Luis Javier Rodriguez

I spent my 56th birthday on July 9 at one of a well-known Turkish chain of restaurants called Tas/EV. Garth, Barbara, Joanne, Josephine, and Hannah were there—even surprising me with a slice of birthday cake and a heart-felt “Happy Birthday.” I don’t like to celebrate birthdays much, except with family. But I must say this was nice. I also walked around earlier with Garth through the River Thames area south of the Tower of London. We visited Shakespeare’s Globe Theater (although the original one burned down, this version took the original plans in account during reconstruction). And we stepped into the Tate Modern Museum of Art to catch a few exhibits, including one called “Poetry and the Dream” about surrealism. At Gabriel’s Wharf we sat down for a while, taking in the many small shops and loads of tourists hanging around. Most of these areas were once industrial, now rehabbed into artists’ lofts, galleries, upscale stores, and tourists’ hangouts. The weather remained warm, in fact muggy, and people were out in droves. On Saturday night, I had afternoon tea with Josephine, Barbara and Joanne at the Wolesey, a famous spot known for their tea setups and ambience. I tried to do more sightseeing, but the humidity was too much and I stayed back to continue writing and working. On Sunday, Josephine and I took a three-hour train ride from London to Weymouth on the English southern coast. Weymouth is a colorful sea village with a large marina, fishing port, and old structures. Again, people were out to enjoy the warm weather. We ended up at a bed & breakfast in Portland, a nearby island where two prisons are located, one for adults called Verne and another for juveniles called Her Majesty’s Juvenile Offenders Institution. On Monday and Tuesday, I will spend many hours with a select number of juvenile prisoners to do creative writing workshops. I’ve done these types of workshops throughout the US, but also in Mexico, Central America, and South America (and once with Italian youth offenders during a major Hip Hop gathering in 1995). c/s

Yesterday, I had a busy day with an important radio interview in the afternoon on the Robert Elms show of the BBC London. Mr. Elms was prepared, gracious, and gave me a good fifteen to twenty minutes—which is hard to get these days on major radio. Apparently, Mr. Elms is very popular in London. I also heard he discovered Amy Winehouse and once lived with the incomparable R&B singer Sade. He also played about three minutes of “Meeting the Animal on Washington Square Park” from my CD of poetry and original music called “My Name’s Not Rodriguez” (2002, Dos Manos Records/CDbaby.com). Later that day my friend Josephine Metcalf and I made our way to the Fulham neighborhood to speak at a youth center to a predominantly Afro-Caribbean audience. Parents, youth workers, teachers, organizers, and young people were in attendance, filling up the meeting space. The talk was highly engaged and the audience participation strong. Our host was Twilight Bey, who runs his own youth organization and has many years of urban peace and gang intervention work in Los Angeles and London. Later that night I did a poetry reading and talk at the Darbucka Club, which is well known for musical events, talks, and poetry. About fifty people were in attendance. My friend Garth Cartwright worked the turntables, playing Chicano music including El Chicano, Thee Midniters, Los Lobos, War, Joe Bataan, and other favorites of mine. A couple of people walked up to me who worked in youth organizations and came precisely because they heard about my talks concerning gang violence. I sold a good number of poetry books and CDs. I also shared tattoos with a Chinese Brit tattoo artist named Leslie—she was impressed with the fine line, shadows and grays, of the dozen or so Chicano-style tattoos I have. She had visible tattoos on her legs and arms. We talked about how tattoos can be done right, for their artistic value and beauty. Though I still have tattoos from my gang days (I got my first tattoo at age 12), I also have later ones of family and Mexika/Mayan images. So far London has been an amazing experience. c/s

On Sunday I arrived in London from Manchester by train (interestingly run by Virgin, the CD music and film store), having passed through green fields with livestock, small towns, brick-walled train stations—picturesque and tranquil. It took around two hours. London is a massive city—my host says there are 15 million people here. I’ve been here twice before, but it seems new and unfamiliar. It’s been years and perhaps this is due to the many changes since my last visit in the late 1990s. I must say I miss Manchester already, having had a short stay but with powerful events. I want to thank professors Brian Ward and Eithne Quinn for the support they gave us at the University of Manchester. Eithne was also kind enough to give me a copy of her book from Columbia University Press/New York called “Nuthin’ but a ‘g’ thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap,” a heavily researched and