The Chicano Struggle and Identity (Research Paper Sample)

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The Chicano Struggle and Identity
Introduction
Identity is defined in most cases as the character which belongs to a given individual and is shared by members of a given social group. It can be assumed or given. It is different from the identification which involves labeling. Chicano people had been considered as the silently forgotten group or minority group for many years. According to Schmid (187), they had been referred to as one of the most oppressed nationalities whose identity was not very much recognized. This situation, however, started changing as from the late 1960s when different movements started developing in response to oppressive actions against the Chicano people (Urrieta 78). There were different independent movements which came in and started fighting for the end of oppression of the Chicano people. The first one was called the Afro-American and student movements. These groups were joined by another group which called themselves the Mexican-Americans. Other groups included the Spanish speakers, Latin America, and the Hispanic. These movements developed a new self-images which were greatly accepted among the Chicano people. This paper aims at illuminating the historic struggle undertaken to establish the Chicano identity through various forms of representation.
The Genesis
The Chicano movement started its actions in the late 1960s, and it borrowed, much from the ideologies related to post-Mexican revolution and the cultural, social and political issues of the Mexican Americans. The movement worked tirelessly to resist all forms of injustices which they faced and at the same time to gain self-determination and cultural autonomy. On top of the key issues, the movement was aimed at addressing the creation of a common culture and history for the Chicano people. Other issues included fighting for the return of their land grants and equal opportunities and fair representation on social issues. Chicanos have always used art to communicate out their culture both within its movements and outside. Art has also been used to communicate religions, folklore, histories and other social values. According to Urrieta (30), the art has evolved through the ages and is now not only used to illustrate the current social issues and independence struggles but also as an educational tool for their youths and unify them within their histories and culture. Chicano art aided in the public forum which aimed at counteracting the historical injustices, protecting culture and political mobilization. It acted as a unifying factor and identity for their cultures (Urrieta 30).
According to historical researchers, Chicano/a art represented and foreshadowed numerous themes that had both political and social significance. This was in particular to affirmation of their culture. Activists used art as a form of illustration of the injustices faced by communities belonging to Mexican-American. The art developed a sense of belonging among the people of Chicanos in United States (Schmid and David 188). The use of art became a source of education of the people by the people, created room for exchange of ideas on the issues affecting them and also empowering Chicano people to come up with their own solutions to the issues of inequality.
Within Chicano, art is the theme of broken immigration. The artists, who were activists, used drawings to illustrate the presence of both the indigenous people and the Mexicans in the southwest, how the immigrant’s human rights were abused, military arming of the border and racial discrimination (Urrieta 34). Most of the artists focused on the dangers they experienced at the border. They used barbed wire as metaphor for the difficult and painful experience they had in between the two cultures (Urrieta 34). Art provided a room for challenging typecasts subjected to Mexican- Americans and brought awareness to the nonfunctional immigrant laws which were not properly being enforced due to the ineffectiveness of the enforcement system. The struggle by the Chicano movement for better quality of life came at post world war II. At this time, most Mexican – American were being deported on the basis of racial discrimination. People who had been deceased could also be returned. Such deceased people had problems with the burial rights (Schmid and David 187).
Another theme illustrated by the use of the arts is undocumented labor exploitation in industries, agriculture and domestic work. Activists used the arts in their campaign for social justices from their dangerous working conditions in the job market of USA, exploitations and lack of workers’ rights and truths (Urrieta 68). The artists emphasized that fair working condition struggle was both civil and labor rights for all the Chicanos people and proposed the development of a common symbol that represented the efforts of the movement. Good example is the eagle flag, which has become very prominent symbol for the La Raze (Movements in Chicano Music 106). Artists cloud distributes silk-screen posters which they made on the economic scale, thus politicizing and mobilizing the community in an effort to stop restriction on migration and the oppression of the Chicanos working population.
Roots of Chicano Nationalism to achieve their identity
United States’ concurring of the northern part of Mexico during the nineteenth century resulted in providing much land mass to the territories which belonged to the United States and very little onto the American-Mexico peoples' territories (Schmid and David 189). The Mexicans were discriminated against and oppressed (Sendejo and Brenda 39).Apart from the Native Americans, most chi canons suffered from poor quality education, high mortality rate, and high level of illiteracy, inadequate political representation, low precipitate income, unemployment and poor dwelling places like occupying the most overcrowded houses.
Other global activities which led to the articulation of the youths worldwide affected the Chicano and also acted as a motivating factor for the need to form a movement of young Chicanos. The colonial fight of indolence acted as evidence that people could wake up, fight and get their abused freedom back (Sendejo and Brenda 11). Cuban revolution acted as a learning experience among the Chicano people. From this time, Chicano started struggling to improve their fate in the American society by fighting through thick and nail for equal communal land allocation. Most of the land which had been given to them by the Mexican government before was not honored by the American government and instead was being taken back (Urrieta 56). This started happening after America had taken land from Mexico. The first of its kind was the formation of the national association of farm workers. This association aimed at uniting all the Mexican-American working forced to struggle for improving labor wages and other better working conditions like equal representation in the labor market. Most of El Movements involved all the Mexican –American group of all ages. They acted as a representative for the minority rights not only for general concern but also as a symbol of their past mistreatment and struggle for a better future (Sendejo and Brenda 40).
The national association of Farm Workers
This association was formed by an activist by the name César Chávez, who resigned from community service organization, after he was prevented from joining the Chicano farm workers he supported in their demand (Sendejo and Brenda 43). After resigning from his leadership post in 1961, he formed this movement so that they could bargain for equal rights with other workers in the majority group who were rich growers (Schmid and David 187). The movement also aimed at solving numerous problems of its people among them include language, medical and other social problems faced by t Mexican-American farmers.
The association was boosted in 1965 when it joined forces with another worker's organization known as the united farm workers organization committee (Filipino farm workers) which was based in California. One of the major boosters this association had been in 1964 when the Bracero program expired (Urrieta 34). This created room for organizing more farm workers and less likelihood that the organization could be paralyzed as a result of massive importation of Mexican labors. The association started its operation by organizing strikes in 1965; it has very minimal success since there was a need of carrying out a massive boycott campaign before actually going on strike (Movements in Chicano Music 106). The organization of the strike and its successful achievement in California had numerous positive impacts on the farm labor camps in the country. It also led to the development of the same strike in other states among them included Colorado, Washington, Texas and Arizona.
The land –grant movement in New Mexico together with La Helga (the strike) that made these long-term forgotten minority into the to be recognized by the public. This resulted in a new human and civil rights movement (Acuña 9). Immigrant laborers who were oppressed by the resist because they were believed to be inferior challenged their opponent’s actions.
The farm workers association was led by Chavez for a long time. He was known as a reformist who had initially supported the liberal democrats. The movement also had indolence and nationalist which helped it set other sector into motion. It is worth noting that this indecent dynamics had not been very successful and complete since Chavez refused to break links with the American democrats and form an independent Chicano party (Urrieta 34). Initiation of such independent parties was seen as a step to success of the farm workers' struggle. It was believed that this would result into electoral victori...