Sleepy Lagoon (A Poem)

Here is a poem I wrote in 2009 about the tragedy of the Sleepy Lagoon. I hope it makes people think and realize that the system even back then was set up to fail them. Mexican-Americans during that time period never really had a chance. Once you read this poem I hope it makes you think about what happened back then. So next time you cruise the calles of East L.A., remember the Sleepy Lagoon.

Sleepy Lagoon

A moonlit night,

A summer breeze.

Sitting in a ranfla,

Two people at ease.

Cuddling together,

Exchanging romantic notions.

But the mood changed suddenly,

Into raw emotions.

A group of men,

Came out of nowhere.

No mercy shown,

In fact they didn’t care.

They beat them down,

Hank Leyvas and Dora his lady.

Not a fair fight at all.

These young men were shady.

So off they left,

Back to the hill.

Leaving them beaten,

And hurt for real.

It wasn’t just the physical pain,

But the emotional breakdown,

Left them with shame.

So back to their barrio,

Hank Leyvas went.

To gather more souls.

To avenge their earlier incident.

The Downey boys,

Had went to a house just down the way.

But soon they got kicked out for starting drama,

Because the party host didn’t want them to stay.

Making a big deal because there was no more beer,

They finally got kicked out.

So off they went into the night,

To this there is no doubt.

So back to the Williams ranch Hank and his crew went,

With revenge on their mind.

After meeting up with homies,

They decided this would be the right time.

To creep up on their assailants,

To teach them a fair fight.

For hitting on their hynas,

Unprovoked earlier that night.

They wanted to pay back the Downey Boys,

For getting out of line.

So from Long Beach Blvd,

They drove back to Atlantic/Sepulveda,

Hoping to catch up in time.

Upon arriving,

They could see they were no longer around.

They heard music from afar.

They decided to check it out,

Following the sound.

So they went up to the house,

Just beyond the cuesta.

Riding up in different cars,

They found the fiesta.

Family Delgadillo,

Were throwing a birthday party.

30 or more people dancing and singing,

Full blown party with Mariachis.

Hank busted into the party,

Thinking the Downey Boys were there.

Tempers flared,

Fight ensued,

Under the night lamps glare.

After it was all said and done,

Some were hurt, a few stabs wounds,

But “dead” they left no one.

The next morning someone found a body,

And innocent victim from the night before.

His life was cut short so unfair,

His story to be dragged the mud more and more.

In all the chaos and tabloid lies,

The Los Angeles P.D. decided to terrorize.

25 men arrested on murder charges,

But no evidence to be found.

The witnesses stories too conflicting,

And the Judges mind was controlling the town.

He had already made his judgement,

Based on the color of their skin.

There was no chance for a fair trial,

A sad world they were living in.

Convicted for murder was 12 of them,

Sent upstate to San Quentin Prison.

Movie Stars, Producers,

All sorts of people fought for their freedom.

Eventually they were released,

But their records always followed them.

Never an apology for convicting the wrong men.

Never a redemption for the crap the system did to them.

Later years after this whole thing was just a memory,

Lorena Encinas made a deathbed confession that would solve this mystery.

Her brother who was uninvited guest that night at the party,

Crashed the party before Hank Leyvas came with his friends from 38^th Street.

When there was an earlier fight with the Downey Boys.,

And they were kicked out.

Louie Encinas and his friends,

Also decided to leave the house.

It was said he told his sister Lorena,

After the fact.

He saw Jose Diaz up the road,

And he killed him just like that.

To protect her brother,

She allowed the innocent to be blamed.

She went to jail herself as well,

For being involved in the same gang.

So sad to know the story,

Although many never knew the truth.

I grew up knowing the Sleepy Lagoon Story,

Early in my youth.

After some heavy research I decided to do right,

And write this poem for the world so see.

So I could shed some light.

And tell the world the real story.

Hank Leyvas was not a murderer,

Him and his friends were railroaded by the system.

And people also forget the truth,

Jose Diaz was not the only victim.

Jose Diaz was a good man,

Had just enlisted in the Army.

And yes the fact he died so unfair,

Is always a tragedy.

But also there is a moral,

To this whole convoluted mystery.

The men involved weren’t all just hoodlems,

Although the Courts would disagree.

They said Mexicans were animals,

Prone to violence due to their Mayan descent and ethnicity.

Such racial discrimination,

Profiling them with prejudices, so unforgiving and so unfairly.

And so they became forgotten with the archives,

The next generations soon forgot about all of their lives.

But I will not forget them,

Not for anything in this world.

The story had to be told,

And the message has to be heard.

The really sad thing,

Is that justice was not served.

From the murder victim,

To the victims who went to prison.

In to which the accused were hurled,

An unforgiving and prejudicial system.

And the worst part is the killer got away with it,

Because his sister kept the secret to her dying day.

And story stayed a mystery,

Until the day she passed away.

What did you learn from this story?

What did it mean to you?

So next time you are cruising on a hot summer night,

And you and your partner enjoy the light of the moon.

Just think of the events that started it all,

That night at the Sleepy Lagoon.

--- from the book "Dreaming Casually II: Barrio Expressions" by J'aime Rubio

TO READ ABOUT THE ENTIRE STORY OF THE SLEEPY LAGOON PLEASE SEE MY BLOG
READ HERE AT DREAMING CASUALLY

(Copyright) 2011/2009 J'aime Rubio
All Copyright Rights Reserved.