Orales pues, carnalas y carnales. Oigan la torica de un vato chuco who knows about the whys and the wherefores, and, especially, about los tiempos del pasado. I grew up in a 1940s barrio, donde los vatos y las hainas se curaban de todos los desmadres que habia en aquellos tempos de verano – en aquellos tiempos tiernos. Soft summer breeze whizzing through adobe-bred self-same streets with such names as Rivera, Estrella, Pera, Alameda y otros nombres de Guerra en la ciudad llamada El Chuco, Tedejaztlan – or, otherwise known as El Paso, Texas.
Nosotros eramos algo nuevo en la cara de la sociedad. Guacha. We knew we existed, and we knew who we were. We were pachucos, controlando los barrios de nuestra juventud. Tirando chingasos con otros bueyes de otros barrios – como el barrio San Juan, La Lincoln, La Roca, La Finley, Los del Diablo Territory, Los X-2s, Los Catorces, o contra otros vatos locos. Tirabamos chingasos, simon, porque eso era nuestra fuerza. Eso era el poder que teniamos.
Que mas teniamos? No teniamos ni madre. We had each other and we had tradition. We were proud to be Chicanos, we were proud that our jefitos, abuelos, and, sometimes, las abuelas, had been involved in Pancho Villa’s ragtag troop of guerreros that dominated an entire nation. We were proud that Villa had invaded Columbus, NM – curense – Villa, up to that time, led the only force that has ever invaded los Estados Unidos.
Eramos orgullosos de amadre, because we knew we were Mexicans. We were evan a little blood-thirsty in our path to forge our own roads. Nos chorreaba el gallo que corria por la nareta de algun cabron. Nos gustaba cuando se le caia el canton a un buey que se creia vuti chignon. That was our force, our power. No pediamos disculpas, porque asi eramos todos nosotros – los vatos locos del Chuco, toriqueando fuerte y abusando desmadres contra la sociedad, hasta contra los de nuestra misma raza. No es que nos creiamos chingones, es que si eramos chingones.
Y toda la gente lo sabia – la raza capeaba la onda. Nos guachaban con ojos como que estaban caldeados, pero, ala brava, estaban escamados. Nos tenian miedo, porque nosotros cargabamos fileros, cuetes, y teniamos manos de piedra. Y no le teniamos argolla a ningun buey, ni a nunguna ruca. Lo que nosotros deciamos, eso era lo que se respetaba – y que?
El barrio, en esos tiempos de Otono, era diferente al barrio de ahora. Nosotros respetabamos a la gente, carnalitos y carnalitas. Nos tirabamos punalazos entre nosotros mismos, pero nunca contra ninos, ni contra los ruquitos. Ellos eran civilians, you know? We respected them, even though they didn’t respect us. To them, we were “puros mitoteros.” That is to say, to them we were scandalous scoundrels scrutinizing the barrio for raza hits. But did we care? Hell no!
En esos tiempos, sabiamos contra quien eran las guerras. Eran contra nosotros mismos. Y el mas chignon, el que tenia mas huevos, era el que ganaba, y el que se avientaba su torica suelta, confundiendo a toda la gente, porque era una torica inteligente. Aunque la gente no lo guachaba asi. Para la gente, no hablabamos Ingles, ni Espanol. Mas bien, para ellos, eramos mudos, porque no capeaban la onda de nuestra torica. “Ay, esos Pachucos que no saben ni hablar ni ingles, ni espanol,” decia la gente. But, we knew, man. We knew that our torica was different, and that it was powerful. It was a secret language – una lengua secreta that only we understood, and we flaunted that knowledge.
Pos eramos Chicanos, vato, you know? Los gabachos nos decian que no eramos gabachos, y la gente Mexicana decia que no eramos Mexicanos. Asi es que, nosotros hicimos algo de lo que no eramos. Juntamos los dos idiomas, y we created a third-world sort of torica that took the nation by storm. We created and introduced new words into the lexicon of American society. Pachucano became the tongue of the outcasts, of the feared, of the dregs of society. But, we knew things that others didn’t. No, we weren’t completely Mexican, and we weren’t totally accepted as American. But, we understood that we were unique. We had a third side to ourselves which only we recognized and understood. Eramos Chicanos – no eramos hyphenated Americans, ala Mexican-American. Y tambien eramos Pachucos at a time when Pachucos were the scourge of the earth, and a bane on the flat-tops of straight society.
Pachucano era la torica de nosotros, y componiamos palabras en el aire. Muchas veces componiamos una palabra, pensando que era pachucana la palabra, pero al recle nos fijabamos que era palabra comun en espanol. But, we also created new words by combining the two idioms. Words flowed from our mouths to confuse and confound the nonbelievers. Such words as yaquira – for jacket; tirar rol, or tirar bonque – for, to sleep; trocka – for truck; brekas – for brakes; hielera – for fridge; Aliviane or alivianar- for to help; ponte trucha – which means to watch out; lavar truchas – for washing dishes; curadas – for kicks, and sundry other words and/or expressions which were created through out own ingenuity.
Of course, that’s not to say that we were perceived as innovators by la gente escuadra. Al contrario, los persiguientes de la Real Academia se ahuitaban con nosotros porque – segun a ellos – estabamos hechando a perder el Espanol de los Santos Reyes. Pero nosotros nos curabamos, y seguiamos toriqueando en Pachucano. Y ni crean que nos escamaba el coraje que nos tenian. Ni madre, nos hacia sentirnos mas poderosos, mas seguros that we were on the right track, that we were innovators and creators of a new, powerful linguistic force. We Pachucos were fighting the system from the very beginning.
Not only did we not succumb to pressure for us to change, but we created a totally new persona – the Chicano - one which is today gaining new-found respect. Pachucos were the precursors of everything that is happening in Chicano-USA today. You can have your Ricky Martins and your Enrique Iglesias’, they are only followers of the road that was laid by Pachucos in the USA. I’ll take the Chucos with such names as El Diablo, el Davichi, el Pinguino, el Monchis, el Rafas, el Ramas, la Calabera, el Vivoron, el Tigre, el Pichon, el Chendo, el Grifon – and all the other Pachucos who once populated and, to a great extent, still populate the barrios of America. Sirol, carnalitos y carnalitas, the Pachuco led the true Chicano explosion on the world scene. Orale!
Sin Fin
