24:50.955
And yet at the same time,
they were making food for everybody.

00:24:50.956 --> 00:24:53.024
It was unbelievable.

00:24:53.025 --> 00:24:56.028
I said, “Wow,
these people are for real!

00:24:57.129 --> 00:25:00.265
And I began to see
the power that was in music.

00:25:21.520 --> 00:25:24.757
I think for the first time
in my life I saw some people

00:25:25.090 --> 00:25:29.161
that were very, you could see it
in them that were dedicated, committed,

00:25:29.828 --> 00:25:31.362
believing in something.

00:25:31.363 --> 00:25:34.365
And that really inspired me
and made me say to myself inside,

00:25:34.366 --> 00:25:36.234
you know, “I want to be part of this.

00:25:36.235 --> 00:25:38.369
I want to be like these people.

00:25:38.370 --> 00:25:41.406
I want to be able to feel dedicated
and committed to something,

00:25:41.407 --> 00:25:46.545
to a good cause and to me the issue
of Chicano Park was that cause.

00:25:47.379 --> 00:25:51.350
I felt an energy, something that just,
boom, went right through me.

00:25:57.423 --> 00:25:59.458
♪ In the year 1970 ♪

00:25:59.658 --> 00:26:02.193
♪ In the city of San Diego
under the Coronado Bridge ♪

00:26:02.194 --> 00:26:03.996
♪ Lied a little piece of land ♪

00:26:04.463 --> 00:26:05.763
♪ A little piece of land that ♪

00:26:05.764 --> 00:26:07.198
♪ The Chicano community
of Logan Heights ♪

00:26:07.199 --> 00:26:08.567
♪ Wanted to make into a park ♪

00:26:09.701 --> 00:26:13.237
♪ A park where all the chavalitos
could come and play in ♪

00:26:13.238 --> 00:26:14.806
♪ So they wouldn\'t have
to play in the street ♪

00:26:14.807 --> 00:26:16.508
♪ And get run over by a car ♪

00:26:18.177 --> 00:26:21.779
♪ A park, where all the viejitos
could come en la tarde ♪

00:26:21.780 --> 00:26:23.982
♪ And just sit down
and watch the sun go down ♪

00:26:27.186 --> 00:26:30.588
♪ A park where
all the familias could come ♪

00:26:30.589 --> 00:26:32.523
♪ And just get together
on a Sunday afternoon ♪

00:26:32.524 --> 00:26:34.927
♪ And celebrate
the spirit of life itself ♪

00:26:36.628 --> 00:26:39.164
♪ But the city of San Diego
said “chale” ♪

00:26:39.631 --> 00:26:41.867
♪ We’re going to make
a highway patrol substation here ♪

00:26:42.468 --> 00:26:45.169
♪ So on April 22nd, 1970 ♪

00:26:45.170 --> 00:26:47.205
♪ La Raza of Logan Heights
and other Chicano communities ♪

00:26:47.206 --> 00:26:49.207
♪ Got together
and they walked on the land ♪

00:26:49.208 --> 00:26:50.608
♪ And they took it over
with their picks and their shovels ♪

00:26:50.609 --> 00:26:52.743
♪ And they began
to build their own park ♪

00:26:52.744 --> 00:26:55.514
- We think of a park as a park,
- but when you really stop and look at it,

00:26:55.517 --> 00:26:57.850
A park is a very sacred part
of our community.

00:26:58.317 --> 00:27:00.652
A park is where you take
your children to go play.

00:27:00.886 --> 00:27:05.324
A park is where you go talk to people
and exchange ideas, you know.

00:27:06.992 --> 00:27:09.428
It’s a sacred place.
It’s almost like going to church.

00:27:09.962 --> 00:27:12.331
You’re going to go there
to interact with the community.

00:27:13.899 --> 00:27:16.701
Chicano Park was very important
because it taught us that

00:27:16.702 --> 00:27:19.304
if you want something in life,
you have to work for it.

00:27:19.738 --> 00:27:21.272
You have to struggle for it.

00:27:21.273 --> 00:27:24.076
Nothing is going to be handed
to you on a silver platter.

00:27:26.879 --> 00:27:30.883
♪ Under the bridge ♪

00:27:31.283 --> 00:27:35.120
♪ Under the bridge ♪

00:27:40.959 --> 00:27:44.196
Chunky had arrived
in San Diego at a crucial moment.

00:27:44.396 --> 00:27:48.767
The city’s Chicano community was fighting
for self-determination on many fronts.

00:27:49.668 --> 00:27:53.404
The takeover of Chicano Park led
the park to become a permanent

00:27:53.405 --> 00:27:56.241
artistic and cultural monument
for the community.

00:28:00.445 --> 00:28:04.181
Activists also created
a cultural center in Balboa Park,

00:28:04.182 --> 00:28:06.618
a social service agency in the barrio

00:28:06.818 --> 00:28:11.690
and the nation’s first Mexican American
Studies Department at San Diego State.

00:28:12.391 --> 00:28:16.862
These victories gave the Chicano
community a new sense of empowerment.

00:28:17.529 --> 00:28:21.199
For Chunky, music would be
at the center of his journey.

00:28:25.237 --> 00:28:27.538
In San Diego you had,

00:28:27.539 --> 00:28:32.443
groups like La Rondalla Amerindia
de Aztlan, formed as a group of students

00:28:32.444 --> 00:28:35.646
at San Diego State University
in the Chicano Studies department,

00:28:35.647 --> 00:28:38.749
who were coming together,
learning songs under the direction

00:28:38.750 --> 00:28:40.851
of one of the professors, Jose Villarino.

00:28:40.852 --> 00:28:43.321
And they would go out
to marches and rallies,

00:28:43.322 --> 00:28:45.324
here locally and up and down
the state.

00:29:03.141 --> 00:29:07.980
Dr. Villarino got us
involved with La Rondalla Amerindia.

00:29:08.280 --> 00:29:11.383
We took it, in a very sacred way.

00:29:11.883 --> 00:29:14.552
It began to open our eyes,
and we began to see music

00:29:14.553 --> 00:29:18.990
as a teaching methodology,

00:29:18.991 --> 00:29:21.258
as an inspirational methodology.

00:29:21.259 --> 00:29:23.528
You know especially
when we played for the farm workers.

00:29:24.563 --> 00:29:26.397
We started
getting more and more involved

00:29:26.398 --> 00:29:30.334
with the farm workers,
to the point that we participated

00:29:30.335 --> 00:29:33.171
at the farm workers
convention in Fresno.

00:29:33.805 --> 00:29:36.774
La Rondalla was invited
by Cesar Chavez to go

00:29:36.775 --> 00:29:39.577
and perform at the farm
workers convention,

00:29:39.578 --> 00:29:42.347
every year for I think
about four or five years.

00:29:43.548 --> 00:29:45.282
We began to follow Cesar

00:29:45.283 --> 00:29:47.919
through the State of California
on his campaign

00:29:48.553 --> 00:29:50.889
you know and just opening up
the rallies for him.

00:29:51.256 --> 00:29:54.292
And this was very enlightening as well,
because you learned a lot.

00:29:59.965 --> 00:30:01.766
When Chunky
came into the picture

00:30:01.767 --> 00:30:05.369
and applied the guitar
and the music, you know,

00:30:05.370 --> 00:30:07.739
it just changed the... all of the dynamics

00:30:07.740 --> 00:30:10.107
of the student movement.

00:30:10.108 --> 00:30:11.343
Because they were it!

00:30:12.911 --> 00:30:18.750
In addition to that, it was the anti-war
movement at the same time.

00:30:19.184 --> 00:30:20.651
And he started incorporating...

00:30:20.652 --> 00:30:23.655
Some of the language
of the anti-war into his songs,

00:30:23.922 --> 00:30:26.158
and pushing for education over war.

00:30:27.125 --> 00:30:29.493
And again,
it just kind of captured the spirit

00:30:29.494 --> 00:30:31.329
of what the whole struggle was about.

00:30:31.863 --> 00:30:35.800
So the musical aspect just
gave a whole different twist

00:30:35.801 --> 00:30:39.171
to the emotional side
of the struggle.

00:30:39.905 --> 00:30:41.739
There was no hesitation.

00:30:41.740 --> 00:30:45.410
He was totally committed to blending
his music into the struggle.

00:30:46.912 --> 00:30:49.747
We’d be out
in the back of a pickup truck

00:30:49.748 --> 00:30:51.082
and the strikes.

00:30:51.083 --> 00:30:54.885
And we’d be with the picketers
in front of the fields,

00:30:54.886 --> 00:30:58.190
out there like in the Bakersfield
area, out in the country.

00:30:59.057 --> 00:31:01.325
And a lot of esquiroles were there.

00:31:01.326 --> 00:31:02.693
So we’d be singing to them.

00:31:02.694 --> 00:31:06.864
We’d be holding a couple of, people would
be holding a couple of the loud speakers.

00:31:06.865 --> 00:31:09.667
And we’d be jamming
and singing to them.

00:31:09.668 --> 00:31:12.470
And then I’d start talking to them.

00:31:12.471 --> 00:31:15.106
I’d say, “OK, If you want
another song, throw a peach.”

00:31:15.107 --> 00:31:17.308
So they’d throw a peach up you know.
They wanted another song.

