CHAPTER TWO
A CHILD OF TWO WORLDS
To understand the driving forces that created Chicano Flame is to understand the world of the child who would come to adopt that name and the performance art of professional wrestling. The story begins on March 17, 1968, when Ramon Barreto was born to Ramon and Graciela Barreto of Ensenada, Mexico. Ensenada is a coastal city in the Mexican state of Baja California that once served as the northern capital when Baja California was two federal districts. By 1968, Ensenada had grown dramatically over the previous fifteen years, having tripled in size to approximately 70,000 people.[i]
Ramon Sr. worked as a city bus driver for Ensenada’s rapidly expanding population. Ensenada’s economic growth began in the 1920s when its hotels and casinos became a destination for Americans reeling from prohibition. Agriculture has also played a significant role in Ensenada for decades. In addition to wheat, grapes, and olives, Ensenada used its Pacific ports as a hub to export agricultural goods, particularly cotton.[ii] The increased public transportation needs were helpful for Ramon Sr. who was working hard as a city bus driver to provide for his own rapidly expanding family. While Ramon Sr. worked long hours driving, Graciela remained home tending to the needs of the three young boys.
One can almost see something providential in the fact that Ramon was born on Saint Patrick’s Day. March 17 conjures images of shamrocks, wearing green, free flowing libations, and Irish pride in the imagination of pop culture. Though Saint Patrick will forever be associated to Ireland, he was not Irish by birth. After 1,500 years his life is more myth than reality, as is often the case with profound historical figures. In fact, he is not even a canonized Catholic saint. Born late in the 4th century CE, Patrick grew up in Roman occupied Britain, in what would become modern day Scotland. His first encounter with his future home in Ireland came in approximately 405 CE, when he was taken by Irish raiders and forced into slavery at the age of sixteen.[iii]
Young Patrick was a man out of place, a stranger in a strange land where he spent six years as a slave tending sheep before, he would escape back to the Roman Empire. However, Patrick was not finished with Ireland, nor was Ireland finished with him. Patrick’s years of slavery galvanized him to embrace the Christian faith he had largely ignored in his youth. Upon regaining his freedom, Patrick became fully devoted and committed himself to the task of the church. His destiny came full circle when in his forties, Patrick returned to the land of his previous captivity as a missionary to convert pagan Ireland.
The historical Patrick was in many regards a child of two worlds, a man whose country of birth and adopted home would shape the way the world viewed him. Though he could not know it then, little Ramon Barreto would also find himself as a child of two worlds, faced with the realities of a new adopted home. In 1971, Ramon and Graciela made the decision to uproot their young family and pursue a new life and new opportunities in the United States. Ramon was only three at the time, and though the US is the only home he would ever know, he arrived at a time of great social turmoil.
Relations between Mexico and the United States have long been complicated, even as they are today. On three separate occasions in the 19th century, the United States’ border consumed both Mexican land and its people. The first instance was the 1836 Texas revolt, the second was the US invasion of Mexico in 1846, and the third was the Gadsden purchase of 1853.[iv] Each progression into Mexican territory left the inhabitants as foreigners and minorities in their own land, often losing homes, business, and subject to loss of culture.[v] Likewise, the United States development as a world power created new and exciting opportunities for Mexican citizens looking toward greater stability. When the 1910 Mexican revolution erupted, almost a million Mexican citizens returned to their ancestral homeland, now part of the United States, seeking a safer and more stable existence.[vi] Regardless of whose land it had once been, it now belonged to the US, and to be a Mexican was to be a foreign minority searching for their independence in a new home.
When the Barretos arrived in the United States in 1971, the pivotal social movement known as the Chicano Movement was starting to wind down. Young Ramon’s first exposure to the term “Chicano'' came about when he had just turned thirteen and saw the 1981 musical film Zoot Suit, starring Edward James Olmos. Zoot Suit is loosely based on Los Angeles’ 38th Street Gang, who in the early 1940’s was being subject to a prejudiced judicial system and were falsely accused of murder during a brawl. The film primarily chronicles the life of Henry Reyna, the charismatic leader of the gang, who was about to join the navy before his unjust conviction.
