Unforgetting

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The child of Salvadoran immigrants, Roberto Lovato grew up in 1970s and 80s San Francisco amidst the rise of MS-13 and other Salvadoran gangs. He lost friends to violence and experienced brutality firsthand. Transitioning from street life, he became a human rights advocate in wartime El Salvador, joining the guerilla movement against the U.S.-backed military government responsible for horrific massacres. Upon returning to the U.S., he confronted his own trauma while engaging in activism and journalism, exploring how trauma impacts individuals and societies. His tumultuous relationship with his father, Ramón, shaped much of his experience. Ramón, raised in extreme poverty during a violent period in El Salvador, navigated family secrets and the underworld, but his repression of violence led to silences and anger that affected Roberto deeply. In Unforgetting, Roberto intertwines his father's complex history with his own, alongside firsthand accounts of gang life, state violence, and the immigration crisis in El Salvador and the U.S. He personalizes the political, illustrating the cyclical nature of violence in homes and societies, while also highlighting the potential for hope and tenderness to emerge from darkness if we dare to confront our past.