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Vote! Damian Lopez Rodriguez died to become a citizen (video)
Damian Lopez Rodriguez was brought to the USA without documents as a child — you know, one of those rapists and narcos from Mexico Donald Trump is going to deport.
Damian loved his new country so much he enlisted in the Army when he turned 18. After he died in Iraq, he was granted posthumous citizenship by President George Bush. Damian’s dad has faith his son in Heaven is voting in this election. Are you?
RIP y QDEP: Ramón ‘Chunky’ Sanchez, pocho hero of San Diego
I was sad to hear that San Diego and Barrio Logan Chicano icon Ramón “Chunky” Sanchez passed away Friday at the age of 65.
Born in 1951 in Blythe, California, Chunky learned to play music from his family, and lived his childhood as a migrant farmworker. He left the farm he worked with his father soon after hearing the owner tell his dad that Chunky would make a great foreman when he was gone.
He decided to go to college, and eventually landed at San Diego State. Chunky and his brother Ricardo’s band Los Alacranes Mojados were a fixture when I was a MEChista at San Diego State; I can’t tell you how many events they played for us and for the entire movimiento.
Mas…RIP y QDEP: Ramón ‘Chunky’ Sanchez, pocho hero of San Diego
RIP Bobby Chacon, Pacoima’s World Champion (toon)
Former Super Featherweight and Featherweight World Boxing Champion Bobby Chacon died September 7. The Pacoima-born sensation was only 64 and suffered from boxing-induced dementia.
John Trudell, Native activist and poet, walks on (toon, video)
John Trudell, the activist, artist, actor, and poet who dedicated his life to Native American rights, land and language, walked on December 8. He was 69.
Mas…John Trudell, Native activist and poet, walks on (toon, video)
QDEP/RIP Jose Guerrero, El Maestro de Chicago (toon)
The Chicago Reader shared an excellent obituary of artist Jose Guerrero.
Reies Lopez Tejerina, One of the Chicano Movement’s Four Horsemen
Reies Lopez Tijerina? Read the obituary of this controversial activist by our friend Russ Contreras of Associated Press.
RIP Robin Williams aka Ramon the singing, dancing Mexipenguin (video)
There will never be another actor and comedian like Robin Williams, and there will never be another Ramon, the animated, singing, dancing Mexican penguin Williams brought to life in Happy Feet. Williams, 63, was pronounced dead at his home by first responders today in Tiburon, north of San Francisco.
Paco De Lucia: ‘Tico Tico’ (video)
Famed Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco De Lucia just shreds in this version of the classic Tico Tico. RIP.
Pete Seeger, audience sing ‘Guantanamera’ in Spanish (video)
The late Pete Seeger always got everyone in the audience to sing along for Guantanamera — in Spanish. (Editor’s Note: That’s why they call it folk music. It’s music you sing, not just music you hear.)
Seeger [‘s] intention [was] that [Guantanamera] be used by the peace movement at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. He urged that people sing the song as a symbol of unity between the American and Cuban peoples, and called for it to be sung in Spanish to “hasten the day [that] the USA… is some sort of bilingual country.”
RIP.
RIP: POCHO remembers our film critic, Cisco Yberra
As many of you may have read, POCHO’s beloved film critic, Cisco Yberra, passed away last week. We’ll miss him so much, and so will you when you check out some of the cinematic gems he brought to our attention when he was not dead:
And after Apollo 11? ‘Neil Armstrong: The Ohio Years’ (video)
After small-town Middle American Neil Armstrong returned from the Moon, life never was the same, even during The Ohio Years.
Lupe Ontiveros (1942-2012) RIP
Funny and talented Mexican-American actress Lupe Ontiveros passed away last night in Whittier, CA. Lupe was an accomplished actress and community activist and will be missed.
Born in El Paso, TX on Sept. 17, 1942, she appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Selena, Real Women Have Curves, Southland, Desperate Housewives, Rob, Family Guy and many more.
Always ready to crack an off-color joke, Lupe was genial and hilarious and also brutally honest about her time in Hollywood.
La Chata’s Music Box: Rest in Power Beastie Boy Adam Yauch AKA MCA
RIP Adam Yauch AKA MCA. May the Fourth be with you in your next life. Cancer got the better of you but you always fought for your Right to Party!
You want the half-hour extended version NSFW video? We got it right here!
Mas…La Chata’s Music Box: Rest in Power Beastie Boy Adam Yauch AKA MCA
My cartoon tribute to Whitney Houston
Upon hearing the sad news of the sudden death of Whitney Houston, I knew I had to draw something to mark this tragic passing. Please share this page if you enjoy my simple cartoon tribute.