This boy's fight Behind the exican boxing tradition

latinoNe Hook up, tune in, venture out

Time for a

ew deal

I'm with the banda: Quebradita takes the state by storm

El Vez. the Mexican

Elvis

• .-·Mexican mariachi • • •

"It became clear that this technology would never trickle down to our

community unless we were proactive."

new servtces. they would fmd extra

charges on their bills for services that

they didn't want. As a result . most of

the people who were vtctlmtzed by the

practtce were limited-English speakers,

who were unable to figure out they

were betng overcharged or pressured.

The CPUC issued a "cease and

destst" order. forcing Pactftc Bell to

make amends in the form of a contribu­

tion to the CPUC's Telecommunications

ucation Fund. Pacific Bell was able to

he $16.5 million it was

unable to return to stomers, it con­

tributed to TEF. About 150 progcams like

LatmoNet. destgned to help mmor' Y..

communities launch themselves into

telecommunications, have benefited

from the fund.

ow. LatinoNet, and other

N orgamzattons such as

LatinoWeb. developed by

FormAvision Multimedia,

are taking an activist role

in connecting Latinos to cyberspace.

Accordmg to Dr. Arthur Franz. an

electromc broadcasting expert at San

Francisco State University, these con­

nections are vital to the Lanno commu­

nity's economic stake. "If you look at

the amount of news sources.· says

Franz. "there aren't many Latino stories.

This is their way of getting thetr ideas.

feelings and perceptions out into the

marketplace of ideas. and the mass

media is not doing that adequately right

now.·

Farhan Haq of the global informa­

tion service Inter Press. votced a similar

concern. "The lack of particularly black

and Latino involvement in the informa-

inequalities in the computer era. includ­

ing limited minority access to comput­

ers and modems and the immense cost

of starting on-line services." says Haq.

He says LatinoNet could be one

answer to "electronic redlinmg." a form

of systematic dtscrimmation aga inst

non-English-speaking, non-computer­

literate Citizens m which thetr commu­

nttles are deliberately by-passed by

communications conglomoratlons.

Tobin Barrow. founder of

Minneapolis-based ROI . is also con­

cerned about Lannos workmg to head­

off potential dtscnminatory practices.

"Worries like these lead me to urge that

people of color adopt a more aggresstve

role to ensure that we are not left fur­

ther behind as the nation gears up to

compete In the integrated global econo­

my." says Barrozo. "To improve our

place in the world emerging we must

improve our education and training. To

improve our education we have to do

better than walt for someone else's

reforms. And the information super­

highway has everything to do with bet­

ter learning for people whom the pre­

sent institutions serve badly."

Gina Hernandez. LatinoNet's vice

about the future of electronic communi­

calion for Latinos. "LaunoNet offers

community empowerment through

technology.· says Hernandez. "Young

people. especially, need to learn

telecommuntcatlons. • While many of the Mtsston's rest ­

dents are outside enjoymg a sunny day.

she's sitttng is her office m the Bay View

Federal Building m the Mtsston Dtstrict.

j ust down the street from Tony Lugos at

Arnba juntos. Last November. the non-profit

LatlnoNet started selling membershtps

through Amenca OnLme. an Internet

servtce provtder. The organization aver­

ages anywhere from 2 to 12 new mem­

bershtps ($8o per) each day. By the end

of 1995. LannoNet plans to expand Bay

Area headquarters to serve 10 maJor

urban centers where the vast majority

of Amenca's 23 million Latinos hve.

To reach them. LannoNet has

established relauonshtps wtth many

Latino non-profit groups to build and

nurture specific forums. Some key part­

ners, hke Arnba juntos, provtde

LaunoNet with forums for employment

bulletin boards. while some provide cul ­

tural bulleun boards and some speCial ­

ize m educauon. Other groups are workmg toward

stmilar goals. Concerned that much

wider access to computer networks for

all Amencans ts essential tf Amenca ts

to avoid becommg a polarized soctety of

information haves and have-nots, a

coalition of groups, including the Center

for Medta Education, the Consumer

Federauon of America and the NAACP.

commissioned a study whtch appears to

show that . as Inter Press Service's

Fahran Haq feared. the nation's tele-

tion industry reflects a variety of president of operations. is passionate phon~ companies are engaging in a continued on page 10

neighborhood Immigration) to the practical (Learning Spanish, Culinary Arts), to groups with specific interests (Fire Service Hispanics, Gay and Lesbian Latinos) to a discussion of the theoretical/wishful thinking (If We Ruled?).

