Gang Violence In Blood Out

A word that comes to mind when I watch the movie, Blood in Blood Out is “raza.” To me this word symbolizes family, close friends, and brotherhood. For instance, the film has moments of great happiness with family, but also moments of despair with life. The movie Blood in Blood out has made me feel empathy with the Hispanic culture, the experience of gang violence, and the film reminds me of pain.

This film involves Hispanic culture that relates to my heritage when the movie displays familia gatherings. The mother, Dolores is cooking for everybody with meringue music blasted in the barrio. For example, this relates to my life in so many ways because I am Hispanic. I am of Hispanic decent because my mother is from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Mexico

In one scene Dolores finds her youngest son thrown on the floor with a needle puncturing his arm. The young boy was in Cruz’s room, while Cruz and his friend were passed out due to crack-cocaine. This scene is of a tragic loss, but when I see it, I recall my near-death experience where I ended up in a coma for almost a year. This was a time where I felt anger towards the world and frustration with myself. I was 11 years old when I went into a yearlong coma. One morning I was gathering my items to take a shower and went to wait outside the bathroom door. My older brother, Jimmy would always joke around and take longer in the shower to upset me. Once he opened the door, after a long wait, the steam penetrated my face I felt weak and completely blacked out. From what I was told, I fell into my brother’s arms, unconscious while foam escaped my mouth. Little did my family know, I had endured a stoke. The doctors told my parents that I was in a coma due to a brain aneurysm and two strokes in the right side of my brain. The right side of my brain had expanded and filled with blood. After eating through a pipe that connected to my stomach for almost a year, I finally woke up. The first words that escaped my mouth were “tengo hambre.” Although, this event left me partially paralyzed from the right side I continued to strive. This had left me to wonder, “why me?” as most people that go through traumatic experiences asks themselves. It hurts to think that I wouldn’t be normal