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Home , American GI Forum, Chicano Movement, Raza Unida Party, Willie Velasquez

The Social Studies (2011) 102, 25–32 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0037-7996 print / 2152-405X online DOI: 10.1080/00377996.2011.533043 The Movement: Paths to Power

JOSE´ ANGEL´ GUTIERREZ´ Political Science, University of -Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA

This article is a quick overview of the (CM) with specific analyses of the five major strategies employed by its adherents to effect social change. The CM was a social movement that occurred in the United States with increased activity in the southwest and midwest during a time frame: 1950s to 1980s. Persons of Mexican ancestry residing in the U.S. were its participants and self-identified as . The term Chicano stems from the ancient Nahuatl language of the Meshica (Meh Shee Ka) peoples, also known as the Aztecs. Shicano is a shortened version of Meshicano; later pronunciation changed to Chicano and, for some in spelling, Xicano. As a social movement, the CM had as its ultimate goals the acquisition of political power with which to change the power relations between them and the Euro-Americans, also known as the Anglos. Keywords: alliances, coalitions, litigation, nonviolence, political power, power relations, and demonstrations, social movement

Brief History of Incorporation after independence and a brief stint as a nation became a U.S. state by 1845. In five years, the first U.S. Census took On three occasions, two of which were violent encounters, place in Texas and reported that 28 percent of the inhabi- the United States border moved toward Mexico and incor- tants were African slaves. Across the southwest, the census porated not only land mass but also Mexican people. The figures counted the Euro-Americans (Anglos) with little first movement of the border occurred with the Texas revolt concern for an accurate count of Native Americans, Mex- of 1836. The second movement occurred with the U.S. in- icans, or freed slaves. Estimates by demographers and his- vasion of Mexico in 1846. The final border movement came torians of the Mexican population remaining in the United about through a real estate deal, the Gadsden Purchase in States in 1850 range from 88,000 to 100,000. The others 1853. By the time of the U.S. Civil War, the continental map had repatriated to Mexico or were removed or killed dur- face of the country looked much like it does today, stretched ing the battles for the land. Consequently, the remaining from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Gulf Coast to Great Lakes, Mexicans, Native Americans, and Africans have since time and with two national borders: Canada to the north and immemorial sought to gain leverage at the expense of the Mexico to the south. When borders , the people in- other groups to obtain ascendency within the social pyra- corporated become the powerless minority—foreigners in mid and become the second group with power behind the their own lands. Often, they lose title to their lands and Anglos. A power relation between all groups has been a key ownership of businesses. They become the unwanted, sub- concern for these inhabitants to the present time. ject to gross discrimination and harassment accompanied In 1910 revolution broke out in Mexico, and nearly a by violence at the hands of state actors. The victors become million people returned to their ancient homelands in the the authority figures—the powerful majority that creates United States for safety. This Back-to-Mexico Manana˜ a new political culture often imposing a new legal system, generation believed the revolution would end shortly and language policy, religion, education and economic systems, they would return. It did not. The few Mexicans who real- and a racial hierarchy. The victors place themselves at the ized the United States was their home country once again top of the social pyramid as the dominant class. Those re- formed the first civil rights organization, the League of maining as the border moved and who were incorporated United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 1929. They are settled into varying layers of other classes. The bottom began to charter an incorporation strategy leading to as- class is composed of the least desirable of people.1 Texas similation into Anglo culture. Normalcy in the Mexico’s political culture, however, did not come about until the 1930s.2 During the Great Depres- Address correspondence to Jose´ Angel´ Gutierrez,´ Political Sci- sion of the 1930s, millions of Mexicans were deported from ence, University of Texas-Arlington, 400 S. Zang Blvd., Ste. 144, the United States to Mexico. Within these two decades, , TX 75208, USA. E-mail: [email protected] however, another million-plus Mexican children were born 26 Gutierrez´ in the United States: the first . These factories across the country: El Monte, (berry baby boomers became the World War II generation of re- pickers), San Joaquin Valley (cotton pickers), Fort Lup- turning veterans demanding civil rights.3 Returning Mex- ton, Greeley, and Fort Collins, , (sugar ican American veterans formed the American GI Forum beet laborers), , Texas (Finck cigar makers (AGIF) in 1948 to defend against discrimination and se- and pecan shellers), , (steel workers), and cure for themselves