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Yesterday at Resistencia
Posted Jul 23, 02:47 pm
I’m sure many of you know that el maestro raulrsalinas passed away earlier this year. He was a mentor to many young Chicanos and people in general, who dedicated their lives to truth and justice. I’ve been developing a documentary with raul about his life’s work. So you can imagine how saddened I was when he passed. Along with raul, the documentary team consists of some great people who have been there 100%. Rene Valdez has been a solid foundation for Red Salmon Arts, the non-profit arm of Resistencia Bookstore, and an amazing liason between the project and all things raul. My heart went out to Rene, as well as raul’s family; but raul was like a father to Rene. I have a large list of Humanities proffessor’s if you go to the project site you’ll get the big picture. They have all been so amazing and are so valuable to this project. Dr. Louis Mendoza and Dr. Alan Gomez are really the ones who have been in the trenches with raul; they have also been actively involved in the research and development of this film. Anne Lewis will be co-producing and editing on this project too; she has been a great advisor and solid when it came to making sure we filmed raul at every possible chance.
So yesterday Louis was in town to organize rauls archives that are at Resistencia, half are already in the Special Collections Library at Stanford University. It was Emmet Campos, who is the project archivist, Louis, Rene and I. Going through boxes and boxes of papers, articles, photos, media, and art. What an amazing life raul has led. There were pictures of him at the founding of the Centro de la Raza in Seattle, at the of the trail of Self Determination, at the Leanoard Peltier trial when he was co-director of the LP Deffence Committee, in Geneva with the Indiginous Rights Council, one of the first Flor Y Cantos in Califas in the early ’70s, in Nicaragua, in Puerto Rico, etc. He has worked for human rights and dignity for all, when examining his solidarity work; I will list that another time because I could go on forever. I am so excited to tell this story of transformation and action for justice and truth for all people.
raul, we remember you ese.