Notes on Chicana/o Student Movement @ UCSB: The Tragic Death of Oscar “El Bandido” Gomez and In Defense of Noel “Nene” Huerta
On November 16, 1994, Oscar “El Bandido” Gomez (UC Davis student) and Noel “Nene” Huerta (UCSB student) — homeboys from the Chicana/o student movement in Califas — attended a massive protest at UCSB called “Take Back Chicano Studies.” Among other issues, this included support for Dr. Rodolfo “Rudy” Acuña. As one of the founders of Chicana and Chicano Studies, Dr. Acuña (or Rudy) was wrongly denied a faculty position at UCSB, where he later settled in court in his favor. Miraculously, another UCSB student, Marc Baca, recorded Oscar being interviewed (along with Margie Berta, UC Davis student) by Emigdio Cordova. Noel can be seen in the background. While Oscar was wearing a Mexican sweater with shades, Noel was wearing a white T-shirt and beret with shades, carrying a backpack. He can be seen dancing backwards, as he loved to dance.
What started off as a “beautiful day to be a Chicana/o,” to paraphrase the late Sal Castro, later that night (or next morning?) at a house party, a series of events resulted in the tragic death Oscar. Almost 28 years later, Oscar’s death remains unresolved or undetermined, where Oscar’s familia and friends lack closure. So do I. He was only 21 years old. When Oscar died, his familia, friends and those of us in the Chicana/o movement lost a smart, articulate, tall, handsome and talented young man. At 19 years old, for instance, Oscar already had his own bilingual radio show, “La Onda Xicana, La Musica del Barrio.” Apart from playing Oldies, Chicana/o music and Mexican music, in the studio and the field, he interviewed activists, students, academics, artists and others. In short, we lost a young Chicano leader with a promising future.
At the time, Noel was only 22 years old. Like Oscar, Noel was smart, articulate, handsome and talented, as I wrote in my tribute, “In Loving Memory of My Brother Noel ‘Nene’ Huerta.” While some of Oscar’s familia and friends falsely claim that Oscar was Noel’s mentor, where he had a positive influence on my brother, that’s not how it went down. They were peers. They were homeboys. As a highly gifted student, by the time Nene arrived at UCSB at 17 years old, where he was also admitted to UCLA and UC Berkeley, he had already read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, along with the writings of George Jackson (Blood in My Eye) and Jack Abbott (In the Belly of the Beast), etc.
Basically, Oscar and Noel became homeboys in the Chicana/o student movement because they had so much in common. In the study of social networks, this is how it works. We form our friendships based on common interests with others. This is where the proverb, “Birds of a feather flock together,” derives from. Once Oscar died, however, a lot of people came out of the woodwork, claiming to be Oscar’s best friend or BFF!
Bunch of opportunists!
Since the sudden and tragic death of Noel on Aug. 20, 2017, I avoided publicly discussing the deaths of my late brother (with exception of my tribute essay) and Oscar, as I still haven’t recovered from both tragedies. While I only met Oscar once at a UCSB rally, when I witnessed the emotional and psychological pain that Noel experienced (until his death), I, too, was devastated for Oscar and his familia (to the present).
While coping with Oscar’s death was too much for Noel to handle, suddenly, he’s being accused by so-called friends, strangers and Oscar’s friends/relatives of holding back information. “Why isn’t Nene talking?” “Nene is lying.” “Nene is holding back information.” For the record, Noel and my father Salomón paid their respects to Oscar Gomez, Sr., and familia at their home. Nene told Mr. Gomez everything he knew.
How in the hell did we get to this point, where Noel is bad guy in this tragic story? There’s even a conspiracy theorist who falsely claims that Oscar’s death was gang related, where Noel covered for the gang members. In the following series of fallacies (in a non-rank order), I debunk this conspiracy theory and others regarding Oscar’s death.
Why am I now writing about Oscar’s tragic death and the defamatory, serious and malicious attacks on Noel? Well, I was recently contacted by the Los Angeles-based reporter Adolfo Guzman about being interviewed for his podcast series about the death of Oscar. While I was initially reluctant, since we should respect the dead, where they are no longer here to defend themselves, I decided to participate to clear Noel’s name once and for all based on facts. I could no longer be silent and take all the false claims from the pinche conspiracy theorists, chismosas/os and liars.