The Hispanic Board is buried under several menus, so it's somewhat hard to find. To get there, start at the Main Menu, go to Clubs and Interests, then Hobbies and Interests, through The Exchange, into the

pte, members discuss the mean· ing of machismo, in Hispanic Politics, the impact of California's Proposition 187 on immigrant

Along with all the opportunities to connect with like minds,

groups, and in Latin Music, a passion for salsa music. To accommo·

there's a lot of crap out there.

Communities Center box and you're there. The path is compli· cated, but it's worth it to dis· cover what other Latinos and friendly non-Latinos are talking about on America Online. To save time and money, the files can be downloaded onto your disk.

An interesting area to check in AOL is the topic US/Latino Literature. Contributors have started trading lists of their top five Latino writers. An informal survey of these lists finds that Latinos are reading Sandra Cisneros, Gary Soto, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura Esquivel and Isabel Allende.

The post­ings that peo­ple leave in these bulletin boards can range from the superficial to the serious. In Latina Femin ­ists, for exam- ~

date a growing number of Latino visitors to cyberspace, America Online has also begun arranging "forums" conducted completely in Spanish. The first, which was conducted in February, was a live discussion of boxing sponsored by NBC which America Online later reported was one of the "best attended" live forums held to date.

One thing though: with free­dom comes responsibility. Along with all the opportunities to con­nect with like minds, there's a lot of crap out there.

"The EgoWeb" on the World Wide Web (Netscape is a nice

way to explore WWW) is a home page built by some guy named Felipe Campos at the University of Texas at Austin. "Ain't I beauti­ful?" he asks us. Simply put, the answer is a big fat NO.

Against a background of Glamour Shots-style photos of himself, Campos has built a home page that lists Latin American centers like the UCLA LatinoNet and the La Casita Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures at the University of Florida. There are also links to Latino-related Usenet news­groups and on -line publications. For a quick laugh, click on his resume. He's quite a guy. Mr. Campos' WWW page is at http ://ed b 518ea.ed b. utexas.ed u/f elipe.html.

If you can get past the vulgar display of self-love, you can use Mr. Campos' page as a jumping off point to find other Latino/Hispanic-oriented sites on the World Wide Web. On the other hand, you might like to correspond with him. Meanwhile, have a look at some of the graf­fiti offerings we've pulled from the Internet. They come from a site called "Art Crimes: The Writing on the Wall" in LatinoWeb at http://www.gate­ch.edu/graf/index/lndex.Art_Crime s.html. Enjoy!~

These grafittl art Images came from an Internet site called " Art Crimes: the Writing on the Wall. " The group's lofty goal is to preserve the Images before the owners of the buildings they're tagged on get to them. They want the world to know that " grafitti is not a crime."

front era tnt

jose Perez. a handsome 11 year old with short­

cropped hair and a fearless face, shuts his brown eyes and

lifts h1s chin. He's standmg on a wooden platform next to

the corner of a boxmg ring with red ropes and faded red

white and blue bunting all around the edge of the mat. His

father slathers vaseline on his 75-pound son's eyebrows.

cheekbones and nose to keep fists from opening cuts.

Then. he places a rubber mouthpiece in jose's open

mouth. jose clenches down and steps mto the nng.

In the opposite corner. listening to his coach. Alex

Pacm1 dances lightly on h1s feet . stretches out his neck and

turns toward jose.

The electronic chime sounds

and the green light on the ware­

house wall lights up. The boys walk

calmly to the center of the ring.

touch gloves and put up their

hands.

"Don't be lazy wnh that

Jab!" yells jose's father.

Both boys cock their right

hands back against the1r cheeks and

start to move around each other.

peering out beneath thick, padded

headgear. They throw quick Jabs.

femung. ducking and dodging.

Fmally. havmg SIZed each other up,

they move in and unleash a barrage

of punches.

Alex, a tall 13-year-old. seems

startled at first at the speed and

skill of his younger. smaller oppo­

nent. Halfway into the first round,

dodgmg a jab, he walks mto jose's right hand. It catches

h1m on the mouth. full of b1g teeth and braces. and he

staggers back. jose moves in and forces Alex against the

ropes.

"Don't let him out!" jose··s father screams.

