Beltrán 2010

Chapter 1: El Pueblo Unido, Visions in the Chicano and Puerto Rican Movements

Introduction

• Late 1960/70s Mexican American and PR activists critiqued American politics
• Used a mix of cultural nationalism, liberal reformism, radical critique, romantic idealism
• They emphasized resistance, recognition, cultural pride, authenticity and fraternity (hermanidad)and created a profound legacy.
• Represent an unexplored part of 1960s new Left radicalism compared to African Americans
• Short duration of the movements
• Disproportionate number of political leaders and academics
• Today's Chicano political elites were members of a "political generation"
• Cultivation of significant sociopolitical class
• Produced institutions that continue to shape Latino political and cultural discourse
• Movement's institutional legacy seen in higher education (civic education promoting Latino identity)
• Recent rise of Latinos to high-profile political positions increased attention to organizations and radical pasts
• Example of Governor Cruz Bustamante
• Right-wing politicians characterizing prominent Latinos as "secret" radicals and racist nationalists
• Movement collapsed but its legacy seen in coalitions and empowerment

Chicano and Puerto Rican Movements

Chicano Movement

• Described as "the most traumatic and profound social movement to occur among Mexicans"
• The Chicano movement shifted Mexican American politics and its relationship to American society
• Intense political activity, militant cultural nationalism
• 1965 - 1975
• Mass mobilization, thousands of participants
• Went from ethnic separatism to socialist internationalism
• Norms of Mexican American politics: assimilation, integration, and participation in electoral politics --> an "egalitarian ideal"
• Veered away from American way of politics, "adhered to no doctrine"
• Political advancement not through mass movements, but by getting close with the Democratic Party
• Organizations: LULAC, American GI forum, Pan American Progressive Association
• LULAC: League of United Latin American Citizens
  • Distinguished middle-class membership from Mexican newcomers
  • Restricted membership to American citizens
  • Won victories in courts over de jure segregation
  • High school dropout rates were high (50%)
• Faced barriers to socioeconomic advancement
• Rise of the Chicano movement was a reaction to "ongoing inequality and earlier strategies of Mexican American elites"
• Chicano students were the community's most politicized and active members
  • Fighting for citizenship rights through blowouts, demonstrations, rallies, sit-ins
  • Protested Vietnam, Anti-war, fought for Chicano studies program
• Youthful radicalism, shift in group consciousness shaped by labor activism through arts
  • California: Caesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association (later became United Farm Workers of America (UFW))
    • Strikes, nationally publicized, hunger strikes, boycotts
  • Brown Berets
    • LA paramilitary group that encouraged student protests
    • Fought to restore ownership of common-use land
  • Artistic Renaissance: art, music, literature in 1960s/70s
• Heterogeneity as the most striking elements of Chicano movement
  • Movement embodied historical, regional, and social diversity (most apparent within student movement)
• Chicanismo
  • Emerging ideology of cultural nationalism
  • Militant version of self-help and racial solidarity
  • Shared history
  • Aztlán concept: symbol that mobilized Chicanos into political action
  • Political manifesto: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán
  • New ideology: self-determination and communal empowerment, focused on social inequality, community empowerment, fear of cultural disintegration

Puerto Rican movement

• Chicano activists mobilized at the same time as the Puerto Ricans
• Puerto Rican politics in the 1950s was dominated by moderates and middle class
• Rich history of political radicalism
• Cigar makers' influence
• Working class radicalism after WWII
• Massive immigration to the mainland shifted the political climate
• Calls for a radical transformation of US society while promoting independence of Puerto Rico
• Inspired by growing militancy in the world
• Organizations: Young Lords Party, Puerto Rican Socialist Party, El Comité-MINP, Puerto Rican Student Union, and more
• Young Lords left the most lasting legacy, captured public attention,
  • Small but heterogeneous portion of the community
  • Former prison inmates, recovering addicts, college students, hospital workers, parents, Vietnam veterans
  • They were a socialist organization
    • People programs, with an active base in NY and the Northeast
  • Bilingual paper Pa'lante
  • Successful demonstrations (largest anti-colonial street demonstration)
  • Cultural and political solidarity between African Americans and PR: Afro Carribeans, Afro-Boricuas
    • Denise Oliver: leader of Young Lords resigned to join the BPP, showing the interconnected political and racial relationship between African Americans and PR

Chapter 2: The Incomplete and Agnostic “We”

Introduction

• Centers on the political assumptions surrounding the Latino movement
• Movements spoken in Chapter 1 showcase the desire for Democracy to be a form of political participation in which [the people] are included
• Author claims that the there is an Ethos surrounding America’s democracy mentioning how the country has failed to serve all its people equally
• The Latino movement has a disturbing unwillingness to accept distinction among its members given the groups emphasis on promoting unity among the most populoried traits ( often white, straight, cis, etc).

  “Those who challenged norms and traditions became culturally and politically suspect” (Pg. 02)

• Chicana feminists: feminists were vilified and lesbians silence in the name of 'familia'
• Marginalized communities Not as carriers of difference
• 3 sections in the chapter
  • Criticisms of community, unity, and homogeneity
  • Democratic resources of third world feminism
  • Democratic and political openness and closure