Los alacranes musical biography movies

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ASU professor's documentary about Ramon 'Chunky' Sanchez a labor of love

Paul Espinosa is an accomplished filmmaker. His eight Emmy Awards speak to his talent.

But when he began working on the documentary “Singing Our Way to Freedom,” about activist and musician Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, he was not thinking about award number nine.

“It was a labor of love,” said Espinosa, an emeritus professor in Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies.

Espinosa first met Sanchez in the late 1970s, when he moved to San Diego and began producing work on the Latino community and the U.S.-Mexican border.

The two men became friends and Sanchez eventually scored music for two of Espinosa’s films, “The Lemon Grove Incident” and “The Trail North.”

As the years passed, Espinosa knew he wanted to write, produce and direct a documentary about Sanchez, who marched with Cesar Chavez on the picket lines in California — hoping to improve working conditions for Mexican American farmworkers — and used his music to help create social change and battle racism.

He sang “We shall overcome/No nos moveran” on Joan Baez’s first Spanish language record and formed a band, Los Alacranes Mojados (The “Wetback” Scorpions), that performed at demonstrations and rallies in the Chicano co

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Ramón “Chunky” Sánchez (October 30, 1951 – October 28, 2016)

Editor’s note: The ACTA board and staff was saddened to learn of Sánchez’ passing last month. ACTA invited longtime collaborator and public historian, Josephine S. Talamantez, to write her personal remembrance of Mr. Chunky Sánchez for this issue of The New Moon. Talamantez was a co-founder of Chicano Park in San Diego with Sánchez, and with Manny Galaviz, recently organized the nomination of Chicano Park as a National Historic Landmark, which is currently awaiting Secretary of the Interior’s signature for approval. 

Ramón “Chunky” Sánchez was my friend. I’m not unique because if you asked anyone who knew him, they would say the same thing. He was a very charismatic individual with a full-of-life ability to educate and entertain you and at the same time keep you laughing and/or crying, depending on the situation.

“Mr. Chunky” Sánchez—as he was lovingly referred to by the public, and “Chunky” by his family and friends—was an elder in the community, a community organizer, and a gang prevention expert, as well as a musician, songwriter/composer, storyteller, comedian, actor, activist, educator and cultural worker. More than anything else, to me, he was a social butterfly playing his music for