00:31:17.309 --> 00:31:20.178
Almost all Mexicanos, right?
So we knew they would love the music.

00:31:20.645 --> 00:31:24.849
So we’d sing them another song and that
we just, that was kind of the catch

00:31:24.850 --> 00:31:26.517
that that we,
the members of La Rondalla,

00:31:26.518 --> 00:31:28.452
were helping pull esquiroles
out of the fields.

00:31:28.453 --> 00:31:33.090
Pretty soon we’d ask them to come out
and join the other brothers and the union.

00:31:33.091 --> 00:31:35.426
Pretty soon, you’d see them
coming out of the fields.

00:31:35.427 --> 00:31:38.096
It was pretty cool, the music
you know carries a heavy message.

00:31:53.845 --> 00:31:57.481
Music was a,
was very big tool for Cesar.

00:31:57.482 --> 00:31:59.316
He wouldn’t let people
talk for too long

00:31:59.317 --> 00:32:01.286
without bringing in
somebody to sing a song.

00:32:03.455 --> 00:32:05.756
We started learning more songs

00:32:05.757 --> 00:32:08.425
about anything that was anti-imperialist

00:32:08.426 --> 00:32:14.199
or talked about the farm worker
or the oppressed,

00:32:14.633 --> 00:32:15.833
and so forth.

00:32:15.834 --> 00:32:18.335
It was something
that we were attracted to

00:32:18.336 --> 00:32:23.008
and we wanted to share,
you know, with our listeners.

00:32:26.178 --> 00:32:29.213
There was always
a possibility of violence.

00:32:29.214 --> 00:32:32.818
And we knew about,
about what had happened to,

00:32:33.185 --> 00:32:35.820
to farm workers before
you know, that were beaten up

00:32:35.821 --> 00:32:37.823
in that same type of demonstration.

00:32:39.124 --> 00:32:42.159
We had eggs thrown at us.
We had tomatoes thrown at us.

00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:43.994
People would even spit on us sometimes.

00:32:43.995 --> 00:32:46.698
I had people that would
actually shove me, push me,

00:32:47.232 --> 00:32:50.201
tear my, and the first thing I thought,
you know I was like 22,

00:32:50.202 --> 00:32:52.403
23 years old,
I wanted to crack their heads,

00:32:52.404 --> 00:32:55.139
but I knew that wasn’t
the best way to do it.

00:32:55.140 --> 00:32:57.741
So we would walk.
We would, we would just walk away

00:32:57.742 --> 00:33:00.077
and go set up somewhere else
and start playing somewhere else.

00:33:00.078 --> 00:33:04.215
It was just very inspiring to see
grown men turning the other cheek

00:33:04.216 --> 00:33:06.517
and walking away, because they
knew that was a strong thing to do.

00:33:06.518 --> 00:33:10.721
Cesar always said that music
was always part of a movement.

00:33:10.722 --> 00:33:15.125
And that musicians always had a place

00:33:15.126 --> 00:33:16.694
in the Farm Worker Movement.

00:33:16.695 --> 00:33:21.366
And he was very, very appreciative
of our music and our contribution.

00:33:25.403 --> 00:33:27.438
Whenever there was
any kind of an event

00:33:27.439 --> 00:33:29.073
that the farmworkers were having,

00:33:29.074 --> 00:33:31.642
Cesar would always call
or he’d have someone call and say,

00:33:31.643 --> 00:33:34.211
“Can you get Chunky to come up
and play for us?”

00:33:34.212 --> 00:33:36.814
I mean, he just loved Chunky,
so it wasn’t just me,

00:33:36.815 --> 00:33:39.450
I mean, other people just
loved the kind of magic

00:33:39.451 --> 00:33:41.586
that Chunky brought
when he played his music.

00:33:45.090 --> 00:33:48.426
Chunky was absolutely
Cesar Chavez’s favorite musician.

00:33:49.427 --> 00:33:52.597
He starts to become an icon
in the southwest.

00:34:03.208 --> 00:34:06.944
What I really liked about the music
is how it brought people together.

00:34:06.945 --> 00:34:09.246
It was a great way
to bring people together,

00:34:09.247 --> 00:34:11.282
when you think about just that

00:34:11.283 --> 00:34:14.285
and other historical
movements if you will,

00:34:14.286 --> 00:34:16.288
music is a big part of it.

00:34:20.025 --> 00:34:22.559
Touring up and down
with this group, playing everywhere,

00:34:22.560 --> 00:34:25.596
broadened my views
and my visions on life itself,

00:34:25.597 --> 00:34:28.265
on people,
on dealing with people, you know.

00:34:28.266 --> 00:34:33.103
Coming from the small farm town,
I began to realize

00:34:33.104 --> 00:34:35.673
that there was a lot more
to life and to the world

00:34:35.674 --> 00:34:37.575
than what was back in that small town.

00:34:38.109 --> 00:34:41.712
We started
to go to places like UCLA,

00:34:41.713 --> 00:34:45.717
Santa Barbara, Berkeley,
San Francisco State.

00:34:49.354 --> 00:34:52.856
We met Joan Baez at the Farm
Workers conventions in Fresno,

00:34:52.857 --> 00:34:57.061
because she was also invited
to play for the farm workers

00:34:57.062 --> 00:34:58.530
at the convention,

00:34:59.698 --> 00:35:03.401
at least on four occasions
that I can remember.

00:35:03.768 --> 00:35:08.305
And she heard us play
at the convention and then invited us

00:35:08.306 --> 00:35:12.209
to participate in recording a song,
No Nos Moveran,

00:35:12.210 --> 00:35:15.580
a record that she was producing
at the time in Spanish.

00:35:37.936 --> 00:35:41.705
It was kind of incredible
that such an artist like Joan Baez

00:35:41.706 --> 00:35:44.743
would invite us to sing
in one of her records.

00:35:46.011 --> 00:35:50.347
And that was also
a very rewarding experience,

00:35:50.348 --> 00:35:53.917
a very touching experience for all of us.

00:35:53.918 --> 00:35:57.555
I think it brought the group
a little more, more together.

00:35:58.623 --> 00:36:03.661
♪ We shall not be moved ♪

00:36:12.370 --> 00:36:14.706
Young people all over the world

00:36:14.707 --> 00:36:17.042
were demonstrating and demanding change.

00:36:17.542 --> 00:36:19.810
In Mexico and Latin America,

00:36:19.811 --> 00:36:23.581
artists and musicians were taking
up the call for social revolution.

00:36:24.416 --> 00:36:29.253
In 1973, Chunky decided to visit
Mexico City for the first time

00:36:29.254 --> 00:36:32.023
to learn more about the country
where his parents were born.

00:36:32.657 --> 00:36:35.325
He was joining many Chicanos
who were traveling to Mexico

00:36:35.326 --> 00:36:36.795
with the same curiosity,

00:36:37.228 --> 00:36:39.097
eager to visit their homeland.

00:36:39.531 --> 00:36:41.533
It was like a pilgrimage.

00:36:44.169 --> 00:36:47.171
In Mexico, Chicanos were meeting
other young Mexicans

00:36:47.172 --> 00:36:49.706
who shared a commitment
to the proposition

00:36:49.707 --> 00:36:53.978
that the Americas didn’t begin
or end at the US-Mexico border.

00:36:56.881 --> 00:37:01.186
For Chunky, Mexico City
was a stunning revelation.

00:37:08.393 --> 00:37:10.929
I was flabbergasted
by the Pyramids,

00:37:12.397 --> 00:37:14.032
the mercados.

00:37:15.900 --> 00:37:17.535
Everything was Mexican.

00:37:19.637 --> 00:37:20.972
This was my roots.

00:37:23.842 --> 00:37:25.977
Where have you been all my life,
you know what I mean.

00:37:33.051 --> 00:37:35.686
You climb the Pyramid of the Sun
and you stand up there,

00:37:35.687 --> 00:37:38.590
open your arms up to the gods, man.

00:37:39.190 --> 00:37:42.560
It was like a whole reincarnation
of you as a person.

00:37:46.431 --> 00:37:48.533
This is what moms was talking about.

00:37:50.935 --> 00:37:52.937
This is where pops came from.

00:37:58.209 --> 00:38:01.378
It was like a little kid
finding a new candy store man,

00:38:01.379 --> 00:38:02.914
you know that he didn’t know existed.

00:38:04.782 --> 00:38:07.018
A few years
before Chunky arrived,

00:38:07.318 --> 00:38:11.456
Mexico City had hosted the first Olympics
to be held in a developing country.

00:38:12.557 --> 00:38:16.561
The exorbitant cost of the games
led to many social protests.

00:38:17.428 --> 00:38:20.130
But the government
was determined to prevent anyone

00:38:20.131 --> 00:38:22.867
from staining Mexico’s moment
in the global spotlight.

00:38:24.602 --> 00:38:26.905
On October 2, 1968,

00:38:27.438 --> 00:38:31.008
the police and military
crushed a student demonstration

00:38:31.009 --> 00:38:33.011
in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.

00:38:34.345 --> 00:38:38.549
Before it was over,
an estimated 300-400 protestors

00:38:38.550 --> 00:38:41.352
were killed in the Tlatelolco
section of the city.

