Social Politics of Resistance
"This, my brothers, sisters, comrades, should be a mandatory reading that brings to life the words of our Jorge Borges: To speak of mandatory reading is like speaking of mandatory happiness. This is a reading on happiness. Therefore, I invite you, like Frank, to be bold, daring and start reading this book that will definitely change the way you think, feel and act. Read it and listen to his voice whispering in your ears. In loving solidarity, the most important sacrament, Frank lives and the struggle continues."
- Father Luis Barrios
Frank’s life reflected the contradictions of his ever-changing, ever-evolving political and personal development.
"I miss my brother Frank, his booming laugh, phone calls and emails. I miss our discussions and analysis of the world around us, catching up on our daily lives or meeting him for lunch or dinner. I sometimes forget Frank’s gone and reach for the phone to share some news or to invite him to the latest family gathering. But I take comfort in the decades we shared, and I am deeply honored and grateful to be part of this intimate book of poetry. Frank has left us a wonderful legacy that will keep him with all of us who got to know and love him. ¡Hasta Siempre Frankie! ¡Francisco Velgara Presente! ¡Ahora y siempre!"
- Lourdes “Lulú” Garcia
“The true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.”
- Che Guevara
Poetry always went hand in hand with the other facets of the life of our brother Frank Velgara Valentin, better known as Frankie, by many of us. Today we salute and embrace the publication of Frankie’s poems, one of his unfulfilled wishes during his lifetime, but which his sons and daughter and his friends have been able to fulfill.
Excerpts from Poetry Book
Frank was forged as a revolutionary at a time of deep and intense changes here and throughout the world. Communities of color all over this country – often inspired by the Black and Indigenous communities – were marching, striking, demanding equal and democratic rights. Revolution was seemingly everywhere, especially in what was then called “the Third World”; the Soviet Union was Socialist, so was Cuba and China, and we were certain that “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism” (Lenin) was nearing its demise. As part of our political education, we studied the works of many revolutionaries coming out of those struggles and grappled with new economic, political and social concepts. One of the concepts we studied and struggled with was the need for us to become new men and women and transform ourselves into people that would bring a new socialist society into being. We struggled to leave behind the greed, individualism and selfishness of capitalism for the collective well-being and development of humanity. This was an intense time of growth, excitement and despair as we worked to bring these concepts into our everyday personal and political practice with the masses.