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Requiem for a Poeta, Guerrillero, y
Carnal!!! Rodolfo
"Corky"<br>
Gonzalez, PRESENTE!!!<br><br>
<br><br>
The Denver Post<br>
1928-2005<br>
<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~11777~2813425,00.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~11777~2813425,00.html<br>
</a>Chicano activist paved the way<br>
"Corky" Gonzales created the Crusade for Justice, a voice for
Denver's<br>
nascent Chicano community.<br>
By Claire Martin<br>
Denver Post Staff Writer<br><br>
Wednesday, April 13, 2005 -<br><br>
Iconic Chicano activist Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, who died
Tuesday at age<br>
76, was a champion boxer and celebrated poet who founded the Crusade
for<br>
Justice, articulating the passion and frustration of Denver's
nascent<br>
Chicano movement.<br><br>
A memorial service is being planned.<br><br>
"He died surrounded by his loved ones," said his son, Rudy
Gonzales. "He<br>
left right at sunset, at 7:42 p.m."<br><br>
He said his father died peacefully at home.<br><br>
Gonzales checked himself out of the hospital March 24 after being
diagnosed<br>
with congestive heart failure.<br><br>
He told the cardiologist that he's "indigenous" and that he'd
die a natural<br>
death, his wife Geraldine said recently.<br><br>
"He embraced death the same way he danced with life, and that was
with<br>
passion and love," his son said.<br><br>
Community leaders mourned his passing.<br><br>
"It's a very sad day in our community," said Denver City
Council member Judy<br>
Montero. "He is a legend in the political life of the Latino
community, and<br>
he will be deeply missed."<br><br>
"This comes as a shock, although I know he was very ill,"
former Denver City<br>
Councilwoman Ramona Martinez said. "He really set the tone for
changes,<br>
political changes and community changes. He opened the door for a lot
of<br>
Hispanics."<br><br>
The youngest of eight children, Gonzales was born in Denver in 1928.
Medical<br>
facilities in his parents' town, Keenesburg, were closed to migrant
workers<br>
such as his parents, both Mexican nationals. Raised in the Denver barrio,
he<br>
grew up listening to his father's accounts of the Mexican
revolution.<br><br>
Upon graduating from Manual High School, Gonzales literally fought his
way<br>
out of poverty, winning the 1946 national amateur athletic union<br>
bantamweight title. Ring Magazine rated Gonzales third in his division
in<br>
the world. He was the first Chicano inducted into the Colorado Sports
Hall<br>
of Fame.<br><br>
After working as a bar owner and bail bondsman, he helped run the 1960
Viva<br>
Kennedy campaign for John F. Kennedy. Gonzales became a Democratic
district<br>
captain, proving even more adept with words than with boxing
gloves.<br><br>
In 1965, the same year Gonzales published his angry epic poem, "Yo
Soy<br>
Joaquin," Denver Mayor Tom Currigan appointed him to run the
Denver<br>
Neighborhood Youth Corps.<br><br>
In early 1966, increasingly disenchanted with the Democrats' approach
to<br>
civil rights, Gonzales ramped up his own activism. When Currigan fired
him<br>
for allegedly hiring too many Latinos, Gonzales broke off from the<br>
Democrats, calling for Chicanos to unite against police brutality
and<br>
discrimination.<br><br>
"We are on a crusade for justice," Gonzales announced in a
November 1966<br>
demonstration outside City Hall where his social activist
organization,<br>
Crusade for Justice, was born.<br><br>
Crusade for Justice, like the produce boycotts organized by farm
worker<br>
advocate César Chávez, electrified social and political changes. The
crusade<br>
organized a "splash-in" at a de facto white public pool in
southeast Denver<br>
and sponsored weekend dances for Chicano teenagers from throughout
Denver.<br><br>
Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gonzales traveled widely
to<br>
advocate the rights of indigenous people. In 1970, Gonzales opened
Escuela<br>
Tlatelolco, an alternative elementary and secondary school for
Chicano<br>
students.<br><br>
The apex of his political career, and that of the Chicano movement,
came<br>
when delegates from 17 states and the District of Columbia met in Texas
for<br>
La Raza Unida's sole party convention in 1972. The high point also
marked<br>
its collapse.<br><br>
An acrimonious leadership battle between Gonzales and José Angel
Gutierrez<br>
decimated La Raza Unida. In Denver, after a series of local bombings in
the<br>
1970s, Crusade for Justice foundered.<br><br>
Gonzales withdrew from public appearances in 1978 after suffering a
heart<br>
attack that caused a car accident, leaving him with permanent head
injuries.<br><br>
For the rest of his life, he remained reclusive, despite scores of
awards<br>
for the activism that supporters credit with preparing the way for
Denver's<br>
first Latino civic leaders. His daughter Nita Gonzales now runs
Escuela<br>
Tlatelolco.<br><br>
In addition to her, survivors include his wife of 56 years, Geraldine
Romero<br>
Gonzales of Denver; his other daughters, Charlotte Gonzales, Gina
Gonzales,<br>
Gale Gonzales, Cindy Gonzales and Valerie Gonzales, all of Denver; sons
Rudy<br>
Gonzales and Joaquin Gonzales, both of Denver; 22 grandchildren; and
eight<br>
great-grandchildren.<br><br>
Staff writer Jim Kirksey contributed to this report.<br><br>
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or<br>
cmartin@denverpost.com.<br>
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