powerful study of the phenomena. In London, I’m staying at a hotel in the center of everything, near the famous Tower of London. We obtained a weekly “tube” pass—the “tube” or underground is the city’s elaborate and efficient subway system. The weather is great—normally London can be gloomy, rainy, but everyone’s talking about the spate of good hot weather they’re having. Somebody said we brought this over from California. On Monday, we had a talk to inner-city high school students at City and Islington Sixth Form. About fifty students attended, most of who were the equivalent of high school juniors and seniors in the US. They were a racially mixed group and extremely attentive to what Barbara and I had to say. Teachers told us this was rare, since they were generally boisterous and bored. But the subject matter, and the way Barbara and I presented this, was engaging—gang life in the US, it’s impact on England, and insights on how to change this. Afterwards, students bought books & CDs and many stood around a while longer talking to Barbara and me. Someone filmed a good exchange I had with a number of students asking strong questions. In fact, the questions from the floor and afterwards were astute, intelligent, and challenging. I love that about young people. Later, we went to the “Home Office.” I’m guessing this is the equivalent of Homeland Security. The building held offices dealing with all aspects of criminal and juvenile justice, including with prisons, police, terrorism, and more. This was an added last minute meeting due to the word about our presence. While we’ve been here in England, a number of stabbings and beatings involving suspected gang youth have been going on (one person thought this may be related to the weather). I must say I found these talks—we’ve had two at the Home Office on Monday and today—positive and worthwhile. We had officials who dealt with juvenile justice, gangs, guns, and some from law enforcement, among others. Barbara and I talked about what didn’t work in the US—more prisons and just putting youth offenders behind bars. We also talked about what worked, based on what’s called best or promising practices—real rehabilitation, education, mentoring, cultural and spiritual resources, jobs, and collaborations between agencies and government bodies. We also addressed the value of drawing on the immense capacity young people have to do amazing things, the same capacity that gangs and others draw from for often destructive things. And that no young person should be solely judged on their worst acts—they need redemption and change built into any process to address gang violence. In addition, we both emphasized the need to have former gang members and prisoners with credibility in their stories, but also in their change, to assist in the peacemaking process. Given training and other tools, these young men and women can help broker peace and address alternatives to violence better than most people without these experiences (without diminishing the roles of those without these experiences). Again, these were very fruitful engagements, and both Barbara and I felt people were genuinely taking to heart what we had to say. I want to thank Danny Lafayette of the Violent Crime Unit of the Home Office for making these talks possible. Today’s meeting also had Twilight Bey in attendance, a former gang member from Los Angeles and a gang peace leader who now makes his home in England and continues to work in helping stop the growing gang violence there. Earlier, Barbara also spoke at the offices of “Reprieve,” an international anti-death penalty organization with ties to the US and other countries. Accompanying us this whole time in England has been Joanne Berlin, a long-time friend of Barbara’s and a leader in the anti-death penalty movement back home. Joanne also addressed the community leaders, lawyers, and others who showed up at the Reprieve offices about the state of the anti-death penalty movement and strategies in how to move forward. Last night, I also had dinner in Brixton, the colorful mostly Jamaican community. It was at an outdoor spot with Jerk Chicken and other Jamaican tropical staples in the market district. My hosts were formerly from the United States (although the husband was born and raised in England) who worked in mental health and in community advocacy for London’s refugee communities. I will add—I’m getting around quite well on the Tube. One of my favorite things in most major cities is to ride around on whatever subway or upground system they may have. London’s is one of the best. c/s

