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Chicane Activists I want to start my paper explaining where the word “Chicane” derived from. ” Chicane is derived from an old Aztec word meaning rebel and… The Spaniards used the word Chicane to refer to the Aztec who never gave up the battle”. ( Americas, George. Brown-Eyed Children Of The sun. Peg. 27″). This topic of Chicane Activists relates to Chicane History class because from 1 966 to 1 974 Mexicans experienced a big transformation. There were a lot of militant protest politics. The youth was a major part of the movement, they participated in a lot of events.
There were leadership formations, organizational development, political manipulations, and the best part I think were peoples participation. It was the very first time Mexicans experienced such dramatic change. For the first time Chicanes were starting to slowly get a voice and trying to be heard. In this Chicane History class we also talked about Rudolf Gonzales also known as Corky Gonzales. He played an important role as a political activist as he was the one that led the first ever Chicane youth conference in March 1969.
The Brown Berets started as a group of high school students which also played a huge role because they did ministrations, had massive walkouts ,and became a national organization. They fought for what they believed in. “The Chicane Movement was not simply a search for identity; or an outburst of collective anxiety. Rather, it was a full-fledged transformation of the way Mexican Americans thought, played politics, promoted their culture. Chicanes embarked on a struggle to make fundamental changes, because only fundamental changes could make them active participants in their lives. (Navaho, Random. Mexicans Political Experience in Occupied Catalan. Peg. 305). From November 1 969 through August 1 971 there was a movement ladled “Chicane Moratorium” where the anti-Vietnam War was organized by Chicane activists. Chicanes wanted Social Justice. There were demonstrations with over 1 000 people coming together. What I liked about the Vietnam anti war movement was when The Gulf of Tontine incident happened thousands of demonstrators protested against U.
S involvement in the Vietnam War. “Chicagoans, referred to a set of beliefs; in particular, a political practice The emphasis of “Chicagoans” upon dignity, self worth, pride, uniqueness, and a feeling of cultural rebirth made it attractive to many Mexicans” ( Quinine’s Gomez, Juan. Chicane Politics Reality & promise 1940-1990 Peg. 104). I like how Chicanes took that word and are proud of it. There is nothing wrong with being poor, working people, and come from Indian decent. We were a group Of young Chicane revolutionaries from the barrios Of the Southwest fighting for the self-determination of our people. We organized in our barrios, published the newspaper La Cause, ran a free clinic and fought against police brutality as well as against the U. S war in Vietnam. ” (Months, Carols. “Young Chicane Revolutionaries” February 1, 2003). I respect the Brown Berets because they fight for good causes like Educational, Social, Spiritual, Economical, and Political. They had a big part in the anti- Vietnam war too.
They were good organizers and knew how to be heard. The thing that caught my eye was when marchers were at Laguna park having picnics with their families and listening to those on stage. A “disturbance call” was made that said beer was stolen from a liquor store, let me add it was denied by the store owner. It was the police wanting to break up the demonstrations. They threw tear gas to get people out, angered youth fought back with whatever they could get a hold of but that just led to more lenience and police brutality.
The sad part is 3 Chicanes died that day including Ruben Salary a reporter from Los Angels Times. This just shows how racist police were back then and still are to this day. Works Cited 1 . Americas, George. Brown-Eyed Children Of The Sun. University Of New Mexico Press, 2005 2. Navaho, Random. Mexicans Political Experience in Occupied Catalan. Altair Press, 2005 3. Quinine’s Gomez, Juan. Chicane Politics Reality & Promise 1940-1990. University of New Mexico press, 1990 4. Months, Carols. “Young Chicane Revolutionaries” February 1, 2003