One of the readings we had relates to the same concept of not identifying who the Latinos really are. This reading is called, “For Young Latino Readers, an Image is Missing” by Motoko Rich. In this article, Rich is showing how no one relates to the real life problems they are going through as Latinos and they are stereotyped for something they are not. The balance of trying to contradict a double identity is hard to be found when people believe things that are not true. The re-signifying of “Chicano” as a new identity is representative of an effort to mend this contradiction by having Latinos become more adjusted to the American system than expected and proving the Americans wrong. Their struggle made their identity become stronger than expected …show more content…
This also ties into the concept of trying to bring awareness of cultural consciousness. Where one is reflecting on the situation going on, and acting upon it after. In “El Plan de Santa Barbara”, the narrator quotes, “Culturally, the word Chicano, in the past a pejorative and class-bund adjective, has not become the root idea of a new cultural identity for our people.” (Chicano Coordinating Council on Higher Education, 9). This quote stood out to me about the concept of how praxis helps bring a new strategy of creating a new “Chicano” identity by realizing how much of a struggle the Latinos went through to get to where they are today, from being culturally discriminated all the way down to being shown as a nobody in the land they loved. Also in the reading called, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire, he quotes, “Within the word we find two dimension, reflection and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed the other immediately suffers.” (Freire, 87). This is basically showing how praxis can be used to bring the oppressor down to figure out why the Chicano identity was struggling and by this, one can help prevent more discrimination and harm in the
This is critical for the readers to know the show the bias, injustice, and premeditated ignorance of the United States educational system. It also demonstrates that Chicano Studies is not important regardless of the Hispanic population in this supposed “free” country. It seems as if the Chicano Studies was made only to fail by keeping it under funded and understaffed. By doing so, it has an affect on keeping away good scholars to maintain the historical development of Hispanics in the United States as well as its own history.
This book was published in 1981 with an immense elaboration of media hype. This is a story of a young Mexican American who felt disgusted with being pointed out as a minority and was unhappy with affirmative action programs although he had gained advantages from them. He acknowledged the gap that was created between him and his parents as the penalty immigrants ought to pay to develop and grow into American culture. And he confessed that he was bewildered to see other Hispanic teachers and students determined to preserve their ethnicity and traditions by asking for such issues to be dealt with as departments of Chicano studies and minority literature classes. A lot of critics criticized him as a defector of his heritage, but there are a few who believed him to be a sober vote in opposition to the political intemperance of the 1960s and 1970s.
As a political identity, ‘Chicano’ came to mean more than simply a race-based identity and was greatly supported by many influences. It’s difficult to say who were only described as ‘Chicano’ because the community and cultural production was connected with the Mexican American experience and there were many different race and culture mixes. Jackson excerpts film scholar Rosa Linda Fregoso, on her argument defining that any form of Chicano production is to incorporate racial tendencies into ideologies that fight racism instead of the ideas that relate to the Chicano Movement and surpass the negative ideas that perpetrate social inequality and injustice. Besides this, organizations like The Mexican American Movement and “The Mexican Voice” are important for their efforts in creating a more appropriate representation of the experiences as a Mexican origin but living in the U.S. Consequently, the identity ‘Mexican American’ emerged during this period among students and community activists to gain full representation in society without having to
Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire a History of Latinos in America. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc, 2000.
There are different context in which labeling has specifically been used in the readings; however, there is an overarching theme in that the labels serve to undermine and to subjugate Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans. The readings primarily focused on the criminalization and the perceived deviance of Latinos and Latino youth.
In El Plan de Santa Barbara, we are provided with a brief description of what “racial structure” has created for the Chicano community.Those who are privileged, “Anglo-American community,” have determined our future, a future where we are meant to stay in the lower class of society. In the Manifesto of EPDSB, it states “due to the racist structure of this society… self-determination of our community is now the only acceptable mandate for social and political action”(EPDSB 9). This “racist structure” stated in El Plan de Santa Barbara is traced all the way back to our ancestors during the Spanish invasion and through the Chicano movement we have been able to fight back against this “racist structure.”
Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced because of her cultural background. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. By forcing them to speak English and attempting to get rid of their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that arises from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States,
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
The Chicano community has endured and overcome many struggles since the conquest by conquistador in 1491 and eviction from Atzlan. Race was used by the white community as tool to structure inequality for the Chicano community by classifying the Chicano community as white but treat them as a minority community. Chicano activist during the Mexican American generation found community self-determination by becoming actively involved in their community and taking hold of their own destiny. The Mexican American activists created a new way of seeing themselves by taking the term Chicano and making the term a symbol for who they truly are and who they want to become. The new ethos of the new identity of a Chicano is community self-determination; it is a community that is in total control of its own destiny.
Latinos have struggled to discover their place inside of a white America for too many years. Past stereotypes and across racism they have fought to belong. Still America is unwilling to open her arms to them. Instead she demands assimilation. With her pot full of stew she asks, "What flavor will you add to this brew?" Some question, some rebel, and others climb in. I argue that it is not the Latino who willingly agreed to partake in this stew. It is America who forced her ideals upon them through mass media and stale history. However her effort has failed, for they have refused to melt.
Armando Rendon in his landmark 1970 wrote the book I am a Chicano. This book is about how activist in the Chicano movement pointed to an empty monolog of the word Chicano. Chicano means an activist. Chicanos describes themselves it was a form of self-affirmation; it reflected the consciousness that their experiences. Chicanos means, nations, histories, and cultures. This book talks about how Mexican American also used the term of Chicano to describe them, and usually in a lighthearted way, or as a term of endearment. In a text it talks how Chicanos haven’t forgotten their Mexican origins, and how they become a unique community. The book talks about how Mexican American community’s long-suffering history of racism and discrimination, disenfranchisement, and economic exploitation in the United States. The
During the 1930s, Chicano parents, who suffered from Mexican revolution and hard labor, had hope for their America-born children to get the best education possible only to be obstructed by anti-Mexican Anglos that wanted a separate school for children of indigenous background. This issue was addressed in southern California within the Lemon Grove community. The Lemon Grove School District’s reason was that almost half of the students enrolled were Mexican descendant became a threat and claims that Chicano students were handicaps for Anglo students. A secretary of the Lemon Grove parent teacher association, Ms. Mandy claimed, “Overcrowding in the present classrooms, Mexican children are deficient in knowledge of the English Language, causing their classmates to learn at a much slower rate and a separate school would improve morals” (Espinosa)...
During this trivial time period, “La Raza”—a group of people mainly conformed of Hispanics who expressed their racial pride—outnumbered the whites and somehow were still forced to accept the poor living conditions they were being submitted to. “Most of La Raza owned no property and worked as cotton pickers and were locked out of the higher-paying jobs in foundries, machine shops, creameries, cotton oil mills, and small factories” (Orozco 20). The constant belittling of races would eventually lead to a divided society, a society that would soon become segregated. Restaurants, schools, barber ...
In the essay "It’s Hard Enough Being Me," Anna Lisa Raya relates her experiences as a multicultural American at Columbia University in New York and the confusion she felt about her identity. She grew up in L.A. and mostly identified with her Mexican background, but occasionally with her Puerto Rican background as well. Upon arriving to New York however, she discovered that to everyone else, she was considered "Latina." She points out that a typical "Latina" must salsa dance, know Mexican history, and most importantly, speak Spanish. Raya argues that she doesn’t know any of these things, so how could this label apply to her? She’s caught between being a "sell-out" to her heritage, and at the same time a "spic" to Americans. She adds that trying to cope with college life and the confusion of searching for an identity is a burden. Anna Raya closes her essay by presenting a piece of advice she was given on how to deal with her identity. She was told that she should try to satisfy herself and not worry about other people’s opinions. Anna Lisa Raya’s essay is an informative account of life for a multicultural American as well as an important insight into how people of multicultural backgrounds handle the labels that are placed upon them, and the confusion it leads to in the attempt to find an identity. Searching for an identity in a society that seeks to place a label on each individual is a difficult task, especially for people of multicultural ancestry.
Within the first chapter, we are presented with the foundation for this research and the sad reality of Chicana/ Chicano education within the United States. In the U.S. the group with the lowest educational progress is the fastest growing racial / ethnic minority population – in o...