Inspired from an Illustration by Eric J. Garcia
His work can be seen at: Eric J. Garcia
Inspired by a poem by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales
A reading of that poem by Luis Valdez can be seen at: Yo Soy Joaquin
Poem by Steve Halpern
My blood flowed from an entire hemisphere.
It was named for an Italian,
and called America.
But there were hundreds of nations.
There were the Eskimo in the North,
in what is now Canada.
There were the Mapuche in the South,
in what is now Chile.
The Aztecs built their capital on a lake,
and called it Tenochtitlan.
They developed advanced methods of health care,
and traveled by boat with their floating gardens.
The Inca built their empire along the Andes Mountains.
They developed 5,000 varieties of potatoes.
They built structures, fitting boulders perfectly to one another,
and their roads stretched through the empire.
Then came the Spanish,
who lived with the Arabs for hundreds of years.
The Spanish weren’t just concerned with the basic necessities.
They came to the Americas for Gold, God, and Glory.
The Tainos they encountered,
who lived in the Caribbean for thousands of years,
were of little concern.
They murdered thousands in their thirst for gold.
The Europeans brought something with them
that was difficult to defend against.
These were the diseases that wiped out
ninety percent of the first nations of the Americas.
However, the Mapuche and the Guarani
battled the Spanish for 300 years.
This weakened the Spanish,
and the French and British became dominant.
However, the Spanish forced the First Nations to mine,
under horrendous conditions,
for the gold and silver that became
the foundation for the international capitalist financial system.
Just as the Spanish stole the gold and silver,
the United States government stole half of the nation of Mexico.
The Mexican owners of that land
became second class citizens.
Then, miners found gold in California.
People from all over the world came to San Francisco.
The native people of that land,
were pushed aside again in the search for gold.
The Native Americans had difficulty understanding the “white man.”
They knew how difficult it was to attain the necessities of life:
food, clothing, housing, and medicine.
It appeared that the “white man” only wanted gold.
Then, Chinese workers blasted through granite mountains,
to build the transcontinental railroad.
Their work was indispensable to this project.
Yet, after it was completed, the government adopted the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Then, Mexicans, Filipinos, and Japanese
worked the land of the Southwest.
They did the backbreaking work under the hot sun,
so people could have food to eat.
They worked in the canneries and meat packing houses
under horrendous conditions.
Then, the government built a wall,
and went on a campaign to deport “illegal aliens.”
That’s right, the first nations who lived on this land,
who built the foundation for international finance,
who worked so people would have food,
now became “illegal aliens.”
But on the island of Cuba,
the people had enough.
They only had work to cut the sugar cane
for three months a year.
Then, they needed to find a way to survive for nine months.
Many women went to Havana and became prostitutes.
But Fidel and the July 26 Movement went to the mountains,
and started the revolution.
Today, Cuba has more doctors per capita
than any other nation in the world.
Cuban doctors have gone to nations throughout the world
to battle the pandemic.
Yet, the United States has a trade embargo against Cuba.
President Donald Trump says this country is doing a “great job.”
But the United States has become the epicenter of the pandemic.
In Cuba, there have only been 102 pandemic-related deaths.
So, my name is Joaquin.
Yo soy Joaquin.
I’ve found a way to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles,
and here I am. Estoy presente, and I’m not going away.
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