July 3, 1988-San Antonio Express-News

Some words on Velasquez

The Chicano movement has been a gateway to the world for this poet/columnist taking me to a world of mythic names and gargantuan undertakings.

Within that swirling world, I began to realize the dream of becoming a poet - a poet withing a people becoming a dervish swirling a name and legacy upon the parchmented human journey all must travel.

In that journey and movement, many names have left a dear and beloved imprint upon a people's concientización - the actual naming of one's world through reflective action bespeaking human betterment.

It is also as a poet that I feel the necessity of responding to questions posed by readers, and a recurring question has been: Why haven't you written about Willie Velásquez?

That question was most adamantly posed by Victoria A. Guajardo as she told me that she read my column every Sunday, and that she sometimes agreed and other times did not.

Answers were lame

My answers were lame ones, at best, for I had been in other spaces when Willie died, and our knowledge of each other was probably flimsy and superficial at best. We were neither friend nor foe, for we never did truly interact with one another.

Willie Velásquez was a name that was respected nationwide. I knew of him since the early days of the Chicano movement, and he had a reputation to be taken seriously.

Velásquez was a gung-ho general in the fight to register people to vote, a staunch believer in the power of the vote - the empowerment of a people through participation in electoral politics.

His actions left a wide wake behind, for the work Willie performed was lauded high and wide.

We traveled different roads. making different friends and occupying different worldviews through our lifestyles. Though we were not friends, I could acknowledge the impact he made on the cultural and social landscapes of the nation.

Chicanos and other Hispanics responded to him, as did peoples of color and Anglos who felt the churning need for societal change and the empowerment of all peoples.

Poet Jesús Jacinto Cardona said it quite simply: "I did not know him but his actions gave me a sense that someone - Willie - was bringing a sense of justice to others, to people who were not represented.

'Very important thing'

"It was a very important thing that he did, and it was by sheer numbers. The power of numbers helping those who had been denied their power.

"I heard about him going to little towns and telling local power structures, 'You can't do that!' while helping the people register to vote.

Yes, the actions of others do affect us in many ways. The movements that emanate from communities have a tendency to help us grow and change.

There is an interconnectedness that exists in human society, and it cuts across arenas of work and culture.

The same movement that undergirded Willie Velasquez has also given birth to a new aesthetic, and the poetic howls are heard.

During the Poets of Tejas reading last month at PAPERBACKS ... y Más!, a number of poets paid moving tributes to Willie. There were tears shed by those who had felt his impact.

I had not made a poetic connection to Willie for the simple fact that I could not. It was not until a caring and adamant reader demanded this from me.

"I expected to read something by you and didn't find anything!" Guajardo said "You are a poet, a Chicano poet, and it is your responsibility to do it."

More than a name

I had found the way to see Velasquez as more than a name or voter registration campaigner.

He had become a cultural phenomenon, a "sense of bringing a sense of justice," and a poet of numbers, by imbuing magic on statistics and registrations.

I felt that kind of impact as I listened to actors celebrating their play "Roosters," just before being accosted by Guajardo.

José Guadalupe Saucedo, who directed the play, spoke about the need for political and cultural expression and his career attests to similar notions of empowerment.

The beauty and talent of 15-year-old Bianca Sifuentes, who acted in the play, still danced in my thinking while the impact of one person's political organizing spoke of new doors to perception and action.

Sifuentes will hopefully go on and create a grand vision of herself, able to dream greater dreams because others have struggled for a better world.

The stage upon which Ruby Nelda Pérez performs so skillfully and often with versatality and talent, came from a people in praxis and movement.

The lithe and poetic grace of Lina del Roble Cronful is a metaphor for human will and struggle, for the joy of empowerment.

Without such a movement, I would not have had the joy of seeing José L. Rodríguez play Adan.

International theater festival

Nor would I have the pleasure this coming week of seeing Culture Clash and other groups from the United States, Mexico and Peru at the TENAZ XIV International Festival of Chicano/Latino Theater at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.

Gracias Victoria A. Guajardo, for reminding me of the responsibility to record those who have given us so much.

It is a responsibility that we all share equally - but most especially the centers we fund. Like you, dear readers, I also want to enjoy great art, as well as know the lives of those who create meaning with their existence. Que descanses en paz, Willie!