00:38:44.022 --> 00:38:45.422
Throughout Latin America,

00:38:45.423 --> 00:38:47.991
musicians were putting
their lives at risk,

00:38:47.992 --> 00:38:50.160
protesting oppressive
and abusive actions

00:38:50.161 --> 00:38:52.163
on the part of their political leaders.

00:38:52.530 --> 00:38:56.701
It was during these turbulent times
that Chunky arrived in Mexico.

00:38:58.603 --> 00:39:02.239
That was \'73, it was only a few years
after the massacre in Tlatelolco

00:39:02.240 --> 00:39:06.878
with the students and everything,
and lot of these issues were still hot.

00:39:09.647 --> 00:39:12.649
During this visit he had
the opportunity to attend

00:39:12.650 --> 00:39:15.519
a festival of protest songs...
Of Latin American protest song.

00:39:15.520 --> 00:39:17.287
There was a big concert being held.

00:39:17.288 --> 00:39:18.655
It was a great opportunity

00:39:18.656 --> 00:39:21.658
to take the Chicano struggle
to an international stage.

00:39:21.659 --> 00:39:23.994
And lo and behold
I got there on the day

00:39:23.995 --> 00:39:25.797
that they were having

00:39:25.798 --> 00:39:27.598
this big musical festival in Mexico City.

00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:30.467
The protest music of Latin America.

00:39:30.468 --> 00:39:33.070
And there was all these people.
The whole place was packed.

00:39:33.071 --> 00:39:35.573
It was a political, musical event.

00:40:11.943 --> 00:40:15.613
Mercedes Sosa, Gabino Palomares.

00:40:50.381 --> 00:40:52.482
Los Folkloristas.

00:40:52.483 --> 00:40:57.155
Everybody and anybody that was anything
in protest music at the time was there.

00:41:23.448 --> 00:41:27.150
I got there and one
of the organizers said

00:41:27.151 --> 00:41:29.986
“You know what,
we have all kinds of representation

00:41:29.987 --> 00:41:33.224
here but we don’t have
anybody representing Chicanos.

00:41:33.791 --> 00:41:35.659
Would you like to represent Chicanos?”

00:41:35.660 --> 00:41:39.029
I said “OK.” And I did some huelga
songs and talked about Cesar Chavez

00:41:39.030 --> 00:41:41.710
and how that was all related
to everything that was happening there.

00:42:10.828 --> 00:42:14.231
I realized how serious
protest music was

00:42:14.232 --> 00:42:16.700
and the importance
that it played in their movement

00:42:16.701 --> 00:42:19.303
and it was just as necessary

00:42:20.571 --> 00:42:22.572
to their movement, the protest music,

00:42:22.573 --> 00:42:24.775
as it was for a guerillero
in the mountains

00:42:24.776 --> 00:42:27.512
to have a weapon.

00:42:28.613 --> 00:42:32.916
When I came back to San Diego
after that I was fired up.

00:42:32.917 --> 00:42:36.887
I produced a cancionero,
a song book of protest songs

00:42:36.888 --> 00:42:39.590
called Cantos Rebeldes de las Americas

00:42:40.525 --> 00:42:42.292
and if you looked at the guitar,

00:42:42.293 --> 00:42:45.096
as it goes out,
it transforms into a rifle barrel.

00:42:46.597 --> 00:42:51.501
I began to realize the songs could
be used not just to entertain people

00:42:51.502 --> 00:42:54.838
and get them drunk and get them
happy and hung over,

00:42:54.839 --> 00:43:00.377
but rather also to educate them
and put a consciousness in their minds,

00:43:00.378 --> 00:43:03.947
in their hearts, in their souls,
that they are worth something,

00:43:03.948 --> 00:43:08.452
that they do have value in this life, that
they can struggle for something better,

00:43:08.453 --> 00:43:10.455
and they don’t have
to be put down all the time.

00:43:11.022 --> 00:43:14.559
And that’s why I came back
with all that energy

00:43:16.394 --> 00:43:21.665
That’s when I began to realize…that…
I couldn’t really go back to the Rondalla

00:43:21.666 --> 00:43:26.203
and implement that…it would be better
for me to begin to develop another group

00:43:26.204 --> 00:43:28.038
and the only guy that was
really listening to me

00:43:28.039 --> 00:43:30.006
and learning the songs
with me was my brother Rick…

00:43:30.007 --> 00:43:31.676
so hey there’s two of us.

00:44:02.373 --> 00:44:04.441
I was influenced
by a variety of different things,

00:44:04.442 --> 00:44:08.411
my mother’s music,
Los Trios, the sixties music,

00:44:08.412 --> 00:44:12.382
it was just like a whole capirotada,
a whole mixture of different things

00:44:12.383 --> 00:44:14.051
that began to influence me.

00:44:21.259 --> 00:44:23.228
Chunky was joining a larger

00:44:23.229 --> 00:44:25.195
artistic movement of singers and artists

00:44:25.196 --> 00:44:28.599
emerging out of the movimiento
of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.

00:44:29.100 --> 00:44:33.236
This included Los Lobos,
Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino

00:44:33.237 --> 00:44:37.341
along with talented singers
like Daniel Valdez, Agustin Lira,

00:44:37.875 --> 00:44:42.146
Delia Moreno,
Jesus \"Chuy\" Negrete, and Veto Ruiz.

00:44:43.681 --> 00:44:45.383
They sang about Aztlan

00:44:45.384 --> 00:44:47.083
and the ancestral rights that Chicanos had

00:44:47.084 --> 00:44:48.853
to this legendary homeland.

00:44:50.521 --> 00:44:53.223
Musical groups included
Flor del Pueblo,

00:44:53.224 --> 00:44:57.828
Conjunto Aztlan,
Los Perros del Pueblo and Los Peludos.

00:45:11.142 --> 00:45:13.076
You know things that
we went through kind of led up

00:45:13.077 --> 00:45:15.178
to this corrido right here
that we’re going to do for you

00:45:15.179 --> 00:45:16.479
called the Trilingual Corrido

00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:18.816
because it’s in English,
Spanish and barrio dialect.

00:46:05.563 --> 00:46:08.498
I began to realize
that we had no borders,

00:46:08.499 --> 00:46:12.869
that there were no borders to,
to wanting to appreciate and to play

00:46:12.870 --> 00:46:17.608
different types of music
and later on, as I began to develop,

00:46:17.842 --> 00:46:22.545
I realized that you could take
from both sides of the border,

00:46:22.546 --> 00:46:27.717
and combine them and come up
with a new style of music -

00:46:27.718 --> 00:46:29.887
bilingualism, biculturalism.

00:46:48.239 --> 00:46:53.576
Mexican, Spanish and Spanglish,
the whole song goes back and forth.

00:46:53.577 --> 00:46:56.846
Even though you speak Spanglish,
you understand what’s happening.

00:46:56.847 --> 00:47:02.019
And it was funny, it was
entertaining but it was very heavy.

00:47:17.635 --> 00:47:20.738
Somebody called us to go do a peña
in LA we didn’t have a name yet.

00:47:21.138 --> 00:47:22.706
They asked him the name of the group.

00:47:22.707 --> 00:47:25.642
We’re the \"Los Alacranes Mojados,”
being silly

00:47:25.643 --> 00:47:28.978
and they took it for real and they put
that on the chart over there

00:47:28.979 --> 00:47:32.316
in concert you know in La Peña
in LA in the Haymarket,

00:47:32.650 --> 00:47:34.852
“Los Alacranes Mojados.”
(The Wetback Scorpions)

00:47:35.052 --> 00:47:37.488
They asked Chunky, “Why the scorpion?

00:47:37.788 --> 00:47:41.292
You know why not a dog,
or a, I don’t know a cat, or...”

00:47:42.993 --> 00:47:47.831
and he said, “Well, at that time
like our music was kind of like relevant

00:47:47.832 --> 00:47:50.201
to what the scorpion does,

00:47:51.235 --> 00:47:55.139
where with his tail,
the scorpion injects his venom

00:47:55.573 --> 00:47:56.941
into its prey.

00:47:57.675 --> 00:48:00.411
And with our music,

00:48:00.845 --> 00:48:05.783
we inject consciousness
into the audience with the songs.”

00:48:06.083 --> 00:48:07.817
People would say
why do you use mojados?

00:48:07.818 --> 00:48:11.955
Because we took a negative word
that’s always used in our neighborhood,

00:48:11.956 --> 00:48:15.058
even by our own people, you know
like against our own people.

00:48:15.059 --> 00:48:18.061
You know the undocumented
worker you know, el mojado,

00:48:18.062 --> 00:48:19.797
you know the “illegal alien”

00:48:20.531 --> 00:48:23.833
We would joke about it.
We would joke about being a wetback,

00:48:23.834 --> 00:48:26.303
you know, and do this thing.

00:48:27.505 --> 00:48:29.272
I’m a wetback, you know?

00:48:29.273 --> 00:48:32.242
Because that\'s... that was
what we were thought of.

00:48:32.243 --> 00:48:34.410
We wanted to take that word mojado

00:48:34.411 --> 00:48:37.748
…to give it a positive connotation
and to give it some pride.

