Poets and artists who participated in the Mission District-based Nicaraguan Solidarity Movement of the 1970s reunited at the Mission Cultural Center on Thursday night.
Mission Rebels Reunite to Remember
Filed under: Art, Front Page
Tagged: mission cultural center, nicaraguan solidarity movement
Ariel, Beretta’s aka Junior, real name was Aracelio Michael Garcia, Jr. I knew him by all these names. I was his counselor at TAPP and provided support to him at YGC and Log Cabin Ranch. He was memorable to me for his analytical mind, street wisdom, the struggle with his inner demons, which we all have, all that the world brings down on us. Mike was shot and killed by Officer Castro on Capp Street in 1998. I attended his funeral. His family filed a wrongful death suit against the SFPD. The case was dismissed over a year later. His picture is in “Stolen Lives: People killed by US Law Enforcement published by the October 22nd Coalition to End Police Brutality. In the end, as you know, the city and circumstances devoured his dreams.
Thank you for making that connection for me, Richard. I knew the story of Mike Garcia and knew Beretta since I was a kid,and heard he got killed, but never made the connection between Mike Garcia and Beretta. Remembrence Is Power (RIP), Beretta.