Political Activist Discusses ‘Power of Zero’ at Campus Human Rights Symposium

Pat Jacoby | November 24, 2008

A charismatic Luis Valdez kept an audience of some 500 riveted Thursday night as he described his evolution from a childhood in migrant labor camps to his role today as an acclaimed filmmaker, playwright and political activist.

Luis Valdez

Dubbing his talk, “The Power of Zero,” Valdez was keynote speaker for the weeklong Human Rights and Global Citizenship Symposium sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt and Thurgood Marshall colleges.

The power of zero, he said, “is making something of nothing.” He described this concept as deriving from the ancient Mayans, and said “we’re all living in the power of zero, illustrated by the election of Obama and his representation of a new era and new promise.”

The Mayans knew the zero was a spiral, Valdez said, and believed that nothing is lost; you spiral to the next level as part of a continuous birth and rebirth. “As a Chicano and a playwright, I claim a continuum,” he said, and advised, “Americans, find your heart and liberate yourself. Know your universal humanity. We all live in a universal zero world. The future belongs to those who can imagine.”

“As a man of the theater, I discovered the power of zero. We carry it in our bodies. I live within a sphere. If you dance, you know the power of zero, if you play baseball”... and the renowned playwright illustrated this by stepping to the front of the stage, dancing and swinging an imaginary bat.

Valdez told young people in the audience, “You are the next wave…you have a lot more interest in political activity than a generation five years ago. My generation worked for nothing in our social activism. I urge you to do the same. You will be fired up. Times are with you. Stand up and speak. We learned from Cesar Chavez: Keep your edges, do it from your heart.” In addition to dozens of UC San Diego students, attendees included representatives from area colleges including California State University, San Marcos, San Diego State University, City and Mesa colleges and Point Loma Nazarene College.

Valdez said he crossed paths with Chavez when he was a child in a migrant labor camp at Delano, and then in the 1960’s during the workers strike led by Chavez. He said Chavez made Delano a mecca, a working power spot where “everyone was there.” Chavez did penance for everyone else in his ritual of fasting, Valdez said, sacrificing himself. “But I learned from Chavez,” Valdez said, “how to make something out of nothing.” It was there Valdez formed El Teatro Campesino, a farm workers’ theater troupe, and what began in the migrant camps of Delano exploded into a national Chicano theater movement.

Valdez began his talk with a “a little about me,” saying that at the age of 6 months he was critically burned by boiling water in an accident. That was a risky, inauspicious beginning to my life, he said.

In a humorous vein, he told about climbing the school bus from “Stratford on the San Joaquin, not Stratford on Avon,” carrying his mama’s tacos to school in a brown bag. “Other kids had lunch pails with white bread bologna sandwiches. And cupcakes!  I looked at my little sack, and sweat with shame. But one day we exchanged lunches—and the rest is Taco Bell history.”

“One day Mama took the paper bag, put it in water, and made a mask of paper mache, and I got a role in the school play with mama’s paper mask. I was in heaven; I was 6 years old and I got to star as a monkey. Then we were evicted from camp before the play. I felt an emptiness in my soul that lasted 60 years, and I have been filling it ever since,” Valdez said.

In 1948, in the third grade, he said his pretty blonde teacher brought a bright yellow truck to class and said “at the end of school this goes to the best behaved person in class.” When an undeserving ‘Jimmy’ got the truck, the teacher explained that “Jimmy was the son of a grower; you are the son of a worker.” I ran out of the class, Valdez said, and went to work with a piece of wood, the top of a mayonnaise jar, and some nails. There wasn’t any yellow paint, so I painted it pink and had my own truck. “I learned then,” he said, “that we can all build our own damn trucks.”

Valdez is best known for his Broadway production, “Zoot Suit,” and the international hit film, “La Bamba.” A film version of “Zoot Suit” received the Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Musical Picture, and “La Bamba” won a Peabody Award for excellence in television.

A panel of experts followed the lecture, discussing the themes of diversity, the border and California prisons. They included Christine Hundefeldt, professor of history and director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies at UC San Diego, moderator; Dennis Childs, department of literature, UC San Diego; Ruben Garcia, law faculty at California Western, and Jesus Perez Varela, a doctoral candidate in Mexican history at UC San Diego.

Valdez was introduced by Jorge Huerta, UC San Diego, a leading authority on contemporary Chicano/a educational theatre, celebrating his 66th birthday in conjunction with the evening’s event.