Chicano Movement

“To me, you have to declare yourself a Chicano to be a Chicano. That makes a Chicano a Mexican-American with a defiant political attitude that centers on his or her right to self-definition. I 'm a Chicano because I say I am” (Marin). A Chicano may be defined as a person of Mexican origin residing in the United States, but mostly someone who is politically active. For many years, the Mexican-Americans have been highly discriminated throughout the United States, but mostly in the southwest area. This fact results interesting since this happened in the territory that once belonged to them. One main reason for such discrimination would be the fact that people could not spread their opinions, and even if they could they did not carry any weight. …show more content…
Back then, it was known as WOW, which stands for Workermen of the World, with 13 members constituting it. Officially, it was founded on January 17, 1970 in Crystal City, TX, as a third party political group. It was a meeting of 300 Mexican-Americans with him and Mario Compean as the leaders. Its purpose was to improve the economic, social, and political aspects of the Chicano community throughout Texas. As a result, it was possible the election of the first two Mexican-American mayors and several others were able to run for political positions such as Ramsey Muniz in 1972 and Mario Compean in 1978, who ran for governor of Texas. Unfortunately, this political party did not last too long being effectively eliminated in 1978 by the Texas legislature “but by then it had left its mark on the political scene, challenging Democratic and Republican parties alike to court the hitherto ignored Mexican American voter” (“Biography – Jose Angel Gutierrez”). As noted, this organization absolutely helped enhance the voice of the Chicano people as it lead many of them to be known in the political field, but mostly become active representatives of this population which had long been just ignored. Nonetheless, this organization did not only impact the male gender, but the female as well. To illustrate, “The Legacy of la Raza Unida” states that even …show more content…
Some of all his efforts and labor could be attributed to his influenced ideologies by prominent civil right leaders such as Dr. King and Malcom X, but mostly for his experience of discrimination towards the Chicano community. Gutierrez wondered why people should be suffering all that since they are in the land that belonged to them first. This is when he decided to fight for the Mexican-Americans rights and created these important organizations already mentioned. He advocated for ‘La Reconquista de Aztlan.’ The term Aztlan refers to an imaginary land that convers from California to Texas which once belonged to Mexico, but after the Mexican-American War, it was taken by the United States granted by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Gutierrez stated, “We 're the only ethnic group in America that has been dismembered. We didn 't migrate here or immigrate here voluntarily. The United States came to us in succeeding waves of invasions… This is our home, and this is our homeland, and we are entitled to it. We are the host. Everyone else is a guest” (Pappas 374). This explains his views on how the Chicano people are already in their own home, and they have the right to stay here, because it is their home and the land that was taken away from them. Moreover, he has been recognized for demanding amnesty for all the illegal