Always Running is a childhood autobiography written by Luis J. Rodriguez. Luis talks about his time being new to Los Angeles... new to the U.S. Luis arrived in Los Angeles in the 1950s, so everyone was racist and cruel to Mexicans, who they called spics. His family were very poor, and could not speak in English very well. One time, they went to the park to rest on the benches, and a Caucasian woman with three children yelled at them to get off, telling them that they didn't belong, it wasn't their country. I felt bad for them. Wherever this woman is now, she must be feeling really guilty, because if she isn't then there is something wrong with her. Mexicans are as equal as her. No one can dominate another person.
Another time, he talks about going to a Caucasian area with his brother, when he was six, and his brother was nine, to do groceries. Everything had gone well in the start. But when they left with their purchases, a couple of teenagers showed up. They said, "Well, well, well, look at who dared to come into the white side of town. Two spics." They knocked the groceries to the floor. One teenager held Luis up, and the other two threw his brother to the floor. They slapped him, kicked him, cut his skin, and punched his stomach until he vomited. They all took turns beating Rano. Luis was forced to watch. The teenagers left, laughing. Rano cried a lot. And that was the start of Luis's violent childhood. As the blurb says, he has experienced violence, shootings, arrests, drugs, murder, saw suicide, attempted slow suicide, and gang culture.
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