Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The Consequences’ by Manuel Muñoz
Broken into ten short stories, “The Consequences” takes place in California’s Central Valley in the 1980s. The frank stories depict Mexican and Mexican American laborers, their families, their enemies, and their communities. La Migra hangs like a spirit over each story -- sometimes seen, but always felt. “The Consequences” succeeds in bringing humanity back to a group of people that have been relegated to a “mass” – mass deportations, mass raids, mass arrests, mass round-ups – by the United States government. “It may not seem political,” says Muñoz, “But the very act of confronting one human being and understanding their situation? Absolutely.”