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
The Ideal of Community and the Politics of Difference
