raúlrsalinas
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| Born | Raúl R. Salinas March 17, 1934 |
| Died | February 13, 2008 (aged 73) Austin, Texas, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations |
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Raúl R. Salinas (March 17, 1934 - February 13, 2008), better known by his pen name raúlrsalinas, was an American pinto poet, memoirist, social activist, and prison journalist.[1] Much of raúlrsalinas' writing was grounded in arguments for social justice and human rights.[2] He was an early pioneer of Chicano pinto (prisoner) poetry and is notable for his use of vernacular, bilingual, and free verse aesthetics.[3]
Alongside Ricardo Sánchez, Judy Lucero, Luis Talamantez, and Jimmy Santiago Baca, raúlrsalinas sought to make prisoners' rights a more central focus of the Chicano Movement.[4] Incarcerated for over a decade (1959–1972) on marijuana[5] related charges, raúlrsalinas wrote extensively while in prison, including essays, letters, prose, and journalism, the vast majority which is now held at Stanford University.[6] raúlrsalinas' work extended beyond his prison writing, focusing also on his Xicanindio (indigenous identified Chicano) heritage and his politics as a Latino internationalist. According to Oxford University, raúlrsalinas "transformed elements of the American literary canon."[7]
Early life
[edit]Raul Salinas was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1934 to Frances and Ricardo Salinas. Raised by a single mother in East Austin, at seventeen a judge gave Salinas the choice of going to jail, joining the military, or relocating. Salinas moved to Northern California where he found employment as a farmworker.[8]
Arrests and incarceration
[edit]In 1957, Salinas was arrested on marijuana related charges in Los Angeles County. He served his sentence at Soledad State Prison. Salinas earned parole in 1959 before being arrested in Austin, Texas for possession of marijuana in 1961. He served his sentence at Huntsville State Prison. There, he wrote a jazz column for the prison newspaper The Echo from 1964 until his 1965 release. Salinas then moved back to Austin with his wife and three children.[9]
After conviction for felony racketeering charges for drug trafficking in 1967, Salinas served time at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. There, Salinas met Puerto Rican Independentistas Rafael Cancel Miranda and Oscar Collazo, and began the works of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Frantz Fanon, and related radical third world literature. African American music and political struggle also contributed to Salinas’ development. Inspired by freedom fighters such as George Jackson (activist) and Eldridge Cleaver Salinas developed a growing political consciousness that would continue to drive him.[10] At Leavenworth, Salinas participated in a “Cultural History of the Southwest” course which met for two years.[11]
Prison personnel targeted Salinas for his political nature and transferred him to Marion Federal Penitentiary. He was part of a group of politicized prisoners who faced retaliation after widespread prison rebellions in response to the killing of George Jackson in 1971. His final release from incarceration was from Marion in 1972.[9]
Published works
[edit]- Un Trip through the Mind Jail y Otras Excursions (Arte Publico Press, 1980). ISBN 978-1558852754
- East of the Freeway: Reflections De Mi Pueblo (Red Salmon Press, 1995). ISBN 978-0962350603
- Many Mundos Of Raulrsalinas: Un Poetic Jazz Viaje (Calaca Press, 2000). ISBN 978-0966077353
- Red Arc: A Call For Liberación Con Salsa Y Cool (Wings Press, 2005). ISBN 978-0916727192
- raú́lrsalinas and the Jail Machine: My Weapon is My Pen (University of Texas Press, 2006). ISBN 978-0292713284
- Indio Trails: A Xicano Odyssey Through Indian Country (Wings Press, 2006). ISBN 978-0916727376
- Memoir of Un Ser Humano: The Life and Times de Raúlrsalinas, edited by Louis G. Mendoza. (Red Salmon Press, 2018). ISBN 978-1642042061
Recognition
[edit]- Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Distinguished Writer Award[7]
- Luis Reyes A. Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award[7]
- Lifetime Achievement Award, National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures[7]
- Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award[7]
- In a senate resolution, Texas acknowledged Salinas’ work with youth and contributions to community arts.[7]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ Association, Texas State Historical. "Salinas, Raúl". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
- ^ Rubin, Rachel (December 11, 2006). Radicalism in the South Since Reconstruction (1 ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 227–237. ISBN 978-1349534661. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- ^ Vidales, Santiago. "Hemispheric Poetics: raúlsalinas, César Vallejo, and the convergence of Xicanx and Vanguardia poetry". 2019 Indigenous Knowledge for Resistance: Lecciones from Our Past. San Jose State University. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- ^ Mendoza, Louis G. (Spring 2003). "The Re-Education of a Xicanindio: Raúl Salinas and the Poetics of Pinto Transformation". Multi-Ethnic Literatures and the Idea of Social Justice. 28 (1): 39–60. doi:10.2307/3595245. JSTOR 3595245. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- ^ Mendoza, Louis G. (April 1, 2018). "Memoir of Un Ser Humano: The Life and Times of raulrsalinas". The Queer Turn: Selected Proceedings of the 2018 Meeting of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- ^ "Raúl Salinas papers, 1957-2008". Stanford Libraries. Stanford University. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Mendoza, Louis G. (2020). "Salinas, Raúl". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature. Oxford University. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.1148. ISBN 978-0-19-020109-8. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Mendoza, Louis G., "Memoir of Un Ser Humano: The Life and Times of raulrsalinas" (2018). NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings.
- ^ a b Mendoza, Louis G. (2020-02-28), "Salinas, Raúl", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.1148, ISBN 978-0-19-020109-8, retrieved 2024-09-10
- ^ Green, Chris; Rubin, Rachel; Smethurst, James Edward, eds. (2007). Radicalism in the South since Reconstruction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-7409-9.
- ^ Gomez, Alan (2008). ""Nuestras Vidas Corren Casi Paralelas": Chicanos, Independentistas, And The Prison Rebellions in Leavenworth, 1969-1972"". Latino Studies. 6: 64–94.
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- 1934 births
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- 20th-century American poets
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- Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights
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