Zoot Suit examines the identity of Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles through the lens of Henry Reyna’s effort to become more than a pachuco, a juvenile Mexican-American gang member. An early scene in the film depicts life in the Reyna household where the three Reyna siblings are preparing to head out on the town. Their father Enrique sees the younger son Rudy wearing Enrique’s jacket, which is far too big on him, giving Rudy a zoot suit look. When Enrique questions Rudy about his clothing, he responds, “It’s my tacuche (suit), apa. Chicano style!” Enrique responds, “Chicano? Hijo, don’t go out like that, por favor. You look like an idiot bendejo. Chicano. Haven’t I told you not to use that word? It means you’re trash! You’re Mexicanos! Mexicanos!” Enrique’s rebuke to his son is a reflection of the real complexities intertwined with the word Chicano.
The natural question that emerges is: What is the difference between a Mexican and a Chicano? Mexican refers generally to an inhabitant of Mexico or a person of Mexican descent, which would also include Mexican inhabitants who have immigrated to the United States. A further distinction that gained popularity in the 1920’s was Mexican-American, or one whose origins lie in Mexico, while also acknowledging a level of assimilation into their new American home. It has further been argued that embedded within the idea of Mexican-American is an identification with white racial identity.[vii]
In contrast to Mexican-American, Chicano reflects an identity that transcends white racial identity, or a basic assimilation ideology.[viii] To be Chicano is to reflect a unique identity of Mexicans, who live in America as American citizens, yet are still ethnically unique from the white majority of the country. The Mexican civil rights movement that took place in the United States during the 1960’s became known as the Chicano Movement. Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago were among the US cities that were significant hubs of Chicano Movement activity.
Participants in the Chicano Movement recall forty-years later that the word Chicano was hurled at them as a slur to indicate that as Mexicans they were of low social class…they were trash.[ix] Rather than accept the notion they were low class, these Mexican-Americans embraced the slur and transformed it into the rallying cry to be recognized as equals in a country founded upon the idea of equality. When the Barretos came to the United States, they came to pursue a dream in a land of opportunities, and they arrived toward the end of a battle where Mexicans who had made the US their home were no longer willing to be deemed trash.
After moving to the United States, Ramon Sr. found work in the fields harvesting lettuce, grapes, and other produce. This was a common trend among Mexican immigrants in the United States, and it had been a focal point of Chicano civil rights. The famed activist Cesar Chavez had himself grown up in a family of migrant farm-laborers, and eventually co-founded the United Farm Workers Association in 1963. When Ramon Sr. arrived in the United States, he had just missed a Chavez-led five-year strike of California grape-pickers, and a nationwide boycott of California grapes.[x] The fight for Chicano equality did not just take place in the realm of labor, but public schools were also a major focus in the 1960’s.
Decades before a fifty-year-old Chicano Flame would be cheered at the same Marshall Elementary he had attended in his youth; California’s educational system was ground zero for the Chicano movement. Chicanos in Los Angeles led the fight against unequal conditions and discrimination in Los Angeles schools, known as “Chicano blowouts”. Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles had one of the lowest graduation rates in the nation, and little involvement in student council and academic programs. Sal Castro, one of the leaders of the Chicano blowouts recalls speaking with a school principal about wanting to see Latino students more involved in these facets of the educational experience. The principal called him after the conversation to say, “Mexicans have a charming passivity. You wouldn’t want to take that away from them do you?”[xi]
Unbeknownst to him, Ramon Jr. would be coming into his own as a person following a tremendous period of social turmoil in the battle for Chicano rights. As Ramon watched Zoot Suit, he was becoming aware of his own Chicano identity through the lens of artistic expression. That Ramon was a Mexican immigrant living in the United States was not new to him; it was an everyday reality. However, the meaning of being an immigrant, of being a Chicano, was taking root deep within him. The reality that Ramon Barreto was a child of two worlds was solidifying in his young mind, and that reality is evident to this very day.
Barreto now lives in a beautiful home in San Francisco, the city he has lived in since his dad found a job at The Fairmont Hotel. The two-story bachelor pad is a love letter to his passion for both his Mexican heritage and his beloved San Francisco. The ceiling of his garage is completely covered with team pennants from the worlds of Major League Baseball and the National Football League. How many times he climbed a ladder to hang these hundreds of professional sports emblems is only a matter of speculation.
