He saw them
Sitting there against the wall
Of the labor camp housing in Delphos
Green-stained wretches,
With muddy hands and green-stained clothes
From laboring in the thick tomato plants
And wet dirt
And they saw him, too
Clean, and neatly combed
Clutching his books and notepads
Walking back from school
And some were mad
A primal protest to the unfairness
Of it all
Their parents needed them in the field
Una mano menos
They couldn't afford to lose
In far off Ohio
Logralos ahorita, compadre
They can go to school when we get back home
Others weren't mad
There was a hint of longing
To be clean, too
To read books, too
To go to school
To learn,
A yawning yearning to learn
To learn oneself away
From the stooped labor of a muddy field
And right then Juan knew
That his entire future life
He'd live with a need,
An obligation, then
To work for them
To study for them
To achieve for them
The green-stained wretches
Who were his brothers
20 comments:
wait until everyone finds out that the Chief of Police and his commander had the Cesar De Leon recordings in June 2017
You as a role model, Juan? Ha ha ha
Totally MEXICAN of you, drunkard! LOL
Generations of Americans have gone to school and also worked on the family farm, ranch or business as a matter of need. The school provide basic reading and writing and arithmetic...the basics needed to do well in society. Today, unfortunately, the schools are burdened with doing what our parents, and grandparents did....teach manners, teach religion, teach morality, teach common sense and teach about the birds and bees. The public schools today have dumbed down the academics/the basic education, in order to replace the parents in socializing young people. And, local communities and schools now look to the state and federal government for funding; and as such cheat in any way to keep warm butts in chairs to get money. And here in BISD, the administration diverts those funds to pay for an expensive score board, rather than invest that money in academics or teacher pay. The money that goes to schools is subject to corruption and mis-use by those who seek election in order to get rich, not manage education.
You are getting old Juanito and are living in the past. Things have changed allot since your day.
Were you a farmworker, Juan? Thank you for the lettuce, bro!
Thank God for the United States, because Mexico sure as hell has no use for these pobrecitos.
Ole Mex turns it's back on the weakest of it's people sends them with maps and instructions on how to cross over to the promised land...
How any Mexico politician can hold his or her head up is amazing.
Stormy Daniels in Edinburg for Fourth of July, day after performances estoy listo!!!!
Mexico exploits the weak and the poor, until they are all used up. The Ricos and the corrupt pick over their bones. At least in the US, they have a chance, but many are to ignorant to know it and seize the opportunity. They have been trained by generations of exploitation to think of themselves as poor and without a chance.
On a visit to Ohio where my Daddy worked at a tomato factory, my mother's first concern was to enroll us in school. My brother and I were the only Mexicans in the school. My mother and the minister's wife became the Pete Bouis of Brownsville, who checked for children out of school. They talked to the parents and enrolled as many as they could in school. Some went for a week or so and some didn't return after the first day. Yes, their parents could not afford to have one less hand in the fields, so off to work they went. We were lucky because we didn't have to work in the fields but we envied the children who came to 'visit" the church where we would go after school to do our homework and hang around. We learned social skills and how to respect each other, Mexican or Anglo, poor or rich, crop worker or not, Catholic or Protestant. We all worked and played together. We came back to Brownsville cause we could not stand the cold weather and walking to school in 2 or 3 feet of snow. I came back to dear ole' Annie S. Putegnat School and loved it. Later to Cummings and later to BHS. That was a learning experience for me, so your poem is close to the heart.
Bull shit we went to Lipsic Ohio and Traverse City Michigan and all we way was signs on the store doors "NO MEXICANS ALLOWED". Thanks for the wonderful times will NEVER forget that.
Yes agree with 1.44 pm, same here we went up north too and along the way it was hard to get something to eat or buy gas, as many of these stores would not allow Mexicans or blacks in. Ohio and Michigan didn't welcome us. hard lessons that served as a good learning of life.
Yesm the signs were there and the Mexicans would pull them down and write "Putos" all over the place and steal the equipment they used to lend us at the park so we could play. Then they wondered why they didn't cater to Mexicans. You made your place and acceptance in society, vato! We were refused service at a restaurant in Little Rock, so we got out quietly and ran across to the park and had lonches de mortadella and had the best fun. Who cared they didn't want to serve us. And we didn't know how to shoot the finger back at them.
(Stormy Daniels in Edinburg for Fourth of July, day after performances estoy listo!!!!)
LOL! WTF is she doing here? Heard Ron Jeremy was seen at a Walmart in Edinburg. Maybe they're doing a vid, together.
Elchuko.
To the blogger who was not served because he was Mexican, I am so proud of you for having been able to read the signs in English. You showed them!
You didn't give them your business and you ate your famous and delicious torillas con papas con huevo that Mama would cook out in the rest stops. They were better than any restaurant food and now ask yourself who turns their nose on those flour tortilla taco, now? A million dollar business - boy did we show them. Keep your heads high and let your finger fly!
Who would have thought that the dumb racist REPUBLICAN ran a political ad eating Mexican food while deporting all of them...
What rest stops at that time there were no rest stops, but you're right about the cooking it was the best.
To the blogger who was not served because he was Mexican, something doesn't sound right.
The rest stops were where ever the truck would stop so we could run to the wood to do our business and then turn right around and cook in the same place.
El tuna fish was very popular without mayonnaise and with water to gulp it down.
Yuk tuna and sardines things I try to avoid now but couldn't at that time. Tortillas ran out the first day and it took the truck three days to get there. If the driver was a good driver if not it took from four to five days from Brownsville to Ohio ugly Ohio...
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