I am Joaquin /Yo Soy Joaquin “I am Joaquin” was written by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, a Chicano activist from Denver, Colorado in 1967. After a brief career as a professional boxer, Gonzales became a leading figure in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. In the poem, Joaquin (the narrator) speaks of the historical triumphs, struggles, and inherent contradictions experienced by Mexicans and Mexican Americans. He dedicated this poem to the younger generation of Mexican Americans. Yo soy Joaquin. I stand here looking back, I am Cuauhtémoc, proud and noble, And now I see the present, leader of men, king of an empire civilized And still I am a campesino, beyond the dreams of the gachupín Cortés, I am the fat political coyote– who also is the blood, the image of myself. I, Of the same name, I was part in blood and spirit of that Joaquín. courageous village priest Hidalgo who rang the bell of independence In a country that has wiped out and gave out that lasting cry-- All my history, El Grito de Dolores Stifled all my pride, "Que mueran los gachupines y que viva la In a country that has placed a Virgen de Guadalupe..." Different weight of indignity upon my age- I sentenced him who was me I old burdened back. excommunicated him, my blood. Inferiority is the new load . I am Joaquin. I look at myself I rode with Pancho Villa, And see part of me crude and warm, a tornado at full strength, Who rejects my father and my mother nourished and inspired by the passion and And dissolves into the melting pot the fire of all his earthy people. To disappear in shame. I ride with revolutionists against myself. La raza! Méjicano! I have been the bloody revolution, Español! The victor, Latino! The vanquished. Chicano! I have killed Or whatever I call myself, And been killed. I look the same I am the despots Díaz I feel the same And Huerta I cry And the apostle of democracy, And Francisco Madero. Sing the same. I rode east and north I am the masses of my people and As far as the Rocky Mountains, I refuse to be absorbed. And I am Joaquín. All men feared the guns of The odds are great Joaquín Murrieta. But my spirit is strong, I killed those men who dared My faith unbreakable, To steal my mine, My blood is pure. Who raped and killed my love I SHALL ENDURE! My wife. I WILL ENDURE! Then I killed to stay alive. .