00:48:48.425 --> 00:48:50.744
In San Diego there really

00:48:50.745 --> 00:48:53.062
wasn’t a group like Los Alacranes Mojados…

00:48:53.063 --> 00:48:57.734
because at that time, many groups
didn’t create music, Chicano music.

00:48:57.735 --> 00:49:01.004
Music you can dance to,
you can sing to, you can drink to,

00:49:01.005 --> 00:49:05.074
but it had a lot of profound meaning
behind the melodies and the words

00:49:05.075 --> 00:49:07.978
because it talked about
our reality as Chicanos.

00:49:18.989 --> 00:49:21.491
Chicanos created their own space,

00:49:21.492 --> 00:49:22.692
our own identity.

00:49:22.693 --> 00:49:26.129
And the third space,
as it’s referred to,

00:49:26.130 --> 00:49:28.632
is primarily because
we didn’t fit anywhere.

00:49:28.833 --> 00:49:30.518
You know you don’t quite fit

00:49:30.519 --> 00:49:32.202
in Mexico, you don’t quite fit over here.

00:49:32.203 --> 00:49:35.773
We go to Mexico,
we’re pochos or gringos.

00:49:36.006 --> 00:49:39.610
In the United States, we can be here
ten generations, we’re still Mexicans,

00:49:39.844 --> 00:49:41.711
you know,
go back from where you came from.

00:49:41.712 --> 00:49:45.615
So we said OK what do we do now?
We create our own space.

00:49:45.616 --> 00:49:48.619
So that’s where Chunky fits,
you know.

00:49:52.456 --> 00:49:55.860
Chicanos were experiencing
discrimination on many fronts.

00:49:56.927 --> 00:50:00.331
Besides being denied basic
human rights in the United States,

00:50:00.631 --> 00:50:03.834
some Mexicans saw us
as traitors to their country.

00:50:04.835 --> 00:50:08.638
We found ourselves caught
in the middle between two societies

00:50:08.639 --> 00:50:10.774
that simultaneously rejected us.

00:50:11.609 --> 00:50:14.611
Because some of us no longer
spoke fluent Spanish,

00:50:14.612 --> 00:50:17.781
some Mexicans saw us
as “not Mexican enough.”

00:50:18.983 --> 00:50:20.717
They called us “pochos”.

00:50:20.718 --> 00:50:22.186
♪ “Pocho” ♪

00:50:22.987 --> 00:50:26.991
♪ I knew I was Mexican
I looked Mexican ♪

00:50:27.858 --> 00:50:30.527
♪ But why did I have trouble
speaking Spanish? ♪

00:50:32.696 --> 00:50:34.064
♪ “Pocho” ♪

00:50:35.432 --> 00:50:38.736
♪ All the confusion aroused
the curiosity in me ♪

00:50:39.270 --> 00:50:42.339
♪ I began to question
the implications of the word ♪

00:50:43.274 --> 00:50:44.708
♪ “Pocho” ♪

00:50:45.376 --> 00:50:47.511
♪ Does the label really fit me? ♪

00:50:48.312 --> 00:50:49.979
♪ Maybe it does ♪

00:50:49.980 --> 00:50:53.217
♪ And if it does, is it my fault? ♪

00:50:53.584 --> 00:50:58.254
Pochismo, the culture
of pochismo was very prevalent in you.

00:50:58.255 --> 00:51:01.824
I remember my mother correcting
me many times, “Don\'t talk like that,”

00:51:01.825 --> 00:51:03.760
You’re talking like a gang member.

00:51:03.761 --> 00:51:05.996
When I would say the word
“ese, orale” or something.

00:51:06.730 --> 00:51:09.032
You were always being
corrected about the way speak,

00:51:09.033 --> 00:51:11.100
you weren’t speaking properly,
you weren’t speaking right.

00:51:11.101 --> 00:51:13.941
What the hell, but what is the right
language man, you know what I mean?

00:51:14.104 --> 00:51:15.472
♪ “Pocho” ♪

00:51:16.273 --> 00:51:18.041
♪ I began to realize ♪

00:51:18.042 --> 00:51:21.879
♪ That I had absorbed the strengths
of two cultures and lifestyles ♪

00:51:22.680 --> 00:51:24.982
♪ Was that good or bad? ♪

00:51:25.616 --> 00:51:26.984
♪ “Pocho” ♪

00:51:27.551 --> 00:51:28.986
♪ Good, ¿qué no? ♪

00:51:29.787 --> 00:51:32.690
♪ I have an innovative way
of expressing myself ♪

00:51:33.023 --> 00:51:35.292
♪ That relates to both sides
of the border ♪

00:51:36.627 --> 00:51:37.994
♪ “Pocho” ♪

00:51:37.995 --> 00:51:39.562
♪ What’ll it be today? ♪

00:51:39.563 --> 00:51:41.297
♪ Tacos or hamburgers? ♪

00:51:41.298 --> 00:51:43.534
♪ Pedro Infante or the Rolling Stones? ♪

00:51:45.102 --> 00:51:47.570
I got tears in my eyes
the first time that I heard that,

00:51:47.571 --> 00:51:50.741
it was tough. I didn’t speak
English until I started school

00:51:51.141 --> 00:51:53.609
and I didn’t realize that
anybody else understood

00:51:53.610 --> 00:51:56.245
what I went through as much
as, obviously, Chunky did

00:51:56.246 --> 00:52:00.483
and a whole shit load of us did.
But that song brings it out.

00:52:00.484 --> 00:52:04.020
And in our third space, right here
in the middle, we are Chicanos,

00:52:04.021 --> 00:52:07.457
and here’s a place where we’re safe,
where we know who we are,

00:52:07.458 --> 00:52:10.193
we know where we come from,
we know where we want to go,

00:52:10.194 --> 00:52:13.563
and it doesn’t matter what
the other two spaces think of us

00:52:13.564 --> 00:52:15.965
because this is our place,
this is our land.

00:52:15.966 --> 00:52:17.401
♪ You know what? ♪

00:52:18.068 --> 00:52:21.772
♪ I am a pocho. A proud pocho ♪

00:52:22.172 --> 00:52:25.908
♪ Proud because
I have survived cultural denials ♪

00:52:25.909 --> 00:52:28.679
♪ And attacks on my soul ♪

00:52:30.180 --> 00:52:31.748
♪ “Pocho” ♪

00:52:31.749 --> 00:52:35.918
♪ Si mon que yes,
soy Ramón Sanchez ♪

00:52:35.919 --> 00:52:38.121
♪ But better known as Chunky ♪

00:52:38.122 --> 00:52:41.190
♪ A little bit of that
and a little bit of this ♪

00:52:41.191 --> 00:52:44.561
♪ That’s who I am
one bad ass pocho ♪

00:52:44.928 --> 00:52:47.798
♪ Quítate before I get mad, ese ♪

00:53:32.276 --> 00:53:34.944
Chunky told me, you know,
we’re going to record an album.

00:53:34.945 --> 00:53:37.580
We wanted to see if you would play
violin on a couple of tracks.

00:53:37.581 --> 00:53:39.415
And I said sure,
that’d be awesome, you know.

00:53:39.416 --> 00:53:44.587
We did our first album as a group here
in San Diego called Rolas de Aztlan.

00:53:44.588 --> 00:53:47.256
We were thinking about what are we
going to put in the front cover.

00:53:47.257 --> 00:53:49.926
We didn’t want to be just
standing there, you know,

00:53:49.927 --> 00:53:52.296
holding our guitars,
you know, looking pretty.

00:53:52.529 --> 00:53:54.764
So what we said you know
what would be a good picture,

00:53:54.765 --> 00:53:57.767
is Los Alacranes Mojados,
is jumping a fence, right.

00:53:57.768 --> 00:53:59.487
So we start thinking, so where’s

00:53:59.488 --> 00:54:01.204
a good fence around the neighborhood here,

00:54:01.205 --> 00:54:03.540
and we thought you know what,
that’s not right

00:54:03.907 --> 00:54:07.376
because we’d be lying
to the people, if we just jumped over

00:54:07.377 --> 00:54:10.880
a fence right here in the neighborhood,
if we’re going to jump a fence

00:54:10.881 --> 00:54:12.549
let’s jump the real fence.

00:54:16.520 --> 00:54:19.255
So here we go the next day
with our instruments and stuff

00:54:19.256 --> 00:54:21.057
and we found the fence
and we saw an area

00:54:21.058 --> 00:54:22.893
that didn’t have
a whole lot of barb wires.

00:54:24.128 --> 00:54:26.462
It’s on that road
that goes right by the border.

00:54:26.463 --> 00:54:29.866
So people are driving by, they’re slowing
down, like what are these locos doing?

00:54:29.867 --> 00:54:32.935
They’re crossing the border
into Mexico this way?

00:54:32.936 --> 00:54:34.103
That’s crazy.

00:54:34.104 --> 00:54:36.272
Back then I could still
climb a fence, man,

00:54:36.273 --> 00:54:40.343
so here I go up the fence
I’m on top and I throw one leg over

00:54:40.344 --> 00:54:43.446
and I’m holding myself up
and then my arms start getting tired

00:54:43.447 --> 00:54:46.315
and I start going down the fence
against the little jagged thing.

