Salinas, Raul

BIOGRAPHY

Raul / Roy / "Tapon" Salinas was born in San Antonio, Texas on March 17, 1934. He was raised in Austin, Texas from 1936 to 1956, when he moved to Los Angeles. In 1957 he was sentenced to prison in Soledad State Prison in California. Over the span of the next 15 years, Salinas spent eleven years behind the walls of state and federal penitentiaries. It was during his incarceration in some of the nation's most brutal prison systems that Salinas' social and political consciousness was shaped. His prison years were prolific ones, including creative, political, and legal writings, as well as an abundance of correspondence. In 1963, while in Huntsville, he began writing a jazz column called "The Quarter Note" which ran for eighteen months. In Leavenworth he played a key role in founding and producing two important prison journals, Aztlan de Leavenworth and New Era Prison Magazine. It was in these journals that his poetry first circulated and gained recognition within and outside of the prison walls. As a spokesperson, ideologue, educator, and jailhouse lawyer of the prisoner-rights movement, Salinas also became an internationalist who saw the necessity of making alliances with others. This vision continues to inform his political and poetic practice. Initially published in the inaugural issue of Aztlan de Leavenworth, "Trip thru a Mind Jail" (1970) became the title piece for a book of poetry published by Editorial Pocho Che in 1980. With the assistance of several professors and students at the University of Washington -Seattle, Salinas obtained early release from Marion Federal Penitentiary in 1972. As a student at the University of Washington, Salinas worked in various community development projects and forged alliances with Native American groups in the Northwest, a relationship that was to intensify over the next fifteen years. Although Salinas writes of his experiences as a participant in the Native American Movement, it is a dimension of his life that has received scant attention. In the twenty-two years since his release from Marion, Salinas' involvement with various political movements has earned him an international reputation as an eloquent spokesman for justice. Salinas literary reputation in Austin has earned him recognition as the poet laureate of the East Side and the title of "maestro" from emerging poets who seek his advice and leadership. His literary work is perhaps most widely known for its street aesthetics and a sensibility which documents the interactions, hardships, and strife of barrio and prison life. The influence of jazz within his oeuvre connects it with the work of "Beat Generation" poets, musicians, and songwriters. His poetry collections include dedications, references, and responses to Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Charles Parker, Herschel Evans, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, for example. This guide was written by Emmet Campos, Dana Maya Maynard, Louis Mendoza at the University of Texas at Austin in spring 1994. The Raul Salinas Collection was processed in spring 1998 by Scott Boehnen and Erika Beer of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University.

CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY

• 1934 - 1936 : San Antonio, Texas.
• 1936 - 1956 : Austin, Texas.
• 1956 - 1957 : Los Angeles, California.
• 1957 - 1959 : Soledad State Prison, California.
• 1959 - 1961 : Austin, Texas.
• 1961 - 1965 : Texas State Prison, Huntsville, Texas.
• 1963 - 1965 : Publishes prose; poetry; and "The Quarter Notes," a monthly jazz column for The ECHO (Huntsville, TX).
• 1965 - 1967 : Austin, Texas.
• 1967 - 1971 : U.S. Federal Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas.
• 1969 - 1971 : Assistant editor of New Era Prison Magazine, Leavenworth Penitentiary
• 1969: Cofounder of Chicanos Organizados de Rebeldes de Aztlan, study group at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, Kansas.
• 1970 - 1971 : Editor and writer for Aztlan de Leavenworth (prison journal publication).
• 1971 - 1972 : U.S. Federal Penitentiary, Marion, Illinois.
• 1971 - 1972 : Member of Federal Prisoners International Coalition, Federal Penitentiary, Marion, Illinois
• 1972: Drafting committee member for "Brainwashing Techniques in Prison" (report on prison abuses). Marion, IL.
• 1972 - 1976 : Member of Centro de la Raza; Assistant Director, Jose Marti Day Care Center; cofounder of Resistencia Bookstore in the Centro, Seattle, Washington
• 1972 - 1977 : Seattle, Washington.
• 1973: publishes Viaje/Trip (chapbook) Providence: Brown University.
• 1973: Counselor for Office of Minority Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle
• 1974: Edits Vortice (journal). Stanford: Stanford UP.
• 1974: Reads for Festival Flor y Canto I, U.S.C.
• 1974: Reads for Festival Sexto Sol, Stanford University.
• 1974: Reads for Festival Santa Clara.
• 1974 - 1976 : Member of the American Indian Movement Northwest Chapter; presenter for Indian/Chicano Education, Seattle, Washington.
• 1975 - 1977 : Media Spokesperson and Trail Coordinator for Survival of American Indians, Frank's Landing, Washington.
• 1977 - 1978 : San Francisco, California.
• 1975: Participates in Venceremos Brigade to Cuba.
• 1976: Coordinates Cross-country Educational Caravan, Trail of Self Determination, Washington State to Washington D.C.
• 1977: Participates in Venceremos Brigade to Cuba
• 1977 - 1980 : Cofounder of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Seattle, Washington; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 1978 - 1979 : Lecturer, Spanish and Portuguese, Chicano Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
• 1978 - 1980 : Seattle, Washington
• 1979: Spokesman for Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Puerto Rico.
• 1980: Spokesman for Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Canada.
• 1980: Publishes Un Trip Through the Mind Jail y Otras Excursions. San Francisco: Editorial Pocho Che, 1980.
• 1980 - 1985 : Austin, Texas.
• 1980 - 1986 : Leonard Peltier Support Group (founder), Austin, Texas
• May 1980: Representative for Leonard Peltier at Canto Al Pueblo: A Four Arrows Symposium, Mesa, Arizona.
• July 1980: Participates in Annual Youth and Elders Conference, Philip Deere's Camp, Okemah, Oklahoma.
• May 1981: Leads four-person delegation to Yellow Thunder Camp, South Dakota.
• June 1981: Leads four-person Austin delegation to Annual Memorial, Oglala, South Dakota.
• 1981: Spokesperson for Leonard Peltier Defense Committee at the NGO Conference on Indigenous Philosophy and the Land in Geneva, Switzerland.
• 1981: Delegate and translator, International Indian Treaty Council, Nicaragua (for U.N. Seminar on Racial Discrimination).
• 1981: Board Member of El Centro Chicano, Austin, Texas.
• 1981 - 1984 : League of United Chicano Artists (LUChA), Board Member; Cultural Advisor Co-Director (1988-1990).
• 1981 - 1985 : Visiting Lecturer in RTF and CMAS, University of Texas at Austin.
• 1981, '82, '87: Consultant and international delegate, International Indian Treaty Council.
• 1982: Participates in Venceremos Brigadeto Cuba.
• January 1982: Attends American Indian Movement (AIM) Summit & Leadership Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• June 1982: Leads four-person delegation from Austin to June 26 Memorial, Oglala, South Dakota.
• 1982 - 1994 : Proprietor, Resistencia Bookstore, Austin, Texas.
• 1982 - 1994 : Founder, editor, and publisher, Red Salmon Press, Austin, Texas.
• July 1984: Attends International Indian Treaty Conference, Sisseton-Wahpheton Reservation, South Dakota. Austin delegation representing the LPDC and Artistas Indigenas.
• 1985 - 1986 : St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1985 - 1986 : Campaign Coordinator, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (St. Louis, Missouri).
• 1986 - 1994 : Austin, Texas.
• 1986 - 1989 : Youth counselor, South Austin Youth Services.
• 1987: Delegate and interpreter for International Indian Treaty Council in Geneva, Switzerland,
• 1987: Delegate for International Indian Treaty Council in Tripoli, Libya, North Africa
• 1988 - 1994 : Workshop coordinator, Communities in Schools, Austin, TX.
• 1990: Reads at Inter-American Book Fair, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, Texas.
• 1991: Reads at First Netzahualcoytl Poetry Festival, Mexican Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois.
• 1992: Translates for reading by Ernesto Cardenal, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, Texas.
• 1993: Reads at Inter-American book fair at Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, Texas.
• 1993 - 1994 : Member, City of Austin Charter Review Committee.
• 1994: East of the Freeway: Reflections de mi Pueblo. Austin:Red Salmon Press, 1994.

From the guide to the Raul Salinas Papers, ca. 1950-1994, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)