Dear Friends, Familia, and Chingones,
Today, I share with you a deeply personal decision, one that stems not from defeat, but from healing, hope, and reclamation. After over 40 years of living in Los Angeles, a city that shaped me, strengthened me, and loved me back, I’ve decided to repatriate politically back to Mexico. But let me be absolutely clear: this is not goodbye to LA, but rather a rebirth for me, and hopefully for some of you too.
My Love Letter to LA
Los Angeles has been my heartbeat. From that golden SoCal sunshine and perfect weather I chased all year, to every corner taquería where taqueros greet you like family, this city has felt like home. I’ll miss standing before the ocean in summer, salt on my cheeks once a month, hearing the waves whisper, “you belong.” And in spring and fall, the hikes in Griffith Park, cool breezes on my face, remind me I am part of something vast and beautiful.
Mariachi Plaza sings to my soul. The night air running with the Bridge Runners. And the chilaquiles at Yeyas? Nothing else compares. Growing up in South Central, cutting through Black and Brown unity at the Slauson swapmeet, and later finding home in Boyle Heights, these streets raised me, and I remain rooted to them.
Community, Resistance & Love
When I arrived with my family in Boyle Heights in the early 1990s, nobody knew me. Today, I’m everything but invisible in this community. I served on the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, helping direct public safety, planning, and community empowerment, and learned patience and perseverance through city bureaucracy. For over five years I worked with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, leading youth programs, building power infrastructures, helping families shape joy and justice, and creating space for young voices in Southeast LA and beyond.
I helped birth “We Never Needed Papers to Thrive, ” an art show in Boyle Heights celebrating undocumented creatives, co-founding the show and advocating for artists who, like me, walked those shadows. In consulting roles I supported Los Angeles County’s L.A. River Master Plan, lent my voice to statewide curriculum-building via the Fund for an Inclusive California, and stewarded strategic initiatives at Alliance for a Better Community. This work, the late nights, the heartfelt conversations, the triumphs and the slow burns, has been fuelled by love for my people and belief in our collective liberation.
From the Rodney King uprisings to the most recent protests, LA showed up for itself and for me. In resistance against oppression, I found my home.
This Is Me Choosing ME
If you’re thinking, “Alessandro’s giving up, ” look deeper. I am choosing freedom. For the first time, I feel unshackled from the expectations of waiting, of doing everything the way. My wings are spread wide.
Moving back to Mexico is not my capitulación, it’s reclamation. I’m answering a call: to reconnect with the land that birthed me and explore a world I’ve only glimpsed. And yes, I originally planned to document every step, so that if someone else is feeling this pull, they’d see possibility. But after much reflection, I’ve decided I’m stepping into this journey first, and if you're curious, hit me up. This is not closure; it’s an opening.
Gracias y Amor Infinito
To every neighbor, organizer, friend, co-conspirator, and familia, thank you. Your stories, your love, your defiance in the face of struggle have fueled me. You are real ones, for real.
If you’ve read this far: I love you. Thank you for sharing in my story. Stay radical, stay kind. Y si algún día quieres hablar sobre regresar, repatriarte, o simplemente desahogarte, yo estoy aquí.
Con todo mi corazón y mi gratitud,
Alessandro Negrete
Calling this return reclamation feels exactly right, Alessandro, especially because your love for Los Angeles remains so alive on the page. You are not erasing one home to recover another. Frost understood that every chosen road leaves another life unlived, but eventually we have to stop standing at the fork, auditing what might have been. May Mexico become less about recovering a lost past and more about living the life in front of you. That may be the truest reclamation of the soul.
Thank you for making America greater