00:54:46.316 --> 00:54:49.519
So I asked them they gave me a towel
then they handed me one instrument

00:54:49.520 --> 00:54:52.021
and the other two posed
on the bottom like we were handing them

00:54:52.022 --> 00:54:54.090
the instruments as we were coming over.

00:54:54.091 --> 00:54:56.025
And so before we know it,

00:54:56.026 --> 00:54:59.363
there’s a bunch of people
on the Mexican side, watching us.

00:54:59.796 --> 00:55:01.631
Right in the middle of doing all this

00:55:01.632 --> 00:55:04.333
we see the immigration
helicopter, the migra coming.

00:55:04.334 --> 00:55:08.437
There’s a jeep hauling ass
right towards us too, immigration.

00:55:08.438 --> 00:55:11.440
A Patrol Officer jumps out
in his green uniform

00:55:11.441 --> 00:55:14.143
with a radio in his hand, and he says,

00:55:14.144 --> 00:55:15.312
“Chunky, is that you?”

00:55:17.447 --> 00:55:19.582
It was a friend of mine
from Blythe, California

00:55:19.583 --> 00:55:21.918
that I went to school
with named Romero Garcia.

00:55:21.919 --> 00:55:25.188
So before we know it, the immigration
guy’s there drinking beers with us,

00:55:25.189 --> 00:55:28.792
and the people in Mexico are sitting
there applauding, and we’re singing,

00:55:29.193 --> 00:55:32.161
and then when we’re done
we look at our ice chest

00:55:32.162 --> 00:55:33.963
and all our beers are gone.

00:55:33.964 --> 00:55:37.166
So, it was, quite a, like I said,
a once in a lifetime experience,

00:55:37.167 --> 00:55:40.571
to be there for the Alacránes
first international concert.

00:55:42.139 --> 00:55:44.674
We started getting a lot of gigs
in the universities,

00:55:44.675 --> 00:55:47.410
the colleges, the junior colleges,

00:55:47.411 --> 00:55:49.345
you know a lot of MECHAs.

00:55:49.346 --> 00:55:51.881
And we stayed pretty busy.
We stayed real busy.

00:55:51.882 --> 00:55:56.185
So it was exciting.
It was a really fun time,

00:55:56.186 --> 00:56:01.557
it was a time where we got to see
things that we may have never seen

00:56:01.558 --> 00:56:05.228
if we just lived in our own areas.

00:56:05.229 --> 00:56:07.129
We experienced different people.

00:56:07.130 --> 00:56:10.800
We experienced what it means to be
Chicano in Denver, versus El Paso,

00:56:10.801 --> 00:56:14.671
versus Phoenix, versus San Diego,
versus Central Valley.

00:56:14.938 --> 00:56:17.373
So it was an eye opener,

00:56:17.374 --> 00:56:20.777
it was an eye opener in terms
of who we are as Chicanos.

00:56:38.328 --> 00:56:40.196
On the national stage,

00:56:40.197 --> 00:56:43.833
the civil rights movements of African
Americans, women, and Chicanos

00:56:43.834 --> 00:56:47.571
led to many victories for these
historically excluded communities.

00:56:48.071 --> 00:56:52.309
Many Americans celebrated these
achievements but not everyone did.

00:56:53.076 --> 00:56:56.345
After Ronald Reagan was elected
President in 1980,

00:56:56.346 --> 00:57:00.016
he and his supporters passed
legislation which scaled back

00:57:00.017 --> 00:57:04.120
federal civil rights protections,
weakened the social safety net

00:57:04.121 --> 00:57:07.591
and redistributed wealth
from the bottom to the top.

00:57:09.559 --> 00:57:11.927
As Chicanos and other
communities of color

00:57:11.928 --> 00:57:13.897
experienced ongoing discrimination,

00:57:14.264 --> 00:57:17.601
Chunky looked for ways to continue
getting his message across.

00:57:17.801 --> 00:57:20.036
We had people that were
against Huelga songs, you know.

00:57:20.037 --> 00:57:22.906
They didn’t want to hear anything
that had to do with Cesar Chavez.

00:57:28.111 --> 00:57:32.214
Some of the schools didn’t want us
to do anything to do with Chavez.

00:57:32.215 --> 00:57:36.119
So we said,
“Okay we won’t do El Picket Sign,

00:57:36.787 --> 00:57:38.455
but we’ll do De Colores.”

00:57:59.943 --> 00:58:02.578
De Colores speaks of many colors,
many colors put together

00:58:02.579 --> 00:58:04.046
to make one beautiful thing,

00:58:04.047 --> 00:58:05.881
like a sarape, you know,

00:58:05.882 --> 00:58:09.386
and the Union was comprised
of many different people, you know,

00:58:09.953 --> 00:58:14.290
Arab farm workers, Filipino farm
workers, Mexican farm workers,

00:58:14.291 --> 00:58:15.758
Anglo farm workers.

00:58:15.759 --> 00:58:18.095
So that was like the sarape
that we were talking about.

00:58:19.196 --> 00:58:22.365
You don\'t feel locked in
or left out of Chunky\'s music.

00:58:22.366 --> 00:58:23.766
You feel included.

00:58:23.767 --> 00:58:26.102
There’s something about
his style of songwriting,

00:58:26.103 --> 00:58:27.803
his style of music-making

00:58:27.804 --> 00:58:30.240
that opens up all the possibilities.

00:58:30.907 --> 00:58:34.944
I think the inclusiveness
that\'s part of Chunky\'s music

00:58:34.945 --> 00:58:38.882
has manifested itself
within the ensemble,

00:58:39.249 --> 00:58:42.485
right, Don Knapp being
the best example.

00:58:42.486 --> 00:58:47.156
When I actually asked if I could join
the group, and we started playing,

00:58:47.157 --> 00:58:49.393
I knew that that\'s
where I wanted to be.

00:59:04.374 --> 00:59:07.076
And Chunky will say
Don Knapp may not be Mexican,

00:59:07.077 --> 00:59:09.780
but he\'s as much Chicano
as anybody he knows,

00:59:11.014 --> 00:59:15.484
understanding the struggles
of the community,

00:59:15.485 --> 00:59:18.355
empathizing with them,
being one with them.

00:59:48.919 --> 00:59:51.320
I knew nothing
but Mexican music my whole life.

00:59:51.321 --> 00:59:53.657
Although I\'m Anglo by blood,

00:59:54.958 --> 00:59:59.929
I was raised as a Mexican
from the age of four years old.

00:59:59.930 --> 01:00:04.134
So everything I did,
I breathe and I spoke,

01:00:05.836 --> 01:00:10.507
everything I did was from my heart
and was from a Mexican background.

01:00:11.007 --> 01:00:15.579
He’s Anglo you know,
from… looking at him.

01:00:16.346 --> 01:00:19.915
But his heart and his soul
and his inspiration,

01:00:19.916 --> 01:00:23.219
the guy carried the Chicanismo
with him all the way,

01:00:23.220 --> 01:00:24.888
especially in music.

01:00:25.255 --> 01:00:27.423
People would listen to the music

01:00:27.424 --> 01:00:30.426
and they could see
this big tall white guy,

01:00:30.427 --> 01:00:32.228
and he\'d say,
\"Okay, Guero, sing a song.”

01:00:32.229 --> 01:00:33.797
And I would sing a song in Spanish.\"

01:00:48.211 --> 01:00:49.612
It was awesome.

01:00:49.613 --> 01:00:53.215
Not only did we play music that
people maybe wanted to hear

01:00:53.216 --> 01:00:58.387
but the message was,
“It was okay to be white.

01:00:58.388 --> 01:01:01.657
It was okay to be Mexican.
It\'s okay to play the music together.”

01:01:01.658 --> 01:01:03.360
Chunky played the crowd.

01:01:03.727 --> 01:01:05.794
It was kind of one
of the things we did.

01:01:05.795 --> 01:01:07.497
We were breaking down those barriers.

01:01:44.200 --> 01:01:46.802
Well, we began to experience
a whole bunch of things, man.

01:01:46.803 --> 01:01:50.040
Number one was that a lot
of people were not really ready to,

01:01:50.874 --> 01:01:53.976
to listen to a whole lot
of protest music man.

01:01:53.977 --> 01:01:58.113
So we began to realize that we had
to have a balance somewhere in there

01:01:58.114 --> 01:02:00.516
if we didn’t want to lose
our crowds and our audiences,

01:02:00.517 --> 01:02:02.685
because people didn’t want
to come to hear you lecture,

01:02:02.686 --> 01:02:04.019
they wanted to hear some music.

01:02:04.020 --> 01:02:06.722
So we had to make them laugh
in between the songs

01:02:06.723 --> 01:02:08.791
because we found that
when people are laughing

01:02:08.792 --> 01:02:10.492
they will swallow things a lot better.

01:02:10.493 --> 01:02:13.095
To a lot of us, in the history
books in this country, Pancho Villa

01:02:13.096 --> 01:02:15.431
is just another fat Mexican
with a mustache.

01:02:15.432 --> 01:02:18.101
Man, there’s a whole bunch
of those, ¿verdad? ¿Qué no?

01:02:18.969 --> 01:02:20.569
They always stereotype
us as looking that way.

01:02:20.570 --> 01:02:22.205
But we know that
we’re not that way, man.

