Chicanismo () emerged as the cultural consciousness behind the Chicano Movement. The central aspect of Chicanismo is the identification of Chicanos with their Indigenous American roots to create an affinity with the notion that they are Native to the land rather than immigrants. Chicano identification with Indigenous heritage is rooted in Mexican state-sponsored Indigenismo policies. Chicanismo brought a new sense of nationalism for Chicanos that extended the notion of family to all Chicano people. Barrios, or working-class neighborhoods, became the cultural hubs for the people. It created a symbolic connection to the ancestral ties of Mesoamerica and the Nahuatl language through the situating of Aztlán, the ancestral home of the Aztecs, in the southwestern United States. Chicanismo also rejects Americanization and assimilation as a form of cultural destruction of the Chicano people, fostering notions of Brown Pride. Xicanisma has been referred to as an extension of Chicanismo.
Overview During the early 1960s and 1970s, a great deal of Mexican Americans came together across the United States with the aim to fight for social and political change. This movement became known as the Chicano movement and can be defined as a social movement that emerged in the 1960s to protest the circumstances in which the Mexican American community found itself. This emotional, but predominantly nonviolent reform movement included several concerns of great importance to the community. Among these were the fear of cultural disintegration, the lack of economic and social mobility, rampant discrimination, and inadequate educational institutions. The movement would result in a shift in the way that Mexican Americans saw themselves in society. It was a question that had surfaced in the Mexican American community due to the barriers of oppression they felt once entering the United States. In order to combat these feelings of isolationism, the Chicano movement sought to unite all Chicanos, regardless of class. Communal empowerment was important to the movement because they were minorities in American society. This made it very important for community organizing in order to collectively advance their agenda. The movement was focused around the question of what it meant to be Mexican in American society. Chicano culture focused on a multiplicity of ideas that were held by the Mexican American community. Intellectuals and others involved in the movement, including artists and authors, created new forms of art that encompassed their culture. Examples included virtues of the Mexican Indigenous heritage and bilingual, sometimes polyglot, works of literature. Part of the movement's aim was to construct a history questioning the victimization of Mexican Americans by critiquing assimilation to American society and culture.
Major themes Nationalism Nationalism served as the main pillar for the Chicano movement in the 1960s. Chicanismo is deeply rooted in the idea of cultural affirmation at all costs. It is through this self-determination of Chicanos that mobilization and organization on large scale and community levels would be possible. Their reliance on nationalism can be seen through their artistic and organizational goals and endeavors. All forms of Chicano artistic expression needed to celebrate heritage or they could not even be considered Chicano. Through an agenda based on nationalism and artistic treasures like "I Am Joaquin," a group of Mexican-Americans were able to come together under a new banner of Chicanismo, and they created a group of people with centuries of history that had been repressed until the Chicano movement.
The ideology of Chicano nationalism can be traced to Chicanos' experiences in America. Although society functioned in a way that encouraged assimilation, Chicanos fought hard to preserve their culture through a form of cultural nationalism, which emphasized the exact opposite of assimilation. Chicano ideas often were similar to the ideas of those who were fighting anti-colonial struggles in the way that both groups fight against a rhetoric or culture of dominance. This type of anti-imperialist message made it important for Chicanos of all classes to be united. The ideology of Chicanismo called for unity among all Chicanos, regardless of their class or social standing in order to fight against oppression. It was important for Chicanismo that no group of Chicanos were marginalized in the movement because that would contradict their message against marginalizing different groups of people. This allowed them to reconstruct their understanding later in the movement in order to involve undocumented Mexican immigrants in their struggle. This was important for two reasons: the sheer number of immigrants, and their need for assistance through the community because of the government's treatment.
Youth The Chicano movement was characterized by inclusion of all classes. Because much of Chicano ideology had to do with dealing with the hardships of being a minority, Chicanos of all backgrounds were a part of the movement, not just adults. The Chicano movement involved heavy reliance on its youth. Many Chicano youths believed that they were more able to fight against American racism and push the Chicano agenda better than adults and this was evident through the participation of youths in the movement and also in the emphasis put on youths by the movement's leaders. Chicano students were crucial to the movement by providing analytical reasoning behind the philosophies and actions of the Chicano movement as a whole. The youth provided a majority of the people that participated in the Chicano protests, rallies, and marches as well.
