5 Minutes - Podcast

The conversation is about the negative impact of the Chicano movement on Chicana women and the lack of attention given to their work in Chicana activism. Chicano refers to Mexican-Americans and the term was originally derogatory. Mexican immigrants faced struggles such as low-wage jobs, criminalization, lack of support, and silencing of their needs. Mexicans were promised citizenship and rights after the Mexican-American War but often lived as second-class citizens. The Chicano movement aimed to promote cultural nationalism and fight discrimination. However, Mexican migrants were excluded from the movement, leading to the neglect of Chicana women's contributions. Ana Nieto Gomez's presence as a competent woman in the Chicano Studies Department was uplifting, but there was not much support for women in the department. The role of women in Latino history has been important but often misunderstood. conversation about the negative impact of the Chicano movement in regards to machismo and the lack of attention on Chicana women and their work in Chicana activism. I'm Perla Hernandez and today we're talking about the importance of emphasizing and uplifting Chicano women's voices with my two interviewees Irene Tovar and Ana Nieto Gomez. But before getting into that, I want to explain what Chicana means. Chicano, Chicana, or Chicané is a term that primarily refers to those that identify as Mexican-Americans. The word Chicane was first used as a derogatory term against left-cultured Mexican-Americans and recent immigrants in the early 18th century. And though the term had evolved and has become intersected with the Mexican-Americans that were involved in the civil rights movement, this is deeply rooted in the impact of Mexican immigration. As explained in Ana Raquel Miñan's Undocumented Lives, the untold story of Mexican migrants, Mexican immigrants struggled with being offered low-wage jobs with no benefits, criminalization and dehumanizing, the lack of support and aid from their own communities such as the Bracero program, and the constant silencing of their needs and well-being in both the United States and in Mexico. For historical context, Mexicans who wished to stay on land given to the U.S. after the Mexican-American War was declared over in 1848 were guaranteed citizenship as well as the right to their property, language and culture under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. However, Mexicans, both those who'd initially immigrated and those who resided in areas where the U.S. boundaries changed, found themselves living as second-class citizens in the majority of cases. Numerous land-grant descendants in the area were impoverished as a result of the U.S. government's denial of land grants that were promised following the Mexican-American War. Thus came the creation of Chicanos and the Chicano Movement. The Chicano Movement, a pivoting time for Chicano folk, promoted cultural nationalism or chicanismo as a means of achieving social and political strength. Chicano people have faced discrimination in the U.S. for decades prior to the 1960s with combating institutional racism, increasing cultural hegemony and guaranteeing equal labor and political rights. Though there was a huge disconnect between those who immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. and those who identified as Chicanes. Mignon mentions the exclusion of Mexican migrants in the Chicano Movement, even though the sole reason why Chicanidad exists in the first place is due to the same struggles faced by both marginalized groups. With the exclusion of Mexican migrants in the Chicano Movement, this allowed for the opportunity to shine a spotlight on Chicano men, excluding and dismissing Chicano women and their importance in the movement that often goes unheard of. And that's exactly what we're going to focus on today. And I think Ana, whether she knows it or not, or whether we even understood it that well, did have that impact on the Chicanos because here they were able to go to a woman in the department and they could see that here was a competent woman who knew her subject, who had self pride in who she was. And she was a feminist. And that, I think, was very uplifting to the in the in the classroom situation. OK. And even outside of that, my role was not in the classroom situation. Mine was outside, you know, trying to connect the university with a community. And that's where I would see the effects of her on it. And so we were very pleased with when she came. We wanted to let it be known. But at that time, Virginia, it was not that supportive of the Chicanos in the Chicano Studies Department toward women. OK. And for some it might have. And I can't say might have been that they truly didn't or hustled for women. I can't say that, but it might have been indirectly. OK. But the effect was not that they encouraged it that much. And it wasn't because some of them were mean people, anti-women. But I think they misrepresented or misunderstood. Maybe that's a better word. Misunderstood our culture, our culture. Because if you're a historian, a true historian and a true researcher, you have to be aware of the role that women Latinas have played in our whole history, in the Latino world. OK. Our first our first poet woman was, you know, something that in terms of her role that she played, you know, and and and many other women that we romanticize. But really, their lives were very hard. We romanticize them. But they were tough ladies. OK. They went right into the war, right in the front lines. I mean, on the front lines and sometimes even with their children, you know.