I was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, but I was raised in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico “Cond.. Las Gladioloasâ€.
We then moved to the Americas. Growing up in America one could say makes me as American as anyone, but not enjoying the privileges of being American, namely CITIZENSHIP!!!
I faced what so many of us Latino Children face growing up: run down, poverty-stricken neighborhoods where gangs, drugs, prostitution, and violence are common place. Neighborhoods where role-models are drug lords, or gang members, a place where one develops a false sense of manhood, due to the role-models present, making one live in a perpetual state of fear.
Once veiled by ignorance, my actions were but reflex reactions to a hostile social order. And due to this blinding veil of ignorance, the social order of things, though hostile, appeared in no way unnatural to me. Never was I admonished that I was born into a predetermined set of circumstances, arranged by oppressive forces, and devised to make prison the most likely fate of this Latino child. Without awareness I was on a track destined for this, my present reality; prison, but more so for landing me on DEATH ROW at the age of 17.
Dreams (the blood of man) were bled out of me. Confined to prison and condemned to die, my dreams were deferred. Still, I allowed myself no time to waste, unless I lost the ground of my battle for Justice, Equality and Peace. For these reasons do I live, and for these reasons I will die, because without reasons a man’s life is without purpose.
You know, I wasn’t all that bad of a kid. And I feel that I was handled way to harsh due to my unwillingness to cooperate with the man. Not to mention that they felt threatened by my new light of life before I was arrested. That being; starting a chapter of the Young Lords in San Antonio.
In the 1960s, Young Lords emerged as a political organization in Chicago. While in prison, Jose "Cha Cha" Jimenez met Fred Hampton and other Black Panther Party members. They discussed the exploitation and oppression of Latino/as, African Americans and poor people in the United States. Cha Cha took what he learned to the Young Lords, at the time, a well-known Chicago street gang, and transformed the Young Lords into an organization committed to human rights and the liberation of Puerto Rico. The Young Lords believed that institutions in the community should be accountable to the people that they were established to serve. Neglect and unresponsiveness led the Young Lords to take direct action to bring attention to the deplorable economic, social and political conditions existing in poor Latino/a communities across the United States. By 1976, the Young Lords Party had disintegrated as a result of government and police repression and political infighting. The organization ceased to exist, but the principles it stood for remain.
Randy Arroyo, who was 17 when he committed his alleged crime, had his death penalty conviction overturned when the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute someone who committed their crime when they were a minor.
He is now serving life in prison and is still fighting for his freedom and against the Law of Parties, and will be eligible for parole in 2037.
RANDY ARROYO BAEZ 1306206
Connally Unit
899 FM 632
Kenedy , Tx 78119
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