Antonio Fernandez

Antonio Fernandez                                                                                                                7-29-14

            Martin Espada is the poet for the three poems "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," "New Bathroom Policy at New English High School," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877." These poems make the reader think about racism, abuse of power, and discrimination. Espada does this by referring to real life situations.

            The poem "The New Bathroom Policy at New English High School" makes the reader think about abuse of power. For example, the principal in the poem decided to ban Spanish from the bathrooms because he heard his name and this made him afraid. By taking away the Spanish language he took away the student's voice. This teaches us as readers that there are people in the world that may not be able to speak for themselves and we have to help them.

            In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" the reader is asked to think about racism. We think about racism because in the text it says "Whenever my name is mispronounced…I want to…highjack a busload of…tourists." The speaker of the poem says this because he had a fantasy of what he would do if people kept mispronouncing his name and some people may not think it's a big deal but it is, because your name represents your culture. This teaches us that there is racism in the world still.

            In Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" the reader is asked to think about discrimination. We think about discrimination because in the text it says "Forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos." He describes the lynching.  The thing that bothered Espada the most is what he writes about in the last stanza, "Remain the faces of the lynching party."  They gathered each other so they can take a picture in celebration and they were all smiling. This teaches us that the gringos got away with discrimination because if they were to do that a white person they would be in trouble because the law didn't care about the Latinos.

            In conclusion, Espada makes the reader think about racism, abuse of power, and discrimination. It makes us think about other people who can't stand up for themselves.

Jessica Arias

     The poems "Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "The New Bathroom Policy at English High School" by Latino poet, Martin Espada, are all about the same issue because they are talking about the discrimination of Latinos.

     The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about how kids don't know how to defend themselves. An example from the text that makes me think this is, the boys speak Spanish in the bathroom while the principal listens from his stall. He hears his name and this upsets him, so he bans Spanish. This is wrong because he is only thinking of himself and he is not thinking of his students. This teaches the reader that the kids need to know how defend themselves or if they can't, people should speak up for them.                                                                                                                                        In Espada's poem" Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," the reader is asked to think about how someone is disrespected and it makes them feel upset. We think about disrespect because in the text is makes us think that he feels frustrated when people mispronounced his name and he dreams about doing something drastic that will make them see him and understand. This teaches the reader that there are people that do that purpose and they like to make fun of you and disrespect you and it's not okay to do that.                                                                                Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" makes the reader think about how the two Mexicanos were being violated by the forty gringo vigilantes. We think about this because in the poem it says that the "gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped the Two Mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of the broken necks." The vigilantes do this because they think it's their right to give a punishment to the men without a trial.

These poems by Espada are all the same issue because they are talking about the discrimination of the Latinos. It also makes the reader think that they should stand up and speak up for what's right.

Juan Matlala

In Martin Espada's poems  "Revolutionary Spanish lesson," "The New Bathroom Policy at English high school," and "Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877," he makes the reader think about abuse of power, and racism because hHhe shows the reader different examples of racism and abuse of power against Latinos.

            The poem "New Bathroom policy at English High School" makes the reader think about abusive power. An example of the text that makes me think this is, "The only word he recognizes is his own name/ so he decides to ban Spanish."  This is wrong because the students are talking Spanish and the only word he understands is his name. He doesn't find out if they were talking good about him. He just bans Spanish.  This shows the idea of abusive power. This makes the reader understand that some people should not be given power.     

      Martin Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" makes me think that about people abusing their power because in the text it says "When someone mispronounces my name… I want to…hijack a busload of Republican tourists from Wisconsin." He wants to do this because he wants the average American to respect his culture and when people mispronounce his name he feels disrespected. We don't think he wants to actually want to do that but this shows an exaggeration of his frustration.

            Espada`s poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877" makes me think about racism. We think about this because two Mexicans were hung just because they were Mexicans. They were taken from the jail and they weren't given a fair trial and were lynched this makes the reader think that everybody should receive the same treatment no matter what race they are.

            In conclusion these three poems by Martin Espada make the reader think that there is a lot of racism, and abuse of power in the world. And we the readers should stand up for those abused.

Esther Morales

The poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,"                 "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" are by Latino poet Martin Espada. In the three poems, the reader understands that the discrimination and racism are the basis faced discrimination a long time also as well as in the present.

The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School"                                                                             This teaches the reader that it is not fair to take something away that you are born to do. If somebody had banned Spanish from me, I would feel discriminated.  The principal over hard two students in the bathroom talking in Spanish, and one word he could make out was his name. He assumed that they were talking badly about him so he banned Spanish in the bathroom.

 In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," the reader is asked to think about,         how people don't like to be disrespected. I think that the boy's name means something to him that he gets mad when someone mispronounced his name. In the text it say's "I want to buy a toy pistol,… put on dark sunglasses." He wants to make people pronouncing his name pay attention. This shows he doesn't like anybody disrespecting him.

Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" makes the reader think about,                                                    how people still get treated different today even though this happened in 1877. We think about this because in the poem is say's that snapped the neck of two Mexicanos and then they crowded around the two bodies and took a photo. This teaches us that racism is a serious problem in this world.

