Chicano Week Flyer - page 3

Choosing Our Own Destiny

by Benito Alcalá

I keep getting referred to by a confusing profusion of ethnic labels: Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, American, and Chicano. All are valid labels, but a hierarchy of meaning is attached to the different labels (from the most general to the most specific): first Latino (Latin), then Hispanic (Spain), then on the same level both Mexican (Mexico) and American (United States of America). Which is appropriate?

So what label do I use to refer to myself? Born in South Texas, I am an citizen of the United States of America: i.e., American (those who are called norteamericanos south of the border). That is the term I use to refer to myself most of the time because, outside the US, people would consider me an American.

Still this term is not totally satisfactory because American does not fully describe my experiences growing up. I am of Mexican descent, my name Spanish. That makes me, by default, a Mexican-American, a Hispanic-American, a Latino-American, and a Chicano all at once. What a burden to be carrying around all the time!

My antipathy towards most of these labels stems from the hyphen-American part, which implies that I am is not fully American. But then all one needs to do is drop it! Viola -- you end up with Latino, Hispanic, and Mexican.

I feel that Latino and Hispanic are much too general. Hispanic can refer to someone from Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Spanish Caribbean, Central America, or South America. Latino includes Italy, Portugal, and most of the rest of the Caribbean and South America.

How about Mexican? I am of Mexican descent, but Mexican does not really fit closely either. I am a second generation US citizen and I've been as far as the Mexican border only a few times. While I may have a psychic connection to Mexico, its language, its history and its culture, I have a very real connection to the US

So what's left? Chicano, which happens to be the term I like best and I tend to use most. It is also a controversial label, one that many Latinos, Hispanics and Mexican-Americans dislike intensely.

Latinos, Hispanics and Mexican Americans believe that Chicanos are radical activists advocating separatism, socialism, and a host of other "-isms", thereby hurting the cause of the more respectable Latinos, Hispanics,and Mexican-Americans: acceptance by the dominant white Anglo-American culture.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Those who use the term Chicano do so because they accept the contribution of the indigenous people in the making of La Raza. Those who use Chicano do so because they know the history of the Chicano people: from the Olmec, the Maya and the Aztec people who built advanced civilizations while the Europeans were in still in their Dark Ages.

Chicanos know that they are the product of the violence of the initial Spanish conquest and the subsequent oppression and exploitation of the native peoples by the Spanish; that the formation of the mestizo through the violent fusion of the different indigenous peoples populating what is now Mexico with the Spanish invaders was the genesis of La Gente del Sol, the people of the Sun.

Chicanos know that the ultimate formation of La Raza in the U.S. resulted from the violence perpetrated by white Anglo-Americans when they illegally and immorally took over political and economic control of what is now the southwestern US from Mexico. The Chicano people were left with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which supposedly guaranteed them full rights as American citizens. Chicanos soon found out what the indigenous people of the North America found out independently: that any treaty with the white Anglo-Americans was not worth the paper it is written on.

Chicanos do not believe in the "melting pot" theory as it applies to La Raza. The melting pot may exist, but only to those whites from other European groups who choose to assimilate by buying into the dominant white Anglo-American culture. The Chicano is told that non-whites are welcome to assimilate, but Chicanos know that an informal racial, ethnic, and economic-class caste system exists and is vigorously enforced, sharply curtailing opportunities for Chicano advancement.

Chicanos realize that the current situation is due in part to the ingrained institutional racism and sexism that is an inherent part of the fabric of this country. While white Anglo-Americans believe that separation into different racial and ethnic groups occurs only because minorities want to separate themselves from the mainstream, the reality is that when equal access is ensured, minority groups participate in greater numbers in all aspects of American life.

Chicanos know that increased participation has yielded disappointingly little. One look at the racial and ethnic breakdown of Congress shows that it is hardly representative of racial and ethnic makeup of the US today. Add to that the dominance of Congress by white males and that lack of representation can be extended to women, who make up more than 50% of the general population of the U.S.

The labels used by people serve to define their reality. Let those who want to force labels on us realize that we hold the power to choose our own label, thus defining our own destiny. Let us choose Chicano : La Raza deserves to choose its own path, not have it decided by non-Chicanos who have no understanding of our past and present experiences.

Originally posted Saturday, November 22 2003 @ 11:08 PM UTC