For today’s blog post, we have Louis R. Negrete giving us some background into the writing of his latest book, Chicago Homeland. Take it away Louis...
I was born
in Los Angeles in a house within sight of the Watts Towers in an area my family
knew as La Colonia. The neighborhood consisted mostly of low to medium income
families that were friendly with each other. Growing up I heard stories about
the mistreatment of Mexican families, especially immigrants. Over time I
developed an awareness that we lived in racist times. I wrote the book based on my life experience
of wide spread anti-Mexican American racism in my neighborhood which I later
realized was nationwide.
As I grew
up my uncles and cousins told me to avoid contact with the police because they
were anti-Mexican. I then saw my uncle chased down the street by sailors and
police during what the media called the Pachuco Riots, a dangerous time
downtown for young Mexican Americans. My sense of anti-Mexican racism became
more realistic when I was in high school and got stopped by the police near my
home. I was unable to answer their questions because I was having an asthma
attack. The police got angry and beat me on my body, not my face, then they
took me to the police station and phoned my parents to pick me up. Afterwards,
the police kept driving slowly by my house. It seemed they were looking for me,
so my parents rented a room for me in El Sereno where I stayed for a few weeks.
This too made me aware of racial discrimination. As an adult, I was fully aware
of anti-Mexican racism in society but in my high school and college education,
I never learned about our contributions to society nor of racial discrimination
against us. Ironically, I was encouraged by white Anglo men to pursue my
education and career opportunities.
Racism
became a background for my growing up. I became aware that people were
resisting injustice on the streets and places where they worked. By the time I
became a university professor, I was fully aware that separate protest events
formed the beginnings of a Chicano community movement for justice. Eventually
protest events, even if separate, formed a united movement of thousands of men
and women activists, many unknown, in different groups. The evolving movement
included protest events like the high school student walkouts for better
schools, formation of the farmworker’s union, opposition to the war in Vietnam,
demands for return of Southwest land grants taken from Mexico after the U.S.
war with Mexico, organization of the militant Brown Berets, and the Chicano
Moratorium Committee against the war in Vietnam and creation of the nation’s
first academic university Department of Chicano Studies. Other activist groups
were also part of the growing movement.
The work
of the Chicano movement was a success. Since then, Mexican Americans can be
found employed in government, business, schools. nonprofit agencies, law
enforcement, all across the range of employment and careers, and as elected
officials. But resistance to continuing poverty, homelessness, and racism must
compel younger generations of minorities to keep the movement alive. I believe
that minorities in America must fight back against racism in local and national
politics. Anti-immigrant government policies popular today pose a major threat
to democracy. The struggles of the Chicano people must continue as a united
community opposition against racism. Younger generations of Americans must know
this part of our national history.
About the Author
Web site
for book at www.ChicanoHomeland.com
