Cholo and how I learned to live within my enviroment

I was not a cholo.


I lived in the enviroment and could of easily become a cholo.


My choice was made for me early in my life by my mom.


I never have met a cholo tougher than her.


When I lost all the weight I would get recruited by all the different gangs in the area.


But I did not join any of them.


I was in Junior High and this happened before I lost all the weight and one of the guys in my class was heavy into gangs from childhood due to generations of uncles and cousins and dad that were all involved in gang activity and had served of where serving time for various things that they had done.


He chose to pick on me the first day of school, he put me in a choke hold and made me drop to the floor in convulsions.


I did not even notice that he had crept up behind me , all I remember is struggling to get out of the hold and then falling to my knees and then I kept trying to snap myself back to reality and I could not.


Woke up on the floor , no one around me (I could feel everyone looking at me) and the guy was just standing over me.


The teacher came over , she asked me what happened and I told her I did not know.


That was the year I lost all the weight and by the end of that year, only a few kids would still mess with me.


He had not been around for a while, but came back the next year....looking for me and thanked me for not telling on him the year before. He apologized to me and said that no one would ever mess with me at that school again.


He left and the kids were asking me what he told me , I told them and they said that he was a gang leader now.......I went to lunch and the kids that would always mess with me....were quiet.


No one ever did anything to me that year, and I was surprised that someone that young could be a gang leader.


In one of my last jobs in the bay area, I was called ESE and Cholo by my co workers....I guess they could still notice the neighborhood in me.....


I always look for others like me, I like to call them undercovers.....or Suedeheads....I have met a few.....some of them gang members and gang leaders that chose to work hard to get out of the enviroment that they were raised in....others that were never in gangs but they were just like me.


I write this blog not only for me but so that maybe someone somewhere that feels some of what I have felt can feel that they are not alone....so that they understand that others have been through similar life experiences.......so that they know that even though others have not been thru the exact same life experience........we are all somewhat connected.....


No one ever told me that I could make it, no one ever told me that there were other options....no one ever told me that if I did not follow the mold of what everyone else did that I would still make it......

Everyone always told me I would be in Jail by 25 or dead or in the gutter.

Everyone was wrong.


EvilChavo (ESE) out.

Why I did not become a Cholo

Being a cholo in City Terrace was not an easy process to go thru.

You had to know certain people and you had to prove that you were down for the neighborhood.

You had to get jumped in(get beat down by several of your soon to be homies), shaved down (get your head shaved all the way down to a bald head) and you had to do work (represent your neighborhood no matter what) for your neighborhood when necessary.

I have never been a good team player and could not understand the reasoning behind taking orders from people that were full of aggression and only acted when in groups.

My mom (single mother at the time) bought my first skateboard a Variflex complete ($45, a fortune) at a sporting good store .

I was scared, I did not want to fall in front of people.

When I did not open package for about a week ,my mom tagged along with our neighbors and we went to the park (Whittier Narrows) there is a very private section of the park by the freeway , away from the soccer field.

The kids at the school skated all day and they made it all look so easy.

I took the complete Variflex board out of packaging , put both feet at the same time on the board and stood on it (in the grass) and I thought to myself (I can do this)

Put the board on the walkway, put both feet on the either side of the board and......smack

Fell on my face.

Then I tried to pedal down this small hill and the board zoomed out in from of me and ....smack I fell again...did the splits this time.

Did it again and my back foot just missed the back of the board and ....smack fell on my hands

I fell so many times that by the end of the day I was sore and bruised and all my clothes(Cord Huskies, Pumas, black T shirt) were dirty.

Got back to where my mom was and they had been looking for me for about two hours and as I walked toward them I could tell that she was furious but when she saw me she must of thought that I got run over or something because she just checked me over to make sure I was o.k.

She asked me what I was doing and I answered "soy a skater Ma'"

Un skater ma'?

Que es un skater mijo? Translation : What is a skater son?

Then I showed her ,I rolled down the parking lot..... she was so impressed.

She told the neighbors I was un Skater.

To which they replied "Con que se come" Translation : What do you eat that with? (Phrase used when you have no idea what someone is talking about)

Then I showed them I could skate. They laughed and said it was a "Patin del diablo"

I lost alot of weight in the following months ,got better gear and started hanging out with the local skaters that were a few years older that me.

We started going on field trips to Monterey park (Atlantic Square) to skate, to Whittier( The Wedge) , Pasadena, Hollywood, Downtown....all over the place.

When there was no money for bus fare we would skate there....when we had no money for food we would just drink water or hit the 7 eleven by the (closed along time ago) Sundown drive in (right before EastLa College) and drink the soda when no one was looking.

I was in Junior High (Belvedere) when I started skating and once I lost all the weight the local gangs would always try and recruit me.(but I could not be a part of that world I had my own skateworld that they could never touch) They would always tell me "Skate or Die" "Skate or Die"

Little did my mom know that her gift would give me so much freedom and that it would keep me away from gangs for the remainder of my time in City Terrace.

Gangs and being a cholo seemed like a really bad thing to be when I was young, but I have met many ex-cholos/as that have turned into great friends and have been in positions as executives to many companies that I have worked for and they have always recognized me as one of their own and have helped me in one way or another.

So you can't judge anyone by who they were because you never know who you are going to be working for when you get older or when you will need someones help or backup.

Evilchavo sk8 or die.