It was at the first Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver in March 1969 where the Chicano manifesto, "Plan Espiritual de Aztlán," was drafted. Sponsored by Corky Gonzales' organization, Crusade for Justice, the conference brought together the different populations of Chicanos involved in the movement. The conference focused on social revolution and cultural identity. It was also a goal for Gonzales to help connect the college educated students to the rural youth involved in the movement at the conference. This was important for Gonzales because he had observed many students had been leaving the community without coming back, and he wanted to facilitate relationships between the college educated and other Chicano youth. This was an important way to keep those in the community close to one another.
Mesoamerican heritage
Much of Chicano culture draws upon the heritage that all Chicanos share. Leaders of the movement focused on ancient Mesoamerican heritage in order to include all Chicanos. Chicanos wanted to rely on an allusion to ancient heritage because Mesoamerican settlements in places like Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona predated Euro-American settlement. Chicanos used this as a symbol to justify their claim to the land of Aztlan. Chicanos saw an important mission of theirs to have a culture of inclusion, especially since the movement began as a result of their experiences of oppression.
Key figures Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales (June 30, 1928 – April 12, 2005) was an influential political activist in the Chicano Movement. He is also well known as a boxer and for his poetry. Although there are no formal delegations as to who the founders of the Chicano Movement, Gonzales receives much consideration. His contributions to the movement are profound and long lasting. By 1960 Gonzales had become interested in politics and joined the Democratic Party. Under Johnson's administration he assumed the position of Director of Denver's War on Poverty office. After only a couple years he was disillusioned with the political process and denounced his role in order to found the Crusade For Justice in 1966. He made the primary goals of the crusade self-determination and community control of Chicano life. The Crusade created a number of establishments and organizations like schools and newspapers. They also were involved in Denver politics and lobbied for improved housing and educational opportunities for Chicanos in Denver.
Although Gonzales had been in the spotlight before due to his boxing career, in 1967 he once again garnered national attention for his landmark poem I Am Joaquín. This poem revolutionized the idea of the "Chicano" and served as a precedent for Chicano cultural affirmation. The poem questioned the role Chicanos played in the American system and called for them derive strength through denouncing economic assimilation:
This portion of the poem represents Chicanos' eagerness to sacrifice their physical bodies for the regeneration of the soul and provided Chicanismo with a sense of necessity and vigor. In the next section of the poem he refers to Joaquín as part of the many Indigenous groups such as the Maya and the Aztecs, but he also refers to him as Cortés and the Spaniards. How can this contradiction exist? It is an allusion to José Vasconcelos' idea of a "Cosmic Race." He creates a unifying agent among Chicanos and then calls for them to rise up against Anglo oppression. The last identifying term Gonzales uses in the poem is the word Chicano in order to enlist all those who identified with the poem under one banner.
His influence did not end with his poetry. In 1968, he was a part of a protest at West High School in Denver over inferior education that eventually broke out into a riot. In 1969, Corky convened the First National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference. It was here that the famed "Plan de Aztlán" was created. This document would become the design for the Chicano movement and was based on nationalism and self-determination. Corky placed a heavy importance on familial ties, and with his family devoted his entire life to servicing the needs of Chicanos in the Denver community.
César Chávez
César Chávez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was a hugely influential labor rights activist. He, along with Dolores Huerta, created the United Farm Workers, which would become one of the most important organizations in the fight for labour rights of farmworkers. Chávez sometimes struggled with his connection to both the Chicano movement and the labor movement. He believed the labor movement should transcend racial boundaries but his fight revolved around agricultural workers and Mexican-Americans made up a huge amount of that particular group. This made it impossible for him to forgo ties to the movement and the public viewed him as a Chicano hero. He constantly gained national attention through protests, boycotts, marches, and many hunger strikes. Even more notable than these acts however, was the large organized boycott that the Chávez led UFW imposed on California grape growers. The result was the 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which greatly improved the conditions and protections of agricultural labourers. Whether he was comfortable with the dynamic or not, Chávez had a direct tie to the Chicano movement solely off the sheer number of workers that identified as such. He came to understand this and would employ symbolic imagery in order to garner support for his movements. He would champion ancestral ties and religious icons as well as plan protests and boycotts on specific days that were symbolic in the minds of Mexican-Americans and their fight for justice. He was known for his use of non-violent tactics and is still viewed today as one of the most important human rights activists of the 20th century in the U.S.
José Ángel Gutiérrez