Los Illegals: Seminal Chicano Punk Band’s Bassist Slams Non-Confrontational Artists and Activists

Colorlines reports on Los Illegals, which “picked its band name in part as a big middle finger to the xenophobic bias plaguing Chicanos in East Los Angeles. As the historic band’s bassist Jesus Velo explained in a new interview, the group’s name pissed off many Latinos—but not for the obvious reasons.”  “So Los Illegals are [hybrid]–’Los’ [in Spanish] and ‘Illegals’ in English, which the Mexicans gave us shit for,” Velo told Remezcla. “‘What’s with this? You don’t like saying it all in Spanish.’ It was like, give us like a fucking break!”

KJ

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