Martin Espada

The three poems by Martin Espada “The new bathroom policy”, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, and “Two Mexicanos” all explore the theme of racism. In each poem something is taken away from Hispanics by Americans. All three poems express the hardships of being Hispanic through different experiences.

The first poem is called “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”. It goes “The boys chatter Spanish...while the principal listens...the only word he recognizes is his own name...so he decides to ban Spanish. Now he can relax.” This poem explores the theme of racism in simple, everyday life-a non Hispanic principal believes that he is more entitled to comfort then the boys are to their language. This shows how white people believe that their own well being is more important than people of color’s. The principal knew that there was a chance that what they were saying was bad, so he completely took away their rights of expression. This was extremely unjust, and shows how white people believe they are more entitled to their rights then minorities.

The second poem is called “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”. It goes “Whenever my name is mispronounced I want to hijack a bus of Republican tourists...and force them to chant anti American slogans in Spanish. The Americans are stripping him of his identity and importance by mispronouncing his name, and it makes him angry enough to want to threaten and punish them. He also wants to teach them how it feels to hear their culture being criticized, (wanting to teach them “anti-American slogans”). This shows how furious it makes him to hear his identity be dismissed by people who believe they are better than him. He presents the issue this way because it may seem like a trivial thing, but being stripped of his identity is a big deal for him.

The last poem is called “Two Mexicanos lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877.” It is about the lynching of two Mexicanos by Americans who then took a photograph of themselves behind the men. This poem shows how the Americans dismissed the lives of the two men very easily. It says that they “cheered the rope” that killed them. They did not care that they were taking the lives of the two men. It also says that they were “all crowding into the photograph”. They were not ashamed of the cruel act that they committed, and they even took a picture of it. This poem is about how the lives of people of color matter very little to white people, and they are not at all ashamed to kill them.

All three of these poems show racism. Some of it is seemingly small and unimportant, and some is life threatening. Martin Espada expressed the hardships of being Hispanic through all of these poems, and he showed all the things you can lose because of your identity. As a reader, I have learned to never diminish someones identity because I can’t understand it.