Mexican-American Identity and the Chican@ Movement
Created by Alvaro Zavala & Luz Magdaleno
Luz Magdaleno
Alvaro Zavala
When Ispell was my a little girl, theinfirst thingthrough my abuelita taught meof was to full name Spanish song. It’s one my favorite things to do although the opportunity is rare. I’ll never forget the conversations and moments I shared while living withlook her.after Sheme spoke onlymySpanish and I was blessed to have her while parents were at work, which they often were, I learned Spanish in unison with families English. altBeing bilingual is an aspect often found in Hispanic hough it’s becoming harder for children tothenotonly onlychild maintain but cultivate the Spanish language. I was in my family that knew how to speak it and not many of my classmates spoke. I spent a lot less time with myof abuelita when I started school. I ended up spending most my time with my mom onsheourworked way toand andshefrom my spoke CPS elementary school where rarely Spanish with me. being The summer after sixth grade, my abuelita passed away after sick for some time.inShethewas my anchor in to a lothigh of ways toinmy culture, especially language. Going school Lincoln Park didn’tThe expose me tofaded muchfrom Spanish and I took French all 4 years. language my vocabulary and thesunlight. world around me like colored fabricway, exposed toand too almuch Memories fade in a similar slowly most withoutsideanyofawareness. My lifeexposed was spent primarily with my father’s the family which me too my beautiful Rican culture but not myof Mexican heritage. Iamet atoddler, fewPuerto relatives from my mom’s side the family once, as and unfortunately haveMexico no memory of most it. Myofmother was born in Torreon Coahuila, but did her schooling in the states. She experienced most of her Mexican culture down tohasn’t visitvisited relatives, but went less frequentlywasasalways sheongottrips older and in over 20 years. Safety a concern, one which intensified after the war on drugs began. And when the border crossing, job stealing, criminal, drugnarrative dealing Mexican immigrant became a part of the dominant (fuck Donald Trump) young Latinos and Latinas wereof exposed to an attack on notused onlyastheir people but on part their identity. An identity a scapegoat for13-Point dysfunction found inPlatform) the AmeriKKKan (Young Lords Party Program and economy and as a catalyst for the illegal drug trade. These dangerous misconceptions fueledmemyfrom insecurities as a my firsthistory generation Chicana and distanced my heritage, and the language that it is told in.
It starts with a statement…A few simple words uttered with convic-
tion. I take a stand for justice. I take a stand for those who have suffered at the hands of injustice, I take a stand for those who cry out to be treated with dignity, who cry out to be treated with humanity, to be treated with the fairness that justice demands. We are a nation that prides ourselves on liberty and freedom, the land of opportunity. Indeed, that is why my own parents came to this country – to be given the opportunity to be anything they wanted, to achieve anything they ever dreamed of. Our justice system is meant to embody these values. Yet our system is anything but fair. And without justice, true justice, our values – these notions of liberty and freedom that we hold dear – are meaningless. Yet I believe in the great potential that our country holds. I believe in the values that my parents dreamed of. And it is because of this belief that I take this stand. Justice must prevail. And there can be no justice without peace. I believe in the potential of humanity. Of each individual. Each person has the capability to achieve great feats. Our system should reflect that. Yet where hope should be lies only suffering. The system is a tangled web of despair. Justice demands accountability for the crimes committed yet it demands more – the opportunity for peace. Because without peace there can be no justice. Tell me, what justice is there when people of color are disproportionately locked up? What justice is there when people are forced to suffer their entire lives for a mistake they have made? When people are not treated as people, but as something less? Where their very humanity is taken away from them? Tell me, just because someone does something that we consider inhumane, should we then treat them inhumanely? Should we lessen ourselves when we are capable of so much more? We have not come as far as we have, we have not built the very foundations of this nation on base desires, on our instincts for vengeance. No, it is our capacity to reach higher, push our very notions of what people should be, what they can be– that has helped us to evolve to where we are now.
And we are destined to continue to aspire to ever greater feats. So let us work together, bring up each and every one of us – let us together achieve our potential. I take a stand for this potential. And it starts with justice. I take this stand because I can no longer sit by and watch as people’s lives get destroyed by the system. As countless individuals go unnamed and unavenged, as countless communities are torn apart by the very system that is meant to restore peace. Now is the time to take this stand. And then what follows is the commitment to those words. That no matter what I encounter, what challenges I face, I promise to take a stand for justice, and for the peace that will bring about the justice I seek. I promise to inspire others to take that stand with me. Because this is a stand worth taking, worth struggling for. These words will become reality, through my actions and through the actions of all of us collectively. Written by Sarah Yousuf
Excerpt from
The Sides of La Luna
Novel by Meli Alvarez
The first day of high school was over. I went to an all-girl catholic high school in a suburb. I was only in Chicago for the school year, for the rest I spent it in my parent’s hometown in Guanajuato. Being partially raised here and there made it twice as difficult to belong anywhere; being a rockera didn’t help either. I waited outside in front of the long school building with my friend Adri from grade school. I sat on the pavement of the first step of the stairway in front of the school entrance. Adri took a seat next to me. “How your first day go?” Just then Lauren from my English class came up behind us and sat on my left side. She was a very light skinned pretty white girl with short blonde hair and blue eyes. She was texting fast on her cell phone as she sat and turned to me and Adri with a big smile on her face. “Hey! You’re Silvia’s friend right. The new girl?” “Yea.” “What’s your name again, Lety?” “It’s Luna.” “Right.” She took a glance at my arm and grabbed my wrist to look at my bracelets. “Those are pretty bracelets. Where you buy them, Claire’s?” “Mexico.” “Nice, it’s so pretty. I love Mexico. I have been to Cancun about four times.” She said as she let go of my bracelets and smiled and flipped her hair. She looked over at Adri. “Hey Adri, you went to Mexico too, during the summer. I heard you say in class that you went to visit your mom.” “No, I haven’t been to Mexico.” She responded. “My mom is from Uruguay.” “Aren’t they like similar countries though, almost the same thing?”
