El Movimiento
Chicano art played a major role in Latin America’s social, political, and cultural movement known as “El movimiento.” This movement consisted of social commentary and expression through various forms. Following the lead of chicano activists like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, “El Movimiento” focused on workers rights reforms, and educational reform. This was displayed through peaceful protests including walkouts and sit ins such as those that took place in Denver and East LA in 1968, as a protest that challenged the educational quality and the two-dimensional material they were being exposed to. https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-1a/cores-crusade.htm
Another form of social commentary and expression was through “chicano
Chapter eight form the book From Indians To Chicanos by Diego Vigil, talks about the intact and stable social order. There are three subtopics in this chapter the first one is the industrialism and urbanization in classes. The second one is assimilation vs acculturation and the third one is the color of the intergroup that has to do with racism. All these subtopics are important because it was what made the social classes get united or separated.
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.
The Chicano Movement was a time that pressed forth for the equal opportunity of the Latino community and proved to America that Mexican Americans were a force to be reckoned with. In the documentary Latino Americans – Episode 5: Prejudice and Pride, it centralizes on the success of the oppressed community through significant leaders in that period. Union activists César Chavez, along with Dolores Huerta, playwright Luis Valdez, teacher Sal Castro, US Congressman Herman Ballido, and political activist José Ángel Gutiérrez all contributed to egalitarianism of Latinos across the nation. This documentary reflects on the importance of equal prospects within the workplace, the academic setting, and the social and political features in society.
Latino grassroots politics in the academic realm has been considered as predominantly Chicano in nature. However, the geometry of this academic sector is no longer one dimensional, due to the formation of a Chicana feminist consciousness; the rise of an identified gay community within the Chicana/o student populace; and the emergence of “Latinos” in era of Chicanismo, The abrupt growth of Latinos (e.g. Spanish speaking of Mexican, Central or Latin American decent) in the United State’s educational system led the general population to characterize them as subjects on the cusps of political power and influence. But this widespread depiction of Latinos as an untapped potential is intrinsically linked to an impression of civic cohesion within the Latino student population. Although there is a correspondence between these parties in terms of the alienation they have felt and the discrimination they have endured throughout their academic careers, there is a minimal collective effort in confronting against their oppressive status. This is mainly a result of conflicting ideologies and social agendas within the Latino student community, as well as the relegation of Hispanic subgroups into the lower echelons. Latino students, nevertheless, have demonstrated their capacity, when both Chicanos and the marginalized Hispanic subgroups join efforts to reach a communal objective. This debunks the historical notion that Chicano students are the only group of Hispanics in the academic sphere that have been actively challenging the processes of social exclusion, and also displays the capacity of a collaborative effort.
The term "Chicano" has for decades been used to describe the Mexican American people present in California. Though, these individuals have been very influential to the development of California for much longer than the origin of the term. Rooted in the emergence of Mexican California in the 1800s, Chicanos have contributed greatly to the changes that California has experienced since then and into the twentieth century. At this time, California was at the forefront of social change unlike anything that the state had seen before. As people were entering the state, the population began to see a heightened array of diversity. The widening of race and class polarization gave birth to a new sense of possibility for these ethnic groups. In this, a series of social movements emerged as a stance for change in the way these groups were treated. For the Chicano movement, a symbol of change and new opportunities emerged for Mexican Americans. Throughout California history, the Chicanos embodied the desire to enhance Chicano culture, through identification, politics, and attempts to improve their socio-economic status.
Imagine seeing 10,000 of your classmates walking out of your school because they wanted a better education - a better way of life. In the 1960s’ Chicano students were being “pushed out”(Esparza) of school or being pushed towards vocational programs. East L.A was home to schools were “one out of every four Chicano’s completed high school”(Esparza). Instructors and the school board alike did not have an interest in helping Chicanos finish school to become someone other than a laborer and was expected of them to keep being a laborer. In “Taking Back the Schools”, Sal Castro a high school counselor claims, “I think the bottom line is the lack of concern of the teachers towards the kids and whether the kids were really getting an education or not...the reality set in that the teachers weren’t really concern for the kids.”(Esparza).
