Reflection

I found this week's readings very interesting, especially the readings for Wednesday. This week in class we are focusing on the identity politics and other forms of Latino identity. Many Latinos in the 20th century grew up with the idea that they should assimilate to the American culture, and try to make themselves seem as 'white' or American as possible. This way they would receive less discrimination and be given better opportunities. This was the view of LULAC and other organizations as well.

By the 1960s, people seem to be questioning these ideas, and seem to be moving back towards an identity that they no longer seem to know, yet want to recapture. There was the call for political, economic, and social reform amongst Latinos, and many people were starting to fight the discrimination they had been facing all along and embrace being Latino.

Something that I found very interesting was the discrimination of the women within the Chicano movement. They faced double standards while trying to fight for their liberation against discrimination as Chicanos, but were placed under possible worse discrimination as mujeres by their own men. They strongly fought against the concept of machismo, because they felt that there would not be true liberation within their culture if that ideal was still in place. These women were opressed ethnically, economically, and sexually, and in the 1960's and 1970's they started addressing their issues not only within Chicanos but to all people in the United States. I think that these issues were very real and worth fighting for, because if they didn't, who knows to what extent Chicana women would be oppressed today.