Oscar Zeta Acosta - Left Quotes

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When we left El Segundo Barrio across the street from the international border, we didn't expect the Mexicans in California to act like gringos. But they did. We were outsiders because of geography and outcasts because we didn't speak English and wore short pants. And so we had to fight every single day.

Oscar Zeta Acosta
That same night I went into the chicken coop, took my hooked knife which I used to pit peaches with, and carved her initials on the back side of my left hand … JA. Jane Addison. My first true love. The original Miss It. I was in such a fog that I forgot to cover it with a glove or something. At supper, right in front of my mother, my brother Bob said in a loud voice, What's that on your hand? I pretended not to hear. I quickly switched my fork to my right hand and put my left hand under the table. Hey, mom. Oscar cut himself, the bastard said. What? she cried out. She couldn't stand violence unless it was part of some beating to teach me respect.

Oscar Zeta Acosta
I simply nod, for I have already noticed the short distance between his right and left eyes. It is my secret way of detecting fags. I know he will speak. And the first thing the idiot says is, Are you by any chance Samoan? All my life strangers have been interested in my ancestry. There is something about my bearing that cries out for history. I've been mistaken for American Indian, Spanish, Filipino, Hawaiian, Samoan and Arabian. No one has ever asked me if I'm a spic or a greaser. Am I Samoan? Aren't we all? I groan.

Oscar Zeta Acosta