The Justice of Disregarding (Martin Espada Essay)

                  There are multiple ways to convey justice; for Martin Espada its writing poems. Martin Espada is Latino poet who writes political justice poems. He bases his poems on what he has seen and has heard. He has delightful way of bringing justice to Latino community through his poems. Some of his poems, like The New Bathroom Policy at English High School, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson and Two Mexicans Lynched… has the reader how disregard on anyone’s part can affect others near and far.

                     The poem The New Bathroom Policy… is about how a principal sets a new policy that demands no one speaks Spanish in the bathrooms.  This happens when he catches students talking about him in Spanish.  For example, “…this constipates him/ so he decides/ to ban Spanish in the bathroom” That policy is absurd because just because he is worried that student talk about does not mean he gets to take away a way for them to communicate. Spanish may just be the language that the students are comfortable with. Because the principal was neglecting and used his power to make life easier for himself, many students have now lost their voices because of it. This poem portrays that disregard can affect the way people are, part and whole. 

                      The poem Revolutionary Spanish Lesson is about person’s thoughts when they hear their name being mispronounced. For example, he wants to “…hijack a busload/ of Republican tourists/ from Wisconsin.” This is witty because when one thinks of Republicans, stereo-typically they think of a state like Wisconsin. And (stereo-typically speaking) people from Wisconsin probably won’t care about how someone else’s name is pronounced; they’ll just say it the way they think it’s pronounced. It also shows that people are ignorant of how others feel about themselves. The slight of a person really brings down their self esteem. This poem depicts how disregard can really change who a person is, mentally and emotionally.

                        The poem Two Mexicanos Lynched is about gringos taking matters into their own hands and killing Mexicans. The gringos in the end are “crowding into a photograph.” This is beyond not noticing. This is just evil. These Gringos thought they were vigilantes, they thought they were justice, and they thought they handled the law. They thought killing someone was something to be boastful of. This prejudice against Mexicans is infinity times beyond sick. To hand by their neck and the worst things is this had been done numerous times before that they had slaughter house. This is the ignorance and the worst kind of ignorance… because this kind of disregard can’t differ between right and wrong.

                  

                     Disregard means lack of noticing and full of neglecting. Which means the principal was being disregarding other’s feelings and their voice. The Republicans from Wisconsin may just disregard culture and variety in race, languages and pronunciations. The gringos went all out in Santa Cruz, California in 1877 and went and murdered several Mexicans. These are forms of bullying. It happened in 1877 and it’s happening now. Whether it’s of religion, culture, race, height, etc.  Whatever the case, bullies need to feel better about them selves by disregarding how they've treated others. This can be stopped. If one doesn't let a bully hurt, who can? An option is to write political justice poems, that how Martin Espada probably cools down. After all, he is the one who said “Even the most political poem is an act of faith.” Test your faith by fighting back and regarding what is significant to your life.