from Emanuel Xavier, Nuyorican poet and activist

[reposted from myspace bulletin]

Feb 13, 2008 1:58 PM
Subject: RAUL SALINAS 1934-2008
Body: I've been resisting this posting until something more official was released but the tributes and outpourings have already started popping up all over cyberspace.

I share this simply because I want all of my friends and fans to be aware of this wonderful and incredible talent that paved the path for all of us Latino/a poets and activists. He was an inspiration for me and so many others. I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to meet this remarkable individual on several occasions and share in his struggle to give voice to our experiences. He was like a father to many of us. I would like to share more about how he touched my life but, for now, I leave you with a brief bio from his own website.

There will be more to come.

Bless you, my spiritual brother . . . you were truly an original.



RAUL SALINAS

1934-2008

Raúl Salinas was a literary luminary who shared podiums and microphones with giants such as Miguel Piñero, Pedro Pietri, Oscar Zeta Acosta, John Trudell, Jose Montoya, Ernesto Cardenal and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, among many others. Salinas was also a tireless crusader for human rights and social justice, as reflected in his work with the American Indian Movement and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee and his writing clinics for at-risk youth in countless juvenile detention facilities and community centers nationwide.

Author of several poetry collections, "Viaje/Trip" (chapbook), "East of the Freeway," and "Un Trip Through The Mind Jail," "Indio Trails: A Xicano Odyssey through Indian Country" (Wings Press) as well as two spoken word CD's, "Los Many Mundos of Raúl Salinas: Un Poetic Jazz Viaje con Friends" (Calaca Press/Red Salmon Press) and "Beyond the BEATen Path" (Red Salmon Press). His literary work has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals. He was also an adjunct professor at St. Edwards University, Austin, Texas.

In 2002, Raúl Salinas was the recipient of the Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award presented on behalf of La Causa student group at Amherst College, Mass. and The Dark Souls Collective. In March 2003, he was honored with the Martin Luther, Jr., César Chavez, Rosa Parks Visiting Professorship Award given by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Born in Texas on March 17th, 1934, Raul Salinas was one of the few remaining poetic voices from a special circle of writers that includes Jose Antonio Burciaga, Ricardo Sanchez, Piñero and the recently passed Pietri. A people's poet who dubbed himself, effacingly, the "cockroach poet," Salinas traveled the globe as a representative of indigenous philosophies and revolutionary-humanist ideologies. Through it all, he remained faithful to the word as a curative, a restorative magic to be used for healing and redemption.

For the last several decades he mentored aspiring writers, both in and out of his humble shop in Austin, Texas, Resistencia Bookstore.

(Edited from an article by Alejo Sierra)