Always Running

Luis and thousands of other Chicano-Americans attend a rally against the Vietnam war. It is held in an East L.A, and “signs and fists pierced the sky” (160) as the mostly young crowd expresses their anger regarding a war that has taken the lives of a disproportionate number of Latino soldiers. They march to Laguna Park, where they are confronted by police and an all-out riot begins. Luis is arrested and held for days in an adult jail, in the cell next to cult leader Charles Manson. He is eventually released.

Shortly after his stint in jail, Luis attends a church dance. There, he sees Viviana, his one-time date from the Fiesta Days carnival. They reconnect and begin to date, despite Viviana’s brothers being high-ranking members of the rival Sangra gang. She teaches Luis about poetry, and he marvels at how “her words clutched at some dark and secret place inside of me” (167). One night, they have sex for the first time, but Viviana bursts into tears afterwards and asks Luis to leave—in the following days, she refuses to see or speak to him. At another dance, he sees her kissing another boy.