Book Summary
Always Running begins with Luis Rodriguez retelling the story of his younger life while his family and he were living in the Watts area of Los Angeles. He first proceeds to say how his parents met. His father was working as a principal of a school in Mexico. His mother also worked at a school, but was a secretary instead. The two met at a foreign study program meeting, fell in love, and were eventually married. Soon after their wedding, Luis’s father was put on trial and jailed for allegedly stealing money from his own school. This was simply not true and he was luckily found out to be innocent. Even though he was found innocent, he took his family with him to move to the United States in hopes of finding a new job since he couldn’t be a principal in Mexico, let alone any other job. Their move to the United States wasn’t as hopeful as they had expected it to be. They faced unemployment and couldn’t find any jobs to work at. This caused the family to constantly move from place to place and never settling down. Luis’s mother consistently asks her husband to move back to Mexico but he refuses to ever go back because he believes they are better off in the United States. The family is finally able to settle down in a small area of Los Angeles, known as the Watts area.
After all the constant moving of the family, Luis then talks about his early school life and his experiences while attending them. He first states that he was unable to speak English, and was only able to speak Spanish. This made him feel as if he had a disadvantage over the other kids in his class. He also said that the teachers he had always put him in the corners of the classroom because he couldn’t talk. This was due to the fact that the teachers didn’t want to help him learn at all. Not only was he discriminated against at school, but it was also throughout his neighborhood. All this discrimination towards Luis, makes him try to find more friends and looks into the gang culture.
Luis makes friends with a few other Latinos in his neighborhood and school. They descried that they want to progress into an official group. They then decided to call themselves the Impersonations. This gang consisted of Luis, Clavo, Wilo, and Chicharrón. After Luis helps from this gang of his, he feels that he has the need to participate in everyday gang related activities. Yet, he fears that he will somehow hurt someone and doesn’t want that to ever happen. Luis soon realizes that Los Angeles is filled with gangs and wants to learn their ways. His gang is later than absorbed into another, bigger gang known as the Animal Tribe, or The Tribe. They initiate him into the gang by beating him up. The gang then organizes with Luis to hit a drive in movie theater. There Luis was the one holding the gun against the clerk’s head where he refused to kill the man and decided to just run from him since he too had a gun.
After the Tribe’s attempted robbery, Luis feels as if he serves no purpose. He begins to think about committing suicide in order to deal with all the problems that he is facing. He was informed that he was actually being expelled from his high school. The school tells him that he was involved in way too many fights between students of different races. This along with his gang affairs caused his parents to make Luis live out in the garage rather than inside the house. They did this because they felt as if he was losing control and his mind. He eventually finds a job just to get his mind off of things. He also got a job out of fear of being deported. He began working at a Mexican restaurant as a busboy, which was a start for him. However he also joins the Los Lamos gang, which was one of the most lethal and violent gangs in the area. Around the same exact time he is imitated into the gang, many community centers are being brought about in order to help prevent the spread of gang affairs and other deadly acts of violence in the surrounding areas. Luis begins attending some of these community centers in order to try and stay out of trouble. At one of the community centers, Luis makes a new friend named Chente Ramirez. Chente acts as Luis’s mentor and ends up taking him under his wing and protection from the gang. However, Chente is also in a gang. Luis begins to realize that he has much more potential in life than just being in a gang and doing their biddings. He begins to realize the social injustices that exist in the world along with the help and encouragement from Chente.
Luis starts to try changing his life around for the better at this point after all the help he receives from Chente. He ends up marching in a march for protest against the Vietnam War which was a start for him. After this march concluded, Luis was jailed for participating in the march itself. He is eventually let out and realizes the mistakes he had made and wants to change it after he had already said that he would. He returns to the community center in hopes of finding and talking to Chente. He finds Chente at the community center and he tells Luis that he is actually the community organizer of that particular center. Luis asks Chente for guidance since he is so lost and confused at this point in his life. Chente then tells him that he should return to high school in order to receive a basic education. Luis decides that it is probably best that he does in fact re-enroll in high school, which he does for a matter of fact. Together Chente and Luis are able to have a teacher create a high school course on Chicano history and culture. This makes Luis extremely happy and makes he feel like he can accomplish anything as long as he sets his mind to it.
The very next day, Luis spiraled back into gang trouble. He was at a party when one of his friends said that some bikers had chased him and his girl down the street. Luis responded immediately to the situation and took a friend with him to try and track down the bikers. They found the bikers and pulled rifles out on them and shot one of them but didn’t kill him, but cops were already there. They assumed that Luis and his friend were the bikers and were placed under arrest for assault with intent to murder. Luckily Chente was able to bail him out and the charges were placed on a different gang member than him. Luis realized his mistake and said that he shouldn’t have gotten involved in that situation since it had nothing to do with him. Chente then places Luis in charge of mural paintings around the neighborhood. Chente also tells him that this would be an excellent opportunity for him to be a role model of keeping the two rival gangs from attacking each other or other innocent people as well.
After going through all these horrific events, Luis undergoes a lot of self-evaluation. He copes with his problem and stress by beginning to write poems and short stories. This helps him relax and he feels that he is at peace and really good at it. He turns them in to show his teacher, Mrs. Baez. She absolutely is in love with his poems and short stories and tells him that he absolutely needs to publish them right away. She also says that they are hosting a Chicano Literary Contest which would be a perfect opportunity for him to get his work seen and appreciated. With help from Chente and his teacher, he submits his work for the contest and ends up receiving an award of two hundred and fifty dollars. Along with the money prize, he also received a paid plane trip to Berkeley and his very own publishing contract. Not only did he win from the Chicano Literary Contest, but he also was able to finally graduate from high school and receive his diploma.