the rights of first-class citizens. A year the battles () with police prior, in 1947, the United States and Mexico initiated an units and U.S. Navy sailors and Marines. The movie Salt emergency war measure called the that of the Earth (1954, Independent Productions Company) ended in the early . Millions of Mexican men were depicts the long fight between Mexican families and the contracted to work in U.S. enterprises—primarily agricul- Empire Zinc company in Silver City, , from ture, railroads, fisheries, and forestry. Ironically, during the 1950 to 1952. first Eisenhower administration, (1954) The labor tradition of strikes and product were was instituted that once again resulted in the massive de- continued during the Chicano generation by the first Chi- portation of Mexicans from U.S. soil. The U.S. addiction to cano leader, Cesar E. Chavez. He self-identified as Chicano official cheap Mexican labor began and introduced a new and led farm workers, primarily in California, to many labor arrangement between the countries: Mexico sends victories that had eluded other labor groups previously laborers, who in turn send money (remittances) home; the and helped organize the of Amer- United States allows them in with the left hand and deports ica. Texas, Ohio, Florida, , , Oregon, some of them with the right hand. and Wisconsin have also had local labor leaders engage in Over the next two decades (1950–1970), the Mexican similar successful labor fights with owners. Another Chi- American baby-boom generation became parents them- cano leader of the era named Reies Lopez Tijerina led an selves and gave birth to the Chicano generation.4 Ignacio armed band and occupied the court house in Tierra Amar- M. Garcia (1997) in his book : The Forging of illa, New Mexico. Tijerina and his followers continued to a Militant Ethos among Mexican Americans, explains that use the constitutional power of a citizen’s arrest to tar- this generation, unlike the prior two, rejected assimilation get “enemies of the people” such as the scientists at Los into Anglo culture and forged a new ethnic identity neither Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, Chief Justice Warren Burger, Mexican nor Mexican American but as Chicanos. They and other officials. His group, La Alianza de Pueblos Li- set out on a nationalist strategy to become a little nation bres, occupied several federal park lands and historic sites, within the larger nation. They engaged in nation-building. reclaiming them as stolen land grants. Usually these activi- It was Chicanos who fully explored the use of various paths ties resulted in armed confrontations and ultimately arrests to power in pursuit of justice and equality for their group. and convictions for Tijerina and others. The five major paths they took to acquire power were re- volt, litigation, protest, electoral work, and building coali- tions/alliances. This is not to say that prior generations did Paths to Power: and Demonstrations not employ such paths, only that this Chicano generation used and institutionalized these paths to power to a greater Nonviolent protests and demonstrations do not mean non- extent even compared to this day. action. On the contrary, nonviolence is a philosophy while the practice of nonviolent protests is a powerful action tactic and strategy. The philosophy and the practice have Paths to Power: Revolt been the foci of research and studies since the birth of Chris- tianity by scholars and middle schoolers such as those at Revolt, insurrection, and self-defense by Mexicans have the Rio Gallinas Public Charter School in , New been commonplace since the loss of land in Texas and the Mexico.6 Chicanos, mainly youth, in the 1960s and into southwest. Any internet search engine will produce ample the 1970s were the primary practitioners of this path to results for such violent events as the New Mexico activities power. The main Chicano targets for reform in the 1960s of the Gorras Blancas and the Mano Negra, the Ludlow were the public schools. The teachers, curriculum, cafete- Massacre of 1913 in Colorado, the Plan de in ria food, textbooks, testing, student culture and life, school 1915 (Texas), Pancho Villa’s raid of Columbus, New Mex- administration, and governance structure were all Anglo- ico, in 1916, and the labor wars in Arizona during 1914– centric. English was the only language allowed spoken in 1917, also known as the Clifton-Morenci strikes. Gregorio the classroom and schoolyard. Severe punishment awaited Cortez was resurrected as a Chicano hero in defiance of the bold who uttered their native Spanish language within Texas Rangers by Americo Paredes; his experiences were earshot of school officials or Anglo students who also re- later made into a commercial movie, TheBalladofGrego- ported them. Despite their growing numbers, Chicano stu- rio Cortez (Moctezuma Esparza Productions and Corpo- dents, while physically present for purposes of enrollment ration for Public Broad casting).5 During the 1930s and counts and audits that led to more state funding, were ig- 1940s, Mexican laborers resorted to revolt in the fields and nored and bypassed in their academic needs. According to The Chicano Movement 27