I wrote in yesterday’s blog post about a dark-green river behind my hotel. It’s actually part of a very old canal system—Manchester was the industrial center of the country, especially in textiles, and the canal system helped move product through the city. It’s good to be clear about these things since I learned a long time ago that every city has its charm, history, and character. In fact, I learned that there’s a statue to US President Abraham Lincoln in Manchester. Apparently Lincoln wrote a letter thanking the people of Manchester for refusing to accept cotton picked by slave hands in the US South during the Civil War. Yesterday, Barbara Becnel and I, hosted by Josephine Metcalf, did a presentation at the University of Manchester as part of the writing conference on gang literature in the United States. We showed five minutes of Barbara’s documentary on the execution and torture – yes, torture – of Stanley Tookie Williams by the state of California. She also presented the children’s books, memoirs, and other books that Tookie wrote, many with Barbara’s help, from Death Row. These are books that have saved lives, a responsibility Tookie took upon himself when he realized the destructive nature of gangs, something he knew about as co-founder of the Crips. I also spoke about my memoir “Always Running” as the first major book by a former Chicano gang member who changed his life. I also talked about my children’s books, one of which also addresses gang issues, as well my poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. And I addressed my role as editor/founder of Tia Chucha Press—we’ve published quality full-color permanent bound poetry collections for over twenty years. Later that evening, at the Manchester Metropolitan University, Barbara and I, along with community leaders from South Manchester, were on a panel to debate “Is Gang Literature Needed in the United Kingdom.” A well-attended audience of activists and youth, as well as students, professors, and professionals, took part in this discussion, which proved to be challenging, feisty, and so necessary. That same day alleged gang members stabbed a 15-year-old student to death in London. There have been close to 15 youths killed so far this year in England from similar circumstances. While this is nowhere near the level of violence in the US, it’s still too many youth succumbing to needless deaths. Books about this life, written by people who’ve lived it, and with a redeeming/transformative message, may be important tools. Moreover, young people in Manchester or London should also rise up to tell their own stories, to voice their own issues and interests, not just read what Tookie Williams or myself have written. This is literature that neither demonizes nor glorifies gangs. These are books that are authentic, complicated, comprehensive, and inspiring. I must say the challenges from the audience were right on the mark. A true debate ensued, full of passion, but without anger or rancor. People listened, argued back, took ideas in, agreed, and then continued to dialogue. A number of young people, some of them in gangs, showed up and a couple of them also took part. I loved the openness of the audience members and the panel to interact positively on which is the best way to go to empower our youth, to organize and spiritually engage them, and to prepare them to run their own communities. We also addressed the need for real community—children, youth, adults, elders—coming together for the well-being of everyone. Both Barbara and I were equal to the challenge. By the end, everyone felt we had a real learning/teaching experience. I made important connections that I hope I can to stay in touch with on what needs to be done for peace, justice, and true healing on a local and global scale. c/s

Whenever I’m in another country, a foreign city, I try to walk around to get the feel, colors, tastes. The last couple of mornings I strolled through the city center of Manchester, an old industrial city—the second or third largest in England, depending on whom you talk to. The hotel I’m staying at abuts a dense dark-green non-flowing river. Across the way are overhead train tracks. It’s an old and modern city at the same time. Last night, I attended a talk on the “Literature of Violence” that featured the British writer, Martin Amis. My friend Josephine Metcalf just gave me a book of his, “Money: A Suicide Note.” The talk was interesting, especially Mr. Amis’s comments, who made things personal by bringing in the recent death of his mother and the sad news that British writer/commentator Christopher Hitchens, Amis’s longtime friend, has just been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. This is devastating news. I’ve read Mr. Hitchens columns from time to time. He’s a recent US naturalized citizen and has begun to take on the terribly narrow and intrepid religious right institutions from a most interesting angle—as a stone atheist. Of course, I don’t agree with everything Mr. Hitchens writes or says, but he’s brave, intelligent, and a breath of fresh air in the current state of commentary in US publications. One of my best friends—I’ve had a few—died earlier this decade of cancer of the esophagus. I know how devastating and quick this disease can damage. My best thoughts go to Mr. Hitchens, his family, friends, and many fans. As for Mr. Amis, I noted a few comments he made about violence in life as in literature. He pointed out that in England, more women from the ages of 16-45 died at the hands of a husband or boyfriend than from any