Edwin Duran

Edwin Duran                                                                                                                          7/28/14                                                                                                                            Poetry by Martin Espada

           

In Martin Espada's three poems "New Bathroom Policy at English High School", "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicano's Lynched in Santa Cruz , California, May 3, 1877" all include racism. Espada relates the poems to the readers by showing how Latinos face racism in different ways.

            The poem "New Bathroom Policy" shows how discrimination can make

People do stupid things. An example from the text that makes me think this is,

"The boys chatter Spanish from the bathroom while the principal listens from

his stall. /The only word he recognizes is his own name/ and this constipates

him."  He becomes upset because he heard his name and he assumed the boys

were talking bad about him, so he decides to ban Spanish in the bathroom.

This teaches me that people will do these dumb things and even abuse their

power to assure their own happiness and comfort.

            In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" he makes the reader

think about rebels like Che Guevara who stand up for themselves and to

others. Here's an example from the text that makes me think this. "Whenever

my  name is mispronounced, I want to buy a toy pistol, put on dark eyeglasses,

push my beret at an angle, comb my beard to a point." Also the reason why I

say this reminds me of Che Guevara because, Espada also uses a metaphor to

present himself as Che Guevara. This teaches me his name represents his

culture and when you mispronounce his name it's like a disrespect to his

culture.

Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" makes me think about people who

abuse their own power and are racist. There's an example from the text

that makes me think this. "Forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that

Snapped two Mexicans into the grimacing sleep of broken necks." The

vigilantes lynched the Mexicans because they thought it was ok but it was

against their civil rights. This is not ok because The Mexicano's didn't have a

Fair trial before they died. This also teaches me that there are people who

abuse power to do anything they want.

In conclusion, all Espada's poems make you realize that racism is a

Problem in this country and we need to make it stop.