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"
• 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
• 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%)
• The 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, based on a 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

The Ideal of Community and the Politics of Difference

• Main Idea: The idealistic concept of community represses the ability to differentiate socially given its desire to group subjects together. When in action, this serves to exclude those within the group that do not fully identify with the other members.
  • Unity is a desire for "security, symmetry, and social wholeness."
• Author claims that in order to decenter Democratic participation from the exclusion of those different from the group, political discourse like rhetoric, political art, and protests should be conducted.
• Face to face participatory practices disempower segments of political community via a failure to meditate though the "speech and actions of others" (Pg. 59)
  • Local participation, however, may be faulty due to plausible misunderstandings that arise out of imbalances in power, privilege, ability, and knowledge.
• Author Young defines 'Justice' as the "elimination of domination and oppression" (Pg. 59)
  • Young calls for representation for disadvantaged groups and believes that social groups are a typeof constituency that needs formal representation although may not hold the same ideologies.

 "Belonging without dissolving into commonness" (Pg.60)

Homogenizing Multiplicity: Social Groups, intersectionality, and the Limits of Difference

• "Feminists of color use language and communication to construct a new experience of belonging" (Pg. 62)
• Holding onto the distinct parts of one's identity creates a realization that they will never be like others in their community (Pg. 62).
• Chela Sandoval introduces the idea of oppositional consciousness.
  • Sandoval states that there is, however, a lack of unity among feminists of color given the difference among them.
    • The wish for a "unifies Third World Feminist Movement" reflects a lining for immediacy and harmony...consensus and mutual understanding"
• Concept of home
  • According to Bernice, 'home' is a refuge and space of sameness, unlike coalitions which are a space of survival and struggle.
  • Author partially disagrees with Berniece claiming that enforced homogeneity, otherwise referred to as "the barred room," can be destructive because they maintain myths where "communities that equate samness with sustenance and solace" (Pg. 65)
  • Author does, however agree with the idea that agnostic feminism challenges the idea that women share a common experience due to the fact that they are women.