{"id":220,"date":"2014-07-31T09:05:51","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T16:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniondelbarrio.org\/main\/?page_id=220"},"modified":"2022-03-25T19:25:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-26T02:25:05","slug":"udb-history-march-26-2012","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uniondelbarrio.org\/main\/4-2\/about-udb\/the-history-of-union-del-barrio\/udb-history-march-26-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"UdB History – March 26, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Legacy of Compa\u00f1ero Ernesto Bustillos –\u00a0\u00a1PRESENTE- AHORA Y SIEMPRE!<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Among members of Uni\u00f3n del Barrio, Compa\u00f1ero Ernesto Bustillos was known as \u201cNeto,\u201d \u201cEl Viejo,\u201d or simply \u201cComrade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Compa\u00f1ero<\/a>

Compa\u00f1ero Ernesto Bustillos: March 2, 1951 \u2013 March 26, 2012<\/p><\/div>\n

To the community he was known as \u201cel Maestro Bustillos.\u201d With the intention of remembering the man, his ideas, as well as his lifelong commitment to struggle, we refer to him as \u201ccompa Neto.\u201d Whenever we uttered any of these names, they were spoken with respect, admiration, and – at certain times and among certain people – intimidation.<\/p>\n

He died on March 26, 2012 from complications of an illness he had been suffering from for years, but had refused to tell anyone how poor his health really was, and he was unwilling to openly complain about the intense pain he had been carrying the last years of his life. It was a terrible shock when we heard that compa Neto had passed away. He was too young when he succumbed to his illness, having recently celebrated his 61st birthday. Nonetheless and through it all, he pushed himself (and those of us around him) to think critically, continuously be self-critical, to study history and politics at all times, and to have liberation struggle foremost on our minds, always.<\/p>\n

To better honor his legacy, compa Neto must be remembered as a man of numerous qualities. He was an educator, journalist, and an exceptional organizer. He was a theoretician, internationalist, and unrepentant combatant for class struggle. He was forever a barrio-based homeboy, friend, and a comrade. He was in fact, one of those a rare cases in human history where one person can develop leadership in multiple capacities \u2013 compa Neto was important in many ways to many people.<\/p>\n

For decades \u201cel maestro Bustillos\u201d taught 8th grade history and English as a Second Language (ESL) to thousands of raza students that passed through his classroom, as well as serving as advisor to MEChA and the yearbook club. As a faculty member \u201cMr. Bustillos\u201d was both admired and feared, and was known as an ever-present, irrepressible, and uncompromising voice for students and the community as a whole. On any given day outside his Logan Heights classroom (room 507) you could hear him passionately emphasizing to his students the<\/p>\n

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1979 Rally for Bilingual Education.<\/p><\/div>\n

greatness of the indigenous civilizations of Nuestra Am\u00e9rica, pausing only to take a sip from his daily multiple cups of coffee. Between teaching periods, compa Neto could often be found in his classroom talking politics with any number of his colleagues or campus visitors – the point being that throughout the day he would almost never be alone, constantly pivoting back and forth between revolutionary teacher and teacher of revolution. Indeed, at some level compa Neto was a teacher to all of us.<\/p>\n

As a self-taught journalist, compa Neto enjoyed political writing more than any normal person should. He would write an important political article, share it, discuss it, revise it, then discuss it again. He would then study it a half-dozen times, putting himself \u201cin the place of someone who is new to struggle\u201d \u2013 thereby reading it through their eyes to make the argument more accessible to the community.<\/p>\n

Throughout his life he penned hundreds of articles, dozens of pamphlets, and numerous books. For Neto there was always another article, pamphlet, booklet, or book that needed to be published \u2013 right away. He would often paraphrase Lenin – \u201cWithout a revolutionary consciousness, there can be no revolution\u2026\u201d and would thereafter set himself to produce political essays with an exceptional urgency in both form and content.<\/p>\n

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1981 Action in Support of the UFW.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1987 compa Neto created Somos Raza Magazine<\/em>, in 1989 he led the re-establishment of the newspaper\u00a0\u00a1La Verdad!<\/em>, in 1991 he co-founded Guerrilleras\/os de la Pluma<\/em>, in 1992 Pueblo Unido<\/em>, and in 1993 Las Calles y La Torcida<\/em>. Neto wrote two editions of a book on political journalism: Chicano Journalism: Its History and its Use As A Weapon for Liberation \u2013 1st Edition<\/span> (1992) and 2nd Edition<\/span> (2010). His passion for political writing led Ernesto to produce and\/or co-author other books such as: Chicano Studies & Liberation<\/span> (1992), EZLN: Ejercito Zapatista de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional<\/span> (1995), Somos Un Pueblo Sin Fronteras: A History of Uni\u00f3n del Barrio<\/span> (1997), Razalog\u00eda: Diccionario y Glosario del Barrio<\/span> (1999), and Jail the Oppressor, Free the Oppressed<\/span> (2003). Compa Neto was also central to the creation of La Verdad Publications and the re-establishment of the Chicano Press Association (CPA – now known as the Raza Press and Media Association – RPMA).<\/p>\n

An exceptional organizer, Compa Neto taught us through both his words and his practice that sacrifice and discipline are essential components to defending our community. He insisted that in the face of so much injustice, there are no valid excuses for not committing ourselves to the movimiento. He was a tireless fighter for raza liberation and a firm believer in the idea that \u201c\u2026if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem!\u201d He reminded us often that the original intention behind the founding of Uni\u00f3n del Barrio was to create an \u201corganization of organizers.\u201d Indeed, right up to the moment he was too ill to continue, he was communicating with people and analyzing the pressing organizational questions of the moment.<\/p>\n

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1982 Community Forum.<\/p><\/div>\n

At a more personal level, compa Neto was always among the first people to arrive at a meeting \u2013 in fact it is impossible to recall him ever being late for anything. Ironically, he was averse to public speaking, much preferring small group discussion and debate. This personal idiosyncrasy was rooted in that fact that compa Neto was extremely humble; how he lived, worked, and struggled represented a physical embodiment of his class and his people \u2013 an unassuming working class Chicano. Yet, it was a mistake to underestimate this man; he could be utterly explosive when his commitment to struggle or his political principles were threatened.<\/p>\n

\"1988_z_87_91_19_foro_1cntroaztln_wLRUP\"<\/a>

1988 Forum with LRUP.<\/p><\/div>\n

Compa Neto learned early on to take organized struggle seriously. He began his political development during the apex of the Chicano Power Period in the 1970s, while he was involved in the Brown Berets, MEChA, the Chicano Park Steering Committee, and the Committee on Chicano Rights. Surviving those years of community struggle and political confrontations, even at a time when the movimiento suffered serious defeats as well as repression at the hands of the FBI-led Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), Ernesto and a core group of activists decided to push against the rising \u201chispanic\u201d current and form Uni\u00f3n del Barrio in 1981.<\/p>\n

It was no coincidence that the August 29, 1981 meeting where Uni\u00f3n del Barrio was founded took place in the home of compa Neto. Additional proof of his tenacity and dedication is the fact that Neto spent most of his political life building Uni\u00f3n del Barrio, and was the only founding member of Uni\u00f3n del Barrio to remain active in the organization throughout his entire life – he dedicated 30 years of organized liberation struggle to UdB and never once did he separate from the organization from the day it was founded to the last day of his life.<\/p>\n