It’s the late 60s, and Chicano lawyer, Oscar Acosta, is increasingly feeling out of his depth. Possessed of a furious energy and tremendous anger for the oppressive forces that have kept a boot on the Chicano population of America for centuries, he gets involved with a number of different cases that challenge the status quo. A poor young immigrant is found hanging from a rope in his prison cell, with copious amounts of evidence that the police were the ones who engineered the whole thing. A protest march against the anglo-Catholic Church is ambushed by police brutality. And a group of 13 activists, some with ties for revolutionary organizations, turn to Acosta, as he is the only one they trust with their lives…
So this book is a piece of autobiography, and it is a wild ride. Late 60s, early 70s West Coast US was a mad place to be, with outright popular revolt brewing in the streets, and Acosta is happy to paint himself as just as crazy as the times he lived in. The man was the inspiration for the “Dr. Gonzo” character journalist Hunter S. Thompson made popular in his book, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” There, he seems little more than an Id monster set loose in the desert, which is just one more reason why you should never let your stoner buddy write your biography, I guess. Certainly that book gives but passing mention to Acosta’s activism, his deeply held commitments to political justice or the risks he took defending the ‘cucarachas’, the poor and downtrodden latinos in America.
…Which is not to say Acosta was without his faults. This was a BAD man to get on the mean side of, and Acosta himself is eager to advertise. When the police effectively escape justice for a killing, Acosta and his buddies decide to go off and fire bomb a white-owned business. He is more than happy to indulge the curiosity of some teenage female peace activists. He has a rather imposing drug collection, and, well, should a few people get in the way of his fight for the rights of the poor…
It’s not a pretty picture, but it does feel an honest one. This is an intense, ugly and unique book, and I really have a hard time summarizing my thoughts on it. Me like books.
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