By the second round. Alex 's height and weight advan­

tage begin to take a toll. More and more of his punches

land on jose's face.

Dunng the th1rd and fmal round, the1r arms grow

heavy and the1r hands fall more often, leaving the1r faces

exposed. jose's blood begins to appear on his shirt.

The electronic chime and red light bring an end to the

fight. The boys touch gloves and turn toward their cor­

ners. This is after-school boxing practice and there are no

wmners or losers - no knockouts or scoring.

In the multi-ethnic, blue collar Fruitvale district of

East Oakland, King's Boxmg Gym thrives. It produces

some of Californ1a's most promising young boxers and has

prov1ded no-nonsense training to world famous pros:

George Foreman. Roberto Duran and julio Cesar Chavez.

Located m a warehouse at a dead end among auto body

workshops between the N1mm Freeway and the Union

Pacific Railroad tracks. the gym 1S owned by former pnze

fighter Charles King. 65. He trains all comers to the gym

himself. wrapping hands, demonstrating footwork and

coaching.

F ighters of all races and ages pound the heavy

bags and sweat on King's wooden floors. But

after school the gym f1lls up not wnh men but

wnh boys - Mex1can-Amencan boys shadow

boxmg. Jumping rope and sparnng m King's lone

boxing ring. Some meet their fathers at the gym, who come

to watch or to train the1r sons. They tram together

beneath two flags that adorn Kmg's

warehouse walls - one American and

one Mexican. Here. they fulfill the1r ath­

letic potent1al and the hentage of a

proud Mex1can boxmg traditiOn.

·A lot of Mexicans take pride in the

dominance they have in boxing." said

Alex Perez. a boxer at the gym and an

Oakland police off1cer on ass1gnment to

Fru1tvale as a lia1son to the Launo com­

munity. Perez. 28, grew up boxing m San

Franc1sco's Mission D1stnct. "My mother

always sa1d. 'ensenale como somas

Mex1canos.'" he sa1d . meanmg "show

them what kmd of people we Mex1cans

are.·

"You've got M1chael jordan, joe

Montana and jerry R1ce." said Perez.

"but we have julio Cesar Chavez."

In boxing, Mexican athletes have had success. if not

dominance, particularly m the lighter weight classes.

ProfessiOnal boxers hold a status m Mex1co not often seen

in the sport-saturated United States. According to King's

Boxing Gym lore. before Ernesto Zedillo could accept the

Mex1can presidential nommauon of the Part1do

Revoluuonano lnsmuuonal , he first asked for the blessmg

of julio Cesar Chavez.

In November of 1993. when Chavez was training for a

fight agamst Pernell Whnaker at the Oakland Coliseum. he

trained at King's. Marsha Marun. Kmg's office manager.

said 400 people gathered on the one-block stnp of 35th

Avenue between the train tracks and the freeway to

glimpse the Mexican star.

"Most athletes, if you ask them why they compete,

they say for money or fame.· said Off1cer Perez. "Mexicans

say they fight for Mexico."

The Fruitvale district 1s the center of Oakland's

Mex1can-American community. Mexican-Amencans first

came to the area along East 14th Street to work in the can­

neries in the industrial strip along the tram tracks that end

front era 9 1) 9

front era t 16 t

kids on me or something to test me." Remarkably, sepa­

rated by mere sheets of particle board from the adrenaline

flowing below, the boys work as if they were ensconced m

a study carrell in a umverslty library. jose said he got two

A's on his last report card.

jose's bout with his friend Alex comes at the end of

a very long day that begms at 7 a.m. for the f1fth grader at

Warw1ck School in Fremont. After school at J:OO p.m., his

mother picks him up and brings him home to begin train ­

Ing with a four mile run . After his run. he gets 45 minutes

to rest before ndmg BART to Fruitvale and walking the

three blocks to King's. When he arrives at the gym, he

sequesters himself with Alex in a loft above the gym to do

h1s homework before he can start traming. He won't leave

the gym unuln closes at 8 p.m.

Down below, jose Perez Sr. trams other boys while he

wai ts for his son. "They g1ve h1m a lot of homework for a

k1d who's only in the fifth grade." sa1d Perez. "Usually a

boxer wants to run m the mornmg, but w1th school. we

don 't have that luxury.·

jose senior is a street paver for East Bay Municipal

Utilities District. He gets off work at oo and drives over

an hour to get to the gym to meet his son. "I try not to live

through him. · said the semor Perez, an amateur fighter

himself as a youth. "If jose told me tomorrow that he

wants to quit. I would have no regrets."