Fallacy # 1: “Nene knew how Oscar died or withheld information”
Before I address this fallacy, let me provide some background information. After the Rudy rally, Noel and Oscar went to a small party at an Isla Vista apartment (or house?) of fellow Chicana/o UCSB students adjacent to the campus. While I originally stated that there were four people in total, there could’ve been six, but no more than ten. While I also thought that only Chicanos attended, someone said that a couple of Chicanas participated, which is probably another rumor. (I don’t have time to chase rumors!)
There was drinking (beer) involved. Not sure about anything else. When I spoke to Noel about the party, he didn’t get into these details. While the puritans can attempt shame all they want, this is what happens in many universities/colleges across the nation. In retrospect, I should’ve convinced Noel to pursue UCLA, instead. As first-generation Chicano students from East Los Angeles, we could’ve looked out for each other — even if we were a few years apart. I still feel guilt!
Given the heavy drinking, a fight broke out between Oscar and someone else at the party. While I don’t know the cause, what I do know is that Noel broke up the fight and Oscar left. According to a former student activist at UCSB during the early 1990s, Noel told him that Oscar said he was only going to the balcony to cool off. At this point, it seems like many of the partygoers were intoxicated.
Nobody kicked Oscar out or tried to jump him. Oscar was a strong and athletic guy; not easy to intimate. It was a one-on-one scuffle that got broken up quickly. (This is not the mean streets of East Los Angeles, by the way!) He was upset and needed some air, where walking out late at UCSB is relatively safe, especially for a male. It happens all of the time! (How many students have been killed at UCSB or at student housing — on and off campus — in the past 50 years, for example?) While I’m not sure if it was one minute or five, by the time Noel and his friends searched for Oscar, they couldn’t find him.
The next morning, his body was found on the shore near the UCSB College of Engineering. While it’s easy for people to throw stones, they shouldn’t act like they’ve never been at a party where someone had too much to drink and she/he goes outside at night or drives under the influence.
Have you ever left a party with too much to drink?
Once Oscar left the party, no one from the house, which included Noel and the other partygoers, knew what happened to him or the cause of his death. If Noel knew something, then everyone else in the house did as well! So, why was Noel targeted and falsely accused of knowing something by others, including his so-called friends, strangers and people close to Oscar (familia and friends)! Many of these same people where not even students at UCSB. They were also oblivious to Oscar’s struggles while navigating UC Davis — a predominantly white institution or PWI.
Also, how did they know what happened to Oscar when they lived over one hundred miles away? Do did someone read their cards? Did they phone into the late Walter Mercado’s show?
A punch of pinche conspiracy theorists, chismosas/os and liars.
Moreover, for all of Oscar’s friends and others who peddle the lie that Noel knew something about about how his homeboy died (and withheld the information), you all are also a punch of punks!
In case of the so-called Chicanas/os who knew Noel (and the gentle soul that he was) and who perpetuated these lies, I say, “with friends like you, who needs enemies?”
Fallacy # 2: Gang Related
After listening to Adolfo’s podcast, I was shocked to hear the craziest and stupidest rumor regarding the Oscar’s death. According to Oscar’s BFF, Ricardo Tapia, from junior high school, “…Nene knew who killed Oscar. It was his buddies from Hazard.”
I need to make some clarifications to this “genius” and everyone else about gangs and how the operate. It’s true that our family grew up in East Los Angeles’ Ramona Gardens public housing project (or Big Hazard projects, named after the notorious gang). It’s also true that we grew up with members of Hazard. Our mothers were comadres. They were our childhood friends. We all attended Murchison Street Elementary. As kids, we played games in front of our apartment units, the lane, the hill, the gym and Hazard Park.
Like Nene and myself, not everyone from the projects joined the gang. By the time we entered junior high school, kids from the projects ventured into different activities that shaped the rest of their lives, such as street sports, dance, music, cars, hustling and, yes, gang membership, etc. Since our assigned high school, Abraham Lincoln High School, was in a rival gang territory (Clover and Lincoln Heights), members from Hazard typically didn’t attend or graduate high school, much less attend college.
No one is born a gang member. The gang member American made! Poverty. High density. Racial segregation. Poor schools. Lack of mobility. Government neglect. Police abuse. Despair. Hopelessness.
Generally, members from Hazard hang out with other gang members or cholos. They also date other gang members. They’re called cholas. Moreover, they don’t travel 109 miles from the projects to UCSB to party with a non-gang member or civilian, like Noel. That’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard. And that goes for anyone else who believes it and circulated this pinche conspiracy theory from the Trump playbook, like saying that all Mexicans are “criminals,” “drug dealers,” and “rapists.”