“It’s in a different continent actually.” Adri wasn’t annoyed but just surprised on how little she knew about her and easily assumed, but then again you couldn’t blame Lauren. It was hard to guess Adri’s ethnicity at times and she was use to people assuming she was full Mexican. I never really got offended with people’s assumption on me either. It was only human to guess and be curious. Everyone was different, and the more people weren’t correct and assumed wrongly then it was an opportunity to correct them and bring awareness. In reality most of the Caucasian girls from school never annoyed or bothered me, yea some were, what you can say uninformed but they were nice and friendly. Adri’s step dad soon after showed up to pick her up. “See you tomorrow morning Luna. See you Lor.” She said as she got up and headed down the steps to the walk path that led to the street. She got in her step dads car and left. A minute later Lauren’s dad showed up and she got up to leave. “It was nice meeting you. I’ll see you around.” “Yes, nice meeting you too,” I responded. I got up after a while; sitting on the hard pavement was making my butt sore. As I stood and leaned against the side wall of the entrance Silvia and her friend Karin came out. Karin was a bit in the thick side, I didn’t consider her fat but just thick and big boned. She had on black sweatpants under her uniform skirt and puma sneakers. She wore her hair in a tight bun and had tan skin. They walked towards me and Silvia looked like she had been searching for me. “Luna, there you are.” Silvia said once she saw me. “Hey.” “You remember Karin from lunch.” “Yea, hi.” I said with a smile. Karin just nodded with no expression on her face. She turned down her head to eye me from head to toe making me uncomfortable before she spoke. “What’s that you have on your bag? Some kind of gang symbol?” She said as she eyed my messenger bag that I had placed on the floor. “No?” Karin hung out with the group of Hispanics girls. There were maybe like 10 girls in total out 260 students in my graduating class. Even past my first day I can tell the school maybe was made of 12% Hispanics, 10% blacks, 8% other and 70% Caucasian. You would think that being the new millennium that segregation would be long gone but secretly it remains at times. I noticed that the girls would naturally form
their own clicks depending on ethnicity or type. I suppose it made some sense since most girls felt only comfortable within their own kind. Not in my case, not here. “So what is it?” Karin asked with an attitude. “It’s a Los Heroes symbol.” “Heroes?” She replied almost offended because I knew something she didn’t. “Yea, Heroes del Silencio…. it’s a Spanish rock band.” “Oh. Whatever.” She turned away from me with no more interest and started looking at a group of rock punk girls chatting at a short distance from us by the side of the school. Silvia started to sense the tension and quickly changed the subject. “Hey you think I can catch a ride with you and Consuelo?” “Oh, sure.” I said taking my angry sight off Karin who was beginning to resemble a chola to me. Then Karin grew a mean looking grin on her face and turned to me again. “Hey why aren’t you over there?” She said. “Que?” “Aren’t those your people?” She told me and signaled me by turning her head to the girls in the corner. “I have people? I wasn’t aware.” I replied. She raised her eyebrow and was upset at my smartass remark. “You know those gothic rock people, all emo and shit, listen to screaming guys with long hair. People who dress in black and go cut themselves.” “No not at all. Hey, do your people drive in low riders and shoot innocent bystanders with guns that carry the Virgin Mary image on them?” I told her sarcastically. She walked towards me and began pushing me by my shoulder towards the direction of the girls. I leaped forward a bit but then stood my ground firmly as she kept trying to shove me with one hand. That cabrona had a strong push, but I wasn’t budging. “Go to them. GO to your people. You should make new friends. Go." She said. “KARIN... Ya, please.” Silvia told her in a serious tone. She stopped but secretly I was waiting for another push. I was ready to take a swing at her.