After graduating from high school, Luis begins attending California State-Los Angeles. His majors were broadcast journalism and Chicano studies. He later decided to leave his childhood home and move to Boyle Heights in order to escape his horrific past that he desperately wanted to forget. He told Chente that there was nothing left for him here and that it was his time to leave. He then begins his career in journalism and literature which led him to where he is today; a very successful author.
After all the constant moving of the family, Luis then talks about his early school life and his experiences while attending them. He first states that he was unable to speak English, and was only able to speak Spanish. This made him feel as if he had a disadvantage over the other kids in his class. He also said that the teachers he had always put him in the corners of the classroom because he couldn’t talk. This was due to the fact that the teachers didn’t want to help him learn at all. Not only was he discriminated against at school, but it was also throughout his neighborhood. All this discrimination towards Luis, makes him try to find more friends and looks into the gang culture.
Luis makes friends with a few other Latinos in his neighborhood and school. They descried that they want to progress into an official group. They then decided to call themselves the Impersonations. This gang consisted of Luis, Clavo, Wilo, and Chicharrón. After Luis helps from this gang of his, he feels that he has the need to participate in everyday gang related activities. Yet, he fears that he will somehow hurt someone and doesn’t want that to ever happen. Luis soon realizes that Los Angeles is filled with gangs and wants to learn their ways. His gang is later than absorbed into another, bigger gang known as the Animal Tribe, or The Tribe. They initiate him into the gang by beating him up. The gang then organizes with Luis to hit a drive in movie theater. There Luis was the one holding the gun against the clerk’s head where he refused to kill the man and decided to just run from him since he too had a gun.
After the Tribe’s attempted robbery, Luis feels as if he serves no purpose. He begins to think about committing suicide in order to deal with all the problems that he is facing. He was informed that he was actually being expelled from his high school. The school tells him that he was involved in way too many fights between students of different races. This along with his gang affairs caused his parents to make Luis live out in the garage rather than inside the house. They did this because they felt as if he was losing control and his mind. He eventually finds a job just to get his mind off of things. He also got a job out of fear of being deported. He began working at a Mexican restaurant as a busboy, which was a start for him. However he also joins the Los Lamos gang, which was one of the most lethal and violent gangs in the area. Around the same exact time he is imitated into the gang, many community centers are being brought about in order to help prevent the spread of gang affairs and other deadly acts of violence in the surrounding areas. Luis begins attending some of these community centers in order to try and stay out of trouble. At one of the community centers, Luis makes a new friend named Chente Ramirez. Chente acts as Luis’s mentor and ends up taking him under his wing and protection from the gang. However, Chente is also in a gang. Luis begins to realize that he has much more potential in life than just being in a gang and doing their biddings. He begins to realize the social injustices that exist in the world along with the help and encouragement from Chente.
Luis starts to try changing his life around for the better at this point after all the help he receives from Chente. He ends up marching in a march for protest against the Vietnam War which was a start for him. After this march concluded, Luis was jailed for participating in the march itself. He is eventually let out and realizes the mistakes he had made and wants to change it after he had already said that he would. He returns to the community center in hopes of finding and talking to Chente. He finds Chente at the community center and he tells Luis that he is actually the community organizer of that particular center. Luis asks Chente for guidance since he is so lost and confused at this point in his life. Chente then tells him that he should return to high school in order to receive a basic education. Luis decides that it is probably best that he does in fact re-enroll in high school, which he does for a matter of fact. Together Chente and Luis are able to have a teacher create a high school course on Chicano history and culture. This makes Luis extremely happy and makes he feel like he can accomplish anything as long as he sets his mind to it.
The very next day, Luis spiraled back into gang trouble. He was at a party when one of his friends said that some bikers had chased him and his girl down the street. Luis responded immediately to the situation and took a friend with him to try and track down the bikers. They found the bikers and pulled rifles out on them and shot one of them but didn’t kill him, but cops were already there. They assumed that Luis and his friend were the bikers and were placed under arrest for assault with intent to murder. Luckily Chente was able to bail him out and the charges were placed on a different gang member than him. Luis realized his mistake and said that he shouldn’t have gotten involved in that situation since it had nothing to do with him. Chente then places Luis in charge of mural paintings around the neighborhood. Chente also tells him that this would be an excellent opportunity for him to be a role model of keeping the two rival gangs from attacking each other or other innocent people as well.
After going through all these horrific events, Luis undergoes a lot of self-evaluation. He copes with his problem and stress by beginning to write poems and short stories. This helps him relax and he feels that he is at peace and really good at it. He turns them in to show his teacher, Mrs. Baez. She absolutely is in love with his poems and short stories and tells him that he absolutely needs to publish them right away. She also says that they are hosting a Chicano Literary Contest which would be a perfect opportunity for him to get his work seen and appreciated. With help from Chente and his teacher, he submits his work for the contest and ends up receiving an award of two hundred and fifty dollars. Along with the money prize, he also received a paid plane trip to Berkeley and his very own publishing contract. Not only did he win from the Chicano Literary Contest, but he also was able to finally graduate from high school and receive his diploma.
After graduating from high school, Luis begins attending California State-Los Angeles. His majors were broadcast journalism and Chicano studies. He later decided to leave his childhood home and move to Boyle Heights in order to escape his horrific past that he desperately wanted to forget. He told Chente that there was nothing left for him here and that it was his time to leave. He then begins his career in journalism and literature which led him to where he is today; a very successful author.