Lalo Alcaraz knows that having a voice is one of the most valued freedoms our country has to offer.
He also knows that this right is one of our most awesome responsibilities. That's why he created the now famous comic strip called "La Cucaracha" that brings issues facing Chicanas and Chicanos in the American mainstream.
For the last 10 years, this self-proclaimed Cartoonista has been supplying local and indie newspapers and 'zines like the LA Weekly, the Village Voice and La Opinion with the politically-minded comic. It has recently been nationally syndicated and appears in newspapers across the nation including our very own Albuquerque Journal.
This bombshell of a comic strip, based on Alcaraz revolutionary intellect, is gaining popularity and becoming the source of controversy. But Lalo's material, which uses quick-witted political commentary, deals with a topic that gets very little respect by the mainstream media.
The empowerment in the Chicano movement gains momentum once more with Lalo's voice. Not unlike the gente today, he is an Americanized Chicano whose roots reach into two cultures and he can identify with being the best of both American and Mexican worlds, but not entirely accepted by either of them.
He identifies proudly with the term Pocho, or Pocha if you're a woman, meaning "Gringoized Mexican," or as stated on the Web Site at www.lacucaracha.com, "cut from the root" or "faded."
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Alcaraz goes on to say most Mexican Americans and Chicanos "are actually superior beings, able to straddle two worlds while enjoying the benefits of being bilingual, bicultural and sometimes bi-ignorant"
"La Cucaracha" features characters as radical as Alcaraz is. It's focused around the title character Cuco Rocha a real political radical, his girlfriend, the sensible Vero, the younger brother Neto, and Eddie who is supposed to be an extended personality of Cuco's.
The framework is similar to "Friends," but "La Cucaracha" has a lot more to offer.
"'La Cucaracha,' explores issues of politics, ethnicity, immigration, biculturalism, racism, youth culture and Latino pop culture with brutally thought provoking satire," Alcaraz said in a press conference.
The comic was recently included in The Albuquerque Journal's Sunday comics and made the Sunday comics worthwhile. As a proud Chicana, there was now a reason to spend time reading something that I would normally skip over -- I could now identify with it.
Unfortunately, people identifying with these political ideas is apparently threatening to some, because there is talk of pulling the strip from our Sunday comics. Alcaraz and "La Cucaracha" have been receiving scrutiny from our end of the country. I hope that can be changed.
Having this comic in our newspapers is vital for everyone as it creates an opportunity for people, regardless of background, to experience new political standpoints brought into the mainstream by thinkers like Alcaraz and his pals.
It is important that the minority community have this to identify with in the media and know that their voices are valuable sources of change.