01:02:24.240 --> 01:02:26.442
But one of the greatest generals
in the history of Mexico’s armies,

01:02:26.443 --> 01:02:29.746
Don Francisco “Pancho” Villa and
we dedicate this corrido on his behalf.

01:03:14.090 --> 01:03:16.893
We began to learn to master

01:03:18.328 --> 01:03:22.332
capturing the attention spell
of the audiences, you know.

01:03:24.501 --> 01:03:27.569
It was a learning experience
in many ways with Los Alacranes.

01:03:27.570 --> 01:03:31.373
That was one, music was another,
learning constantly, learning songs,

01:03:31.374 --> 01:03:34.410
learning songs, writing songs,
we began to write songs

01:03:34.411 --> 01:03:36.779
about things that were
happening around us.

01:03:36.780 --> 01:03:38.982
“Chicano Park”, you know,

01:03:39.916 --> 01:03:42.752
“El Corrido del Fil,
“El Trilingual Corrido”,

01:03:43.953 --> 01:03:47.956
even got silly at times, you know,
put love in a different perspective

01:03:47.957 --> 01:03:49.459
with “Chorizo Sandwich”.

01:03:57.767 --> 01:04:00.770
♪ You cheated, you lied ♪

01:04:01.304 --> 01:04:04.307
♪ You said that you loved me ♪

01:04:04.841 --> 01:04:07.744
♪ You cheated, you lied ♪

01:04:08.278 --> 01:04:11.214
♪ You said that you need me ♪

01:04:12.048 --> 01:04:14.616
♪ Oooh ♪

01:04:14.617 --> 01:04:17.921
♪ What can I do ♪

01:04:26.196 --> 01:04:27.964
I remember the night

01:04:28.331 --> 01:04:31.334
I remember the night when I told you
I was hungry for you love, Chata.

01:04:33.169 --> 01:04:35.204
Yes I was hungry for your love, man,

01:04:35.205 --> 01:04:38.308
but what did you do,
what did you do?

01:04:38.541 --> 01:04:40.343
You went in to the kitchen

01:04:41.177 --> 01:04:44.681
you went in to the kitchen and you
fixed me a chorizo sandwich, man.

01:04:46.015 --> 01:04:51.855
♪ Chorizo, chorizo, chorizo… ♪

01:04:52.021 --> 01:04:53.790
♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh ♪

01:04:54.257 --> 01:04:58.561
♪ Chorizo, chorizo, chorizo… ♪

01:04:59.229 --> 01:05:03.365
We began to understand
performing tactics and techniques

01:05:03.366 --> 01:05:07.370
of how to get across to an audience
and how not to lose an audience.

01:05:07.904 --> 01:05:13.076
♪ Chorizo, chorizo, chorizo… ♪

01:05:13.376 --> 01:05:15.377
♪ Chorizo… ♪

01:05:15.378 --> 01:05:20.850
♪ I’m not a thousand huevos away ♪

01:05:25.021 --> 01:05:29.626
I remember one moment
we were performing somewhere,

01:05:30.460 --> 01:05:32.345
it was around Christmas time,

01:05:32.346 --> 01:05:34.230
my son was maybe four or five months old

01:05:34.531 --> 01:05:37.766
and we were performing
and everybody was outside,

01:05:37.767 --> 01:05:39.903
they were a Caucasian community.

01:05:40.236 --> 01:05:42.237
And so we said, well,
they’re paying for us to play,

01:05:42.238 --> 01:05:43.672
let’s go outside and play for them.

01:05:43.673 --> 01:05:45.273
So we went outside and they all went in.

01:05:45.642 --> 01:05:47.776
So then we said well let’s go in,
and then they all went outside

01:05:47.777 --> 01:05:49.077
and finally the lady comes up and says,

01:05:49.078 --> 01:05:52.549
“You guys stand over there
and don’t move.”

01:05:52.849 --> 01:05:57.920
And it was like really obvious
that we were just background music.

01:05:57.921 --> 01:06:03.560
I believe that Chunky,
in choosing this path for his life,

01:06:03.927 --> 01:06:07.897
I\'m sure that there was sacrifice
and has been sacrifice for him.

01:06:08.598 --> 01:06:12.901
Because it\'s not a career

01:06:12.902 --> 01:06:15.405
that provides...

01:06:17.874 --> 01:06:19.174
Provides well.

01:06:19.175 --> 01:06:23.779
Besides many of the values
of Cesar Chavez that Chunky possesses,

01:06:23.780 --> 01:06:28.585
I think the one is sacrifice
that really personifies Chunky.

01:06:29.285 --> 01:06:31.521
He could\'ve gone on
and done something else.

01:06:32.121 --> 01:06:34.724
Sometimes I wonder, you know,

01:06:36.259 --> 01:06:37.626
why I didn’t do something else.

01:06:37.627 --> 01:06:41.998
Where I could be right now pretty
well off, real rich, you know,

01:06:42.799 --> 01:06:44.801
basking in the sun somewhere.

01:06:46.469 --> 01:06:49.372
I’m not dirt poor.

01:06:51.374 --> 01:06:54.310
I could be better off financially,

01:06:57.213 --> 01:07:00.049
but something just kept me going
in the things that I was doing,

01:07:00.516 --> 01:07:03.253
in the cultural work that I was doing,

01:07:03.586 --> 01:07:05.988
that later on I realized, you know what,

01:07:05.989 --> 01:07:08.790
because there were times
when I doubted myself.

01:07:08.791 --> 01:07:11.461
What am I doing wrong?
Am I doing the wrong thing?

01:07:20.270 --> 01:07:23.805
Chunky was still wondering
if he had made the right choice

01:07:23.806 --> 01:07:26.809
in committing to a life
of service to his community.

01:07:36.986 --> 01:07:39.655
Like many artists inspired
by the Chicano movement,

01:07:39.656 --> 01:07:41.657
Chunky struggled to find a balance

01:07:41.658 --> 01:07:44.861
between his professional career
and his personal life.

01:07:47.196 --> 01:07:50.499
He married Isabel Enrique
and within 10 years,

01:07:50.500 --> 01:07:52.669
the family had grown to six children.

01:07:53.536 --> 01:07:56.138
As Chunky struggled
to provide for his family,

01:07:56.139 --> 01:07:57.807
he took a variety of jobs.

01:08:03.579 --> 01:08:06.915
Assisting every year with the annual
celebration of Chicano Park

01:08:06.916 --> 01:08:09.017
as a member of the Steering Committee,

01:08:09.018 --> 01:08:11.454
being a community liaison
with the schools,

01:08:12.555 --> 01:08:14.424
working on gang prevention,

01:08:14.624 --> 01:08:17.060
teaching music
and coaching little league.

01:08:18.161 --> 01:08:20.829
He scored music
for several documentary films

01:08:20.830 --> 01:08:22.899
including The Lemon Grove Incident.

01:08:25.101 --> 01:08:29.071
His band continued to perform
at rallys, fundraisers, quinceañeras,

01:08:29.072 --> 01:08:30.640
weddings, and prisons.

01:08:30.940 --> 01:08:35.044
Through it all he used art
to build community.

01:08:35.511 --> 01:08:38.448
Many local schools invited
Chunky to come and perform.

01:08:39.382 --> 01:08:43.051
There he saw young people struggling
with many of the same issues

01:08:43.052 --> 01:08:47.557
of identity and racism which he had
confronted a generation earlier.

01:08:51.294 --> 01:08:53.830
And, you know,
all of this is based on one thing, man.

01:08:54.197 --> 01:08:56.265
Orgullo. Pride.

01:08:57.200 --> 01:09:00.737
What everybody here in this room
has right here, man. Pride. Orgullo.

01:09:01.738 --> 01:09:04.172
A lot of times you\'re down
and out, you\'re on the streets,

01:09:04.173 --> 01:09:05.507
you got no money,
your girlfriend left you,

01:09:05.508 --> 01:09:06.976
your boyfriend left you, whatever,

01:09:07.477 --> 01:09:11.380
you know – all bummed out, you want
to cry, you know, feel sorry for yourself.

01:09:11.381 --> 01:09:12.715
You know.

01:09:13.750 --> 01:09:15.851
\"Chale\". But you know what?

01:09:15.852 --> 01:09:17.886
Something keeps you hanging on, man.

01:09:17.887 --> 01:09:20.456
Something pulls you through it.
And what\'s that?

01:09:21.124 --> 01:09:24.159
Pride, ¿qué no? Orgullo. Orgullo.

01:09:24.160 --> 01:09:26.495
They asked me to go do
a presentation at Hoover High

01:09:26.496 --> 01:09:30.232
and I figured I’m gonna talk
to these Mexican American kids.

01:09:30.233 --> 01:09:31.867
I just don’t want to walk in there

01:09:31.868 --> 01:09:34.403
and start singing a whole bunch
of ranchera songs,

01:09:34.404 --> 01:09:36.438
borracho songs,
just like another mariachi.

01:09:36.439 --> 01:09:38.707
What can I go in there
and talk to them about

01:09:38.708 --> 01:09:42.110
and perform to them that will
motivate them to find themselves.

01:09:42.111 --> 01:09:44.180
He was just this, this presence

01:09:44.181 --> 01:09:46.249
of energy, right, that just was amazing.