\

Something tells me that qummg 1s not really an

option for little jose.

jose senior's prized possessions are video tapes of

h1s son's fights. "They're my treasures,· he said . "I keep all

of jose's fights." Today, jose's father wore a button on his

shirt with a photograph of h1s son m boxing trunks and red

gloves. Proudly

pomting out little

jose's stomach, h1s

skm pulled tight over

Part of what the fathers 1mpart at King's is what it

means to be a Mexican man. "Boxmg, more than any other

sport, manifests machismo. which carries high appeal in

Mexican culture." Edwards said. "The role of machismo

and proving one's manhood is important in proving the

phys1cal capability to defend oneself."

I tis discipline and hard work that makes jose one of

the most feared 75-pound boxers in the country. This May

fifth and sixth, jose will defend the Northern California

Silver Gloves Championship he won last year. Under the

watchful eye of his beammg father, jose recites his goals

with scripted precision: an Olympic gold medal in 2000

and turning pro as a boxer by age 19.

This kind of devotion to the sport is the rule

rather than the exception among the youth box-~

ers at King's. One argument for ded1cat1on IS ~

practical : it 's just not safe to step into the ring

unprepared. The other argument IS a King's Gym

mantra sung by coaches and fathers alike: If 11 weren't for

box mg. these k1ds would have nothmg to getmto but trou­

ble.

"The greatest depnvation IS that there is nothing

organ1zed to do,· Edwards said. "Nobody is buildmg bowl­

mg alleys, nautilus gyms. parks or swimming pools in

Fruirvale. •

Gerardo Chavez, who p1cks up h1s son Eduardo from

school after he leaves h1s JOb as an upholsterer, has h1s

own explanation for the populanty of boxmg.

Standing over his son, sharply punctuating his

instructions with Spamsh epithets, Chavez says, "It must

be the Mexican blood . ." 'tic

• -a 0 0 __,_

.Q

c ns u ·-~ :e cv .c .....

..... en ::::s E

California's young immigrants are shaking up the state with a rowdy dance called

In his Greek-lettered sweatshirt , Redsox baseball

cap. khaki shortS and basketball shoes, Maurilio Leon

looks like any other college student on UC Berkeley's

campus. Watchmg him lug h1s laptop from class to

class. it 's hard to 1magme the clean-cut 19 year old

bent over a lenuce f1eld . bnngmg m the harvest.

But that's JUSt what Leon does one or rwo week­

ends a month when he dnves home to Fresno to help

h1s father with the only work the Mex1co-native has

ever known. And though he doesn't trade h1s khakis

and sweatshirt for the tight jeans, cowboy boots and

the "Tejano" hats popular among quebradita dancers.

Maurilio can often be found on the dance floor mov­

ing to the frenetic beat of banda music as well.

"When I go back home, I love to go dancing que­

bradita." he tells me. sining behind the desk of the

Raza Recruitment office where he volunteers. "Every

weekend there 's a wedding or a Oumceariera (Sweet

Fifteen party). That 's how I got exposed to it."

A polite, soft-spoken young man who spent last

By Yvette C. Doss summer as an Intern for Senator Edward Kennedy in

Massachusetts, Leon is one of the hordes of young

people throughout California who have taken up the

rowdy, sexually-tinged two-step dance that has

swept the state and 1s now on Its way across the

Southwest, as well as south to Mex1co. where adher­

ents cons1der 1t an Amencan trend.

Borrowmg the h1gh-powered snare drum and

trumpet-dnven banda mus1c of the1r parents' home­

land, as well as their flashy cowboy duds, young

Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Amencans from

Southern California have carved a distinctive niche

for themselves in the Amencan consc1ousness by

creating a dance that by most accounts is a native

Californian creation. The craze IS so popular. m fact ,

that the Los Angeles all -banda, Spanish-language

KLAX-FM radio stat1on has hit number one m

California for six consecutive seasons. drawing two

million listeners every day.

As I make my way down the dark industrial

fronrera t 17 t

frontera ~ !8 ~

streets toward the parking lot of the Eastmont Mall.

