Last Friday my parents came to visit and took me camping. On our way to northern Arizona, we stopped in Mesa, near Phoenix, to spend some time with some old social justice activist friends of theirs. We met them almost 20 years ago at Holden Village, a secluded Lutheran retreat center that has hosts workshops, speakers, arts and crafts fairs, etc. during summers. (The chaplain there that summer actually happened to live in Tucson for awhile hosting Salvadoran refugees!)
The friends, artists Carmen and Zarco Guerrero, took us to a local Mexican restaurant owned by some friends of theirs and filled us in on their incredible lives (as well as sang some well-known Spanish songs along with the restaurant owners). Carmen was born in Brazil but moved to the United States to escape imprisonment and violence when she was about my age (she’d already been imprisoned a couple of times). Zarco, a Mexican-American, was born in Arizona…and so were his ancestors, “back when this was Mexico.” In Carmen’s words, “we didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us!” This makes it especially ironic that Russell Pearce, who actually grew up in the same neighborhood as Zarco, called him a “dirty Mexican” when they were both young boys. How many generations have the Pearces lived in Arizona?
Carmen and Zarco met in an indigenous village in Mexico when they were in their mid-20s. Zarco was a mask-maker, visual artist, and community arts advocate and Carmen was a photographer and classically trained pianist (and Oberlin graduate!). They shared with and taught each other their passions (Carmen taught Zarco how to play guitar, etc.) and started performing music together. The couple, along with their three now-grown and also musically skilled children, have traveled/lived and performed in Mexico, Brazil, Bali, Japan, and Indonesia, among other countries around the world.
These days, their eldest Quetzal is living in Los Angeles teaching capoeira and making music (he’s produced at least one album). He was in the top 100 finalists for American Idol several years ago and has appeared onstage with Tito Puente. Carmen describes him as their “Native American” son – she says each child has claimed an identity. Tizoc, their middle child, is the “Brazilian,” and always prefers speaking Portuguese over Spanish. Zarina, their youngest, is their “Mexican princess,” who begged for a quinciñera. She is currently studying Justice Studies at Arizona State.
To get an even better idea of their life, I read an article they showed me in the December 2004 edition of Latino Perspectives. The article is titled “Los Guerreros: Art & Activism. Family advocates change through music and art.” It says the family “routinely uses its talents when addressing political and social issues through art and activism,” and quotes Carmen stating “Art is a vehicle for social activism.” She hopes for her family to be a role model for Latino families and encourages others to express their culture. “Culture isn’t something we hoard. It’s something we share.”
The Guerrero family has created Día de los Muertos altars to commemorate the immigrant lives lost while crossing the border as well as border agents killed in the line of duty. (This was actually the first piece of art we encountered upon entering their home.) They are involved in calling attention to violence and staging protests, and have a myriad of Jan Brewer masks and masks of other politicians and often bring them to protests (“protest art”).
Carmen has been involved with the Mesa Community Action Network, which provides technical assistance to community groups, and the Comite de Familia en Acción, which is made up of low-income families focused on improving their neighborhood. She ran for the School Board one year and received accusations that she was a foreigner running for public office. She was the only candidate with a Latino name and rumors were spread that she was not a US citizen (despite having been one since 1992).
Carmen also used to lead excursions to various Latin American countries. One of her own stories (not in the article) is when she brought some people from the Navajo nation to meet indigenous tribes in the Amazon. She told me how shocked the Amazon people were at how different the Navajo people looked from them and how obese they were, and she had to try to explain to them that the Navajo weren’t eating foods meant for their bodies. The obesity epidemic among the indigenous people of the United States is just one example of how oppressed and trapped they still are.
One story Zarco shared is that he and Carmen have had two other children living with them on and off the past ten years. Two friends of Tizoc’s came home with him one day after school, in junior high, and essentially started living there. In their late teens, one ended up being arrested for getting into a fight. After Zarco bailed him out of jail, the black teen told him “Dad, the only people in prison are blacks and Mexicans!” …The harsh reality of our justice system.
Last random fact I learned? Dom Helder Camara, author of the famous quote “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist” was a Brazilian archbishop and actually wed Carmen’s parents!
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