Zack
was born in Long Beach, in 1970. His father, Beto de La Rocha, was a member
of Los Four, a group of politically charged painters reflecting on Chicano
Art. His parents separated while he was still quite young. Zack would also
gradually distance himself from his father because of Beto's extreme religiousness.
A lot of people already know about the relationship Zack had with his father
growing up, so I'm not going to cover it too much. Zack and his mother
went to live in a predominantly white town called Irvine.This suburb of
LA was where Zack would spend most of his childhood , also where he would
meet his best friend/bandmate, Tim Commerford. They met in grade school
and became friends when Tim taught Zack how to steal off the lunch line
(if this is tru, den das mad funneH~!) It is also said that Zack introduced
Tim to the bass. A turning point for Zack was in high school. Here he found
himself, a mexican american, in a classroomfilled with pale white faces.
When his teacher made some ignorant racist remark causing all the white
peeps around him to laugh, Zack was shocked silent. Zack: "I remember
sitting there, about to explode. I realized that I was not of these people.
They were not my friends. And I remember internalizing it, how silent I
was. I remember how afraid I was to say anything." He later on told
his mother, Olivia, what had happened,and while she was aware of the senselessness
and ignorance of the people around them,she was unable to do anything.
Olivia de la Rocha was completing work towards her Ph.D in Anthropology,
leaving them planted in Irvine for some time to go. Zack handled things
very appropriately by making himself a promise never to"stand on a silent
platform". zacK:" I told myself that I would never be silent again.
I would never allow myself to not respond in that type of a situation-
in any form, anywhere."
*Quick Facts abouT ZacK*
