Emmanuel

Third generation Chicano/Puerto Rican/Irish-American brown man. Poet/writer and community organizer. Just moved to Oakland from Minneapolis, MN, in search of struggle, culture, community, family, home. A sense of usefulness, affirmation, connection. I uprooted myself from my place of familiarity the last 12 years to find a better sense of grounding. Those who know me know that my politics, culture, value systems and family (chosen and blood) are everything to me. Alongside justice, liberation, dignity. I live to write, read, play soccer, make guacamole, and take naps. I believe in a people's right to self-determination, liberation, anti-imperialism, anti-assimilation, democratic movements, anti-racism, cross-racial alliance building amongst people of color/ethnic minorities/racially marginalize communities. I believe in art as a tool of social change, and that art has a role to play in shaping our struggles, envisioning and creating a better world. I believe in revolution and liberation struggles, which begins in the human spirit and personal change, growth. I believe brown/bronze/yellow/red/black people loving each other is a powerful, dangerous, beautiful, revolutionary thing. I seek to learn from my elders, support my peers, and educate our youth. I want to see us get free. I fully support: the Zapatistas. Puerto Rican independence. Hands off Cuba and Venezuela. Native/Indigenous sovereignty. Palestinian resistance to Isreali state terror, the right of Palestinian people to their homeland, and the right of return. I vehemently oppose the US war in Iraq, as a racist act of occupation and empire. I support Immigrants Rights. Workers rights to organize. Free the Political prisoners. Stop Police Brutality. Racial Justice. Women's reproductive and abortion rights. Queer liberation.********************************************* I am not at all perfect. I am stubborn, a perfectionist, a procrastinator (what a dangerous combo!). I get angry when I get hurt. I am fiercely loyal. Full of contradictions. I can overanalyze and always want to know answers, especially 'why?' I am opinionated. very opinionated. My passion on issues might be mistaken for dogmatism. I try not to judge. My strident intolerance of white privilege, Euro-centricism, assimilation and apologists can quickly set off the moderates and definitely the liberals. I believe that being mixed-race is one of the most complex things one can be. We always live in the cutural frontera, the borderlands. Outside the boxes. dangerously. I hate the tobacco and alcohol industries. I don't like drugs, but I hate the racist, classist war on drugs even more. I love both of my parents, for having loved me. Each in their own way. My family is large (cousins by the dozens!) and very dear to my heart.Sometimes I laugh. Sometimes I cry. I bleed. I strive to be fully human.**************************************************I coordinate a project called Guerrilla Wordfare, which aims to bring artists of color together to address socio-political issues impacting communities of color and raise funds for organizing around such issues. Check out Guerrilla Wordfare on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/guerrillawordfareI am a member of Palabristas: Latin@ Word Slingers, a Minnesota-based collective of Chicana@/Latin@ poets, writers, storytellers. Check us out at http://www.myspace.com/palabristas or http://www.palabristas.com.Also check out a chapbook of poetry against war by Latin@ poets that we did with poets from Red CalacArts out of So Cal. The book is called Under What Bandera: Anti-War Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas: http://www.calacapress.com/redcalacarts/redcalacarts-uwbpoem s.htmlI have a chapbook of my own poetry, The Word is a Machete: Post-Pocho/Puerto Rican Poems of the Personal and Political (2003). Inquire within. My second chapbook, Brown unLike Me: Poems From the Second Layer of Our Skin (2006) is forthcoming. You can listen to a couple of my poems here (scroll to bottom of page): http://www.calacapress.com/cpmp3s.htmlThanks for supporting independent artist and rebellious grassroots activism and organizations.La lucha sigue. Pa'lante, siempre pa'lante. Home | Browse | Search | Invite | Film | Mail | Blog | Favorites | Forum | Groups | Events | Videos | Music | Comedy | Classifieds