Summary
The Revolt of the Cockroach People by Oscar Zeta Acosta was written in an era that spanned from the late sixties through the early seventies. The book takes place during times rattled by communal disobedience, racial uproar and religious anarchy. It’s not only an era jam-packed with immense turmoil within the Chicano community, but it’s also a book written during a time of war with Vietnam.
The book opens in the middle of a violent demonstration on the night of Christmas Eve in front of St. Basil’s Roman Catholic Church where over “three hundred brown-eyed children of the sun have come to drive the money-changers out of the richest temple in Los Angeles” (11). This is where we first meet Buffalo Brown, a Chicano lawyer and mediator amongst the “cockroaches” and the authority figures or as Brown calls them, the “pigs”. As the violent, but historic demonstration progresses, we are also introduced to his gang of accomplices named Gilbert, Black Eagle, Corky, Pelon and Sailor Boy.
As Cardinal James Francis McIntyre approaches the front gates to refuse entrance to the “cockroaches”, Brown sees no reason why the Chicanos cannot attend the mass services that the church offers. This is what gives rise to all the violent demonstrations outside the church’s gates and where Buffalo Brown is called to his duty to defend the Chicanos that are being stepped on by the “pigs” that run the city. One by one, his people are being sent off to jail and one by one Brown come to blows for their freedom.
Brown is the only public defender that provides the free defense for the people that cannot afford such deals. Such is the case with Robert Fernandez, a young teenage boy whom Brown along with the Fernandez family and the Chicano community believed was murdered by the “pigs” inside the jail cells. His murder was said to be an “accidental suicide” but certain facts point the other way. Afraid of police brutality, the only inmate that was close to Robert’s cell would not come out with the truth. Furthermore, unable to provide sufficient evidentiary support, the trial is dismissed and the “pigs” are found innocent. Fernandez’ body, even with all the bruises attained from the “accidental suicide”, could not be enough to prove that it was police brutality that killed him. That, along with the religious injustice and exclusion from the church, was the driving force for Brown’s retaliation and passion to serve and redeem.
The Revolt of the Cockroach People is more engaged in Brown’s political activism against the Catholic Church and the crocked law enforcement in Los Angeles. He then meets three young teeny-boppers that serve to be his secretaries throughout his trials. Furthermore, with his great leadership skills and degree, Brown serves in various cases as the defense attorney for Chicanos who were repeatedly involved in civil disorders, such as the Fernandez case and his friends’ cases. Some proved to be defeating, while others proved to be justified. In the many cases he fights, he is always belittled and downgraded as a lawyer, but, regardless, it serves to be good practice for Brown since he then decides to run for Los Angeles County Sheriff while locked up in jail for courtroom misconduct. After his release, Brown announces publicly on the KMEX radio station.
As the novel progresses, Brown delivers some civil justices for his gang who was acquitted of the infamous bomb attacks and put out on bail and probation. That of course, at the expense of Roland Zandibar, who was killed in the crossfire. Through it all, he somewhat accomplishes what he set out to do because he does deliver some justice and starts a revolution of change for the “cockroach people”.
This book was among on of the main foundations for the historic Chicano Movement that serves to be a remarkable piece of Chicano cultural history. Revolt of the Cockroach People covers such issues as: ethnicity, police brutality and Chicano political rights. Considering the fact that the book is stationed in the east part of Los Angeles during the heavy seventies, Acosta makes sure to take his readers behind the front lines of the courtroom settings as well and in the trenches of the city he fights in. In the end though, the same theme is played out over and over again stating that things will never change unless someone challenges the ideals. No matter what the cost is, the utilitarian Buffalo Brown will always be remembered as the antihero who brought much justice and freedom to the “cockroaches”.