El Grito - La Raza | Cultural Centers CMU

Edén E. Torres
September 2012

I want to be independent and free of the toxic consequences of capitalist systems,
The culture of greed

False notions of democracy and the myth of equality
Where none exists

Free of the binary ways of thinking that divide and exclude us
On the basis of the color of our skin, our gender, our sexuality, our class, our abilities.

I want to be independent and free of powerful men so out of touch with reality that they believe the middle class starts at $200,000 a year

Men who cannot understand that to be brown and living in America
Is to be brilliant and brave
Is to seek justice as a truth, not as a favor.

I want to be independent and free of those who try to control what I can and cannot teach.
Who would dare to dictate what books my students can and cannot read?

Free of those who have been conditioned to fear an educated Chicana or Latino.

I want the freedom to engage with students who are prepared to understand their own histories and to make critical interventions in the world around them.

Students who are achieving consciousness and who will determine what it means to be Latina/o in a decolonized and reoccupied America, who will take responsibility for remembering and respecting their indigenous beginnings.

I want to be free to imagine a society where there is neither a Wealthy 1%, nor a bottom 90%

Free to believe there will someday be a profound revolution
As fierce as the spirit with which all Latin American countries freed themselves from their colonial empires,
And as unrelenting as the people now struggling in shadow of "Free Trade."

Free to amuse myself with the dream that such a revolution has already begun.
Viva Chicano Latino Studies
Viva todos los estudiantes de consciencia
Viva La Raza

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El Grito - La Raza