[Pnews] Political prisoner Luis V. Rodriguez: Aztlan warrior passes to the spirit world

[Prisoner News]

*http://sfbayview.com/2016/04/political-prisoner-luis-v-rodriguez-aztlan-warrior-passes-to-the-spirit-world/* 



  Political prisoner Luis V. Rodriguez: Aztlan warrior passes to the
  spirit world

April 27, 2016

Luis Valenzuela Rodriguez left this mortal world on Thursday April 14, 
2016, at 7:28 p.m., surrounded by his family and friends. He was 60 
years old. Songs and prayers were offered to honor him from the four 
directions.

In addition to all his other accomplishments, Luis Rodriguez was also an 
extraordinary artist. This is a self-portrait.

Luis was innocent. He fought with determination to prove his innocence 
for 37 years. Lies were told about him; in the media, in the courtroom. 
Many let him down and betrayed him, but many more loved him and stood by 
him. Despite the great injustice that befell him and despite all the 
indignities he was subjected to in prison, Luis woke up every morning 
with a prayer of gratitude, thanking the creator for another day on 
earth, even if it meant it would be spent behind bars. His spirit was 
never broken. His sovereignty never compromised. He walked his path with 
dignity. Always.

Luis was no angel. He had his faults … he was human. But he was a good 
man. He was intense but fair in his dealings with others. He was a man 
of his word. He shared what little he had with those who had less. He 
gave guidance and encouragement to many. He counseled the young, hoping 
to change their perspective on life so that they would never have to 
return to prison. (You know who you are.)

Luis was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, son 
and brother. His physical body was not home with us, but he was ever 
present in our lives. He was more of a father, of a husband, than many 
men out there who get to go home to their families every night.

Luis was Apache-Mestizo. He was a warrior. His medicine was powerful. He 
died in prison, then came back to life, then woke up from a coma and 
rose in his hospital bed to dance to the beat of his daughter’s drum.

Who does that? Luis Valenzuela Rodriguez. That’s who! Luis chose his 
passing. He gathered us around him to say goodbye and see him out on his 
journey. He obliterated the prison from his hospital room and from his 
life and he passed to the spirit world a free man. We are proud to call 
Luis our husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, son, brother, 
cousin and friend.


    *Luis Rodriguez – rebel, magazine publisher, counselor, wrongly
    incarcerated political prisoner*

“You cannot harm me. You cannot harm one who has dreamed a dream like 
mine.” – Indian Warrior Song

Luis V. Rodriguez was raised in an atmosphere of political and social 
involvement. As a youngster, he lived in Los Angeles for a period of 
time with a group known as the Brown Berets, a Chicano-Native American 
militant organization, which formed against racism and other social 
injustices.

Luis grew up in the times of the Vietnam War and its consequent 
demonstrations which resulted in the Watts Rebellion and the 1970 
Whittier Boulevard Rebellion after the police killed political activist 
and journalist, Ruben Salazar. Rodriguez was a part of that rebellion.

Luis’s politically active father and his contact with the Brown Berets 
helped Luis to place these events into proper perspective and to bring 
about his political and social awareness. He also interacted with the 
League of United Latin Americans (LULAC), the G.I. Forum and other 
sociopolitical organizations.

Rodriguez worked diligently to help himself and others. At age 17, he 
started Aztlan, a Chicano-Native American news magazine, which focused 
on politics, history, culture and ethnic awareness. He was 
editor-in-chief, artist and headed a small staff of other youths.

He was a counselor at a program for offenders and ex-offenders in 
Sacramento, a counselor in Los Angeles at the Ayudate program, and a 
counselors’ aide at the California Youth Authority Perkins Reception 
Center. His goal was to become a California Youth Authority counselor, a 
parole or probation officer, or an attorney, in order to help young 
people. Until his erroneous conviction in 1981 for two homicides, he had 
never been convicted of a felony (People v. Rodriguez, 1991).


    *In prison, Luis faced revenge and retaliation every day*

*/by Bato Talamantez/*

A sad and tragic life of imprisonment befell Luis Rodriguez every day 
while inside. They did it all to him over a span of long years until his 
health broke down and he couldn’t walk anymore. They wouldn’t give him a 
walking cane nor wheelchair.

They had him at Pelican Bay when it first opened then moved him to Mule 
Creek when a plot at PB was discovered of guards wanting him eliminated 
because of a pending lawsuit and investigation by the FBI, reported by 
the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

He was under constant threat by the guards since they claimed he was 
responsible for death of two California Hightway Patrol officers, and 
the guards constantly sought revenge and retaliation every day against him.

Orale, LuisR! RIP

/Bato Talamantez, a former political prisoner, can be reached at 
//batowato at gmail.com/ <mailto:batowato at gmail.com>/. The initial 
statement above was given to //Sacramento Prisoner Support/ 
<https://sacprisonersupport.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/passing-of-political-prisoner-luis-v-rodriguez/>/by 
Luis Rodriguez’s family. Following the statement is Luis’s bio from the 
//National Jericho Movement/ 
<http://www.thejerichomovement.com/profile/luis-v-rodriguez>/, which 
recognized him as a political prisoner. The Bay View thanks Petey from 
Sacramento for compiling it./


-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20160428/17577ab7/attachment.htm>