Martín Espada by Isabel Lears

Throughout the three Martín Espada poems, "New Bathroom Policy at English High School", "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877", and "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson",  a sense of disrespect is felt. Espada discusses how he feels throughout his poems, but also how the Mexican community is feeling about the disrespect they are receiving, and also the way they are being treated. 

In the poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," Espada is feeling disrespect when his Spanish name is pronounced incorrectly.  For example the poem reads, "Whenever my name is mispronounced,I want to buy a toy pistol, put on dark sunglasses... Hijack a bus of Republicans tourists from Wisconsin, force them to chant anti-American slogans in Spanish." Espada obviously didn't like when people mispronounced his name as if it has disrespected him, but by making the Republicans from Wisconsin chant anti-American slogans in Spanish, it's as if he is making them disrespect their culture just like they did to his. The poem also says, "and wait, for the bilingual SWAT team to helicopter overhead, begging me to be reasonable." His name being mispronounced is probably a common thing which you can tell by how unreasonable he is getting. If his name was only mispronounced once or twice, he would not get this worked up about it, that's how you can tell it is commonly said incorrectly. 

In another one of Espada's poems called, "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877", the disrespect is warm the white people are hanging the innocent Mexicans. In the poem it says, "Forty gringos vigilantes, cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos." The gringos (white people) were hanging the Mexicans, with no good reason or explanation. This is disrespect to Mexicans because they are innocent and should not be killed. The text also says, "Remain the faces of the lynching party: faded as the pennies from 1877, a few stunned in the blur of execution." The Mexicans are still scarred from what happened many years ago, and how mistreated they were, and how unfair that is. 

In another Espada poem, "The New Bathroom Policy At English High School", the principal feels disrespect when the boys are talking about him in Spanish, but then he disrespects them by banning the language. In the poem it reads, "The only worse recognizes is his own name, and that constipates him." The boys who are speaking in Spanish about him are being disrespectful, but then the poem reads, "so he decides to ban Spanish in the bathroom, now he can relax." Although the principal feels disrespected by the boys, banning their language is disrespectful as well, and two wrongs don't makes a right. 

As you can see in those three Espada poems, there is a disrespect towards Mexicans. Espada is not just talking about how he feels, but speaking for the community of Mexicanos, and how this isn't fair to them.