The chicano movement: dead or alive?  (Page 9/11)

The four of us, Chavez, Tijerina, Gonzales, and I, propelled the Chicano Movement from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, each with our separate approaches and agendas; each in a specific geographic area of the Southwest. Together, we provided the leadership for our Chicano generation that engaged in nation building: the creation of Aztlan, a mini-nation within a nation. Aztlan (Nahuatl language) was the mythical name given to the place of origin for the Mechicanos (Aztecs) before they migrated south to found Tenochitlan (Mexico City). Tenochitlan was the Aztec capital invaded and conquered by Hernan Cortes. Chicanos organized the many national organizations present today, such as the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Program (SWVREP), Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), for example. Regionally, many other Chicano groups formally organized affiliates and related organizations and programs to further Chicano nationalism. Professional organizations also emerged to focus on specialized concerns and interests of Chicanos, such as the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS), Colegio Cesar Chavez and the National Hispanic University, National Association of Bilingual Educators (NABE), and NOSOTROS, the organization of Chicano actors and entertainers.

Chavez continued to build his farm worker union in California with less attention given to other parts of the country seeking unionization such as Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona, Ohio, and Florida. An independent farm worker union formed in those states under the leadership of regional leaders such as Antonio Orendain in Texas, Baldemar Huerta in Ohio, Luis Diaz de Leon, Jr. in Florida, and Jesus Salas in Wisconsin. Tijerina went to prison for destruction of federal property but was acquitted for the raid on the Tierra Amarilla courthouse. His absence while in prison led to the demise of the Land Recovery Movement. Gonzales and I vied for the national leadership position of the Raza Unida Party in 1972. I won and Gonzales dropped from the national scene. Later, he was involved in a car accident that left him with serious physical impairments. By 1978 the Raza Unida Party had lost ballot status in Texas and never gained such in other states. The electoral thrust of the party was waning and died by the early 1980s when the last officeholders sought re-election as Democrats. I did not complete my elected, second, four-year term as County Judge for Zavala County, Texas and relocated to Oregon in 1981. While in Oregon I engaged in organizing several organizations and programs and returned to Texas in 1986 to pursue a law degree.

Cuban refugees began arriving in the U.S., mainly Florida, in the mid-1960s. Central Americans began arriving in the U.S. shortly after President Ronald Reagan’s military intervention in those countries in the 1980s. Mexican immigration continued unabated into the 1990s. In decades past, the overwhelming numbers of Mexican-Americans overshadowed Puerto Ricans and Cubans. By the 1990s, however, the number of Mexican-Americans began to decline as a percentage of the whole. In 2000, the numbers of Hispanics reached 35 million plus, and of these only 20.6 million were of Mexican ancestry representing only 58.5% of the total number of Hispanics. Puerto Ricans, the second oldest group with a presence in the U.S. next to Mexicans, numbered 3.4 million and Cubans reached 1.24 million. The Central Americans that began to arrive two and a half decades ago reached 1.68 million and South Americans numbered 1.35 million. All of these other Hispanics number 15 million persons. Clearly, when the difference between the 20.6 million of Mexican ancestry and the 15 million other Hispanics became only 5 million, this was a new reality. See Table 1.1 Hispanic Population by Type:2000 in Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco and Mariela M. Paez, eds. Latinos: Remaking America, Berkeley: University of California Press and Cambridge: David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, 2002, p. 13..