I hear the words or the woman who gave me direc­

tions: "Hold onto your purse," she warned. The

streets or the East Oakland neighborhood are empty

except for a few wandering derelicts. the disenfran­

chised . those who for one reason or another are still

on the streets at 10:oo on a Saturday night with

nowhere to go. But the lot itself is brimming with

jimmies. Fords and Chevy trucks.

The

Some, who look like their tastes run to hip hop.

rap and alternative music as well . dispense with the

cowboy look altogether: They wear baggy jeans and

baseball caps or mini-kilts and nose rings.

When the first of four bands. Banda Archangel

R-15, plays the first note, all 2000 bodies come alive

under the hypnotic caress or horns and drums. Young

men's eyes follow as the girls move the1r h1ps to the

beat. After a few slower-paced warm-up songs.

the fast-paced banda beat takes over. and cou­

ples make their way from the packed center to

the outer edges where there 's more room. There.

they begin dancing the quebradita.

shiny lowriders and the hustle

and bustle or a party in progress.

A police substation occupies one

end or the lot: at the other end

stands a building that once

housed a Mervyn's- now redone to accommo­

date the concert put on by El Nuevo Club Latino.

Once inside, it's

jerky The stiff-hipped dance. which

involves a couple kickmg,

swaying. and bending together

to the brassy musical

easy to forget the dark e l t• streets. Theclubowner m an I p u a IOns est1mates there are

beat at a frenz1ed pace.

often demands sugges­

tive acrobatics. On the

2ooo people at the dance floor, the

dance. all packed in under the left-over are considered music is loud and fluorescent lights that once illuminated the beat is all that

sportswear dis- matters. But watchmg the young dancers

plays. racks or shoes ' ' b ~e a k.l n g'' from the fringes. something else begins to and cosmetics coun- I 1 crystallize. The quebradita is a way for

ters. Twelve-year- many of the young dancers to keep in

old girls mill about w1th their older sisters.

decked out in their first shade or lipstick,

their tightest jeans and their new imitation­the llrl. touch w1th the1r roots. while at the

same time participating in some­

thing fresh and new. This dance is

leather cowboy boots. The older girls have let the1r

ha1r loose from the1r ponytails. They nip long cas­

cades of brown waves and curls out or their eyes as

they walk by groups or gawking boys as nonchalant­

ly as possible. Most wear one version or another or

the quebradita cowboy look. Those who have jobs

wear the real thing: $200 Tony Lamas and ornate

hand-stitched leather belts. or cinros piteados.

Imported from Mexico, which cost as much as the

boots. and more.

Tight is the word. Tight Levis. tight skirts.

tight tiny T-shirts. or tight shirts tied mid­

torso in a whimsical nod at the Hee-Haw

look. Stetsons in black. beige, gray. and

white sit atop most of the men's and some

or the women's heads in as many different shapes as

it 's possible to twist the brims. Long strips of leather

hang from key fobs attached to most of the side-walk

vaqueros' belt loops. Inscribed on the leather is the

name or their home state or town in Mexico: jalisco.

Nayarit, Chihuahua. Durango.

to many or these young immigrants. whose parents

grew up listenmg to manach1 tunes and corridos and

dancing to a much more conservative version of the

two-step. what rock 'n' roll was to young Americans

in the 'sos. Imagine the looks on the faces or subur­

ban mothers across the country when they first wit­

nessed Elvis the Pelvis ' gyrations on television.

"That 's the devil's music." they must've said to their

husbands. "Eso es cosa del diablo." these kids par­

ents must be saying to themselves.

As admiring posses of young vaqueros three-,

four- and five-men strong watch. a couple twirls its

way across a clearing. The young man, a slight gn­

mace on his face. concentrates on manipulating his

partner. a tallish young woman with long hair to her

waist, as he interlocks legs with her, then flips her

about a foot above his shoulder, then down between

his legs. The suggestion is clearly sexual , and moves

like that are the source of the name quebradita,

which means "little breaks." The jerky manipulations

are considered "breaking" the girl --in the way that

one would break in a horse -- both in a physical and

metaphoric sense. But it's a socially-acceptable way

for a man to assert dominance over his partner, since

it's all in the name of good fun. And the women don 't

seem to mind the macho implications. either. When

asked to dance. most hardly hesitate before taking

the young man 's arm and heading out to a clearing.

"These are hard-working people.· Club Latino

owner William Rodriguez tells me. "They work 40

hours. save up. buy themselves nice clothes. nice

boots. and they all just want to have a good time.

