Martin Espada, a renowned Latino poet, artfully speaks of abuse of power in three of his poems, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877.” These pieces of work explore the emotions and thought surrounding injustices in the world and connect them with the idea of power imbalance. He tries to show us the problems many people face and open our eyes to the hardships others are forced to endure.
In Espada’s poem “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” he describes a school in which the speaking of spanish is prohibited. This poem as based off of a real school he visited. In particular, the quote “The only word he recognizes is his own name/ and this constipates him/ so he decides/ to ban spanish/ from the bathrooms/ now he can relax” shows blatant abuse of power. The principal, in a position of power, chooses to use this power in a negative way. He discriminates against others because their actions make him feel uncomfortable. His “constipation” is his ego being threatened by something he can’t understand, Spanish. He uses his power, injustly, to stop this.
In the poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” Espada writes from a speaker’s point of view who describes hijacking a bus of white Republican tourists and force them to chant anti-American slogans in Spanish. This person says “Whenever my name is mispronounced/ I want to/...force them to chant/ anti-American slogans/ in Spanish.”
The speaker does not likely literally mean this, rather, he wants to turn the tables briefly on the Americans who have oppressed and held back his people with their abuse of power for so long. When he says he wants to “..wait/ for the bilingual SWAT team/ to helicopter overhead/ begging me/ to be reasonable,” he expresses his anger and frustration at how the Americans would treat him as a terrorist, continuing to hold him back with their power.
Espada’s poem “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” is centered around a speaker who reflects over the killing of two Mexicans by a mob of power-abusing white people. This piece of work also focuses in on how the event impacted others, and in what way. The speaker delves into what the lynching means for other Mexicans. The quote “...Snapped two Mexicanos/ into the grimacing sleep of broken necks/...the Virgin de Guadalupe/ who blesses the brownskinned/ and the crucified…” shows how the culture of these people is being attacked and beaten down and how these deaths and this abuse of power affected others. When the speaker repeats “..more than,” followed by various other things, then “... remain the faces of the lynching party...smirking...crowding into the photograph,” he laments how the abusers of power, the murderers, were celebrated and remembered in a cheerful picture.
In conclusion, Espada’s poems show abuse of power in many circumstances. He is able to artfully and thoughtfully tie in the ways others are affected by injustices. He brings in many different scenarios and gives an important perspective in our world of social injustice.
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