Chicano Heritage Month
In today’s Daily Chela newsletter….
Spotlight: Chicano Identity
Top 10: Chicano events
Podcast: Zoot Suit Riots
Column: Ruben Salazar
Column: East L.A. Soldado
More News and Links
Celebrating The Chicano Identity, Culture, and History
Hispanic Heritage Month is here, and with a renewed interest in Chicano culture and history, many people are asking: What is the difference between a Hispanic, a Latino, and a Chicano?
First, let’s start with Latino and Hispanic.
A Latino is predominantly an American term used to refer to anybody who is of Latin American descent, meaning a country in the western hemisphere that speaks one of the Latin romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc.). This includes dozens of nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities.
Alternatively, the Office of Management and Budget defines a Latino as, “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.”
Over time, the term Latino has come to replace the term “Hispanic” which only refers to countries that speak Spanish, and excludes countries like Brazil. In addition, the term “Hispanic” is a derivative of Hispania. As a result, it is sometimes frowned upon because of Spain’s colonization of the Americas.
So what is a Chicano?
The late Chicano journalist Ruben Salazar defined a Chicano as “a Mexican-American with a non-Anglo image of himself.” That being said, understanding the different subcultures within the larger umbrella of Chicano culture is equally important.
A Chicano is a Mexican American who identifies with either one of the social or political aspects of Chicano culture—or both. These sub-cultures are expansive and often overlap.
In other words, Chicano culture is a web of sub-cultures and movements. It is to embrace one’s indigenous roots. It is the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. It is the Chicano lowrider community. It is the Chicano art community. It is Chicano fashion. It is Chicano tattoos. It is pachuco sub-culture. It is political engagement and mobilization.
It is the love and preservation of the vibrant Mexican American history in this country.
After all, it was Mexican Americans who fought sailors in the streets of Los Angeles during the Zoot Suit Riots. It was Mexican Americans who were rounded up by the hundreds during World War 2. It was Mexican Americans who marched in the streets of East L.A. during the Vietnam War. It was the Southwestern portion of the United States that once belonged to Mexico.
Is there anything in this country that Mexican Americans haven’t impacted or influenced?
Now that’s firme.
Brandon Loran Maxwell
Contributing Opinion Writer
More Informative Things For You…
Lists: Top 10 Chicano Moments In History
From the Chicano Moratorium to the Chicano walkouts, we came up with a list of 10 important Chicano events in history. What is on your list of important Chicano events? Let us know in the comment section.
Weekly Podcast: The Zoot Suit Riots
This week, Brandon sits down with guest Eduardo Obregón Pagán to discuss Sleepy Lagoon and the Zoot Suit Riots. Pagán is a historian and author of the book, “Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon." Enjoy and don't forget to subscribe!
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The Powerful Legacy Of Chicano Journalist Ruben Salazar
Ruben Salazar was beyond a doubt, one, if not the most prominent Chicano journalists of his day. Born in Juárez, Mexico, and raised in El Paso, Texas, Salazar received his big career break when he joined The Los Angeles Times as a reporter in 1959.
At the L.A. Times, Salazar interviewed figures from César Chávez to Robert Kennedy and even President Dwight Eisenhower. Salazar would eventually leave the Times in January 1970 and serve as the news director of Los Angeles Spanish-language station KMEX-TV which further expanded his reach as a journalist.
As a columnist and news director, his reporting explored various issues affecting L.A.’s Mexican American community. He brought attention to the plights Chicanos faced, including discrimination, sub-standard education, contentious race relations, and police brutality.
The East L.A. Chicano Who Captured 1,500 Soldiers
Gabaldon’s story is so extraordinary that Hollywood made a movie about his life in 1960, called Hell to Eternity. Ironically, the young Chicano was personified not by a Mexican or Hispanic artist, but by tall, blue-eyed Jeffrey Hunter, a 33-year-old actor of Scottish descent.
The real Gabaldon was 5’4” (162 cm) and still a teenager when he joined the army. Not that Guy was upset about it. “Jeffery (Hunter) was jealous that he didn’t have my good looks!” he used to say jokingly.
Gabaldon grew up in a difficult time and place: the Great Depression years in the East Los Angeles barrios. His family was poor, but he didn’t notice it, saying, “we always had beans and tortillas.”
The boy helped the family make ends meet shining shoes in the hazardous streets of East L.A., where he developed survival skills.
5 Times Chicanos Revolted and Reshaped The U.S.
From the 1836 Texas revolt to now, Mexicans and Mexican Americans have been shuffled across both sides of the border, either by force or by choice. Because of this history, an assortment of border identities has formed, the most notable being Chicano.
In a country that has often made them feel like outsiders, second class citizens, and an expendable labor force, Chicanos have a long history of mobilizing on behalf of rights and liberties.
Here is our brief account of five significant Chicano movements in the U.S. and the methods they used to secure a political voice.
Watch now: American Homeboy Movie
American Homeboy explores the complex origins of pachuco and cholo culture which sprouted from American soil more than 100 years ago in response to wartime sentiment, social alienation, and government discrimination only to become a pop culture phenomenon.
More Links From Daily Chela
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