They can afford the belt. the 'Tejana' hat. the jeans.

and they want to go somewhere to show them off.

Latinos need a nice place to go.

"This is what we are.· he says after a pause. ges­

turing with a wave of his arm toward the dancing

crowd. "We're joyful people who just want to have

fun."

A real estate agent by day, Rodriguez started El

Club Latino two years ago to accommodate what he

saw as an unfilled need in the area. The club's last

home, a more traditional nightclub establishment a

few miles away. wasn't large enough to accommo­

date the crowds who wanted to see the best banda

groups. which he imports at considerable cost. That's

how he ended up re-opening El Nuevo Club Latino in

an empty department store. If he can fix the place up

to feel more comfortable, he says, he might consider

staying at this new site permanently. "It ' ll be like our

own private convention center." he says.

Rodriguez attributes the popularity of the que­

bradita in the last three years to its onginaliry. "Even

though it borrows from traditional cowboy culture,

its predominant characteristics are completely origi­

nal ." he says. "It 's not ranchero, i t 's not rock'n'roll ,

it 's not cumbia. but a combination of all of those

things. and more.·

Aquick look around reveals dancers of all

ages enjoying the music. That's a good

thing for Rodriguez since it will ensure

plenty or new dancers to fill his clubs as

the current crop ages. but it 's also the

source of one of his problems. Something about the

Latino culture that Americans just don 't understand.

he says, is that Latinos like to have all generations

represented at parties and concerts. As a result , he

has had to work hard to convince police in the area

that serving beer at a show doesn't mean young chil ­

dren can't attend. In this case. it also means the "21

and over" section is a corner of the huge room that is

cordoned-off and guarded by burly security guards.

There, beer is served up from behind counters or

what was once Mervyn's customer service center.

"I'm trying to give dances a better name." he

says. "Families come. and it's good clean fun .

Dancing is healthy, like exercise, and it provides spir-

frontera ' 199

frontera t 20 t

"Dance can play a political role, itual cleansing. We make people dance, get tired,

then go home and collapse. Everything they've been

through during the week, they just forget. ·

P epe Villalobos. a 24-year-old mechanic in

fancy snakeskin boots who moved here

from jalisco eight years ago, says he

attends banda concerts because they give

him a sense of belonging he doesn't

feel in his dealings with society as

a whole.

"I feel

comfortable

because these

are my people,"

Villalobos tells

me in speedy

Spanish. "I would

like it if we could all

be more united. all

of us Mexicans."

But that isn 't the

only reason he likes

dancing Ia quebradita.

When pressed, Villabos

admits with a grin. "Well

obviously I like it because

the dance is in style now,

but also because of the women."

Amanda Peria knows all

too well why the young men

come. That's why she and her

husband, Alfredo. accompany

their two daughters whenever

they go dancing. Tonight. their 17

and 15 year olds - both of whom

were born in the U.S. - are out on

the dance floor while mom and dad

watch. I ask Peria if she thinks some of

the moves are a bit risque and she

shrugs the shrug of someone who has

been down this path before. Like the

newly-converted. she defends the dance

from one of the most obvious criticisms.

"I figure that if they like it. and I can be

here to keep an eye on them, well , I figure it's

all right." she says. Besides. following the tra­

ditions she grew up with in El Salvador, Peria

says, her daughters go out

par'ladas, always chaperoned.

Alfredo Peria, Amanda's stocky, mustachioed

construction-worker husband, Is a little less enthusi­

astic about the quebradita. ·or course I think some of

the dancers go too far." he tells me. "But that's why

we're here."

As harmless opiates for the masses, music and

dance can't be rivaled. But they offer more than just

exercise and a chance to forget a long work­

week. j ennifer johnson, who teaches dance

history at UC Berkeley, sees dance as a

multi-task endeavor, one that can take a

wide variety of roles in any given society

depending upon that particular group's

needs.

"Dance can play a political role, in the

form of a manifesto," johnson

explains. "It can play the role of reli­

gious expression. People talk about

hip hop as a way to channel aggres­

sive energy through dance, that it

keeps kids from fighting. And it is

also a way of establishing a

pecking order.

