Transcript From Mexican American/Chicano to Latino: Community and

From Mexican
American/Chicano to Latino:
Community and Competing
Conceptions of Politics
Mexican Americans and Politics
Class 7
January 31, 2006
Essay 1
The period between the ratification of the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Chicano movement
represented a period of dramatic Mexican American
political decline and a political rebirth. In an essay,
identify the specific guarantees provided by the
Treaty, evaluate how its provisions were so easily
abrogated, and assess what role, if any in your
opinion, the Treaty played in the development of
Mexican American politics in the 125 years after its
ratification.
Chicano! History of the Mexican
American Civil Rights Movement
“Taking Back the Schools”
1.
2.
3.
Questions to Consider:
What resources did students and parents have
to challenge educational discrimination?
What barriers did they face?
Would they have been able to mount these
challenges in 1945 or 1960? Why/why not?
Context of Chicano
Movement
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1848 and its aftermath limited Mexican
American opportunities to organize
Post-war changes rebuilt opportunities
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New educated middle class
Diversity of civic and political organizations
Legal changes reduced statutory exclusion
Ideas in popular discourse challenging the status
quo
New Diversity in Mexican
American Politics
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Civic infrastructure
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Electoral victories
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National and local organizations focusing on
community needs
The “Firsts” – Mexican Americans in Congress,
state legislatures, and some city governments
“Movement” organizations
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Emerge throughout the 1960s and early 1970s
Focus on range of issues
The “Movement”
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Electoral power—Crystal City, TX
Land Rights—Alianza Federal de Pueblos Libres
(La Alianza)
Disaffected youth
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Crusade for Justice
The Blowouts
Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO)
College students—El Movimiento Estudiantil
Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA)
Farmworkers—United Farm Workers (UFW)
La Raza Unida Party (RUP)
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Many components of the Movement unite in
RUP
Debate over whether electoral politics is the
appropriate culmination of movement politics
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Corky Gonzáles – Political education and cultural
separatism; new political consciousness the goal
José Angel Gutiérrez – Achieve goals by winning
elections and forming coalitions; local issues and
pragmatism
Raza Unida (Party) as an
Electoral Force
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1972 – RUP received secret support from the
Nixon (Republican) campaign
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Goal: Part of “dirty tricks” campaign to undercut
Democratic base
1972-1974
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Some local victories
1972 and 1974 Texas Gubernatorial races
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Candidate—Ramsey Muñiz
Twin dilemmas—Ballot access and modest Mexican
American support
Each of the Chicano
Movement Organizations
Reflects a Similar Pattern
Low levels of social capital in Mexican
American communities of this era
and
a strategy to overcome this barrier
Social Capital
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Networks have value
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Inclinations that arise from these networks
to do things for each other
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Social networks—who people know
Who you rely on when you face a dilemma
Reciprocity
Trust
Bridging social capital—social capital that
connects disparate groups
20th Century U.S. Politics Does Not
Facilitate Social Capital Formation
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Community-based collective action in decline
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“Bowling Alone”
State-provided social services have replaced the need
for some collective action
Parties have reduced their focus on mass
recruitment and mobilization
Candidates and campaigns focus on likely voters
Little targeted mobilization of immigrants and the
newly naturalized
For Next Time
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What is pan-ethnicity?
When does it form?