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Arts & Culture

Under The Bridge

Salvador "Queso" Torres, an artist, activist and teacher, is featured in "Under The Bridge."
Courtesy of indiegogo
Salvador "Queso" Torres, an artist, activist and teacher, is featured in "Under The Bridge."

Airs Monday, April 30, 2012 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

When their land was taken and promises were broken, a community under siege decided to act. This story of identity tells the epic tale of Chicano Park in San Diego's Barrio Logan: a humble piece of ground dwarfed by the massive concrete pillars holding up the Coronado Bridge. It is a place that came to mean so much to so many - and a place where a people found their voice.

Chicano Park was created in 1970 when residents of San Diego's Barrio Logan objected to the building of a Highway Patrol substation in their neighborhood. They had been promised a park on the same piece of land under the Coronado bridge. They demanded justice and they got it. It is a victory the community has never forgotten.

"Under the Bridge" through remarkable observational footage, archive and in-depth interviews reveals the true meaning of the park and of the ripple effects it created that are still being felt today.

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As the Chicano culture that gave birth to El movimiento evolves, as the anger directed towards immigration continues to rise, the guardians of the park, who have cared for their land, seek to pass their legacy on to a new generation.

The artists, poets and musicians who made the park what it is today, a living museum of Chicano art, whose murals tell the story of a centuries old struggle, are desperate to see their cultural revolution continue: changing lives and bringing meaning and direction to those who are lost.

We see this work in action: a re-awakening of a lost cultural identity that has had a profound impact on those who have been left without roots. It is a story that is very much of the present and a story that needs to be told now - to help inspire others that change, through understanding, is possible...if we care enough.

"Under The Bridge" is on Facebook.

Preview: Under The Bridge