The stairs leading up to his main living quarters are narrow and winding, dotted with various small statues of a religious and decorative nature. These themes continue when one arrives on the main floor, where his living room is an homage to his Chicano heritage. Chicano identity is partially intertwined with tracing their heritage back to the Aztecs. Some segments of the Chicano movement considered themselves Mexican Native Americans as the Aztec Empire once consumed parts of what is now the Southwestern United States. Barreto has adopted this Aztec heritage as a significant part of his identity.
Two large and beautiful statues depicting Aztec warriors ready for battle phalanx the living room. His walls feature family pictures, particularly of his youngest child who was in high school at that time. In the right corner of his living room from the main entryway one sees a prominent display with several classic Lucha Libre wrestling masks on top of the case. The lower shelves are filled with action figures of iconic wrestlers from Mexico and the United States. The living room collection would seem impressive for most, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Turning back down the main hallway is Barreto’s bedroom, which prominently features a large Aztec calendar hanging over his bed. To the right of the bedroom is a collector’s room that looks like it could provide full inventory to a retail story. Inside this room is the evidence that Barreto has spent decades collecting merchandise pertaining to his twin passions: wrestling and San Francisco sports. Literally hundreds of action figures fill the space of the room in every direction. Dozens of wrestling figures in packages fill the walls, organized into certain themes, such as wrestlers who have died or Mexican wrestling legends. Barreto’s shelves feature dozens of figures from both the 49ers and the Giants, representing San Francisco legends like Dwight Clark, Joe Montana, and Barry Bonds. He also has a Bruce Lee action figure as the martial arts legend was born in San Francisco in 1940.
Barreto has purchased replica wrestling belts through the years for various promotions that he is affiliated with. These belts have found a place in his personal museum along with several items that are used when his alter ego, Chicano Flame, takes to the ring. Boots with flames, capes, and Aztec costumes dot the room’s landscape, some hanging prominently on a display dummy. The closet doors are wide open and contain not only wrestling gear, but the bulk of his hundreds of wrestling figures prominently displayed on shelves.
Walking through this room with Ramon is like taking a guided tour through both his career and wrestling history. His face, which is typically friendly and approachable, somehow brightens even more as he discusses both his career and the history of wrestling. The action figures are like pieces in an overly full museum that serve as talking points for this personal archive of the sports entertainment world that gave birth to Chicano Flame. Ramon smiles wide when he opens a copy of Pro Wrestling Insider from the 2000s that featured him as a top 100 wrestler in the world. Barreto is in the twilight of his wrestling career; a reality he readily acknowledges, and this room serves as a testimony to the richness of his love for wrestling.
The room is not just a display, it is also a complex code that tells the story of how a Mexican immigrant, growing up in the 70s and 80s would find his calling in the world of professional wrestling. Ramon did not come to this decision overnight, nor was the idea of Chicano Flame born out of a single moment in time. Like the man who gave birth to the character, Chicano Flame was an evolution from a youthful love of wrestling, and his own Latino heritage, into a defining reality. To understand how it happened is to understand that Ramon Barreto did not believe he fit the bill of a professional wrestler. Given where wrestling was in the 1980s when his passion for the craft was taking root, one can understand why Barreto may not have seriously considered himself a strong candidate for the world of sports entertainment.
[i] https://populationstat.com/mexico/ensenada. Accessed August 11, 2019.
[ii] https://www.britannica.com/place/Ensenada. Accessed August 11, 2019.
[iii] See T. O’Raifeartaigh, “St. Patrick”, Accessed from Britannica; History.com Editors, “Who was Saint Patrick”, Accessed from History.com.
[iv] J. Gutierrez, “The Chicano Movement: Paths to Power”, TSS 211 (102): 25.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] I. Lopez, “Protest, Repression, and Race”, UPLR 150, 2011: 208.
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] D. Pined, https://www.sfexaminer.com/national-news/chicano-and-the-fight-for-identity/, Los Angeles Times article.
[x] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cesar-Chavez.
[xi] M. Castellanos, “The Chicano Blowouts and Their Effects”, La Prensa San Diego 42, (2018): 2, 11.
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