"Dance can be an expression

of your cultural identity, and

ethnic identity. In Israel. for

example, an Israeli folk

dance is an expression of a

national identity. Early

2oth century immigrants

to Palestine really had

no truly indigenous

jewish folk culture

that they could all

relate to, since they

were coming from

different parts of

the world . so they

essentially built

a culture and

developed it.

They brought

to

create folk

im. and

they

would

dance

in the form of a manifesto.',

at the end of the day. They made these dances up.

These were immigrants who were trying to find com­

mon ground and common values.·

"In essence they just created folk culture for

themselves and that helped create a national identi­

ty,· Johnson says.

That's what these quebradita dancers are doing

for themselves. By mixing familiar elements with a

sassy new attitude and

boldly suggestive

moves, they've man­

aged to carve out a

niche for themselves.

No longer are these

young men and

women merely Mexi­

can. or Salvadoran -

now that they 're in

America you can call

them quebradas and

quebradas. They're

clear about one thing,

though: whether Califor- .. _.

nians want them here or

not. they 're staying. And they plan to contribute as

much to America culturally as they take from it.

B ack in the Raza Recruitment office,

Maurilio Leon talks about his experiences

as a young immigrant in California. "It was

hard because we didn 't speak the lan­

guage." Leon says. His father. who had

been a subsistence farmer in Guanajuato, Mexico,

brought Leon and the rest of the family to Redding,

California when Leon was 3 years old. They later

moved. with the harvest. to just outside of Fresno. "I

went through an ESL (English as a Second Language)

program. I remember they would put me in a little

separate room with three other Mexicans to learn

English."

Like many young immigrants, he soon became

the translator for the entire family. "I never had time

to watch cartoons. I couldn't do sports because I had

to go to harvest. My dad took me to work my first day

when I was 10. I was exhausted and had a headache.

I fell asleep on the way home. By the time I was 11 , I

was working full time on the weekends .... I would

come home black from the dirt, shower, then fall

asleep."

"My dad wanted me to appreciate what I had,"

he explains. "I hated going to work because I never

got to do what other kids did. I never even knew

what the Brady Bunch was. But my dad used to tell

me. 'There's no other alternative to field work if you

don't get an education.'"

Eventually, Leon says he learned to love work­

ing in the fields, because it was a way of growing

closer to the community. These days, though he

could surely find better-paying

work. he continues to pick produce

In the fields to retain that

closeness. "For me. working in

the fields Is a reminder that I'm

them, just different because I'm

getting an education. But that's

who I am. And it provides me

with a will to succeed because

It keeps me from taking things

for granted." he says.

His love of dancing the quebra-

dita is an extension of that desire to stay close to his

roots. In a lot of ways, that makes him typical of a

new breed of Latinos.

Instead of striving to lose all traces of ethnicity

in order to blend into the mainstream, more and

more Immigrants are finding that the most comfort­

able place for them to dwell is In a hybrid culture

that encompasses elements of both their original and

American culture. The resulting duality translates

into eclectic tastes and a broader world view. And

that 's a world view many American-born Latinos are

beginning to buy into, which explains why Chicanos

can be found almost as often doing the quebradita

along with their Mexican-born counterparts. ~

front era 9 219

When I was a kid, my Mexican rel ­

atives called me a "pocha." It was really

more of an endearment than an insult.

but you couldn't tell that to me. The

word "pocho" describes a person who

speaks Spanish with un acento Ame­

ricana. and has a

habit of substitut­

ing English for

Spanish words.

In their third album, "Puro Parry." north

meets south. urban meets rural.

"I grew up in San Antonio, on the

border. with all of the frontera innu­

ences. • says Dr. Loco. "One year I was

listening to Flaco jimenez, and anoth­

er year to Fats Domino, Louie Prima,

Stan Getz, Miles Davis. Another year it

was james Brown and the funk coming

out of Georgia, or the mambos of

Perez Prago. Our repetoire in many

ways renects my musical experience:

Everything passes through the bor­

der.·

The way I see it, everyone has a

private soundtrack that serves

as a backdrop for life's memo­

rable moments. For me, that

soundtrack includes the songs

By Yvette C. Doss My being a

pocha meant

that were on the radio the first

time I kissed a boy, when I first realized

that the world was big and I could do

anything I wanted to in it, and when I

first understood that things don 't

always come as easily as all that.

allowance; I chose angst-ridden British

bands like Echo and the Bunnymen. the

Smiths and the Cure. These days, I lis­

ten to just about anything, but it wasn't

until recently that I began to feed my

suppressed cravings for some of those

other songs that are a part my sound­

track.

