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Always Running
In Always Running by Luis Rodriguez there are several very direct references to the Racism Whites showed against Mexicans in Los Angeles during the time he lived there.In chapter one it says:"Once my mother gathered up the children and we walked to Will Rogers Park. There were people everywhere. Mama looked around for a place we could rest. She spotted an empty spot on a park bench. But as soon as she sat down an American women, with three kids of her own, came by.
"hey, get out of there-that's our seat."(.....)
"Look spic, you can't sit there!" the American women yelled."you don't belong here!understand? this is not your country!"
Life in L.A was not easy for Luis Rodriguez's family. His dad worked in whatever he could and this involved things like construction or railroad work. His mom's job was to clean rich people's houses. On the first chapter of always running he wrote the following about his mom:"Heavy blue veins sreak across my mother's legs,some of them bunched up into dark lumps at her ankles. Mama periodically bleeds them to relive the pain. She carefully cuts the engorged veins with a razor and drains them into a porcelain-like metal pail called tina."
On another passage he explains how his mother was always sick and about how she didn't even had teeth. Obviously she was not a pretty woman but she sure kept the family toguether as Luis later on explains. Luis Rodriguez came from a very poor family and lived in poor neighborhood. He explains that the reason why most kids would join gangs was for protection. I feel that poverty, hatred and being humiliated in a country that was not theirs contributed to this youngsters joining gangs.Discrimination and abuse didn't only come from the anglo citizens but also from the police. The chicano teenagers felt attacked and hated all the time and the police were only looking to get them in trouble.
In the last chapters of the book two programs were created to help chicanos leave gangs, get better education and to get jobs.They were clubs were teenagers came to entertain themselves but were not very successful at the begining.The program Luis Rodriguez joined got him a job and also gave him the opportunity to distribute food to poor mexican families.This is where chin found real happiness. That is in helping others.
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