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I can still remember the day as if it were yesterday. March 5, 1980. Here I was, six years old, clutching tightly unto my mother's hand as customs agents at JFK International Airport grilled her about our visa and my dad's death certificate. Five days prior my father had been murdered on a Queens street. At the time our family was living in Chile under one of the most savage eras of the Pinochet dictatorship. My mother had to make a life altering decision just like many of other families. So here she is, a novice widow with two kids having to defend her right to bury her husband. Taking the customs agent to historical task, demanding refuge for her kids in the very same country that sponsored the bloody coup de tat which forced thousands to flee Chile, including my dad.

My mother once told me that this experience helped her become a woman. As a young boy back then it was the first time I witnessed courage. Moms would go unto fight many other battles in her life; the slumlord of our Section 8 building and the criminal justice system that imprisoned family and friends. At times these bouts with justice would place her at odds with me, a young graffiti writer with a very loud mouth and scheming mind. But in my heart I knew moms was operating from a serious conviction about what was just in life, without much compromise for the truth. Those who know me well, by now have probably realized that I can be difficult, in my younger days, straight up cantankerous. It’s hard for me to back down sometimes. But I'll never double cross you and when it’s time to soldier up, I'm coming through with everything I got. And this quality which has helped me survive and strive in life, I inherited from a woman, mi mami, Norma Bravo.

I would be remiss I'd I didn't acknowledge all the women in my life who thought the years have influenced and shaped the man I have become today. My soul sisters Kym and Veronica for helping a young boisterous and defiant spirit learn to be a better listener and supportive brother. Valiant shout out to Loira, my film partner for upholding within me vital human principles as we trekked through some of the most sheisty terrain in filmmaking. My famalam throughout the last decade and a half. I've learned so much about life though the rollercoaster of love and friendship. Thank you for creating a lil space for the commie spik: Alex, Too Fly, Izzy, Eunice, Isa, Nikki, Paula, Crum, Valeria, Bomba, PBG, and my eternal sista from anotha, Andrea Cecilia Bernal. Engh.