The mission district is well known for its beautiful murals at balmy alley and its abundance of diverse culture from its Latino communities. However this neighborhood not only possesses this diverse culture, it is also home to a collective that formed through the passion of poetry, writing and political and social activism.The Pocho-Che collective gets its name from Pocho and Che Guevara. The word "Pocho" is often seen as derogatory term used by Mexican natives when identifying Chicanos. Ernesto "Che" Guevara was a revolutionist who played a significant role during the Cuban revolution and protested the exploitation of capitalism in Latin America by the United States. The blending of identity and social activism through these two wordshelps explain the purpose of the collective,which is to "use two disparate realms of political and cultural turmoil and potential collective power"(Herrera).
The breaking down of the word is important in understanding the purpose of the collective. Through poetry, writing and political concern a collective emerged. Writing and poetry gave community members from the mission to express their concerns with what was going on in Latin America. The Pocho-che collective became an important community resource for the many Chicano/Latino residents of the mission. Through unofficial magazines, the collective transcended messages of the political unrest Latin America experiencing
El centro cultural de la mission (mission cultural center) became the Pocho-che's domain, and serves as a cultural and arts center in San Francisco.
Balmy alley includes various murals with messages of indignity, oppression ,and privatization of natural resources.
This is one of the many issues that the Pocho-Che collective produced
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