Emeritus Professor Frank Talamantes of the University of problem for the politicians who vote for such expenditures California-Santa Cruz, students represented 11 and the public that pays taxes and needs government percent of all K-12 public school enrollees in 1988, and by services. The National Priorities Project’s Internet site 2008 they had increased to 21.7 percent. Chicano students, www.costofwar.comhttp://www.costofwar.com/http://w then, much like all Hispanic students today as a result of ww.costofwar.com/ provides comparable dollar figures for these practices, are the primary statistics of academic fail- the United States by state and city for the current conflicts ure and school desertion. in Iraq and Afghanistan. The nonviolent weapons used by Chicano students were The most dramatic and numerous public demonstrations school boycotts, strikes, walkouts, and demonstrations. In in the United States did not occur during the black civil Texas alone more than forty such school boycotts were held rights movement. There have been massive demonstrations in the late 1960s into the 1970s. In California during these at the nation’s capital typically named March on Washing- same years, particularly in Los Angeles, school walkouts ton by their various sponsors during the black civil rights (blowouts, they called them) erupted as they did in Denver, era, , Farm Aid protests, women’s suffrage Albuquerque, Lansing and East Kalamazoo, Chicago, and movement, and the Nation of Islam’s Million Man March. Glendale, Arizona, to name a few places. HBO has memo- The largest and most widespread public demonstrations in rialized the Los Angeles blowouts in the movie Walkout this nation of immigrants have been held by Chicano im- (2006). The Texas school protests were the main agenda migrants and those who supported them in 1976 and 1986. of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) Again, in 2006 and 2010, millions took to the streets in Dal- (Navarro 1995a). las, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York while hundreds While students boycotted classes and walked out of of thousands marched in Denver, Albuquerque, Seattle, school building en mass, their parents engaged in similar Omaha, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and other major protests. Farm workers in California, Texas, Ohio, Wis- cities during those years. They sought immigration reform consin, and Florida walked out of agricultural fields and leading to lawful permanent status, decriminalization of marched on grocery stores, food-processing plants, and the immigration laws, unification of families, and access capital buildings. The Texas farm workers in the late 1970s to work permits, driver licenses, health benefits, and em- walked from the Rio Grande Valley, across Texas and the ployer sanctions. Immigrant youth currently seek passage south, then up to Washington, D.C., seeking redress to of the Dream, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act their grievances which included safety, wages, health cov- of 2001 (DREAM) to make lawful their presence and val- erage, and legal protection. Farm laborers are not covered idate their college and university degrees so they can work by most labor laws, state or federal. In the southern states, as dentists, nurses, engineers, doctors, lawyers, and phar- the misnamed Right to Work Laws prohibit labor organiz- macists on graduation. Two young students and an ing by farm workers, among others, and more important, Iranian walked for months during 2010 from Miami to the permit employers to fire anyone “at will” without cause or nation’s capital to dramatize their plight and push for pas- reason. Cesar E. Chavez reversed that policy in California sage of the DREAM act. Currently, immigrants are denied via boycotts of products, marches on Sacramento, strikes the range of licenses issued by states for all purposes, from during harvest times, and electoral activity. driving to working to hunting and boating. Immigrants During the Vietnam War years, Chicano youth joined can only protest, march, , picket, demonstrate, and white and black students and others in protesting the rally; they are ineligible as noncitizens to vote. They can- war on grounds that it cost too much in lives and money. not run for or hold public office, pass, or veto legislation in Minority youth, then, because of compulsory military the United States, or vote in their country of origin since duty, were enlisted in disproportionate numbers than they are not physically present there. During the time for Anglo youth who were able to obtain deferments and the draconian state law HB 1070 to be implemented in Ari- avoid military service. As a consequence, the numbers zona on July 27, 2010, prayer vigils and demonstrations of casualties—dead, wounded, and maimed for life— were held in Arizona and major cities in the United States disproportionately were minorities. Protests against as well as Mexico City. Once the law was enjoined by a fed- the war erupted nationwide and caused an incumbent eral judge, more vigils and protest continued as the appeal president Lyndon Johnson to forgo reelection in 1968. process began. The August 29th movement in Los Angeles was a Chi- cano nonviolent protest of the war that resulted in a police riot. Noted journalist was killed, Paths to Power: Electoral Activity among others, and many were hurt at the hands of police during that day. No police officer was convicted Voting and other electoral activities produce results, partic- of any charge of police