Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
(Vea la versión en español a continuación.)
In Chicano Manifesto (1971), Armando Rendon made the radical claim that the United States and Mexico were technically still in a state-of-war (1846-1848) because, aside from illegally seizing half of its territories, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was violated even prior to its signing. This was done by altering Article IX and by outright deleting Article X, articles that guaranteed human rights and land rights, respectively.
While his premise is arguable, the observation remains relevant today because for decades after the war, land theft and lynchings against Mexican peoples were rampant, as was de jure and de facto discrimination. They were never or are today treated as fully human, nor with full corresponding human rights that are guaranteed to all, including by the treaty. The policies of this current administration have especially shined the light on their unwanted and unwelcome status today.
It becomes even more relevant because on the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the National Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War (Aug. 29, 1970) in East Los Angeles, it is a date that is etched into the psyche of the nation’s Mexican American community, however, not into the nation’s psyche itself. The only reason the national media ever takes note of this historic date, it is because one of their/our own, Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar, was killed by L.A. sheriff’s deputies. Ironically, the focus on Salazar has actually historically obfuscated the larger meaning of this relationship and what many in the Chicano movement were minimally calling for: self-determination.
In psychology, the term “primary process” is the equivalence of a massive political volcanic eruption. It had actually already been rumbling during the past several years, primarily due to nationwide school walkouts in the late 1960s, but Salazar’s killing and the ensuing rebellion is what became that “moment of electricity” that exploded in a fury that some argue continues to this day. People who had been living in a dehumanized condition finally decided to march forward, with a raised clenched fist, shouting and clamoring for “Chicano/Chicana Power!” Some aspired for more; a Chicano Nation (Aztlan) or a Nación Xicana. While this was taking place, the government was warring against this and other contemporary political movements.
“Principio” was also simultaneously unleashed in the nation’s barrios, a purported return to authenticity; a return – guided by elders from Mexico – to their Indigenous roots. This in large part explains why Mexican Americans refuse to forcefully assimilate: dignity, and that defiant embrace of their deep Indigenous roots. Prior to this movement, brown peoples at best were viewed as the help, or simply, in the way; never as equals. A key element of this return to the root was the Floricanto — In Xochitl – In Cuicatl – cultural and artistic movement, which celebrated those long-suppressed roots.
This return helps to explain the historic opposition and war against the teaching of Raza, Indigenous or Ethnic Studies, which, in effect, is a battle over memory, over an Indigenous worldview vs a Western worldview. In this case, it has included a literal war – which amounts to de-Indigenization – by government and corporate America against the Chicano identity itself.
Here is an even more radical reflection: that Raza in this country, because of this unequal relationship, have been living in a permanent state of insurrection since the days of Cortez and other “conquistadores,” one that technically, can never end. On this continent, aside from the constant rebellions, the original “nationwide” political volcanic eruptions were the 1800s wars of independence that finally ended the 300 years of brutal Spanish colonialism. This included the 1810-1821 Mexican Independence movement. After a lull, one can argue that it again happened during the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolution, and then during the 1960s-1970s Chicano Movement.
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Moratorium, it indeed is a time to recall what happened on that historic day. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people from across the country protested the Vietnam war, police abuse and the nation’s poor educational system. In the end, a community was viciously attacked, a voice was silenced, and two others, Lyn Ward and Angel Diaz were also killed by deputies. Along with a massive police riot that resulted in hundreds of injuries and arrests, that primary process reverberated nationwide. Thereafter, “Ya Basta!” – “Enough!,” along with the United Farm Worker’s “Si Se puede” or “Yes we Can” became the movement’s rallying cries. And just like that, the days of bowed heads and “Si señor” were over.
Much good resulted from that era. Bilingual education was introduced into schools and in large part due to affirmative action, institutions of higher of learning became accessible to this community, resulting in many being able to move into professions, and neighborhoods, that had been formerly off limits to people of color. But not to be forgotten, the movement’s primary demands had been about collective power, not assimilation or upward mobility.
Besides, this movement did not actually alter the majority’s unequal and dehumanized societal relationship. In all of society’s indices, the Indigenous, Black and Brown peoples of this country remain at the bottom in virtually every category, from educational achievement, the dropout crisis, un-employment, housing, health access, incarceration rates, police abuse, etc.
As such, one can argue that this government has broken its social contract with this community, one that is not only hyper-exploited for its labor, but one that is also silenced and invisibilized. One can clearly see this during both the C-19 and police abuse pandemics.
When the current White House occupant came down the escalator to announce his candidacy, he not only used Mexican peoples and Central American migrants (both with Mesoamerican roots) as political piñatas, but he also placed them outside of the nation’s body politic, especially as he called for a 2,000-mile wall and a special deportation force. These are policies that resemble Indian Removal, precisely because that’s what they are.
And did anyone – the mainstream media included – come to this community’s defense – a scapegoated community with a long history of serving in the military in defense of the nation? Instead, many of these veterans continue to be deported.
Fifty years after the Moratorium, Raza in the United States, who have since waged 50 more years of political struggles, are peoples arguably living the status of “enemy others” – permitting government to disappear thousands of children into cages, while denying refugee status to those who have fled their countries, this while law enforcement continues to brutalize Indigenous, Black and Brown peoples in record numbers. As such, it can also be argued that these three peoples are in fact already in a state of insurrection. In regards to Mexican peoples, treaty or no treaty, that social contract is arguably null and void. Lest there be doubt, also witness the current president’s attempt to not count undocumented people for the purposes of Congressional apportionment is the embodiment of dehumanization.
Fifty years after the Moratorium, history demands answers, including the meaning of self-determination. Does this community want full integration and be treated as peoples – regardless of race and gender – with full human rights, or will it pursue an Indigenous-based Nación Xicana?
One can argue that whatever is decided, should be minimally done within the context of a hemispheric Indigenous resistance. Or perhaps as part of an Indigenous-Black-Brown Resistance? And yet, what happens hereafter, with elder guidance, should necessarily fall upon those who were not yet born on that historic date.
Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez is an associate professor at the University of Arizona Mexican American Studies and is the author of several books including “Our Sacred Maiz is Our Mother” (2014) and “Yolqui: A Warrior Summoned from the Spirit World” (2019). Email XColumn@gmail.com.
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