other cause. When, as Mr. Amis, said, “men run out of words” and then their brutish, devastating, total violent aspects of their mislaid masculinity takes over. He talked about the long chain of violence, not just the cycles of violence, that has dominated our world, of the history of wars, conquests, and power that has marked most human existence. And that any achievements wrought by violence will not stand, quoting other thinkers who’ve pointed out how the means defines the ends, distorting and shadowing any possible gains by violence. Soon after two other panelists spoke and this is when I began to drop my head a few times, and once my pen, battling sleep. The jet lag—and the fact I didn’t sleep on the plane flying over—caught up to me. What did I expect? Still, I went out later with my friends, including the activist Barbara Becnel, to a dinner in our honor at the offices/home of SuAndi, a black performance poet. Invited were former gang members and youth leaders working with urban peace efforts in South Manchester. There has been ongoing gang violence in South Manchester since the early 1980s. Most of this is in the immigrant communities, apparently from the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and others like St. Vincent and Trinidad & Tobago. We had an amazing talk about the systemic roots and sources of this violence, and how youth leaders have done most of the peacekeeping (the violence is in a lull right now) although they get no credit and no funding. Sounds like Los Angeles. Today I’ll attend the Writers Conference at the University of Manchester. Later this evening I’ll be on a panel (that includes a couple of these youth leaders from last night, Ms. Becnel, and myself) on how gang literature (memoirs, novels, children’s books) can help, or not, the ongoing debate about gang violence in most urban core cities and communities. c/s

I arrived in Manchester, England this morning after spending all night and most of the day yesterday trying to get here. All is well. My friend Josephine Metcalf, who is the main organizer of this trip, met me at the airport. The skies were cloudy with a few drops of rain, but otherwise nice and warm. I’m staying at a hotel in the city’s center, near the University of Manchester. Tonight and tomorrow I’ll be taking part in a literature conference. We’re hoping to catch a talk today by Martin Amis—one of England’s most renowned writers—on the Literature of Violence. This is right up my alley, as they say. I’m also going to enjoy a dinner tonight with SuAndi of the National Black Arts Alliance. SuAndi is an international performance poet based in Manchester. Accompanying me is Barbara Becnel, co-author of “Redemption” with Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the former Crip leader who turned his life around while on Death Row and then wrote books to help get kids out of gangs. Unfortunately, the state went ahead with his execution, despite much community support to let Stanley live and continue his healing and transformative work, even from behind bars. With books like “Redemption” and my memoir “Always Running,” Barbara and I will address the rise of street gang memoirs in recent years and their value in the current state of literature. c/s

I’ve had an interesting few days—last Friday, I went through a hypertensive crisis. I’ve had hypertension for around ten years. When I went to a dentist last Wednesday to extract two teeth, they checked my blood pressure and found it through the roof. They refused to extract the teeth until I had a doctor’s permission. I went to the nearest Valley Care clinic—where I’ve been getting care over the years since I have no insurance—and a doctor there said she could not give me permission. My blood pressure was at such dangerous levels she sent me to the emergency room at Olive View County Hospital and wouldn’t let me drive (my hard-working companion Trini came by and drove me). While there the nurses checked my blood pressure regularly, but I still didn’t see a doctor until after sixteen hours in the waiting room. Sixteen hours! People came in with worse conditions than mine. In the past I’ve spent seven hours or so in county hospitals in Chicago and LA. But the security guard said this was one of the busiest nights ever. Finally when I saw the doctor, it was determined I didn’t need to have IV and medications at a hospital room as we had originally thought. With new pills for the blood pressure, painkillers for the tooth ache (since I won’t be able to get these teeth removed until weeks from now), and antibiotics (for the infections, I finally made it home. The upshot is that I’m okay to get on a plane tomorrow—Wednesday, June 30—for a two-week trip to Manchester and London, England. I’ll be on a tour there of conferences, libraries, community centers, and a juvenile detention center. I’ll do readings, talks, and writing workshops. I’ll also be working with Twilight Bey, former LA gang member and Ameri-I-Can activist who now works in England addressing a growing gang problem. A friend Josephine Metcalf