Summary
In this chapter, we explained the dynamics of struggle, resistance, racial and social justice, solidarity, and liberation among Chicanx and Latinx communities. Exploring these topics showed us the various focus areas among Chicanx and Latinx social movements and advocacy groups, including things like civil rights, Indigenous sovereignty, solidarity, queer, feminist, and intersectional issues, labor rights, and political mobilization and representation.
This chapter also explored how historical and contemporary Chicanx and Latinx movements have enacted equity, self-determination, liberation, decolonization, sovereignty, and anti-racism. Movements have been successful in raising awareness about issues, creating opportunities for communities to take charge of their own destiny, and confronting and changing policies that oppress Chicanx and Latinx peoples. At the same time, these movements have navigated substantial barriers, which impede their goals and allow for systemic racism and settler-colonialism to continuously operate. Only through sustained collective action can individual acts of advocacy lead to a larger change.
Finally, throughout this chapter, we critically analyzed the uses of intersectionality among Chicanx and Latinx communities to understand how movements address class, gender, sexuality, national origin, immigration status, sovereignty, and language. Together, these learning tools can prepare you to take action in your own community, in solidarity with existing and new groups that are working to make change. There are also many more topics to explore and learn about, which is always an important first step for all activists and social movement groups.
Ancillary materials for this chapter are located in Section 11.7: Chapter 7 Resource Guide, which includes slides, media, writing and discussion prompts, and suggested assignments and activities.
Key Terms
Chicana Movidas: A political framework that is rooted in an intersectional perspective, acknowledging the uniquely racialized and gendered experiences of Chicanas, as well as the value of using transformative and innovative approaches to build coalitions and advocate for social change.
Chicanismo: A political framework that calls for justice and liberation for Chicano communities, which was widely mobilized in the 1960s as a response to pervasive social, economic, and racial issues in the United States, especially the Vietnam War, segregation, and discrimination.
Reform movements: Movements that involve advocacy and mobilization to accomplish focused, limited goals that change laws, regulations, and policies within existing organizations and institutions. These movements respond directly to the needs of groups that are currently being harmed.
Revolutionary movements: Movements that advocate for transformative changes in society that include abolishing, replacing, and fundamentally challenging the institutions that exist. These movements work to address the root causes of inequality.
Reactionary movements: Movements that work against other movements, often through direct opposition or by countering their activity. Reactionary movements are often politically conservative and form in response to the gains of historically marginalized groups.
Jim Crow and Juan Crow: An era of legal segregation that focused on maintaining social and structural separations between white people and Black and Brown people. These specific laws were most prominent in the late 1800s, as a response to the end of slavery, and they maintained this form until the middle of the 1900s when they were challenged by civil rights movements.
El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán: A document that inspired and motivated Chicanx activists to pursue liberation and justice, especially in education. This document was published during the 1969 Chicano Youth Conference hosted by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez in Denver, Colorado. The seven goals laid out in the plan focus on unity, economy, education, institutions, self-defense, cultural values, and political liberation.
The Chicano Moratorium (The National Chicano Moratorium Committee Against the Vietnam War): A movement of anti-war activists opposed to the U.S. military’s role in Vietnam. The protest emphasized how the war was disproportionately impacting Chicano and Chicanx communities.
Intersectional standpoint: The unique knowledge and perspective developed based on the combination of one’s multiple identities, especially race and gender, as well as sexuality, immigration status, ability, age, religion, and other social categories.
United Farm Workers (UFW): A labor rights and social movement organization that was founded by Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez in central California. This group represented the predominantly migrant labor force in the fields and built solidarities between Mexican origin communities and Filipinxs. The UFW still operates today to advocate for labor rights and has inspired the formation and mobilization of multiple organizations that serve, represent, and advocate for farmworkers.
Immigrant and immigration policy: Laws that influence immigrant experiences and the rates of immigration in a country. Whereas immigrant policy regulates the experiences of people who have already immigrated to the country, immigration policy refers to the processes and practices that influence the process of migration itself.
