The Church Bus

Gloria Anzaldúa was a Texas-born, lesbian, Latina, feminist, that wrote about many of her personal experiences and views of the diverse background she grew up in. Growing up a certain culture at home and being in a country with a different culture, brings along a lot of self-identifying issues. Gloria Anzaldúa uses various strategies and languages to write this powerful piece by code-switching, quoting others, diction, and rhetorical questions. Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” speaks about the social issues that Latinos face involving identity, language, and sexism.

Students started walkouts because they were being mistreated and discriminate. They were not offered the same rights as a white teenager. Also, they were not allowed to speak Spanish at any time during

In “Transgender Liberation” by Susan Stryker, she writes about what lead to the Compton’s Cafeteria riot in 1966. There was a large population of transgender women living in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. They lived in chap residential hotels, and worked as prostitutes or maids in order to support themselves. This, being caused by the “housing and employment discrimination against transgender people” (Stryker 435). This became, according to Stryker, an “involuntary containment zone for transgender women” (Stryker 435), and police perpetuated this by sending them there. They also discriminated them by putting them in jail for suspicion of prostitution. In response to the economic insufficiency, the “Tenderloin residents launched a grassroots campaign for economic justice in 1965” (Stryker 436). Around the same time, Vanguard, now known as the earliest known queer youth organization, was started by and made up of “young gay hustlers and transgender people”

These first moments exemplify the overwhelming cultural process by which Mexican Americans were supposed to reject their cultural origins and embrace "American" norms. Ms. Jimenez embodies the "Mexican de adentro" (class notes) image because she has become acculturated to the definition of an "American" while ignoring her Mexican roots. Though she claims not to speak Spanish, she turns to respond to Mr. Sancho when he says Oiga! which may suggest her suppression of the language but her true knowledge of it. "Spanish speaking citizens consider themselves socially superior to the immigrants and rather pride themselves on being Americans." (Vargas p.206) She is a symbol of a Mexican American "…[who] looks upon themselves as a real American and [who] cordially resents any accusation of lack of patriotism." (Vargas p.239) Unlike Emma Tenayuca, a courageous Chicana who struggled for the voices of her people to be heard and whose fights for the rights of pecan shellers were long and arduous, Ms. Jimenez embodies the opposite. She has no connections with her roots therefore she

March 16 saw a demonstration in Montgomery, Alabama in which 580 demonstrators planned to march “from the Jackson Street Baptist Church to the Montgomery County Courthouse” (Reed 26). These protestors included a large number of northern college students. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because “they did not have a parade permit” (Reed 26). Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. “A posseman

The teachers themselves saw the conditions that oppressed Mexican-American children were facing and decided to bring these issues to the school board and made a survey. They were denied, then decided to do a peaceful protest by walking out. Since the school board had refused to meet their demands, they did a massive walkout.

When one visualizes Latino culture, the prevalent images are often bright colors, dancing, and celebrations. This imagery paints a false portrait of the life of many Latino’s, especially those that are forced to leave their home countries. Latinos often face intense poverty and oppression, whether in a Latin country, or a foreign country, such is true in Pam Ryan’s novel Esperanza Rising. Ryan chronicles the issues that many Latino immigrants face. The first is the pressure from the home country. Many of the countries face turmoil, and many are forced to leave their homes and culture. Once in a foreign place, people often struggle with standing by their own culture or assimilating to the new culture. Latino authors frequently use young adult literature as a platform to discuss the issues they face, as young adults are coming of age they struggle with their identities, personifying the struggle of old culture against the new culture.

The essay by Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Myth of the Women/ Just Met a Girl Named Maria” is a powerful piece. She talks of the culture of being Puerto Rican living in New Jersey while she was growing up. She uses multiple examples of how her culture seemed to follow her throughout her life. She also shows the downsides of being a latina and how she overcame these struggles. One method she uses in order to show her audience the struggle that her and other latina girls could go through in there lives, is appeal to ethos.

Eventually the Garcia’s trailed away from manual labor and began to work in the dry goods business. In many states of the United States, particularly in Texas, Mexican Americans faced prejudice and discrimination daily. Although there was constant violence and judgement casted upon himself and his family Dr. Garcia’s fight for survival and equality stood unshaken. Hector Garcia’s “youth was a lesson” (Sanchez Part 2). Dr. Garcia not only learned academically, but he learned through everyday life. He learned how to cope and live with the discrimination that would persist into his adulthood.

Erika’s story of resistance can be seen as an anti-hegemonic response. Even though, she was constantly exposed to threats, the fear of being deported did not stop her from making her voice be heard. Her first encounters with the system, was when she was personally affected by the Arizona’s Proposition 300, where undocumented students were denied financial assistance and experienced an increase in tuition since they no longer qualified

After many years Gualinto hesitantly returns to his hometown where he is believed to bring knowledge and glory as the “defender of the Mexicotexan’s rights”; his childhood friends and people of the community have a great surprise coming to them. (292) Furthermore, life outside of Jonesville had transformed Gualinto into a true American who now looked down upon all Mexicans. Throughout the years the expectation that Gualinto would become a great defender of all Mexicans never died in Jonesville, yet the likelihood of this occurring did perish within Gualinto who had now blocked his anger for justice for his people; perhaps, Gualinto found it too difficult to overcome the obstacles that kept coming at him due to his Mexican descent. Additionally,

The racist connotation that Miss Jimenez associates with who she thinks would “fit in” society’s box is a definite reflection of the hardships Valdez witnessed in his community. For example, the Zoot Suit Riots that occurred in 1944 was rooted by a reaction by young Mexican-American males against a culture that did not want them to be a part of it. Stuart Cosgrove examines this issue when he states, "In the most obvious ways they had been stripped of their customs, beliefs and language.” (*Vargas 317) These youths were going through an identity crisis because they did not know which culture they could identify with. Miss Jimenez is a character that embodies that repression Valdez explains in “Los Vendidos.”

In September, 2014, 43 Mexican students disappeared. The 43 students were undergraduates at Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, a teachers college, in Ayotzinapa, with a history of activism. They were among about 100 students who headed out on the evening of Sept. 26, 2014, with a plan to steal some buses. This was a tradition. The students would steal buses, use them to go to an event, and then return them. Bus drivers were instructed to stay with the buses to make sure they were returned. The students planned to use the buses to go to a march in Mexico City to commemorate a student massacre in 1968. Using two buses they already had, the students waited on a main road on the outskirts of Iguala.

She argues how she was treated differently for being the only daughter in her Mexican family. She executed her argument well with the support of self-experiences of events in her life.

There are three groups discussed in this paper. They are most certainly not the only groups, they are just the most popular and the frequently reported. These groups of activists are; Black Lives Matter (BLM), Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, and Queer, (LBGTQ) and Women’s Rights. The three of these groups were recreated not even a decade ago.