Raúl R. Salinas (March 17, 1934 - February 13, 2008), better known by his pen name raúlrsalinas, was an American pinto poet, memoirist, social activist, and prison journalist.

[3] Alongside Ricardo Sánchez, Judy Lucero, Luis Talamantez, and Jimmy Santiago Baca, raúlrsalinas sought to make prisoners' rights a more central focus of the Chicano Movement.

[4] Incarcerated for over a decade (1959–1972) on marijuana[5] related charges, raúlrsalinas wrote extensively while in prison, including essays, letters, prose, and journalism, the vast majority which is now held at Stanford University.

[6] raúlrsalinas' work extended beyond his prison writing, focusing also on his Xicanindio (indigenous identified Chicano) heritage and his politics as a Latino internationalist.

Raised by a single mother in East Austin, at seventeen a judge gave Salinas the choice of going to jail, joining the military, or relocating.

There, Salinas met Puerto Rican Independentistas Rafael Cancel Miranda and Oscar Collazo, and began the works of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Frantz Fanon, and related radical third world literature.

Inspired by freedom fighters such as George Jackson (activist) and Eldridge Cleaver Salinas developed a growing political consciousness that would continue to drive him.

[10] After his release in 1972, Salinas moved to Seattle to study at the University of Washington and dedicate his life to bringing awareness to prisoner's rights and Chicano activism.

[citation needed] Although not Native American himself, he was still heavily involved as a member of the International Indian Treaty Council and as an organizer of the 1976 Trail of Tears March to Washington.