Vulnerable praxis: Memory, latino manhood, and social justice

Abstract

Drawing from collaborative testimonios, the authors explore their identities via three themes: memory, Latino manhood, and social justice. Within these themes, the focus is on various dynamics that are situated within the authors’ experiences as working-class males of color that grew up in urban spaces. Their journeys are bicoastal, as one of the authors is from the New York/New Jersey area and the other draws from his experiences on the west coast (Los Angeles, CA) of the United States. Also, the authors use music: As barrio kids, now at middle age, they have long used music to narrate, hope, change paths, and challenge violent systemic realities. As such, they use the music of Chicano Batman and Manu Chao as inspiring resources to guide our testimonios. This selection process emerged from conversations about the role of music in their lives and the desire to “riff” and experiment while writing and attending to the aforementioned themes. In the streets of New Jersey and New York as well as Los Angeles, CA, music was a mentor and confidant. It still is. They experiment in this abstract and as such ask that the reader consider listening to the music that guides them as they encounter these words or maybe listen to the selected songs. In this sense, a multimedia community and connection are forged; in this sense, this chapter, this chapter, comes through in its “truest” sense. They are still writing, and the reader means everything to them. Thank you.