A Poem for Teachers

Inspiration from Literary Vato Loco Joe Navarro

Photo: Bruno Casonato, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

In 2002 I went to Colombia with Witness for Peace, to learn and return to build solidarity with the Colombian labor movement, whose members were being assassinated in large numbers by right-wing paramilitaries. Our group met first in Miami for a day of “discernment” to determine if you were serious about the trip and if Witness was confident you would be disciplined during the travel. They asked us to write a letter to our families that they would deliver only if we didn’t come back. Over the top, but this was Witness’s first trip to this civil war torn country. Two people were sent home. When we explained what brought us to this moment, two-thirds of the group cited a key influence: a teacher.

In Colombia we learned teachers suffered more deaths than any other union, by far. Each night, after meeting with the Colombian military or the US embassy or the families of murdered activists from unions and women’s and Afro-Colombian groups, we came together for de-briefing and emotional support. Most people offered from their religious tradition. I only had with me a battered, sweat-stained pamphlet of offerings called Ambidextrous (In Two Languages) from my favorite poet, who I regard as the poet laureate of the Chicano people, Joe Navarro. Joe’s poetry sustained me, as I pored over the book again and again, during a brutally emotional trip. I thought of this poem from Ambidextrous as school starts again and educators return to their students and their union activity.

Thanks, Joe. Get your revenge.

—Jeff Crosby

I Got My Revenge

by Joe Navarro

I found a way
To get back
At those suckers,
Those peddlers
Of brown ignorance,
Those profiteers
Of class exploitation

I showed them;
Those who would
Sacrifice poor people
And dark people
To the cycles
Of poverty

I beat them
With my pride
I struck against
Mighty institutions
With the brute force
Of intelligence

They kicked me out
And tried to
Kick me down
Hoping to leave me
In the darkness
Of social madness,
But I found light
Anyway

I got my revenge
Me, this pushed out,
Locked out
Target of cultural genocide;
I got my revenge
...By becoming
A teacher

Joe Navarro is a Literary Vato Loco, creative writer, teacher, parent, grandparent and has been an activist for human rights, political rights, and social justice. His writing is inspired by people’s struggles for human dignity, familia, democracy, peace, and preserving our Mother Earth. He has authored seven chapbooks of poetry and has been included in eight literary anthologies and journals, including three educational publications. Joe can be reached at poetajoe@yahoo.com.