Raúl R. Salinas (March 17, 1934 - February 13, 2008), better known by his pen name raúlrsalinas, was a
Chicanopinto poet, memoirist,
social activist, and prison journalist. Much of raúlrsalinas' writing was grounded in arguments for
social justice and human rights.[1] He was an early pioneer of Chicano pinto (
prisoner) poetry and is notable for his use of
vernacular,
bilingual, and
free verse aesthetics.[2]
Alongside
Ricardo Sánchez,
Judy Lucero,
Luis Talamantez, and
Jimmy Santiago Baca, raúlrsalinas sought to make prisoners' rights a more central focus of the
Chicano Movement.[3] Incarcerated for over a decade (1959–1972) for carrying a small amount of
marijuana,[4] raúlrsalinas wrote extensively while in prison, including essays, letters, prose, and journalism, the vast majority which is now held at
Stanford University.[5] raúlrsalinas' work extended beyond his prison writing, focusing also on his Xicanindio (indigenous identified Chicano) heritage and his politics as a
Latino internationalist. According to
Oxford University, raúlrsalinas "transformed elements of the American literary canon."[6]
^Mendoza, Louis G. (April 1, 2018).
"Memoir of Un Ser Humano: The Life and Times of raulrsalinas". The Queer Turn: Selected Proceedings of the 2018 Meeting of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings). Retrieved 9 December 2020.