Always Running

Luis and thousands of other Chicano-Americans attend a rally against the Vietnam war. It is held in an East L.A, and “signs and fists pierced the sky” (160) as the mostly young crowd expresses their anger regarding a war that has taken the lives of a disproportionate number of Latino soldiers. They march to Laguna Park, where they are confronted by police and an all-out riot begins. Luis is arrested and held for days in an adult jail, in the cell next to cult leader Charles Manson. He is eventually released.

Shortly after his stint in jail, Luis attends a church dance. There, he sees Viviana, his one-time date from the Fiesta Days carnival. They reconnect and begin to date, despite Viviana’s brothers being high-ranking members of the rival Sangra gang. She teaches Luis about poetry, and he marvels at how “her words clutched at some dark and secret place inside of me” (167). One night, they have sex for the first time, but Viviana bursts into tears afterwards and asks Luis to leave—in the following days, she refuses to see or speak to him. At another dance, he sees her kissing another boy.

At Mark Keppel High School, Luis and some of the members of the youth center meet with the school’s principal. They want to improve conditions for Chicano students, who are underrepresented in student government and advanced classes. Luis and his friends form an advocacy group called ToHMAS (To Help Mexican American Students) which focuses on “the issue of dignity for Chicano students” (174). The advisor, Ms. Baez, suggests that Luis audition to be the school mascot—Joe Aztec—a position usually held by white students. Ms. Baez considers this to be racist and appropriative, and she works with Luis and Esme, a female student, to learn a traditional Aztec dance. Luis and Esme win and become the school mascots.

The members of ToHMAS write and perform plays about gang violence and police brutality. When white students write racist slogans on the school walls, Luis and his friends decide to stage a walkout protesting the lack of a Chicano studies department and poor school facilities. In response, the school holds an assembly. The white and Chicano students debate and argue, and eventually, the school agrees to create a Chicano studies class.

At a Lomas party, a gang member named Rudy bursts in and says he was attacked by members of a local white bikers’ club. Luis and his friends go to the bikers’ hangout and begin tearing apart the fence. A “long-haired, leather-and-denim clad dude” (186) appears with a shotgun and begins firing at them. Luis and his friends flee. Luis obtains a rifle and goes back with a few others to the bikers’ house. Luis shoots one, but not fatally. They are caught by the police and “booked for assault with intent to commit murder” (187).