front era t22t

that when I

wanted to say I was embarrassed in

Spanish. I used the false cognate

embarazada Instead. and ended up say­

ing I was pregnant. Nowadays, every­

thing's up for grabs. There's Black

Power, White Power, Red Power and,

with Dr. Loco and the Rockin'

jalapenos, Pocho Power. Through the

liberal use of the English-Spanish com­

bination known as "Spanglish" and a

seemless blending of different rhythms

and tempos, their music is just what

half-breeds like me need: a little affir­

mation of our bi-cultural quirks.

In his vato shades. long braided

goatee and modern-day zootsuit, front

man Dr. Loco. A.K.A. SF Stare professor

jose Cuellar, epitomizes the hybrid

breed. Playing the sax and singing

songs in whichever language is most

appropriate ro the mood. Dr. Loco is

both a social commentator and a musi­

cal alchemist. One moment he's a syn­

copating swingster, the next a bebop

crooner. Throw anything their way,

practically, and the Rockin ' jalapenos

will dice it, slice it and rearrange it:

jazz. funk. reggae. rhythm and blues. big

band, salsas. cumbias. classic rock.

Their song list at any given perfor­

mance includes hefty doses of Mexican

mariachi songs, or corridos • and con­

juntos. accordian and all - stuff I used

to think was very uncool as a kid. It was

bad enough this was music my mother

would get up and dance to, but my

Among other things, my sound­

track is full of the light pop rock that

was always playing in my mother's car

as I was growing up: '7os and '8os love

songs like Gloria Gaynor's "I Will

Survive" and Peaches and Herb 's

"Reunited,· or self-celebratory songs

like Billy joel's "This Is My Life." I

remember Neil Diamond was singmg

"Sule. Sule, Sulemo" when I decided my

mom had to be the prettiest woman in

the world.

Before pop songs in English, my

head was filled with the classic mariachi

ballads that fill Mexican households.

Vicente Fernandez was the king of that

genre, and I knew most of his songs by

heart by the time I turned 6. Once, my

mother took me with her to a concert of

his in L.A. and we ended up in the front

row. In the middle of one of his songs,

she hoisted me up onto the stage.

Vicente reached down and pulled a sil ­

ver ornament that hung from his pants

to give to me that day. For years after­

ward. I treasured it.

My mother stopped listening to

mariachi songs when I was just a kid

and though I've never asked her why. I

would guess she figured it was just time

to move on. Her transition to English

love songs from Spanish love songs was

a leap she made willingly, but I know

that in her head she must still be

At first it was only at a local taque­

ria that I would slip my quarters into

the juke box and revisit Vicente

Fernandez as I ate tacos a/ pastor. Then,

on an impulse. I bought one of his CDs.

Dr. Loco and the Rockin ' jalapenos rec­

ognize that most people have just such

a musical history. Whether you're a

metal head or a Dead head. there are

songs in your own private soundtrack

you might be a little embarrassed to

admit liking. Dr. Loco has taken the ele­

ment of shame out of that. I may get

misty-eyed whenever Modern English's

"I'll Stop the World and Melt With You."

comes on, but it 's nothing compared to

the feeling I get when I hear Freddy

Fender's "When the Last Teardrop

Falls." which my mother has always

loved. Today, Dr. Loco sings a Spanglish

version of the song that takes me way

back.

The title track on "Puro Party" is a

tribute to Bay Area funksters Santana,

Malo and Tower of Power. "Pancha 's

Mix" combmes a handful of Mexican

classics into a Tejano medley that's a

nod toward Little joe y La Familia. They

dedicate their remake of the Latin jazz

favorite "Serrano" to jazz greats Tiro

Puente, Mario Bauza and Pete

Escovedo. And "Esperanza, " an original

composition. was the product of a trip

to Cuba the band took with 200 other

Americans last year. Their collection is

sure to mean something to anyone who

grandmother liked it. too. Somehow, replaying those Vicente Fernandez grew up listening to some tunes from

though, coming out of the jalapenos' tunes more than any others. When I hit the old country, some tunes from the

instruments. the music from the old my teens. I began tailoring my sound- new. as well as anyone who has a taste

country has taken on a new spin for me. track with purchases from my meager for cross-cultural concoctions.~