Agustin Roberto “Bobby” Salcedo, an assistant principal and school board member in El Monte, California, was shot to death last week while spending the holidays in Mexico. As his family, his friends, and his city honor his memory, Michael Jaime-Becerra, an El Monte native who explores the city in his fiction, pays tribute to his long-time friend.
On New Year’s Day my wife and I were driving to my parents’ home for our annual tradition of menudo breakfast when my sister called with the news of Bobby Salcedo’s death. She related the preliminary details — Bobby kidnapped at gunpoint from a restaurant, that he was in Gomez Palacio, Durango visiting his wife’s family for the holidays, that his body was found the following morning with those of the five other abducted men. I was shocked as I made the turns toward home and horrified as I drove past the Salcedo house. Their driveway was crowded with vehicles, and I recognized this as the first indicator that the tragic news was true.
The Salcedos live around the corner from my parents and a major portion of my childhood was spent with Bobby, his brothers, and their neighbor. We mostly played basketball in each others’ driveways. The Salcedo driveway was narrow and long, epic shots flung from the sidewalk, a low brick wall along the right sideline that tore up your knees if you weren’t careful. All sports at the Salcedos were typically rough. One brother would pound you like Charles Barkley until he scored, and another was nicknamed “Chueck,” a version of “chueco,” as “crooked” was the best way to describe his unorthodox moves driving the ball toward the basket. Their neighbor was quick and agile. I recall that he also played tennis. At this point, Bobby was old enough to get in the mix if he didn’t feel like sitting out with his younger brother. Bobby wasn’t particularly good, but he always seemed to have fun talking smack as we played. This was how a number of my summers passed. Eventually we all got older, and our paths diverged as the brothers found a passion for hockey and I traded out Oingo Boingo for the darker thrill of punk rock. Soon we graduated from different high schools. Then we went to college and our paths diverged some more.
But I never lost sight of Bobby or his family. His sister became a teacher at the elementary school where my mother was a clerk, and around this time I recall hearing that Bobby had started working as a cashier at the dairy on Durfee Avenue. I remember hearing from one of the brothers that he had been held up at night, but that he needed to continue working to put himself through school. Each Fourth of July my sister and I bought our fireworks from the stand where Bobby would be volunteering, following him from the 7-Eleven parking lot on one end of Durfee when he began teaching at South El Monte High School to the Big D’s parking lot at the other end of Durfee when he became Assistant Principal of Instruction at Mountain View High School. This past spring Bobby invited me to speak to an assembly of his students at Mountain View about my writing, which is set in the El Monte of our adolescence. I was happy to do so, honored really, for I knew that we were of a similar spirit when it came to our hometown. In fact, Bobby’s love for our city and the pride he had in its community were only surpassed by the optimism that he had for its young people.
Call me biased, but as I write about Bobby I find myself reluctant to call him “promising” as some news reports have. To call him “promising” suggests that he had yet to accomplish much, if anything, when in reality Bobby had long ago dedicated his life to the service of others. His record of toy drives and international fundraising and other seemingly endless charity work dating back nearly two decades is both inspiring and humbling. And the commitment to education — history teacher, assistant principal, elected school board member — is undeniable. At the outset of his thirties he was overseeing his former teachers and administering structural changes to improve the classroom experience for the students in their charge. Police helicopters don’t fly in a salutary formation for people who are only promising. Thousands of people don’t sit in vigil in a chilly football stadium for someone who is only promising. Bobby was tremendously accomplished and, more importantly, he used his accomplishments to make a difference in the lives of the people around him. It seems to me that he somehow fit a lifetime of achievement into the short span of time that he was here.
Despite the manner of Bobby’s death, I also refuse to associate him with the drug traffickers rampant in the region of Mexico where he was killed. In my opinion, Bobby and the Salcedo family represent the absolute best of El Monte. They also represent the best of the immigrant American experience. It is truly remarkable for any family to go, in the span of one generation, from parents with grade-school educations to all five children earning college degrees, some continuing on to master’s degrees. At the time of Bobby’s death, he was only a few courses away from a doctorate in educational leadership. When I visited him at Mountain View last May, his office was decorated with images of Cesar Chavez. His email signature quoted education reformer Horace Mann. Bobby struck me as someone possessed of a vision beyond the material. I continue to understand him as someone with the intelligence, work ethic, focus, and sheer will to achieve whatever goal he envisioned for himself.
While so many things made Bobby’s life spectacular, I am not forgetting those qualities about him that I see in so many other people. He loved the Dodgers, even in the leanest of years, and he loved the UCLA Bruins, even in the face of cross-town juggernaut USC. He was loving and supportive to his family, both here and in Mexico. He was a husband. A brother. A son. In these ways he was just like you or me, and his murder has left me with a profound sense of interconnectedness. The events of foreign drug wars and gangland executions no longer seem isolated to passing news clips. They are not fleeting glimpses at another world. I cannot shake the impression that Bobby’s death could have happened to anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I am steadfast in my belief that such violence is unacceptable. I will be writing my elected officials, informing them about Bobby and demanding that they do all in their power to bring closure to his family, and to the community grieving his loss. If you recognize yourself or your loved ones in the story of Bobby’s life, I encourage you to tell others about him as well.
—El Monte, California, January 5th, 2009
Michael Jaime-Becerra teaches creative writing at the University of California, Riverside.
If you would like to contact your elected official, please click the following links: Senator Gloria Romero, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, President Barack Obama.
Thank you for this amazing tribute. I am left, though, wondering what exactly Obama or Schwarzenegger can do about the drug war in Mexico. How much of an effect can they have? What exactly should we be asking them to do?
