The Breach

Abstract

At times they were five and at others ten, but never more than twenty. They marched in protest in circular formation, occupying the grassy area that led up to the main entrance of the school. A Los Angeles police unit drove by shortly after the mothers began protesting, and the women shouted louder. At the sign of authority, the mothers became more defiant. Their eyes squinted under the sun and their sweat crystallized into salted droplets in the creases under their brow. It was a hot day in spring. The morning dew had dissipated and the Pacific Ocean’s mist had evaporated from the few shards of grass that surrounded the school’s brick foundation. The mothers opened their mouths wide, taking in the air of dry heat. As their diaphragms expanded, the sound of their chants pierced through the school’s concrete edifice. “¿Que es lo que queremos? Justicia! ¿ Cuando lo quer-emos? Ahora! El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!/What is that we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! United people will never be overcome!” The mothers’ voice became louder as a teacher or staff member walked into the school building or as they caught a glimpse of the principal peeking through the front door to examine the chaos unraveling on his property.

“Breach is signalized by the public, overt breach or deliberate nonfulfillment of some crucial norm regulating the intercourse of the parties. In a social drama it is not a crime, though it may formally resemble one; it is, in reality, a symbolic trigger of confrontation or encounter. A dramatic breach may be made by an individual, certainly, but he [sic] always acts, or believes he [sic] acts, on behalf of other parties, whether they are aware of it or not. He [sic] sees himself as a representative, not as a lone hand”

Victor Turner, 1974, 38