Book Review:
Oscar "Zeta" Acosta: The Uncollected Works
Reviewed by Alicia Dienst
A man of tremendous passion and convictions, Oscar "Zeta" Acosta lived many lives.
He was a soldier, a minister, a jazz musician, a lawyer, an activist, a novelist, a poet (some would say a failed one), and an essayist. He championed Chicano rights during America's most turbulent times. He traveled with Hunter S. Thompson. He went to jail for drug possession. And, as his death has never been confirmed, he may yet have lives to lead.
This collection of "uncollected works" reads rather like Zeta's life. From autobiographical sketches to poetry, short stories, allegories, and his actual will and testament, these compositions are scattered in a miasma of consciousness and events, filling the pages without explanation, though not necessarily without order. They tell the story of a man alienated by his race, by his class, by his politics, by his misogyny, and in some ways, by his very need for justice for his people, La Raza.
Challenging the stereotypes of the passive Chicano, Acosta took the activist's path during the height of the civil rights movement. The collection draws the audience in with his self-revelatory style and his childhood stories. But the themes of racial and class discrimination riddle his life and fuel his passion for justice and racial equality. His struggles with his mental health and failed relationship with his wife are revealed not only in his letters, but in his sometimes brutal tales of the human condition. In letters he writes to his wife while recovering from a nervous breakdown, he desperately pleads for forgiveness. But in his will, he
spurns her.
This group of works also reveals the sometimes caustic nature of Acosta's voice. He makes no attempt to make his message digestible. He predicts in a speech to Latino law students that in three years he will work in opposition to the very students to whom he speaks.
About the disadvantages his father had being Latino, he writes, "Writing this crap makes me feel like some sort of jackass sociologist, which is the last thing I want to be." ("From Whence I Came")In his candidacy notice for Los Angeles County Sheriff, he begins with his anarchist goal to eliminate the office.
The Uncollected Works reminds us of the need for ferocity in the struggle for social justice. In a time when we find it especially difficult to address, let alone challenge, institutionalized racism, classism and ethical dilemmas in our society, this book is an inspiration — and a warning.
Alicia Dienst is a former FACCC legislative aide.
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