brutality. MAYO members in ularly at the local level, that can improve the quality of life. Texas passed out flyers with information on the cost National elections are far removed, more complex, and dif- of war at churches and in front of the Alamo in San ficulttodeterminewhocontributedtovictory;thereismore Antonio, Texas. The cost of war is always a crushing symbolic value in national elections than substance for the 28 Gutierrez´ individual voter. What Chicanos, other Latinos often also had to maintain themselves as nonpartisan and nonpo- called , and recent immigrants have in common litical on legislative issues and candidates. After Kennedy is their potential electoral power. Cubans started arriving won the presidency, members of the Viva Kennedy clubs in large numbers after 1960, and they are fast-tracked to- were rewarded with a few federal appointments in the ju- ward citizenship. Cuban refugees have help learning the diciary, state department, and other minor cabinet posi- language and culture and are validated in their educational tions (Garcia 2000). More importantly, the Viva Kennedy attainments from Cuba (Masud-Piloto 1996). This is not clubs morphed into political organizations in Texas and the case with other Latino immigrants. Central Americans California: the Political Association of Spanish Speaking began arriving in the United States during the Reagan ad- Organizations (PASO) and the Mexican American Polit- ministration in the 1980s. They were extended temporary ical Association (MAPA), respectively. Only MAPA re- protected status (TPS), which is not citizenship but a form mains active in 2010. Mexican American voter influence of limbo defining them as neither citizen nor unlawfully has grown in subsequent Democratic Party presidential present but as just a temporary resident. The children and campaigns as has the Cuban American influence in the Re- grandchildren of those with TPS born in the United States publican Party. PEW Hispanic, the National Association over the course of the last three decades, however, are citi- of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), and zens. Puerto Ricans have held U.S. citizenship since 1917. the Southwest Voter Institute, to a lesser Putting it bluntly, as I see it, Cubans are paid to come; degree, annually produce studies and reports on Hispanic Puerto Ricans have no interest in the immigration fight; voter turnout and polls of opinion. Central Americans seldom join the immigration debate ex- During the Chicano Movement, youth became disen- cept when their TPS deadline nears; and the United States chanted with Democratic Party politics. The Democrats hunts Mexicans who cross over in search of work. took the Latino vote as well as that of other minorities Latinos are numerous and growing rapidly, 45 to 55 mil- for granted, and the Republican Party ignored minorities. lion are projected for 2011 or upward of 60 million if Puerto Consequently, the youth formed their own political entity, Ricans on the island are added to the count. Latinos are Unida Party (RUP) in 1970. By decade’s end, the the youngest of all ethnic and racial groups in the United RUP had spread to seventeen states plus the District of States. Those Hispanics under age eighteen are approxi- Columbia. In Washington, DC, Frank Shafer Corona was mately 48 percent of the total population. Those without elected to the Adams Morgan school district as an RUP- citizenship represent about 26 percent of adults. The re- affiliated candidate even though local elections usually are maining Latinos, some 26 percent, are the few eligible to nonpartisan. In the Winter Garden area of southwest Texas register and vote. The major determinants of civic engage- during April 1970, the RUP fielded sixteen candidates and ment are lacking among Latinos. Research consistently has won fifteen races; by the end of the decade, RUP candidates shown for decades that those with higher educational at- were also elected to county government. By 1980 the RUP tainment, greater age, and larger incomes participate more had lost ballot status or never obtained it in many states. often and in all elections, not just the presidential one. The Democrats targeted the RUP for destruction and, like Conversely, those with less of these three determinants par- most third political parties in the United States, it ended as ticipate at much lower percentages and numbers. quickly as it had begun. The important changes the RUP Latinos who are eligible do register to vote and vote, but brought about, however, remain with us to this day, includ- they are not enough to prevail at the ballot box, except for ing the presence of Ciro Rodriguez from Texas and Raul certain historic geographic areas such as the borderlands Grijalva from Arizona, both former RUP militants in the with Mexico and large urban centers: Los Angeles, El Paso, 1970s, in the House of Representatives in Washington, DC.8 San Antonio, Chicago, New York, and the like. The number The current mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaragosa, of Latino elected officials as reported annually continues was a member of MEChA, a California student organiza- to increase but is not a reflection of their percentages of tion like MAYO of Texas. The current mayor of San An- the total population.7 Women generally are in the same tonio is . His mother Rosie Castro, a MAYO