01:09:47.250 --> 01:09:49.451
And you know he would come
with his guitar,

01:09:49.452 --> 01:09:52.554
and you know as soon as he walked in,
everybody was going you know wild.

01:09:52.555 --> 01:09:54.923
I remember hearing them and thinking wow.

01:09:54.924 --> 01:09:57.292
Wow, this is great… great music,

01:09:57.293 --> 01:10:01.497
because part of the, again,
academic experience was learning…

01:10:02.298 --> 01:10:06.501
learning some, you know,
literature around history of…

01:10:06.502 --> 01:10:08.770
of oppressed peoples in the U.S.

01:10:08.771 --> 01:10:12.340
If you want to learn history,
learn the real history,

01:10:12.341 --> 01:10:15.410
not the history that was
fabricated about something

01:10:15.411 --> 01:10:17.313
because of political reasons.

01:10:17.613 --> 01:10:21.650
And that’s why I got the idea to do
that little chronological history,

01:10:21.651 --> 01:10:25.822
all the way from the pre-Hispanic era
to the present.

01:11:10.366 --> 01:11:15.003
That was the magic, the moment
that I saw him and the group

01:11:15.004 --> 01:11:17.507
as a 17-year-old young woman.

01:11:17.807 --> 01:11:19.474
I think one of the earliest influences

01:11:19.475 --> 01:11:21.743
and one of the greatest
because it was so early on,

01:11:21.744 --> 01:11:25.313
was how he imparted
that example to me

01:11:25.314 --> 01:11:27.983
as a student watching him
perform, and impart this,

01:11:27.984 --> 01:11:32.522
this history, and this culture,
and this pride,

01:11:32.722 --> 01:11:36.458
and feeling that, you know, our people
did something, that we do matter.

01:11:36.459 --> 01:11:40.195
It’s party music.
It’s festive music, celebratory.

01:11:40.196 --> 01:11:43.031
But it’s also consciousness
raising music.

01:11:43.032 --> 01:11:47.770
And so I think it really
stuck with me for, forever.

01:11:54.443 --> 01:11:56.712
The scourge of history

01:11:57.380 --> 01:11:59.148
are on my face

01:12:00.683 --> 01:12:03.019
and in the veins of my body that aches

01:12:10.493 --> 01:12:12.862
I do not ask for freedom.

01:12:14.230 --> 01:12:16.232
We are freedom!

01:12:19.669 --> 01:12:21.469
In 2006,

01:12:21.470 --> 01:12:26.409
Chunky participated in the biggest public
demonstration in San Diego history.

01:12:26.842 --> 01:12:31.180
As the Latino community became the largest
ethnic minority group in the country,

01:12:31.480 --> 01:12:34.884
shrill voices fanned the flames
of bigotry and discrimination.

01:12:35.518 --> 01:12:37.537
We saw a growing chorus of anti-immigrant

01:12:37.538 --> 01:12:39.554
rhetoric across the nation,

01:12:39.555 --> 01:12:42.959
afraid of the increasingly
diverse country we had become.

01:12:43.960 --> 01:12:47.395
Chunky joined over 2 million people
around the United States

01:12:47.396 --> 01:12:50.265
protesting a bill in Congress
which would make felons

01:12:50.266 --> 01:12:52.435
out of all undocumented immigrants.

01:12:52.969 --> 01:12:54.869
Some people can say, you know, that

01:12:54.870 --> 01:12:58.807
“Some of this music that has
social justice lyrics,

01:12:58.808 --> 01:13:00.709
and social justice meaning.

01:13:00.710 --> 01:13:03.778
It’s so passé.
It\'s so ‘60s, it’s so ‘70s.”

01:13:03.779 --> 01:13:07.016
I would say that\'s kind
of a cynical attitude.

01:13:07.483 --> 01:13:11.687
A lot of these social justice songs
are just as meaningful today

01:13:11.887 --> 01:13:15.056
as they were, 20, 30 years ago.

01:13:15.057 --> 01:13:17.226
It\'s never going to go out of style.

01:13:17.994 --> 01:13:21.896
Unfortunately,
injustice will always be around,

01:13:21.897 --> 01:13:24.567
and it will always be in style
in different ways.

01:13:25.534 --> 01:13:29.137
The reason I call myself a “Chunkista”
is because I want to be

01:13:29.138 --> 01:13:32.574
an artist like Chunky that stays active

01:13:32.575 --> 01:13:35.310
and in the movement over
the course of their lifetimes.

01:13:35.311 --> 01:13:38.346
When you bring the people
out to the streets, like today,

01:13:38.347 --> 01:13:43.718
people get a visual idea of how
many people are really upset

01:13:43.719 --> 01:13:45.620
with what\'s going on.
And that\'s great.

01:13:45.621 --> 01:13:48.924
If we could mobilize people
like this all the time,

01:13:49.892 --> 01:13:51.627
we could change the world.

01:13:53.229 --> 01:13:56.365
He’s still doing what he did back then.

01:13:56.632 --> 01:14:00.502
Many individuals have forgotten that.

01:14:00.503 --> 01:14:03.171
Many people don\'t want
to look back, right.

01:14:03.172 --> 01:14:06.675
I think Chunky looks back
with great pride,

01:14:06.676 --> 01:14:08.811
knowing what he\'s been
able to do with himself.

01:14:09.545 --> 01:14:11.781
♪ The picket sign, the picket sign ♪

01:14:12.181 --> 01:14:14.150
♪ I carry it all day with me ♪

01:14:21.424 --> 01:14:23.992
Chunky still plays
these inspirational songs

01:14:23.993 --> 01:14:25.794
from the civil rights movement

01:14:25.795 --> 01:14:29.198
but he finds a way to make them
relevant to current struggles.

01:14:30.066 --> 01:14:32.268
Many young Latinos no longer use

01:14:32.269 --> 01:14:34.469
the term “Chicano” to identify themselves.

01:14:34.470 --> 01:14:37.472
And they know very little about
the Chicano civil rights movement.

01:14:37.473 --> 01:14:39.174
Strike! Strike!

01:14:39.175 --> 01:14:44.180
But Chunky’s music still speaks
to the hearts and souls of so many.

01:14:46.749 --> 01:14:48.550
It may be hard to see at times

01:14:48.551 --> 01:14:51.419
but those earlier movements
achieved many victories,

01:14:51.420 --> 01:14:55.590
using art and imagination to create
community in the battle for justice.

01:14:55.591 --> 01:14:59.327
♪ Strike! Strike! ♪

01:14:59.328 --> 01:15:01.864
♪ Strike! Strike! ♪

01:15:12.475 --> 01:15:14.909
Chunky is much more than a musician.

01:15:14.910 --> 01:15:18.947
So music, I... I think, to him,
was always a tool that he used,

01:15:18.948 --> 01:15:21.884
that he knew strengthened
the people around him.

01:15:37.333 --> 01:15:38.666
He’s the real deal.

01:15:38.667 --> 01:15:43.004
And it’s obvious that he
really is compassionate about

01:15:43.005 --> 01:15:45.440
whatever he’s singing about.

01:15:45.441 --> 01:15:49.644
While he’s singing it, he’s acting it,
and you’re feeling it so you believe it.

01:15:49.645 --> 01:15:53.983
♪ Strike! Strike! ♪

01:15:55.251 --> 01:15:57.051
♪ I carry it all day with me ♪

01:15:57.052 --> 01:15:59.755
♪ The picket sign, the picket sign ♪

01:16:00.089 --> 01:16:03.325
♪ With me throughout my life ♪

01:16:09.498 --> 01:16:12.834
He’s always had three, four,
five balls up in the air,

01:16:12.835 --> 01:16:15.336
and he\'s been tossing ‘em around
and he’s been juggling them.

01:16:15.337 --> 01:16:20.108
That, in and of itself,
takes a toll on people\'s body.

01:16:20.109 --> 01:16:22.377
I haven’t figured out
to what extent but I do think

01:16:22.378 --> 01:16:24.580
there is a certain amount
of denial in his health.

01:16:26.782 --> 01:16:31.019
Because of his sense of social justice
I think he has a tendency to say

01:16:31.020 --> 01:16:33.087
“Hey, it doesn\'t matter.

01:16:33.088 --> 01:16:36.691
This is important enough for me
to make a personal sacrifice

01:16:36.692 --> 01:16:41.764
with my body regardless of how tired
I am or if my voice is going.

01:16:42.031 --> 01:16:45.066
I\'ll go where I can do the most good.”

01:16:45.067 --> 01:16:48.403
Basically when the band started,
when Los Lobos started, we…

01:16:48.404 --> 01:16:50.972
we decided to put
all our electric instruments away

01:16:50.973 --> 01:16:53.708
and concentrate on learning
how to play Mexican folk music.

01:16:53.709 --> 01:16:57.912
And we thought wow, we’re the first
Chicanos to do this you know.

01:16:57.913 --> 01:17:00.448
And then, all along we didn’t realize
that there was a band

01:17:00.449 --> 01:17:02.183
in San Diego doing the same thing.

