Somos en escrito The Latino Literary Online Magazine
World's Apart: From “Little Joe y La Familia” to Nixon’s White House
Book Reviews of The Cotton Picker: An Odyssey, 2015, by Johnny Hernandez, and A Chicano in the White House: The Nixon No One Knew, 2013, by Dr. Henry Ramirez
By José Ángel Gutiérrez
Sorry state of affairs when our Chicano icons have to self-publish in order to reach us because academic presses reject manuscripts if not linked to an academic institution. Scholars in Chicano Studies asked to review such unsolicited manuscripts similarly reject these works for minor faults such as: no Index, no Footnotes or Endnotes as in the case of Hernandez; 20 pages of Endnotes by chapter in the Ramirez book; and, worse yet, misspellings, a few wrong dates, and bad English in some spots. Both books do have lots of photographs.
The treasure is in the content of both books. Who else can write about the goings-on in the Nixon White House but the only Chicano in the White House, Henry Ramirez? Who else but Johnny Hernandez can write about the inside view of the workings of the Chicano band, Little Joe y la Familia, but the real voice behind the many hits of that group?
If you want to learn the lessons of insider politics in the White House from a Republican Chicano perspective, then the Ramirez book is the only source. No, Chicano Republican is not an oxymoron; the Hispanic label came into being about this time. We could wait and see if the Vicente Ximenez book ever comes out for a Chicano Democrat version of the White House during Lyndon Johnson or if Mark Campos ever puts out his memoirs of the Carter years.
None of the Chicano Cabinet members have written their stories either; Henry Cisneros, our compromised hero, would rather collect honorariums for speaking than royalties from writing about his years as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Clinton. Ditto for memoirs by Lauro Cavazos (Bush 1) and Ken Salazar (Obama) or the long list of Ambassadors who were vetted by Transition Teams dating back to John F. Kennedy such as El Paso’s Raymond Telles or later Raul Castro from Arizona and Mari Lou Jaramillo and Vilma Martinez.
Presidential politics inside the White House are hard ball politics. Henry Ramirez shares his start as a Chicano educator in California and was among the first to join the Republican Party. How and why he was recruited and what he managed to do inside the Nixon White House is detailed in an engaging personal narrative—a must-read.
Johnny Hernandez’s book also is an insider narrative of what it is like to be a brother to the major Chicano music icon and band leader Little Joe Hernandez. The Hernandez’s were cotton pickers residing in and near Waco, Texas, who turned to music as a pastime. The talent within the brothers could not be contained. They gave us the Chicano National Anthem, Las Nubes, and scores, if not hundreds, of hit songs and memorable presentations at the Tejano Music Awards. La Familia was among the top recording artists that did pro-bono events for the Raza Unida Party in the 1970’s. Johnny continues this service to this day to major charitable organizations and politicians, such as Barack Obama as presidential candidate.
This story is a no-holds barred personal testimony of fame, drugs, alcohol, marriages, money, and survival. Johnny was the real voice behind the many hits for the band, yet, Joe Hernandez, the older brother, kept Johnny from the spotlight and even ridiculed him during too many gigs. Johnny was loyal and trusting during these years and paid the price in failed relationships, unfair wage payments (forget royalties), and, turned to the high of audience adulation, all-night parties, too many drugs and too much alcohol.
One day after recurring hallucinations and by chance or maybe intuition he sought his mestizo roots and went into a sweat lodge in New Mexico. He writes that this sweat made him realize his inner self and seek sobriety which he has maintained for 20 plus years. He did finally divorce Joe and that band for his own sake.
Johnny has formed his own group twice and does some gigs here and there; Little Joe is still the main stage draw. The era of the Chicano sound y La Onda Music has given way to Tejano music and light shows. And, Johnny like all Chicanos is still alive; spends more time reading obituaries and attending funerals than song writing or book writing. If for no other reason than to read about the emptiness of success versus the quality of sober life, this also is a must-read book. Disclosure: I was Johnny’s lawyer in a suit to recover the Master Recordings from Little Joe for Johnny; and, still am a fan of Little Joe y La Familia and Johnny.
José Ángel Gutiérrez, a founder of the La Raza Unida Party and an all-around rebel rouser revered by this Editor, is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Texas Arlington. Among other books, he is author of Making of a Civil Rights Leader (Houston: Arte Público Press, 2005).
The two self-published books he reviews here are available from online booksellers: The Cotton Picker: An Odyssey, 2015, by Johnny Hernandez, ISBN 10:1515276880, and A Chicano in the White House: The Nixon No One Knew, 2013, by Dr. Henry Ramirez, ISBN 149754582X.