predicament; their numbers in the population do not reflect member and later an RUP official, ran unsuccessfully for their numbers in elective office, but they are making gains that city council in 1969. Julian’s twin brother Joaquin is over time. a state representative. The Chicano generation was very As early as 1948, the failed presidential campaign of engaged in civic affairs and deeply involved with electoral Henry Wallace sought out Mexican American voters. activity.What they could not win with protests in the streets Richard Nixon turned down an ethnic component target- or at the ballot box often were won at the court house. ing Mexican Americans in his 1960 presidential run, but John F. Kennedy, his Democratic Party rival, did not. Viva Kennedy clubs were organized across the country, mainly Path to Power: Litigation in the midwest and southwest, from the ranks of LULAC and American GI Forum members. These organizations The race question in the United States is of extreme impor- were chartered as nonprofit organizations and, as such, tance. In 1790 the first Congress passed the Naturalization The Chicano Movement 29

Act in which it limited U.S. citizenship to free white males; Americans their first civil rights (see Olivas and Tushnet all others classified as not white and not male have been 2006; Garcia 2008). Many battles remained to be fought in fighting this gross chauvinist and racist exclusion ever since. that arena, and the Chicano generation rose to the occa- Gunner Myrdal pointed out as early as 1944 in his study, sion. They continued their struggles for civil rights in the An American Dilemma (New York: Harper and Bros.), that streets, agricultural fields, schools, and at public buildings. the presence of black people in the United States posed They also engaged in building organizations that became a national problem for whites. Hispanics are perplexed institutions: Chicano nation-building. In so doing they also by the race question on government forms. Are Hispan- formed the civil rights triumvirate: the Mexican American ics white? Are Hispanics an ethnic group? Are Hispanics Legal Defense Fund (1968), the National Council of La mixed bloods of Spanish fathers and Native American and Raza (1973), and the Southwest Voter Registration Educa- African mothers? In 1977 the Office of Management and tion Project (1974). Budget mandated that Hispanics be counted as an identifi- In 1965, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) was passed guar- able ethnic group regardless of race on government forms.9 anteeing not only the right to vote but also to be voted Since then, Hispanics must choose one of four races and for in elections primarily for African Americans because check the Hispanic origin box, particularly on census forms. the coverage of the VRA was limited to southern states Then, if so inclined, a Hispanic person can enter a national- but not Texas or the southwest. Finally, in 1975, the VRA ity, one of twenty-two possible identifications, on the form. was extended to cover language minorities such as Spanish Attempting to indicate a person is of mixed race or na- speakers. The implementation of the VRA and its sub- tional origin is not an option. The U.S. Census personnel sequent voluminous litigation archive has resulted in the will default that entry into one of the four racial categories. election of thousands of black and brown public officials Before 1940, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and to local government and federal office. Literally hundreds the few Cubans in Florida had to check “Other Race.” In of cases have been brought by Chicanos over the past three 2010 and as long as OMB Directive 15 is in place, Hispanics decades, and the litigation continues as in the cases over will be the only approved and identifiable ethnic minority redistricting to create Hispanic majority school board and in the country. More importantly, for group cohesion and city council positions. solidarity, Hispanics are divided by race from without by Bilingual education and teaching English as a second lan- the government and from within by the government and guage (ESL) have been legally mandated across the country their national origin. The pan-ethnic umbrella of the “His- since 1968. Texas allowed bilingual education to be offered panic” label has many leaks. By a large majority, Hispanics by local school districts but maintained its English-only have chosen the racial category “white” over “black” in legislation on the books. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed census forms. Hispanics understand the full impact of the these educational rights under the Fourteenth Amendment racial hierarchy in the United States. in two major cases. The first was US vs. Texas (1971) stem- In 1953 a major case was decided by the U.S. Supreme ming from litigation in the San Felipe del Rio and Del Court, Hernandez v. Texas. PBS television has available a Rio Independent School Districts, both in Del Rio, Texas, documentary on it, entitled “A Class Apart” (2010). The a border town. The second case took place in California, case was decided three weeks prior to the well-known Brown Lau v. Nichols (1974), which provided for ESL. This issue v. Board of Education case. A Chicano murdered another was fought by Chicanos in Texas in the late 1970s. The Chicano in a small Texas