“Ha, am just messing with you girl.” Karin said to me with a short laugh. I gave her a fake smile. “Just playing with your cool old friend. She knows we playing.” She continued. That girl made me miss Lauren’s company; at least la gringa was nice. Just then Conse came out. “My dad is out back by the back entrance. Let’s go.” She went back inside and walked towards the back entrance. I grabbed my messenger bag from the floor and dusted it off. Silvia said bye to Karin and we walked inside to head to the back entrance behind Conse. Silvia looked at me with apologetic eyes and mouthed out to me, so sorry. I got use to the school and adapted as the years went on. Freshmen and sophomore year went by quick and I mostly stuck with Adri and Silvia. Junior and senior year my group of friends expanded. I still felt out of place but by this point I was beginning to embrace it. My friends made sure to point out my differences but noted that it was those differences that made me who I was.
Meli Alvarez Juarez is a Mexican/American creative writer from Chicago. She is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelor's in Fiction Writing. She plans to continue her studies and receive her MFA to one day teach other inspiring writers. She hopes her stories bring more a diverse audience among readers and inspire other Latin minorities to embrace and become in touch with their cultural background. For more info on other works and the 1st published full short story "Two Doors", visit www.melialvarezjuarez.virb.com
Musica Que Nos Mueve A review on Chicano Batman and the impact of Chican@ music
by Luz Magdaleno
Chicanos have been doing this for a while now. Whether it be falling in or out of love, we sure do know how to make music to celebrate the highs and the lows. Music you have to light a blunt to, smoke it under a tree on a Sunday afternoon. The birds decide to sing along type of shit. Fuckable. Or as Chicano Batman describe it, “musica para planchar.” Reminiscing never felt so good. But instead of contemplating my life I dance, pouting my black lipstick, celebrating my life’s triumphs AND downfalls—exactly what our cultura has taught us to do. This is Chicano Batman. Chicano Batman isn’t causing you to cry off your mascara like the O-Jays and the Larks do but they fit in at the local car show. And are being played at the same party where Ritchie Valen’s “La Bamba” is being blasted. It has been a while since the Chicano movement brought something quite like Chicano Batman. The last time I have been this thrilled for what musicians were accomplishing for the raza was when MC Magic, Mr. Capone-E, NB Ridaz were hitting their peak in 2009. But even though NB Ridaz gave me the courage to get lost in love with that vato I am now celebrating the good times drinking Lagunitas with Chicano Batman.
Su corazón palpita fuerte Al sentir su alma renacer Ella tiene aire a Teotihuacán
Su piel tiene color de mazapan Su cuerpo va dando vuelta al ritmo del tambor Su alma va comunicando amor -Chicano Batman, Itotiani
I had the opportunity to attend First Fridays at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum where Chicano Batman stole the night away! They performed their romantica-soul type songs like that of El Chicano’s “Sabor a mi.” Standing in awe was an entire crowd of brown youth swaying to the beat of “Magma.”
Bardo Martinez, lead vocalist/organ player/guitarist, Carlos Arevalo, guitarist, Gabriel Villa, on percussion/drums, and Eduardo Arena, on bass, combine and truly create the Latino music of the 21 st century. Since 2010 Chicano Batman has been creating modern day songs reminiscent of Los Buki’s “Como Fui a Enamorarme De Ti” they move us in a new direction and it feels good to be alive in this time, nos mueven Chicano Batman. I am yet to find something wrong with these guys…lo unico malo is the inspiration they have probably received from listening to Malo (the guys who brought us “Suavecito.”)
Check out Chicano Batman’s latest single titled, “Black Lipstick” on sound cloud.
Heartbeat and the heart within beats so loudly can’t you hear it echoing with all that cannot be said that cannot be expressed except in random moments of tears pain rage silence so loud that nothing else can be heard a wave a roar a rush of all that wants to be said but has no way of being let out if words are mightier than the sword why can’t mine slice through the fists the knives the bullets that tear everything apart why is this heart so helpless against all the injustice when the force of all it feels could destroy worlds? and as i look on at this dystopia that fills my mind something within cries out please hear me stop let the world be filled with all that my soul is all that we can be if you would just listen to this heart that beats so loudly
Written by Sarah Yousuf
Numbered Heads
Written by Vince Bottom
Because death carves some arbitrary meaning into our scalps as true believers of a false ministry,
exploding and subverting listlessly all shoes tapping to similar rhythms, into a beautiful cataclysmic schism. For the hard creases of today’s breath intersecting with rotten milk stench exuberant shouting and pleading with the hourglass patrolman --one more minute-shocked, bland, and jaded do we find ourselves in it, inner journey to life’s senate and fence it off for
fancy games and hollow shelves, while dancing to concordant tunes only to follow selves, mindless sitting spineless on commuter rails. internal computers wail at the inability to grasp, not knowing the depth with which life is limitation,
and so circling a giant drain without a plug, just fill it with what’s closest
Photos taken in Oxnard, Ca. By Luz Magdaleno
Amores Carros
A comic by Alvaro Zavala
You've got me so high You make me so tall When we're eye to eye I can't help but fall Don't let me down I've been broken before You picked up my pieces Swept me off the floor I wish I could see myself in your sight But I'll be your trophy and never let go If you hold me down and be my pedestal -Tony Jones