01:17:02.184 --> 01:17:04.453
♪ Guantanamera ♪

01:17:05.287 --> 01:17:08.123
♪ Guajira Guantanamera ♪

01:17:09.658 --> 01:17:11.994
♪ Guantanamera ♪

01:17:12.695 --> 01:17:15.764
♪ Guajira Guantanamera ♪

01:17:17.266 --> 01:17:21.936
We came down to San Diego
and we met this…

01:17:21.937 --> 01:17:24.339
these wild and crazy guys
that were kind of doing something

01:17:24.340 --> 01:17:26.041
that was kinda close
to what we were doing.

01:17:51.967 --> 01:17:54.068
You know I was watching him
when he was singing today

01:17:54.069 --> 01:17:55.603
and there was that look in his eyes.

01:17:55.604 --> 01:17:58.339
You know when he’s singing it,
he’s believing every word he’s saying.

01:17:58.340 --> 01:18:00.309
You know he’s just incredible.

01:18:12.321 --> 01:18:14.355
The community really loves him,

01:18:14.356 --> 01:18:15.836
and they really cherish what he does.

01:18:17.059 --> 01:18:20.496
You know, I’m proud of the guy.

01:18:20.863 --> 01:18:21.896
I’m proud of him.

01:18:21.897 --> 01:18:23.364
I mean we don’t have
that kind of a connection

01:18:23.365 --> 01:18:24.733
with our community like he does.

01:18:25.601 --> 01:18:27.036
That’s really special.

01:18:35.911 --> 01:18:37.979
In the fall of 2013,

01:18:37.980 --> 01:18:39.948
Chunky was invited to be recognized

01:18:39.949 --> 01:18:42.484
at the Library of Congress
in Washington DC.

01:18:43.552 --> 01:18:45.853
Every year the National
Endowment for the Arts

01:18:45.854 --> 01:18:48.656
honors our nation’s folk
and traditional artists

01:18:48.657 --> 01:18:52.361
for their efforts to conserve America’s
culture for future generations.

01:18:53.395 --> 01:18:55.697
When he first received the invitation,

01:18:55.698 --> 01:18:57.833
it didn’t look like
he would be able to travel.

01:18:58.567 --> 01:19:01.503
But at the last moment,
his doctors gave him the okay to come.

01:19:04.740 --> 01:19:07.076
Chunky had never been
to our nation’s capital.

01:19:07.343 --> 01:19:11.379
Previous honorees include B.B.King,
Flaco Jimenez, Doc Watson,

01:19:11.380 --> 01:19:13.549
Lydia Mendoza, and Bill Monroe.

01:19:14.750 --> 01:19:17.685
So from San Diego, California,

01:19:17.686 --> 01:19:21.789
an artist committed to both
community and conscience,

01:19:21.790 --> 01:19:26.561
a teacher who mentors local youth
and educates students

01:19:26.562 --> 01:19:31.133
through a rich mix of storytelling,
humor and song.

01:19:31.700 --> 01:19:35.370
For his contributions
to the excellence of Chicano music

01:19:35.371 --> 01:19:38.973
and culture,
the National Endowment for the Arts

01:19:38.974 --> 01:19:41.777
honors Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez.

01:19:55.457 --> 01:19:58.360
I want to thank
my wife who\'s here, Isabel.

01:19:58.927 --> 01:20:04.299
I have two sons that are here,
Mauricio and Ramon,

01:20:04.733 --> 01:20:07.268
two daughters, Izcalli, Esmi,

01:20:07.269 --> 01:20:09.672
and my grandson Trey, right there.

01:20:17.513 --> 01:20:20.481
A lot of people didn’t understand,
what is Chicano?

01:20:20.482 --> 01:20:25.386
Well to me, Chicano is not necessarily
someone that was born in a certain place

01:20:25.387 --> 01:20:30.059
but rather a state of mind and
a state of heart and understanding.

01:20:40.769 --> 01:20:43.439
Will you be alright
if I put the guitar in Chunky’s hands?

01:20:52.014 --> 01:20:53.282
Here we go.

01:20:54.983 --> 01:20:56.085
Ready?

01:20:56.485 --> 01:20:57.653
Vamos.

01:20:59.154 --> 01:21:01.622
♪ Well it’s time to shine the light ♪

01:21:01.623 --> 01:21:04.693
♪ On the young souls of the Earth ♪

01:21:04.960 --> 01:21:07.863
♪ Let it shine and illuminate ♪

01:21:08.063 --> 01:21:10.699
♪ The beauty of their worth ♪

01:21:11.033 --> 01:21:13.802
♪ Well it’s time to shine the light ♪

01:21:14.103 --> 01:21:17.138
♪ On the young souls of the Earth ♪

01:21:17.139 --> 01:21:19.908
♪ Let it shine and illuminate ♪

01:21:20.509 --> 01:21:23.144
♪ The beauty of their worth ♪

01:21:23.145 --> 01:21:25.714
♪ We got to educate, yeah ♪

01:21:26.315 --> 01:21:28.117
♪ Not incarcerate ♪

01:21:30.385 --> 01:21:34.990
♪ So the humanity will shine ♪

01:21:35.791 --> 01:21:37.359
♪ Educate ♪

01:21:38.427 --> 01:21:40.596
♪ Not incarcerate ♪

01:21:41.897 --> 01:21:43.766
This was my mission.

01:21:45.434 --> 01:21:47.602
If God put me on earth to do something,

01:21:47.603 --> 01:21:50.205
this is what he put me here to do,

01:21:50.639 --> 01:21:55.010
and I have no other obligation
but to fulfill this mission,

01:21:55.377 --> 01:21:56.979
to the end of my time.

01:21:58.280 --> 01:22:00.047
My mission was not to work in Hollywood.

01:22:00.048 --> 01:22:03.718
My mission was to work
in the barrios, in the fields,

01:22:03.719 --> 01:22:06.088
in the prisons, in the schools.

01:22:06.688 --> 01:22:10.092
Anywhere there was people that needed
to hear something inspirational,

01:22:11.426 --> 01:22:13.662
that’s where my mission was,
and still is.

01:22:14.329 --> 01:22:16.431
And that’s the way I look at it.

01:22:16.732 --> 01:22:19.401
It’s been a mission,
continues to be a mission,

01:22:19.802 --> 01:22:25.374
and I’m still on duty as you say…
still on duty.

01:22:27.042 --> 01:22:29.978
♪ Let it shine and illuminate ♪

01:22:30.379 --> 01:22:32.980
♪ The beauty of their worth ♪

01:22:32.981 --> 01:22:35.484
♪ Well it’s time to shine the light ♪

01:22:35.918 --> 01:22:38.620
♪ On the young souls of the Earth ♪

01:22:38.921 --> 01:22:40.188
♪ Let it shine... ♪

01:22:40.189 --> 01:22:43.325
We lost Chunky
on October 28, 2016.

01:22:43.926 --> 01:22:47.963
He is survived by his wife and five
children and 16 grandchildren. 

01:22:48.997 --> 01:22:52.834
Hundreds of friends and family
attended his services in San Diego,

01:22:52.835 --> 01:22:56.371
celebrating his life and work
through three days of ceremonies.

01:22:57.472 --> 01:22:59.842
Chunky was a master storyteller

01:23:00.042 --> 01:23:03.878
whose battle for dignity and justice
is more relevant than ever.

01:23:03.879 --> 01:23:06.247
♪ No need to kill another ♪

01:23:06.248 --> 01:23:08.984
♪ Over a neighborhood ♪

01:23:09.685 --> 01:23:12.220
♪ Vamos mis amigos ♪

01:23:12.221 --> 01:23:14.956
♪ Let’s try some brotherhood ♪

01:23:14.957 --> 01:23:18.260
♪ No need to kill another ♪

01:23:18.660 --> 01:23:20.929
♪ Over a neighborhood ♪

01:23:21.163 --> 01:23:26.168
♪ We got to educate, not incarcerate ♪

01:23:28.237 --> 01:23:33.242
♪ So the humanity will shine ♪

01:23:34.076 --> 01:23:38.080
♪ Educate, not incarcerate ♪

01:23:40.616 --> 01:23:45.354
♪ So the humanity will shine ♪

01:23:45.587 --> 01:23:48.789
♪ Nothing really glamorous ♪

01:23:48.790 --> 01:23:51.360
♪ About living in a cell ♪

01:23:52.361 --> 01:23:54.962
♪ Sometimes you got to wonder ♪

01:23:54.963 --> 01:23:57.832
♪ If you\'re really not in Hell ♪

01:23:57.833 --> 01:24:02.771
♪ We got to educate, not incarcerate ♪

01:24:04.873 --> 01:24:09.678
♪ So the humanity will shine ♪

01:24:09.945 --> 01:24:15.017
♪ We got to educate, not incarcerate ♪

01:24:16.952 --> 01:24:21.790
♪ So the humanity will shine ♪

01:24:22.591 --> 01:24:24.593
♪ The will to want to learn ♪

01:24:25.327 --> 01:24:27.696
♪ In all our hearts we hold ♪

01:24:28.297 --> 01:24:31.332
♪ Like brother Cesar Chavez ♪

01:24:31.333 --> 01:24:34.036
♪ And Dr. King have told ♪

01:24:34.403 --> 01:24:39.207
♪ We got to educate, not incarcerate ♪

01:24:41.276 --> 01:24:45.614
♪ So the humanity ♪

01:24:46.081 --> 01:24:51.186
♪ Will shine ♪