Thank you for remembering Cesar on his birthday!
Cesar Chavez should be remember for his positive contributions and for his advancement of farm workers and the Chicano people…La Causa..
Cesar was the first Chicano leader to rise to national prominence and bring about a wider higher level of awareness and debate about farm workers and Chicanos,labor,social and economic justice.
He became a symbol of a people beaten down,oppressed suffocated and exploite.He became a symbol of a people rising up and fighting back organized and unified against injustice and oppression.He electrified and inspired Chicanos to build a movement that would be defiant and resist injustice,racism and exploitation.He helped inspire a new breed of warrior who would refuse the old paradigm of being dominated by the jack boots of racism and fascism on constantly on their peoples throats strangling their hopes,dreams and future.They would vow to fight back and throw off those jack boots.
Since the zenith of the farmworkers and Chicano movements things have changed a lot for Chicanos.Now Chicanos find themselves in an extremely dark place with the road leading into their future appearing foreboding.Chicanos are a people with extremely serious problems that are just getting worse.Unemployment,teen pregancies,sky high dropout rate,the curse of gang crime and terror in their communities,astounding apathy and ignorance in the younger generation.The future doesn’t look good for Chicanos if things continue the way they are going.
My vision of the Chicano future is a dark one..Chicans are at a crossroads that will either lead them to unity and organization- defend,protect and advance their interests for a better life..jobs,education.opportunity,etc etc..
The defining issue for generations to come is undoubtedly immigration..immigration is the one issue that that is laden with layers upon layers of implications and meaning..spanning the spectrum from mild reform to a nationalist movement for self-determination and autonomy away from the dominant white controlled system.Frustration,anger,resentment with racism and being ignored and constantly pushed aside will fuel the nationalist sentiment.
Now Chicanos are searching for answers and defining those same questions..if Chicanos are denied a future,oppressed and
thrown down to the lowest level of a permanent underclass..
what will they do? what will they do to realize their needs for a decent life?
thee are just some of the burning questions in play that Chicanos have to deal with these days.

[...] VivirLatino: I’m usually the first one in line when it comes to challenging the iconic God-like status so [...]

Re: “But I also think a large part of it is that there simply is no clear “Chicano movement.” It hints towards what several of our discussions here at VL talk about–where is solidarity in the Latino community? Is there solidarity? Is there unity? What is a Latino? What is a Chicano?”

See, this is part of the problem. The Latino category is so broad now that it becomes very difficult to organize. We don’t all share the same issues, or the same history. It’s a fake category. I feel that as Mexican-Americans/Chicanos, this category does not help us. When there are too many cooks in the kitchen, nothing gets done. Maybe you don’t know what a Chicano is, but we know. Nixon came up with the Latino category to shut down the Chicano Movement.

I feel a similar problem affects feminism. First and Second wave feminism were very successful, but what has Third wave feminism ever accomplished? Outside of academia, has anyone ever heard of it? Third wave feminisn defines every social ill affecting women as “sexism.” Prison reform, racial issues, etc. That’s why it’s never accomplished anything.

Bubbles, I think I would argue about how much first and second wave feminism did for women of color communities pero that said, I don’t think that claiming Latina has to negate or make invisible other identities. I cannot speak as a Chicana pero I can speak as a Nuyorican. I claim the very specific history and issues of the Nuyorican – Puerto Rican Diaspora pero I have no problem calling myself a Latina either. I think we do need to organize in our own community pero there are issues that impact the Chicana and the Rican alike and when we are attacked they don’t ask which “other” we are.

That said, I don’t think anyone on the Editorial team is an Obama apologist or would argue about how the Prison Industrial Complex is tied to Immigration Reform. Both detentions and deportations are up under Obama.

Do you you think it would have been different under any other president in the party system currently in place?

I had a feeling that you were a Hillary supporter, so in that way I guess my previous comment was a little bit of a set up. That said, I know from personal experience that at least when Hillary was running for Senate here in NYS and then once she became Senator, the ability to appeal to her is limited and I think she may have the tendency to use women of color to gain support and then once in power be willing to ignore or worse throw them under the bus.

I think we do need to organize as many groups. Coalition work is where it’s at and where it has always been at from my experience. Pero we need to meet the community where they are at and for some, especially the younger generations, the wider identity is often an entry point.
The problem is when we let others define what is Latino. I’m clear on my definition and how the smaller parts of that fit in.

How would/do you measure strength?

Well it’s out of her jursidiction/work now pero if I ever had a sit down with her I would remind her of the promises she made to the mother of Manny Mayi Jr.