is organizing everything – she’s the best. And another friend, writer/researcher Garth Cartwright, will also take me around in London. Garth is the author of  “More Miles Than Money: Journeys Through American Music” (Serpent’s Tail) that features two chapters with quotes from me on East LA and Watts music. BBC is set to interview and I'm suppose to DJ one night a London night club. I’ll also be traveling with Barbara Becnel, the writer/activist who helped former Crip leader Stanley “Tookie” Williams with books, a film (“Redemption” starring Jamie Foxx), and in stopping his execution on California’s Death Row (he was executed nonetheless). Williams had changed his life and was doing more to get kids out of gangs than most people out in the free world. It was a travesty of justice and I'm glad to hang with Barbara for much of this trip. So despite Friday's scare, for now I’m good to go. Also, the week before on June 19 Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore held its Fifth Annual Celebrating Words Festival at Mission Community College in Sylmar, CA. We had around 400 people attend—with vendors, community services groups, food, a stage of poets, spoken word performers, dance, theater, and music, and a free book giveaway. Supported every year so far by the LA City Department of Cultural Affairs—with new support from State Farm Insurance, Tenoch Printing, Jarritos Soft Drinks, Antigua Café, Xokolatl, Councilmember Richard Alarcon, ABC Learn, The Molina Foundation, Palacio Torres, LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, among others. Organizations present included La Raza Unida Party, Green Party, AB 540, Youth Policy Institute, El Nido Family Source Center, People in Progress, Americorps, and more. The performers included our own Mexika Danza group, Temachtia Quetzalcoatl, and poets and writers Graciela Garcia Medina, Ray Elizondo, Rene Colato Lainez, Poets del Norte, Gustavo Arrellano, Daniel Olivas, Maria Morales, Felicia “Fe” Montes, Matt Sedillo, Lalo, and Luis Rodriguez. Theater performers included Butchlalis Panochtitlan and Real Woman Have Periods. Other dancers included the Zanadu African Music & Dance Company. As for music, the placed moved with the sounds of Banda Nueva Generacion, La Chamba cumbia band, Hip Hop artist Bambu, and the ever-popular funk/cumbia/ska band Upground. Workshops on literacy and reading were also held. Everyone had a fun and safe time. Please make plans to come next year—this is the only outdoor literacy & performing arts festival in the San Fernando Valley. Also on Saturday, June 26, after losing sleep all night at the Olive View hospital, I still officiated the wedding of Cesar Tejeda and Rosa Rodriguez at Tamayo’s Restaurant in East LA. While I almost gave them heart attacks with my predicament, everything turned out fine. The ceremony was done indigenous style with sage, prayers in Nahuatl, English, and Spanish, and beautifully worded vows between the couple. Trini came to assist me, and then enjoyed the festivities afterwards which included a mariachi and great Mexican food. I also had press photos taken at the Getty Center with Shirley Wilson and a cadre of radio talk show hosts for a new radio program called “Scales of Justice” on LA Talk Radio (www.latalkradio.com).  The show will air online every Sunday at 6 PM with Shirley Wilson as the main host. I will be co-host with Shirley once a month, the last Sunday of the month, for a show called “La Neta/The Truth.” The other shows are “Urban Voices for Justice” with co-host Tommie T-Top (also of Amer-I-Can and many years in gang intervention work), “High Expectations” with Shawn LeRe, and “The Search for Restorative Justice” with Julie Harmon. My first show with Shirley is set to air on Sunday, July 25 at 6 PM (Pacific Time). It's worldwide, so my friends anywhere can tune in on the Internet. Also, on Saturday, June 26, CNN aired nationally a show on Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural and myself for a show called “What Matters.” I hope many of you got to see it. Not sure when or if it’ll air again, but I heard it was quite good. Next report will be from England. c/s

Last Friday, I attended the commencement ceremony for the first ever – anywhere in the country – graduates of a gang-intervention training program sponsored by a city government. The Los Angeles Violence Intervention Training Academy (LAVITA) honored 27 men and women who spent fifteen weeks learning everything from protocol in hospitals, post-traumatic stress disorder, resolving potential violent situations, history of gangs, roots & causes, and many other important issues in establishing peace in our most violent communities. The training was sponsored by the Advancement Project, which received a city grant specifically aimed for this purpose. Another training is being scheduled for the near future. I was one of the instructors for the “Healing & Reflection” class that also involved Fabian Montes and Pascual Torres of Homeboy Industries as well as Orland Bishop of Shade Tree Mentoring. We spent eight hours