town in 1952; the jury convicted state legislated that school districts would be denied fund- him of the crime. The jury, however, had no Chicanos on ing if they enrolled and educated undocumented students. the panel. In the history of the county there had never MAYO activists and others marched on the state capital been a Chicano called, much less chosen, to sit on a jury. building and occupied it, forcing the governor and legisla- Lawyers for Hernandez, the accused, argued discrimination tors to flee out the back door. Litigation ensued on behalf and racial exclusion. The state countered that Hernandez of students in Tyler, Texas, brought by Chicano lawyers and the jurors were white, so there was no discrimination: from . The case Plyler v. Doe (457 US 202) was he was tried by a jury of his peers. On appeal to the highest decided in favor of the students in 1982 and became the law court in the land, the justices noted that in the evidence of the land. Regrettably, the gains in Del Rio, Texas, and submitted at the trial court and in argument by Chicano the legal protections of Plyer v. Doe across the nation are attorney Gus Garcia, discrimination was rampant against being eroded and rolled back. School districts such as Del Mexican Americans in Texas. The sign indicating separate Rio once again are denying enrollment to children without toilet facilities for Mexican Americans in the very court- documents in 2010. house where the case was tried in Edna, Texas, read: Col- Litigation has secured for Latinos additional constitu- ored Men y Hombres Aqui. The U.S. Supreme Court held tional protections and rights and brought about reform in that Mexican Americans may be racially classified as white the school finance arena and curriculum. Chicano studies but their treatment was not like that of other whites, hence in the Tucson, unified school district (Arizona) was court they as a group needed the constitutional equal protection ordered in 1998.10 With the passage of HB 2281, ethnic of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave Mexican studies have been legislatively prohibited in 2010 by the 30 Gutierrez´ state legislature. The classic text on the history of Chicanos, paign of poor people to march and encamp in the nation’s Occupied America (6th ed., New York: Pearson 2010), has capital. He invited Native Americans, poor whites, and Chi- been banned from use in the public schools under this law. canos to join his leadership circle. Reies Lopez Tijerina was HB 2281 will be difficult to be overturned by the courts for the Chicano representative next to King in that effort. On two legal reasons: there is no constitutional right to an edu- two occasions, Jesse Jackson in pursuit of the Democratic cation in the United States and there is no right to a specific nomination for president in 1984 and again in 1988 had curriculum. Both of these “rights” are to be determined by Chicanos at his elbow as advisors and national cochairs of states and not the federal government. To be sure, the legal his campaigns. There was a perception of a black-brown fights at the courthouses, state and federal, will continue: coalition, but it did not translate into Chicano votes across another path to power. the primary states for Jackson. Answers to building a coalition, however, are more apt to be found locally. Moreover, researchers who want to Path to Power: Coalition and Alliances find support for a coalition can find anecdotal evidence of success. Others who doom to failure any effort at coalition- The key to forming a long-term relationship based on mu- building can find as many also. Local efforts have resulted tual interests among groups, a coalition, is the leadership in success and failure. For example, Los Angeles mayor of the groups. Those willing will; those not willing never Tom Bradley won his office for five successive terms from come together and often oppose the others’ initiatives. An 1973 to 1983 by building a coalition with whites, Jews, and alliance is simply a shorter-term relationship, usually with a some Chicanos. When he sought the governorship of Cali- single focus or item of mutual interest. Booker T. Washing- fornia in 1982 and again in 1986 he lost to the Republican ton in his famous Atlanta Address (1907), entitled “Cast candidate despite leading in the polls. The term Bradley down YourBuckets,” implored to not for- Effect was coined during these elections because voters in sake the Negro in favor of immigrants coming from Europe. polls—broken down by age, gender, race, and ethnicity— In this context he positioned himself and followers to op- reported favoring him, but the vote totals reflected that pose immigration policy favoring non-Negroes. Washing- they voted otherwise on election day. Latinos were among ton’s plea was neither unfounded nor myopic. Immigrants those who did not vote at all or who did not vote for him. from the colonial era to the present time have continuously In Chicago, Harold Washington in coalition with Latinos leap-frogged the African ancestry population in the United won the mayoralty. A gain for Latinos from this coalition States in all socioeconomic indicators. was the creation of a congressional seat since held by Luis Shortly after the 2000 Census figures were released, Gutierrez, a Puerto Rican. The Washington-Latino coali- Artellia Burch (2000) writing for the Charlotte