OPEN LETTER TO THE GANGS Dear Sir: The following article was written in September of 1974. I never had i t printed because I thought i t was no use at the time. I was beginning to lose faith. Then, I r e a l i z e d I would be giving up on m y people. I am hoping I can reach some of them out there, so here goes: CHICANOS Y CHICANAS— W H E R E A R E YOU FROM? Last weekend, I said goodbye to another one of m y homeboys. I talked to h i m , touched his hand, and and said so long, " h o m e s " . He didn't wave back at me. He didn't even hear me. Neither did the rest of m y homeboys. The homeboys I talk about are gone forever. They were killed. Why? Why did somebody k i l l my friend? Well, I ' d like to tell you his name and what happened. But, first of a l l , his name shouldn't matter to you. I t could have been Huero, Chuco, Smiley, Negro, Lefty, Loco, etc. I ' l l bet you have at least one homeboy with one of those n i c k name i n your barrio. As far as what happened? He walked across a street in his neighborhood and a car full of Chicanos yelled at h i m " H e y homes" He walked up to the car to see what was up, and got a bullet shot i n h i m . The guys in that car were from a different barrio. So they shot h i m . L i t t l e did those guys realize when they did that, they did shoot their homeboy. Regardless what barrio he was from. Because he was even more than a "homeboy," he was their brother. We as Chicanos y Chicanas are brothers and sisters. Barrios are alright with me, but a carnal or a carnala is worth more to me than my barrio or yours. Too many times i n the past, we have killed b e cause of a gang. This shit is dead, as far as I ' m concerned. Deader than m y homeboys 6 feet under. They were " f i r m e " dudes. And I guess the dudes who killed m y homeboys have friends who also think they're also " f i r m e " . Anyway, I don't hate those guys. I don't blame them for this. We are all at fault. No way w i l l i t satisfy me to k i l l somebody else to get even. B e cause my homeboys w i l l still be missed by me. " n o way w i l l it bring them back," they are dead. Now, I know there are alot of us who feel that they're never gonna change their minds. They feel like this: " H e l l no, man, I ' m not gonna let this ride. They shot m y carnal and somebody's gonna pay for i t . " Let's go get one of their homeboys Well, I know how that feels, I felt that way once before. I wanted to get a gun and shoot the first sucker who came messing with my barrio. Big deal, I said. I ' l l get a little stoned, get a gun and be " K i n g Kong from So and So for awhile. There will be somebody coming right back into my barrio l o o k ing for one of us and they'll k i l l another Chicano
It's a big circle. Going around and around. Killing each other slowly, but surely. Damn, maybe we should go out in the middle of the street and have a big shoot—out so we can k i l l each other at the same time. Maybe alot of you out there are sick and tired of this shit as much as I am, but don't let your f e e l ings out. Well, why hide? I f you start something good, you can't stop. It's not hard to make " f r i e n d ship" a habit. Instead, we a l l have too many bad habits. You know, when I think about i t , I realize that i f I lived in your neighborhood a l l m y life, that's where I would be f r o m and the same goes for you. So your barrio is no different than mine. I have alot of friends who moved out of my n e i g h b o r hood and got into another one where they moved. And they are still my friends. No way do I call that "ranking o u t . "
"CHICANOS F I G H T I N G CHICANOS" We have been doing i t for years, and what has it gotten us?? More Prison Terms & More Chicanos being sent to their grave at an early age. More heads getting bashed against barrio s i d e w a l k s . Get your shit together Carnales y Carnalas. If we must shed our blood on this earth, let i t be for the betterment of our People and not for our own self destruction. ORGANIZATE RAZA
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