Hello Professor Becerra,
I have watched the news about Mr. Salcedo’s death and now read your essay about him.
I see that Mr. Salcedo accomplised many things in such a short time. I’m sure his family and friends are very proud of his accomplishments.
I also understand your desire to have your opinions heard by our officials and something done about his death.
Yet, I feel you should be addressing the Mexican officials. I’m sure you are aware of the many unfortunate tragedies that happen in Mexico, (my lovely country of origin). I believe it is them that must take charge of not only Mr. Salcedo’s death but many others and the major drugs and cartel issues in Mexico. I don’t know if you are familiar with the current goventment in Mexico, but one of President’s Calderon’s goal was to reduce the drug-traffic and carteles in Mexico. There has been big issues and a few months ago, a leader of one of the major cartels was killed. I don’t have fine details, but I hear a lot of good things happening for Mexico’s safety with this government.
I know in this case, Mr. Salcedo was unfortunate. He was definitely at the wrong place at the wrong time, (which also has happened often in Mexico). But, he was probably also with the wrong people. With all my respect that that family deserves. But to be honest, when I heard on the news about an LA assistant principal killed while in Mexico and in Gomez Palacio, Durango, I questioned about the people he was with.
I keep informed about news in Mexico thru friends, spanish news, and I myself travel quite often. You start to become aware of certain things, issues, trends in different places and regions, especially places, restaurants, cities, towns that are known for certain things, like drug dealing, so that I can stay away from. Perhaps Mr. Salcedo was not aware of “issues” around the people or the place where he was.
I congratulate you on your wonderful essay about Mr. Salcedo and encourage you to continue to let your voice be heard, whether is in this country or in Mexico.
Attentively,
Lorena Peña
Elementary School Teacher-SAUSD
As a former student and a friend of Bobby’s as well as having had the privilege to work with him on volunteer projects, I wholeheartedly agree that he was someone who was succeeding in making this happen, not just a “promising” figure. Thank you for such a lovely piece recalling your memories.
Wow! Mr. Becerra’s piece should be read by every elected official in this country and of course, President Obama. Thank you for such a beautiful piece and for shedding light on such an inspiring individual. I am contacting all my representatives and sharing it with them. Thank you.
You so poignantly remind us that those termed “promising” are inevitably people like Mr. Salcedo who have already kept so many promises by embodying ideals fostered through family and community. Thank you for your recollections of that family and community who have much to mourn in this loss yet much to celebrate in the life of Mr. Salcedo.
Bobby, young enough to be my son, was my boss at Mountain View High School. I was one of the people sitting in the “chilly stadium” last week to honor Bobby.
I appreciate you emphasizing that should we recognize what Bobby had already done and secondarily what he might have done. Most people don’t accomplish in a lifetime what Bobby did in his 33 years.
Another thing I would like people to know about Bobby is how multi-faceted he was. He may have shaken hands with a former president, but he still hung out with us (faculty and staff) at our social gatherings. He was one of us…underpaid and overworked!!
This was awesome. Thanks for posting it.
Professor Becerra: Thank you for an eloquent, heartfelt tribute to Bobby Salcedo. You capture the marvelousness of his brief, accomplished life; and the pathos of such a life cut short. Coming as your words do from someone who loved and admired Bobby and saw him grow from childhood, they have a greater impact on all of us who read your tribute.
I knew Bobby only briefly. I was a school administrator in South Pasadena at the time and had the wonderful opportunity to work with El Monte High School through a short-term, collaborative UCLA/El Monte district program which explored educational excellence and how to heighten student achievement. As part of the UCLA team assigned to EMHS, I visited teachers’ classrooms, including Bobby’s, and engaged in workshops, many conversations, and discussions with the high school staffs in the El Monte district about how they served students and how they could grow even more as a school, beyond admirable progress being made.
I saw Bobby in action in his classroom. He was a new teacher at the time, in his 20′s, probably in his second or third year of teaching. But, even then, his enthusiasm for his work, his genuine camaraderie with fellow faculty and administration, and his eagerness to seek excellence were quite clear. In fact, even then, he was establishing himself as a leader at El Monte High School. In our group sessions and seminars, Bobby was articulate, sincere, and energetic. He sometimes led group discussions, standing at the easel in front of the room, recording his fellow teachers’ comments, helping to moderate the flow of exchanges. He was a young star, and I could see that. And he did all this with a down-to-earth sense of humor and with comfort.
When I read the first article in the newspaper about his death, I remembered him instantly and was deeply saddened that such a committed educator had been taken away. Of course, to me, he had been “promising,” since I knew only what I’ve shared above. Reading about all the other things he had done, and had since done, convince me that “promising” is indeed inadequate. He was REMARKABLE.
[...] an El Monte native who explores the city in his fiction, wrote of Salcedo in a moving tribute in Zocalo. “Bobby was tremendously accomplished and, more importantly, he used his accomplishments to [...]
i went to el monte high school and when i used to walk to the cafeteria in lunch time.i would always see him with his lunch and a big smile on his face.he was always so involved in helping students. Bobby Salcedo and his best friend,Joeseph Vu,were the two inspirations in my life.they inspired me to do well in school even though the struggles of every day life were telling me to give up.Bobby Salcedo is a great inspiration may he Rest In Peace.
i was never a student of bobby but i did do volunteer work with him and everytime i saw him he had a smile on his face. he has inspired me to do so much and to never give up. i know he is watching me from above. we miss you bobby. RIP <3
he is trully the best principle that our school has had…we really miss him );