Beltrán 2010

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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