That said, Ricardo is making a defamatory, serious and malicious claim (i.e., accessory to murder) against my late brother without any factual evidence to support it. I wonder what’s the statue of limitation against defamatory claims?
Ricardo is also making a defamatory, serious and malicious claim (i.e., murder) against members of Hazard without any factual evidence to support it. Does Ricardo understand that they have their own court?
If gang members suddenly arrived at UCSB, like the Bat-signal, did Noel post a distressed signal as a big “H” in the sky, instructing the guys from Hazard to drive in their 1967 Chevrolet Impala and attend the house party with no cell phones or Mapquest?
Fallacy # 3: The Role of the Racist Police
When Adolfo interviewed me, I informed him that he should look at the facts objectively since I could easily be accused of being biased. As I was studied theory and methods at UCLA (B.A., M.A.) and UC Berkeley (Ph.D.), I rely on on logic and facts to substantiate my claims. I also informed him that he shouldn’t provide air time for a conspiracy theorist like Ricardo, or, at least, edit out the defamatory claims. In journalism, we can’t fall victim to nonsense or tonterias.
I also want to remind Ricardo, Oscar’s familia and everyone else that the focus should be on the police (past, present and future) based on what they did or didn’t do or need to do. In my expert opinion, they dropped this case! More resources should have been requested from the county, state and federal level They closed the case way too short. I wonder if the outcome would’ve been different if Oscar was a rich, white student?
If you all agree with me that we live in a racist society (e.g., anti-Mexicanism), where local police forces serve (historically and currently) as a brutal institutions to maintain this capitalist society, we should then keep the focus on this racist system; not turn our backs on one of our own!
If the racist cops had any inclination that Noel knew something about Oscar’s death (or that he covered for his imaginary “homeboys from Hazard”), he would’ve been arrested on the spot during the interrogation! While Noel was not weak, he was not a hardened tough guy who did time in prison where the cops would’ve had a hard time cracking.
If Noel or anyone at the party had information relating to Oscar’s death or was responsible, all the cops had to do is get their names and interview them separately. They simply play them against each other until someone cracks and snitches! There was nothing to snitch about, however, since no one at the party was privy to the cause of Oscar’s death! Also, if the imaginary gang members from Hazard were present, in the police report, the cops would’ve noted that the Oscar’s death was gang related.
Cops love to close cases. They don’t like open cases or scandals. They hate bad PR. If they can pin it on a Mexican or Chicana/o to close the case, they would do it in a second. Don’t believe me, just pick up a Chicana/o history book on Califas during the 20th Century and look up the “Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial.”
Need I say more?
Based on the gathered evidence, I’m 100 percent certain that no one from party had any knowledge (or played any role) in the tragic death of my brother’s homeboy, Oscar.
I put this last statement on everything that I hold sacred, from my late parents (Salomón Chávez Huerta and Carmen Mejía Huerta), to my immediate familia. Also, as I have built a good name in el movimiento during the past 37 years — since I first entered UCLA in 1985 and joined MEChA — for what it’s worth, I put my reputation on the line, as well.
Closing Comments
When I delivered Noel’s eulogy at his wake, it was the most difficult thing that I had to do in my life — and I’ve been through a lot! It was also the saddest day of my life. And that goes for my immediate familia. While I purposely decided not to let anyone outside of my immediate familia speak at Noel’s wake/funeral, since I didn’t want anyone to ruin the occasion, I wish I could do a retake. I wish I could’ve been more inspiring.
I deeply appreciated everyone who attended, including our familia, friends and Noel’s homeboys from UCSB. I was also surprised to see Rudy, where he later wrote nice email tribute, saying that “…Nene was Chicano to the core…” (Oct. 10, 2021) Yes, he was!
While I appreciated all of the support that Noel and my familia received during this difficult time, I also noticed some skeptics of Noel. You can’t have it both ways!
Noel was not made for this cruel world, especially given the historic trauma that our familia — the Huerta clan — has suffered, starting from Mexico’s violent countryside (Michoacán) to America’s violent barrios (East Los Angeles, La Puente, El Monte, etc.).
He was gentle and kind. He would hug you when he met you. He would smile and crack a joke. He would display his brilliance without showing off. He was neither a careerist nor a materialist.
Noel taught me to say, “I love you!” Something I never said to our stoic Mexican father — even on his death bed.
Not a day goes by when I don’t think about him.
I am a better person because of Noel.
I am honored to call him my brother.
I love you, bro!
Rest in Power Noel “Nene” Huerta
Rest in Power Oscar “El Bandido” Gomez
