Their Dogs Came with Them- Willing Change Essay

The author of Honor and the American Dream, Ruth Horowitz, takes us to Chicago’s Chicano community of 32nd Street in the

During the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t the only one occurring. Struggling to assimilate into American culture, and suppressed by social injustices convicted by their Anglo counterparts, the Chicano movement was born. In the epic poem “I am Joaquin” written by Rodolfo Gonzales in 1969, we dive into what it means to be a Chicano. Through this poem, we see the struggles of the Chicano people portrayed by the narrator, in an attempt to grasp the American’s attention during the time of these movements. Hoping to shed light on the issues and struggles the Chicano population faced, Gonzales writes this epic in an attempt to strengthen the movement taking place, and to give Chicanos a sense of belonging and solidarity in this now

Marisol is a young, assimilated hispanic woman in 1990’s New York who works a white collar job in Manhattan and lives in the Bronx. She doesn’t have family or loved ones living close to her except her friend and colleague, June. One night she has an unfortunate

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

Women themselves perpetuate their inferiority; the author recounts a moment in her life when her emotional connection with her mother was interrupted abruptly by a telephone call from her brother. In this instance, the mother chose to speak with her son, the Chicano, over her daughter, the Chicana.

The formation of segregated barrios and the development of a wealth of community-provided services showed that Mexican-Americans were not content to be marginalized by the United States. Instead, they were embracing an empowering new sense of self-determination and referring to themselves as “Mexicanos or as members of a larger, pan-Hispanic community of La Raza.” At this time La Raza referenced individuals of the Mexican “race”, whether they were in Mexico or in the United States, and was particularly important in the United States, where race was more important than citizenship. In the late 19th and early 20th century United States, race was determined by purity of blood, and there were only two races—white and black. White meant the individual had “pure blood” (European blood); black meant that the individual’s blood included indigenous or African influences. Being white meant being able to exercise one’s constitutional rights and being treated as a normal member of society’s dominant group. Being black meant that, regardless of whether he or she was a citizen, the individual would face discrimination similar to that which I described earlier. When the Spanish conquerors mixed with the people of Latin America, forming the mestizo, or mixed race, population that now composes most of the region, they removed themselves from a “white” classification in the United States. Thus, by engaging with the concept of La Raza, which connotes a mestizo race and population, Mexican-Americans rejected the binary nature of race in the United States and embraced what made them different—their indigenous-mixed blood and the cultural heritage that accompanied it. While the abuse directed towards Mexican-Americans may have

In Pearsall, Texas, the Anglo and Mexican communities were divided to contribute to Elva’s confusion and frustrations of being alone. The immigrant society was lumped together as their own “class” of people:

The Chicano movement was a movement that inspired thousands of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans to boldly take a stand against discriminatory oppression. For years, the Chicano movement fought for Mexicans’ rights. However, the movement failed to recognize that its women were an oppressed group that also needed to be heard by the gringos and their system. The women were oppressed triply through race, class, and gender. Chicanas not only had to fight the American system that worked against colored minorities, but they had to fight to earn respect from Chicanos whose traditional machista mentality hindered the movement altogether. Women were a central part to the Chicano movement that aided in the movimiento’s success. Although Chicanas fought

Lilia Fernandez is a Chicago native who rights about how the city’s neighborhoods changed in the 20th century. The history that she describes in her book with the newcomers that have settled within the city’s urban spaces have transformed it now in the 21st century in conjunction with the changes in the racial dynamics and the physical structure that were seen during the 20 year span from 1950-1970. She explores the question of how these tens of thousands of Latinos ended up settling in Chicago. Her work traces the roots of Mexican and Puerto Ricans particularly in terms of their historical roots and their migration, settlement and overall experiences in Chicago. She writes about the neighborhoods they lived (Pilsen, Lincoln Park and Humbolt

The debate’s issues on immigration shaped Adichie to believe that Mexicans aren’t good people, and they commit terrible crimes. It’s not until she visited Mexico that she received the full story. If she never visited to see for herself what Mexico is about, she’d be going off the knowledge that the debate let her believe. “Show a people as one thing, only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” Chimamanda’s mother led her to believe that Fide was poor, With that mindset set in stone, she’s already created an identity for him without knowing what he’s really about or his story. Adichie’s personal experiences confirms that having the full story will eliminate cliches and stereotypes from creating misconceptions and misidentify a

Luis Navar, a Mexican immigrant, is an example of a hard-working individual who is determined to live the American dream. After arriving to Denison, he worked at Farmland where he excelled: “He’d never before worked in a packing plant, but he learned the job in two weeks…The highest level-worker was a Grade 5; he was a Grade 4.” This is an appeal to ethos because Luis is portrayed as an individual with good sense, good moral character, and good will. These are universal traits of a good person, supporting the assumption that many of the Latino immigrants in Denison are like this. This supports Maharidge’s claim that the future of this Iowan town relies on individuals like Luis. The non-Latinos in the area did not necessarily resent the Latinos, but they also didn’t favor them. The people of Denison “were not campaigning to harm the Latinos by denying them public services or calling in immigration authorities, nor were they moving away in a version of prairie white flight.” However, Maharidge incorporates the mythos of the contemporary racial climate by introducing the problem of how non-minorities would form a “general hatred of all things foreign” when there is another terror

Sandra Cisneros is an influential, activist poet who is engaged in teaching the Chicano community and is a strong voice for the Latino community through her writing. Cisneros has a Mexican father and a Chicana mother which made her part of the two different communities. Cisneros’s work is often influenced by her observations of the people in her community and her writings include many different types of communities. In “His Story” and “Woman Hollering Creek” communities of women influence Sandra Cisneros’ characters. Some of the communities help and others hinder. Overall, the communities impact each narrator's sense of identity.

Mexican Americans in Texas have a long and detailed history spanning from the arrival of Cortez all the way to the present day. Through historical events, the culture and identity of Mexican Americans have shifted, diverted, and adapted into what people chose to identify as. The rise of the Chicano identity during the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement was an adaptation as a culture to oppressive and unjust treatment from white, Anglos that had almost all political and social power over all minorities. To stop the oppressive voices from silencing and oppressing the Mexican Americans, they had to stand up to fight for their rights as American citizens that also had Mexican or Spanish heritage to be proud of. In Oscar Zeta Acosta’s novel, The Revolt of the Cockroach People, he dives into the Chicano Movement as a witness and an active participant. His larger than life character is on the front lines of the movement and examines the shift in identity among the group. It was particularly rising of their Chicano identity that gave the people cause to organize politically and socially in order to fight for a worthy cause.

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.”

Lillian Comas-Dίaz was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Puerto Rico, her parents’ native land, at the age of 6. She was raised in Puerto Rico but admits to this move being a “culture shock” because she was not fluent in Spanish at the time and other native Puerto Ricans racially classified her as a jabá, a person with a black grandparent from the Caribbean (Comas-Dίaz, 2005). This was a derogatory term that made Comas-Dίaz question race and gender relations within the Puerto Rican community. Also, she had a physical impediment that affected her voice for approximately sixteen years (Comas- Dίaz, 2005). During this time, Comas-Dίaz relied on the books in the library to comfort her. She looked to literary works of art and authors who could, in some way, relate to her. Whether the author could relate to her in the ways of physical impediments or being a person of color, Comas-Dίaz relied on their writings to improve her life (Comas-Dίaz, 2005)