In the video the Chicano movement is explained. It all began with Reyes Lopez Tijerina who said that the heirs of the southwest lands are still resented of the distribution of the land grants that were taken illegally from the original land owning families. Reyes lopez tijerina studied treaty law and wanted to reclaim tierra amarilla the land of their people. He was a man on white horse and with tremendous charisma and turned spirit of a movement. Occupation of carson national force allianza was blamed and he was jailed. There was a meeting to take land property with the motto, “down with federal anarchy” and district attorney stopped the convention. This is when the movement of the Chicanos began. They were aware that the government only wanted them as labor, to fight in the war and work for low paying wages. There was also a bitter history of discriminatory experiences. Many didn’t have education and were very poor.
A cabinet committee was created but eventually that proved to not be enough and Corky Gonzalez came into the scene. With his poem “I am Joaquin”, he reached out to the youth and joined Martin Luther King in the walks for justice against the poor of minorities. In Denver, the first singular march crusade for justice immediately drew surveillance from FBI and J. Edgar Hoover. The only purpose of the marches were to make the U.S. understand that the right of the southwest lands wereMexican as well as American, the home of Azlan. They were not wet backs or illegal foreigners but part of the ancestral lands and wanted to engage in this countries own ideals from the Bill of Rights; freedom, peace, liberty and equality.
Here is a very intesting and relevant excerpt from Hispanic Civil Rights Series : Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano Movement : Writings from el Grito del Norte.
Here we see the struggle of identity through land rights and ownership.
“El Grito del Norte”
“This land is your land, this land is my land, this land was meant for you and me,” those are some of the words of a beautiful song written by Woody Guthrie. Then we have the sayings of Zapata, Mexico’s beautiful Indian revolutionary, “This land belongs to those that plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops,” “La tierra le pertenece al hombre que la trabaja con sus propias manos.” Land is a beautiful part of man’s relationship to nature. How does this refer to the Southwest? The Indians lived here in great freedom. The history books look upon them as primitive, I believe they were totally free humans living the way of beauty. Then the Spaniards came along. It was a turmoil, they made slaves of the Indians. They forced the Indians to work in the mines and then they would send the gold to Spain. The Spaniards did live near the Indian Pueblos and intermarry. From here come the mestizo. The slavery of the Indian occurred all through the continent and Mexico fought for freedom from Spain. With this independence from Spain, the Southwest lived under the rule of Mexico. Mexico, having economic and internal problems after its war with Spain, was not able to defend its land and thus the Southwest became part of the U.S. I have heard the Southwest called “a colony of the U.S.”
Many people in the past have questioned the individual owning of “land.” And the more I see of people being forced to the city because of rich land owners wanting more land, the more I think and wonder about land ownership. I see land as something that belongs to everyone. Land is like air and life. It is part of each and every one of us. It belongs to the peoples . Tribal ownership was very just and served the needs of the communities. Did you know the government subsidizes big land holders not to plant their land because it will upset the economy of the open market? We have to have a “boom” in this country while people all over the world go to bed hungry. This subsidy thing is taking an interesting trend. For example, we have a senator of the U.S. that received $176,000 a year for holding land and doing nothing with it. Can you imagine? And in Colorado, a large rubber company bought a huge amount of land in southern Colorado and hasn’t plowed one inch of it, BUT the company is receiving money from the government for owning it! Who gets a profit from these land laws? Not the little guy like you and I, but the rich landowners— this is how they get rich and powerful. They make their own laws and know how to use them for personal benefit. I don’t know how you look at this, but it sure smells fishy to me. I believe that the little people are getting took again. The worse part of it is that when we have a few people receiving welfare, etc. we are looked down on and called “leeches.” We are supposed to feel guilty and inferior while the big landowners, the really rich guy, is getting richer from the government. But what he gets is not called a welfare handout— it’s a SUBSIDY. 2 They can get all this money from the government and are looked upon as having— what do you call it, incentive and motivation, I think . . .
You know this thing called money and business is really out of hand and we can see the monster more and more as it reveals itself. Let’s expose every corner. Let’s see what really goes. It looks like the big giant has problems. One of the things that we can begin to do is to start planting our lands, instead of just letting them lay there. Let’s start thinking in terms of feeding ourselves instead of feeding the grocery stores. Cooperatives are certainly a big answer for the people. Let’s go back to being more self-sufficient. Why do we have to support Mr. Safeway, whoever or wherever he may be? Let’s work our land. Then the land will come back to the peoples and it will belong to those who plant the seeds, water the fields and gather the crops. Entre más y más vemos que los ricos se van apoderando de tierras y aunque no se ocupan en plantarlas y el gobierno les paga [solamente] por tenerlas en su poder. Hasta hay compañías que empiezan a comprar tierras con el fin de que les paguen nada más por ser dueños de ellas. Ya basta de esto, de mantener al hombre rico y darle dinero a los negocios. Vamos a empezar a trabajar nuestras tierras, vamos a juntarnos, ya sea en cooperativas o sea como sea. Ya dejemos de darle tanto dinero a las tiendas. El modo del indio era tener tierras para las comunidades y trabajarlas juntos para el uso de la gente. Ésta era costumbre de nosotros. ¿Por qué no lo podemos hacer de vuelta? Recuerden que “La tierra le pertenece al hombre que la trabaja con sus propios manos”, eso decía Zapata y también decía, “Tierra o muerte”. 3 April 14, 1969″
Works Cited
Chicano! PBS Documentary “Quest for a Homeland” YouTube
Vasquez, Enriqueta. Hispanic Civil Rights Series : Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano Movement : Writings from el Grito del Norte. Oropeza, Lorena. Houston, TX. Arte Público Press, 2006.