The Story Behind Chicano Homeland by Louis R. Negrete

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. 

Before 1848, Los Angeles was part of Mexico. Most recently the people used the term Chicano to identify themselves as the first residents of Los Angeles and the Southwest. We were a proud people living in this country. We were bilingual speaking both English and Spanish. We maintained our culture. In the 1960’s to 1980’s community activists in different groups created the Chicano movement as community resistance to injustice slowly increased.

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

Dr. Louis R. Negrete was born and raised in Los Angeles. During his distinguished career, Dr. Negrete served as Director of Project Head Start for the Council of Mexican American Affairs and was also a founding member of the new Chicano Studies Department at the California State University in Los Angeles. He served as professor of Chicano Studies for some 35 years at Cal State LA. CHICANO HOMELAND is his first book. Dr. Negrete makes his home in Los Angeles, California. 

Web site for book at www.ChicanoHomeland.com

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/Chicano-Homeland-Louis-R-Negrete-1657612917852351/?fref=ts