In conclusion, the poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3,1877, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, and New Bathroom Policy at     High School." All illustrate ignorance of the more fortunate poorly affecting another, less fortunate group (in this case Latinos.) Overall, exploring and analyzing these emotional poems made one better understand bigotry and racial hatred while these poems may seem mocking and irate, they help inspire the reader.

 

Kevin Torres

Martin Espada's poems "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877," all have the theme of racism against Hispanic people.

            The poem "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school" makes the reader think about how the principal is being racist and scared because he hears his name and that's the only think he understands. "So this constipates him" meaning this upsets him. What he does to solve the problem is to ban Spanish from the bathrooms. I think the principal acted like that was because he was scared because he didn't speak Spanish. This teaches me that some people use their power instead of talking to the person.

            In Espada's poem, "Revolution Spanish Lesson" he makes the reader thinks about kidnapping a bus load of Republican tourists. This makes me think the narrator is mad because his name was mispronounced. He begins the poem with "Whenever my name is mispronounced" and then he fantasy kidnapping the people that mispronounced his name.  The narrator just wants to feel as equal has everyone else.

            Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877" makes the reader think that Santa Cruz was a racist place. I say this because in the poem it said" When forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of broken necks." They did this because they thought that it was the right thing to do. It was not right because they did deserve civil rights. Instead they were killed without a trail. The other things  the vigilante do is they take a picture with the corpses hanging.  This is very disrespectful.  This shows the reader that every one's rights should be protected.   

In conclusion Espada's three poems are about the Hispanic people that did not have the same rights as other people. What I have learned for these three poems is that you should stand up for people that don't have a voice for themselves.

Hashan Azon                                                                                                                July 28, 2014

 

            In Martin Espada's poems "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877," Espada introduces us to the theme of people abusing their power.

            The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about how people react when they encounter their fears. The boys are in the bathroom speaking to one another while the principal was listening in his stall.   They say his name and the principal assumes that they are speaking about him. The principal then "decides to ban Spanish from the bathrooms," because he doesn't understand the language and he is scared that the might be judging him. This makes me angry because that is not fair to the boys, even if they were speaking about him they have a right to freedom of speech. This is against their constitutional rights and is an abuse of power. The principal should have just walked away back to his office and not even cared about what the boys said.

            In Espada's poem, "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" he makes the reader think about how people get offended when somebody disrespects their culture. An example from the text that makes me think this is, "When someone mispronounces my name I want to hijack a busload of republican tourists from Wisconsin, and force them to chant anti-American slogans in Spanish." Espada fantasizes about doing this to cause people to respect him and respect his culture as well. This teaches the reader that Espada hates it when his culture is disrespected. He wants the reader to pay attention to this.

            Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz" makes the reader think about how unjust people can be. An example from the text is "remain the faces of the lynching party: faded as pennies from 1877, a few stunned in the blur of execution, a high-collar boy smirking, some peering from the shade of bowler hats, but all crowding into the photograph." I think that what upsets Espada the most is that these gringos are crowding in to take a photograph with the lynched Mexicanos. This shows the reader that the gringos don't care about the mexicanos, they treat them like animals like if they weren't human beings, and this also shows that they don't care about the mexicanos culture because that is inconsiderate that they are taking a photograph with dead people.

            In Conclusion, Espada's poems "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz" share the same theme. Espada makes us think about how many people abuse their power. I think that people should stand up to people like this, who abuse their power.

Zachariah Cuyuch

The "New Bathroom Policy at English High School", "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," " Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877" by Martin Espada are about one problem. He has a problem with the way Spanish people have been treated. They haven't had the same equal rights as other people. He is trying to make a case and allow them to feel free and be like everybody else.

 

 

The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about how people react when they face their fears. When people face their fears they start panicking and think about the worse. They don't want the worse to happen so they start to do things that can prevent them from happening.  The principal at this high school was using the bathroom and he heard his name used in one of the kid's conversation.  He didn't understand because they were speaking in Spanish.  So he decides to ban Spanish from the bathroom. It was wrong because in the constitution it doesn't say that you are able to take away or to banish a language from any area. This poem was inspired by an actual event.  Martin Espada went to the high school to suggest the principal read the constitution. The principal had to allow the kids to speak Spanish again.

 

 

Martin Espada in "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" is about how he hates when people mispronounce his name because he feels like they are insulting him.  He feels like hijacking a bunch of Republicans in a bus and just a big news headline. He feels offended.  Espada feels like that people don't pronounce name right because they don't care how people feel and they could care less.  It looks bad because it looks like people don't care how Spanish people feel. Society is so screwed up. Nobody treats each other with respect.  That is why there is so much violence.

 

Martin Espada's view on the "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz California, May 3, 1877" is that are own people should not be treated this way.  The vigilantes did not allow them to have a fair trial. They took them out the jail and took matters into their own hands. The Vigilantes did not care so according to the events this poem is based on; they gave them a shot of whisky and hung them. What made it worse they took a picture celebrating.

 

The conclusion is that Martin Espada was trying to prove a point that Hispanic people are not treated equally. I know where he is coming from. All races should be treated equally and with tons of respect. Even to all religions, nobody should be bothered and treated differently because of beliefs.