Roberto Cintli Rodríguez is a columnist, author, and academic of Mexican American Studies at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. On March 23, 1979, Rodriguez was taking photos on the corner of

Whittier Boulevard Whittier Boulevard known as Stephenson Avenue (before 1920) is an arterial street that runs from the Los Angeles River (where it continues into Downtown Los Angeles as 6th Street) to Brea, California. The street is one of the main thoroughfares i ...

and McDonnell Avenue in

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

for ''Lowrider Magazine'' and captured the assault of an innocent man by members of the

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States ...

. The last photo Rodriguez took was of a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

pointing directly at him. Soon after, the officers attacked him, confiscated his camera and film, and beat him so badly that he spent three days in the

Los Angeles County Hospital Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, also known as County/USC, or by the abbreviation LAC+USC (and sometimes still referred to by its former name Los Angeles County General), is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located at 2051 Marengo Street in ...

. While preparing to leave the hospital, Rodriguez was placed under arrest for allegedly assaulting the officers with a "deadly weapon." Rodriguez suffered from

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats o ...

and lost the ability to dream in the aftermath of the incident. From 1979 to 1986, Rodriguez sought justice in court for this incident, which involved two trials and eventually won his case. Rodriguez reported that he began to dream again 20 years following the event after drinking from a

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The fatal shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 inspired Rodriguez to retell his story and provide a platform for the stories of others who have suffered police brutality in ''Yolqui, a Warrior Summoned from the Spirit World: Testimonios on Violence'' (2019). Rodriguez supported students and spoke out at

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...

s, governing board meetings, and other public hearings against the passing of Arizona House Bill 2281 led by

Tom Horne Thomas Charles Horne (born March 28, 1945) is an American attorney, politician, and Republican activist who served as the 25th Attorney General of Arizona from 2011 to 2015. Horne lost to Mark Brnovich in the Republican primary for Attorney Gene ...

, which banned the Mexican American Studies Department Programs and banned and confiscated books on

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

history, critical race theory, and

decoloniality Decoloniality ( es, decolonialidad) is a school of thought used principally by an emerging Latin American movement which focuses on untangling the production of knowledge from a primarily Eurocentric episteme. It critiques the perceived universali ...

in the

Tucson Unified School District Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) is the largest school district of Tucson, Arizona, in terms of enrollment. Dr. Gabriel Trujillo is the superintendent, appointed on September 12, 2017 by the Governing Board. As of 2016, TUSD had more than ...

. He was arrested with local high school and college students the day the anti-Mexican-American studies legislation was signed into law. In response, Rodriguez stated that the ban was evidence that only "Greco-Roman Knowledge" was allowed in Arizona Schools and "that

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

and

Indigenous knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Orga ...

" have been "outlawed once again." Rodriguez was attacked by the far-right for his vocal support of the Mexican American Studies Department Programs, which included a threat on his life. Rodríguez worked for over ten years with colleague

Patrisia Gonzales Patrisia Gonzales is a traditional healer/midwife and professor of Mexican American Studies and American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. Gonzales is a granddaughter of Kickapoo, Comanche, and Macehual peoples who migrated throughout t ...

on a syndicated column entitled "Column of the Americas" and have many joint publications together. Their work was jointly celebrated in 2014. Gonzales also authored the foreword of Rodríguez's 2019 book.

Publications

Articles

* "History of Red-Brown Journalism and Communications: Or the Art of Story-Telling," ''Revista canaria de estudios ingleses'', 2011, 62 * "Arizona Criminalizes Indigenous Knowledge," ''Wíčazo Ša Review'', 2013, 28(1) * "'If There is No Struggle, There is No Progress': Transformative Youth Activism and the School of Ethnic Studies," ''The Urban Review'', 2013, 45(1)

Books

* ''Justice: A Question of Race'' (Bilingual Review Press, 1997) * ''Our Sacred Maíz Is Our Mother: Indigeneity and Belonging in the Americas'' (University of Arizona Press, 2014) * ''Yolqui: A warrior summonsed from the spirit world'' (University of Arizona Press, 2019)

Lectures

*
Mexico, the Revolution and Beyond: The Mexican Revolution: 1810, 1910, 2010?
(Arizona State Museum, 2009)

Poems

* "That Indian Man You See On The Hospital Bed," in ''Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice'' (University of Arizona Press, 2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Roberto Cintli American academics of Mexican descent American writers of Mexican descent Chicano Ethnic studies Year of birth missing (living people) Living people