Child rearing and family structure within the Hispanic culture is noticeably different than what is present in the mainstream Western culture of today. One apparent difference is in gender roles. There exists a vastly different expectation in Hispanic culture for males and females. The male is considered to be the independent breadwinner, and the head of the household. Accordingly, the female role is one of submission and provider of childcare. In contrast, it is more than acceptable in Western culture for a female to maintain a non-traditional role. Hispanic culture additionally differs from Western culture in the traditional makeup of the family. Within Hispanic culture the extended family plays a huge role
In an article by C. Ondine Chavoya, Chavoya talks about how there was a group named Asco that consisted of four Chicano kids in the 1970s by the name of Gronk, Patssi, Gamboa, Herrón who tested the limits of art. Most of their work was influenced by United States, Mexican, rock and roll, pop culture and took place on Whittier Boulevard where Chicanos were not able to walk down the boulevard without being stop by the police. Therefore, they situate most of their works “in a space that Chicanos didn’t have access to,” which was public space. One artwork that illustrate this was LACMA/Project Pie in Del/Face which happened when one of the members ask the curator of LACMA why there was an “absence of Chicano art in the museum”. The curator’s response was that Chicanos didn’t make “fine art” and “they only make folk art or they were in gangs.” Therefore, Asco gave LACMA their first piece of Chicano art. They signed “their names to all the county museum entrances in gang-style fashion, claiming the institution and all its contents” as their “own conceptual piece”. Although one of them forgot to sign Pattsi’s name, they had her stand next to it to take a photo with it as their piece. Overall, it is through their performances that they bring attention to “violence, police brutality, exploitation and
The Chicano Movement, like many other civil rights movements, gained motivation from the everyday struggles that the people had to endure in the United States due to society. Mexican-Americans, like many other ethnicities, were viewed as an inferior group compared to white Americans. Mexican-Americans sought to make a change with the Chicano Movement and “the energy generated by the movement focused national attention on the needs of Mexican-Americans” (Bloom 65). The Mexican-American Movement had four main issues that it aimed to resolve and they ranged from “restoration of la...
El Proletariado de Aztlán” is a beautiful piece of artwork by Emigdio Vasquez that beautifully blends the past, the present, and the future. A panoramic photo that interlinks different eras and demonstrates the progress of Latinos throughout the ages. This mural is a paradox, demonstrating both subjugation and resistance. This mural shows the dignity in the everyday lives of Latinos; within their eyes, you can see their pride, passion, and hope. This mural portrays the repercussions of colonization on lives of Latinos. European conquest became the gateway that allowed colonialism and Eurocentric thought to enter and be used to subjugate the people of the Americas. The effects of Eurocentric ideology remains ingrained within the descendants
The National Council of La Raza is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. They work to advocate for the Hispanic community and other subgroups in the U.S. by creating opportunities and making the American Dream attainable for minorities. The organization was founded by Herman Gallegos, Julian Samora, and Ernesto Galarza in 1968 under the name of the Southwest Council of La Raza. When the organization was originally founded, its purpose was to unite Hispanics and provide assistance and organizational structure to Mexican-American families. In 1973 the Southwest Council of La Raza became a national organization, moved its headquarters from Arizona to Washington D.C., and changed the organization's
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.
The purpose is to see pass color or racial differences, being able to learn more about the each racial group’s background. There are so many benefits towards the races of Latinos and African American to interact with each other. Letting the process of colorism to divide these ethnic groups is disappointing. There is much to achieve if Latinos and African Americans were able to work together. Gabriel R. Sanchez's article on "Latino Group Consciousness and Perceptions of Commonality with African Americans", Sanchez talks about the concept of group consciousness between the groups of Latinos and African Americans. Also talking about how this plays a role in Latinos understanding the commonality with African Americans. However, because of the rules
the Brown Berets are a militaristic group that was supplanted within the Chicano Movement whose most popular events spanned the era of the 1960s and 1970s. The Chicano Movement, or “El movimiento” as it was termed was both a cultural and political movement used to engage in activism for the struggling Mexican American population. The use of the word Chicano in reference to this group, is pertinent because Chicano was adopted as a formerly derogatory term and was reshaped to mean a new radicalized racial identity of its Mexican-American participants who no longer wished to have any connection to “American ideology, or the word American” because it was “connoted with assimilation to the oppressive forces of American institutions” that Chicanos
Another form of expression and bringing awareness was through the way of art. The style of art and representation solely raised from the Chicano movement. Murals played a big part in the activism and progression people wanted to see. Most, if not all murals represented native Mexicans and their struggles of being oppressed. All murals told a story whether it was Mexico’s poverty or the farming industry. Many popular symbols and images were used again in the Chica...