Post,an tion disintegrated with Washington’s untimely death. In African American–owned newspaper, reported severely Houston, Mickey Leland, a former black activist turned negative stereotypes held by African Americans of Lati- elected official, became a congressman with help from the nos. A new phenomenon revealed by the census figures Latino vote. His coalition partners were Lionel Castillo was the spread of Latino immigration to the southeastern and Ben Reyes. Leland also died prematurely; Castillo United States, the Deep South. Nicolas C. Vaca, a Chicano moved up into President Jimmy Carter’s administration, activist scholar and lawyer during the 1970s in California and Ben Reyes was convicted in an FBI sting operation was prompted to write a book, The Presumed Alliance: The and left office. The coalition died. In Dallas, during the Unspoken Conflict Between Latinos and Blacks and What it era of at-large elections prior to single-member districts, Means for America about it. Both Burch and Vaca’s pub- the Progressive Voter League (African Americans) and the lications created a furor among those who agreed and dis- Mexican American Democrats (former RUPers and other agreed with their findings and opinions. Both authors were Chicano Democrats) were in a coalition particularly at the thetalkofthenationastheymadethelectureandmedia ballot box and in some educational issues. With the advent circuits. Burch revealed black toward Latinos. Vaca of single-member districts, more African Americans were questioned if blacks and Latinos ought to be in an alliance, elected to the city council and school board along with much less a coalition. Not since Franklin Delano Roosevelt the first Chicanos as state representative, constables, and crafted the grand coalition of minorities, labor, and liberal justice of the peace. The coalition died; too many leaders whites into the foundation of the Democratic Party in the and not enough voters. More importantly, local leaders in 1940s had anyone questioned the legitimacy of a black- both communities see redistricting differently. Blacks be- brown coalition. Which groups have common interests? Is lieved that redistricting efforts by Hispanics will lead to it race or ethnicity that binds the coalition, or is it economic loss of black political power. Latinos counter that redis- class interests? Which ought it to be? Lani Guinier and Ger- tricting ought to be at the expense of white political power ald Torres (2002) in their book, The Miner’s Canary, posit and politicians, not blacks. Neither believes the other. it is both. Just before Martin Luther King Jr. was assas- To be sure, the 2011 Census figures will reveal increased sinated he began articulating and emphasizing class issues Hispanic population across America. Texas is poised to over black civil rights issues. He crafted a national cam- gain four new congressional seats. Where will they be The Chicano Movement 31 created, and who will benefit? Both Dallas and Houston racism toward persons of Mexican ancestry in Texas. have African American members of Congress, one and two, The information in these books could easily be repli- respectively; Hispanics have none. Hispanic congressional cated in any other southwestern state during the early representation begins in San Antonio, then south and west period of conquest toward statehood to the present along the borderlands. Redistricting will have to address the time. growing Hispanic population. Someone has to lose power 2. A historical account of power relations between Ang- and someone will have to gain it. los and Mexicans in Texas is presented in Montejano In the major cities of the country, the population of 1987. The history of Chicanos in the United States is the core city is approximately one-third each: black, white, documented by Acuna˜ 2007. brown. Voting age population is not so evenly divided but 3. Griswold del Castillo 2008 is a revisionist history of favors the Hispanic population over time. Meanwhile, from that era building on the previous work of others. 2000 to 2040, coalition-building is necessary to gain polit- 4. For a local history of the Chicano Movement in Texas, ical power. Some twenty years ago, the white population see Montejano 2010 and an earlier work by Munoz˜ did not need partners at the ballot box; a white voted for 1989. For information specifically on the Mexican whites and that was all needed for victory. Minority vot- American Youth Organization (MAYO), see Navarro ers need not vote. In the early part of this century, whites 1995b. need partners to win elections, as do blacks and browns. 