[su_carousel source=”media: 40193,40251,40252,40164,40255,40254,40161,40256,40253″ limit=”100″ link=”lightbox” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″]<\/p>\n
While obscured by history today, the trial of Los Siete de La Raza in 1969 galvanized the Mission community and ignited a movement.\u00a0 <\/span>To mark the 50th anniversary of the historic trial and its legacy, this spring will see a series of coordinated events throughout the city under the banner \u201cRemember Los Siete.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLos Siete\u201d was the name given to seven Central American youth from the Mission District\u2014Nelson Rodriguez, Jose Mario Martinez, Rudolfo \u201cTony\u201d Martinez, Gio Lopez, Jos\u00e9 Rios, Danilo \u201cBebe\u201d Melendez and Gary \u201cPinky\u201d Lescallett \u2014who were accused of killing SFPD officer Joe Brodnik, following an altercation in May 1969. Lopez , however, managed to flee the country, resulting in only six of the seven being put on trial.<\/p>\n The community rallied around the youths , forming an organization that shared the name \u201cLos Siete.\u201d Many in the community not only believed that the seven\u00a0youths had been falsely accused by police, but that the trial stood as a larger symbol for the oppression of the Mission\u00a0Latino community, and a newfound radical resistance. The new group used its platform to advocate for the youth, as well as\u00a0to develop political consciousness and assist their communities in various ways. Los Siete were ultimately acquitted after an 18-month trial, but the impact of the community action taken on their behalf can still be seen today.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember Los Siete\u201d is being curated by artist, Fernando Mart\u00ed in collaboration with revered Mission artist Yolanda Lopez, a major contributor to Basta Ya!, a community newspaper published by Los Siete organization. Lopez designed posters and illustrations for the paper, which became the voice for the movement that emerged from the trial of Los Siete.<\/p>\n The series opens with \u201c50 Years of Cultura y Resistencia from Los Siete to Today,\u201d an exhibition hosted at Acci\u00f3n Latina\u2019s Juan R. Fuentes Gallery, featuring artwork and writings from Basta Ya! that have been preserved by Lopez in her personal archives.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of [the show] is the visuals of Basta Ya! The aesthetic. Trying to a develop a visual of what the movement was about,\u201d Mart\u00ed explained. \u201cBut then we\u2019ve also selected articles, poems and photographs that really explain the context\u00a0in which all of this was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Mart\u00ed says the series will also feature artwork related to the groups who worked in solidarity with Los Siete, including local farm workers and the Black Panthers. Though a lot of the coverage in Basta Ya! was based around the seven, they also used the paper to voice support for related issues. Mart\u00ed felt that showing the solidarity between these various social groups is an important part in telling the story of Los Siete as a whole.<\/p>\n Donna Amador was another of the more prominent members of the Los Siete movement. She and Lopez helped out in anyway they could, even traveling together to a Black Panther meeting site and learning from Emory Douglas\u2014the Black Panther Newspaper\u2019s graphic artists and Minister of Culture\u2014on how to put together and publish Basta Ya!.<\/p>\n Los Siete, was able assist the community in many ways\u00a0through their \u201cServe the People\u201d \u201cBefore [Los Siete], I don\u2019t think there were breakfast in schools and the lunch program was expensive, but now, kids get nutrition in schools,\u201d Amador said. \u201cI think we either embarrassed or showed the importance of doing these things and others took up the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n But the idea behind \u201c50 Years of Cultura y Resistencia\u201d isn\u2019t just to relive history, it\u2019s to highlight why that history still matters today.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the 50th anniversary. That\u2019s a significant anniversary, but it\u2019s also significant in that it [the socio-political landscape] doesn\u2019t look any different,\u201d said Amador. \u201cWe\u2019ve all gotten older but the situation in the streets is the same or worse even. We all have watched our children grow up \u2026 and we have the same fears of them walking down the streets that our parents did.\u201d<\/p>\n Judy Drummond, a retired school teacher who helped Los Siete for a few years, agrees with Amador.<\/p>\n \u201cLos Siete history is pretty well forgotten. It\u2019s in a lot of books here and there, but you can ask people in the Mission, they don\u2019t know about it,\u201d Drummond said. \u201cWe did some really great organizing. Incredible organizing…and that needs to be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to [remember],\u201d Amador continued. \u201cThis may be the fight of our lives. If we don\u2019t do it, no one is going to do it for us.\u201d<\/p>\n The opening reception for \u201c50 Years of Cultura y Resistencia from Los Siete to Today\u201d is Friday, April 5 from 6-9 p.m. at Acci\u00f3n Latina\u2019s Juan R. Fuentes Gallery, 2958 24th St., San Francisco. \u201cRemember Los Siete\u201d runs through May 17. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [su_carousel source=”media: 40193,40251,40252,40164,40255,40254,40161,40256,40253″ limit=”100″ link=”lightbox” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″] While obscured by history today, the trial of Los Siete de La Raza in 1969 galvanized the Mission community and ignited a movement.\u00a0 To mark the 50th anniversary of the historic trial and its legacy, this spring will see a series of coordinated events throughout the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":40193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[12773,17648,17650,12775,17652,17646,17654],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-40250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-accion-latinas-juan-r-fuentes-gallery","tag-basta-ya","tag-donna-amador","tag-fernando-marti-en","tag-judy-drummond","tag-los-siete","tag-yolanda-lopez-en","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nprograms, including providing\u00a0free breakfast\u00a0for children, organizing a community clinic and free legal defense, among other programs. An impact that can still be seen in programs today.<\/p>\n