on our day of training in March with how to find a healing place, the wonder of healing practices, getting centered in the midst of chaos, honoring all spiritual systems (instead of insisting in only one way to go), and helping others get their own healing tools and long-range healing paths. We a while we listened to the stories of the trainees, in some cases quite harrowing testimonies. The trainers were black and brown, men and women, including former gang members, some who had been shot, hospitalized, imprisoned, yet were now committed to mediate, talk, and act for peace in the streets. Many suffer from previous and more recent traumas. They must learn to keep their cool, yet remain firm, to stay on point in the middle of drama and pain, and to know how to move violent energy into resolution, calmness, even beauty. One of the things I emphasized was the value of the arts, all the arts, as well as arts expression as therapy, but also as a way to convey the shaping of community, of creativity as a path out of chaos (not just order, which comes later), and the abundance of imagination we all carry to resolve most violent and depressive circumstances. As many of you know, I also helped formulate a “Community-based Gang Intervention Model” with around forty gang intervention experts, peace advocates, and researchers for around two years that was approved by the LA City Council in February of 2008. Others and myself have also taken this model around the US. It has even been used in other countries, such as Mexico—in my recent visit to Chihuahua, Mexico, including Ciudad Juarez, the deadliest city in the world, I brought copies of the model for others to emulate (and to add/change based on their own local conditions). Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, LA Police Chief George Beck, LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, Guillermo Cespedes (Director of the Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction & Youth Development), and Constance L. Rice (Director of the Advancement Project) were some of the speakers at the ceremony. After receiving their certificates, the graduates, their families, and guests were invited to have lunch and to interract. It was my honor to be part of this historic process. I also have the hopes this training continues to grow so our communities can finally learn to make peace, resolve conflicts, while establishing healing and capacitating agreements that will keep our children, youth, and families safe and with the adequate resources for ongoing health and strong development. The first major step is to save our kids. c/s

The week of June 7 to June 11, I'll be back on KJLH-FM's Front Page talk show as an honorary co-host with Dominique DiPrima. It's something I've been doing off and on for about three years. I personally think this is the best talk show on Los Angeles radio. However, you have to get up mighty early--we're on from 4:30 AM until 6 AM. Get it at 102.3. Amazingly there are a lot of LA folk up that early--many on their way to or from work. Also this show is now being video streamed, which means you can watch it anytime after it airs at www.ustream.tv. Just put in the keywords "KJLH Front Page." And we're also going to be on iTunes. Is that cool or what? We'll have guests as well as call-in phone lines (call from any southern California area code: 520-KJLH). The radio station's base has been African American for decades (apparently with growing numbers of Chicano/Central American listeners). The themes run the gamut from the controversial to the benign (mostly controversial and lively). It's always an honor to speak to and hear from the community. c/s

For some time now, I’ve been helping support the Youth Promise Act, which is currently making the rounds of Congress for possible passage. This bill will provide badly needed prevention and intervention funds to curb youth violence. We’ve tried the prisons, juvenile lockups, trying youth as adults, zero tolerance, and similar measures that have not worked in the country. The United States continues to have unacceptable levels of youth violence—although the numbers are often inflated, misquoted, and misappropriated to stimulate more law-and-order decrees that in turn create conditions for more violence. What’s needed is real caring, real community, resources that go deeper into skills development, educational opportunities, meaningful work, rehabilitation & reentry programs, and the transformative power of a society that does not give up on our young people. The Youth Promise Act is the best piece of national legislation along these lines. I’ve worked with various active politicians—including LA City Councilman Tony Cardenas—to help with the aims of this act. Now a national campaign to bring awareness to these efforts has been launched. Go to www.youthpromiseaction.org to see a video of national celebrities and activists (including yours truly) in support of the Youth Promise Act. The website also has an online petition and other opportunities to help make this promise a reality. c/s