5. Paredes, Americo. “With His Pistol in His Hand,” The No one group is enough to win elections held citywide, Ballad of , Austin: University of Texas countywide, or statewide outright. Whites must join with Press, 1958. The film produced by Moctesuma Es- blacks; blacks must join with browns; or browns must join paraza and Michael Hausman in 1983 is titled The with whites in coalition to win or face losing elections Ballad of Gregorio Cortez to the others in the triangular population pie. So which 6. See Schock n.d. and http://nonviolentweapons.com/? groups will coalesce? Once elected to governing bodies page id=140, which lists 198 methods of nonviolent with other officials sitting at the same table, which lead- action compiled by 7th and 8th grade students (down- ers will join in coalition to govern? In Houston and Dallas loaded 27 July 2010). See, also, Sharp 1973. in the past few years the nine member school boards have 7. Go to www.naleo.org for statistical data on the number had three seats each: black, white, and brown. With five by state and office category. The report is called the votes needed to pass any policy, recommendation, hiring, Directory of Latino Elected Officials (by year) or budget, who among the three-seat group will join the 8. See Garcia 1989 for an early study of the RUP and other? Talk of “let us all work together”; “I have never Navarro 2000. discriminated or I do not see color;” and “why can’t we 9. Federal Register 43, no. 87 (May 4, 1978): 19269-70 just get along as people?” now has to be the actual walk. for what is now commonly referred to as OMB Direc- Talking and walking in the shoes of others is the new po- tive 15, and for a history of this mandate, see Federal litical stage. How Hispanics are treated between now and Register 59, no. 110 (June 9, 1994): 29831-35. 2040 when they will not need partners at the ballot box is 10. I was the lead attorney in the case that brought about the major determinant to how the nuevos Americans will the settlement and program. Rosalie Lopez was the lead reciprocate. plaintiff of parents and students. She was later elected Meanwhile, the Asian American population continues to the TUSB board of trustees with oversight of the to grow at a rapid rate similar to the Hispanics. By mid- program and overall school district. century, they could outnumber blacks in the country who 11. Good sources of statistical demographic data are continue to decline in numbers of the total population. http://txsdc.utsa.edu and www.factfinder.gov for na- Whites have had and will continue to have the greatest tional population figures. See, also, Murdock et al. 2003 decline in population numbers; there are fewer white babies for population projections to 2040. compared to babies of color. According to the Texas State Data Center, Asians in Texas are growing rapidly, and the U.S. Census projections for post-2010 numbers of Asians References indicate that this is true across the nation, particularly on the east and west coasts.11 It could be that the ideal coalition Acuna,˜ R. 2007. Occupied America. 6th ed. New York: Pearson Longman. partner for Hispanics is Asian Americans. Time will tell. Burch, A. 2000. When worlds collide: Blacks have reservations about influx of Hispanic immigrants. Charlotte Post. De Leon, A. 1983. They called them greasers: Anglo attitudes toward Notes Mexicans in Texas, 1821–1900. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Garcia, I. M. 1989. United we win: The rise and fall of the Raza Unida 1. De Leon 1983 and Montejano 1986 provide a com- Party. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. prehensive overview from a historical perspective of ———. 1997. Chicanismo: The forging of a militant ethos among Mexican power relations, race relations, violence, and Anglo Americans. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. 32 Gutierrez´

———. 2000. Viva Kennedy: Mexican Americans in search Myrdal, G. 1944. An American dilemma: The negro problem and modern of Camelot. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University democracy. New York: Harper and Bros. Press. Navarro, A. 1995a. Mexican American youth organization: Avant-garde ———. 2008. White but not equal. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona of the Chicano movement in Texas. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Press. Griswold del Castillo, R., ed. 2008. World War II and Mexican American ———. 1995b. Youth, identity, power: The Chicano Movement. Austin, civil rights. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. TX: University of Texas Press. Guinier, L., and G. Torres. 2002. The miner’s canary. Cambridge, MA: ———. 2000. La : A Chicano challenge to the U.S. Harvard University Press. two-party dictatorship. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Masud-Piloto, F.1996. From welcomed exiles to illegal immigrants: Cuban Olivas, M. A., and M. Tushnet. 2006. Colored men y hombres aqui. Hous- migration to the U.S., 1959–1995. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Lit- ton, TX: Arte Publico Press. tlefield. Schock, K. n.d. Nonviolent action and its misconceptions: Insights for Montejano, D. 1987. Anglos and Mexicans in the making of Texas, 1836– social scientists. PSOnline. www.apsanet.org (accessed November 1986, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 18, 2010). ———. 2010. Quixote’s soldiers. Austin, TX: University of Texas Sharp, G. 1973. The politics of non-violent action, volume 2: The methods Press. of nonviolent action. Boston: Porter Sargent. Munoz,˜ C. 1989. Youth, identity, power: The Chicano movement. New Vaca, N. C. 2004. The presumed alliance: The unspoken conflict between York: Verso Press. Latinos and Blacks and what it means for America. New York: Murdock, S. H., N. Hogue, M. Micheal, S. White, and B. Pecolte. 2003. Rayo/Harper Collins. The new Texas challenge: Population change and the future of Texas. Washington, B. T. 1907. Up from slavery: An autobiography.NewYork: College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press. Doubleday, Page & Co. Copyright of Social Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.