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LULAC Glances, 1968-1971
1970-05-26 Newsletter: ""LULAC Glances"" Page 3
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-3- WHICH WAY LULAC by E. Rodriguez The young Mexican American of the southwest, Chicago and other areas of concentration of the Mexican people are disenchanted with LULAC as a representative of the Mexican people. They are forming and joining organizations employing a more agressive approach in getting the attention of public officials and educational institutions to focus on the needs and aspirations of Mexican Americans. We of LULAC connot ignore this lack of confidence of a majority of our people in our organization to respond to their needs and provide them with an effective instrument to solve their social problems. We must admit that the progress achieved to date has been minimal in view of the ever increasing enormity of our social problems. The new Chicano is not satisfied with the conservative approach of LULAC to achieve social progress for the Mexican American. He realizes that our approach is far outstripped by the growing magnitude of our people's problems. This feeling is made apparent by Corky Gonzalez, head of the Crusade For Justice movement in Denver, when he commented on Mexican Americans being appointed to positions in government. He said, "It's like walking into a house full of disease with a bottle of mercurochrome and expecting to make cures." The new Chicano has a clearer picture of who he is, where he's going and who his oppressor is. His unrest and frustration with our people's social progress is accentuated in a comparison with the gains made by the Black Ameridan through the more agressive and faster pace of the civil rights movement. The Chicano is coming to the realization in many instances that he must align himself with his black brother to put an end to the social injustice they both are victims of. More and more he is viewing inadequate funding programs by his oppressor as a device to engage brown and black people in infighting over the sharing of program funds and thus keeping them down and out of participation in the American dream. The younger energetic Mexican American is more educated and cognizant of the various detrimental social forces deterring his progress in education, employment, politics etc. He is promoting an ethnic spirit of unity among our people of Mexican descent and translating it into a vibrant meaningful social revolution by means of which the Chicano will attain his rights as a first-class citizen without losing his identity as a Mexican through American acculturation. Where will LULAC fit into this Chicano movement and spirit sweeping eastward and north from the west and southwest? We must reexamine our organizational efforts as to their relevance to our people's new aroused spirit of unity. We must ask ourselves these questions. Will we give credence and participation to the concept of La Raza Unida or will we relinquish our role as national leader and voice of La Raza? Will we retreat under the umbrella of protective semantics by denouncing the new Chicano movement as not reflecting the spirit of our people? Will we support the movement by giving lip service to it in high sounding rhetoric in lieu of action? Or will we embrace our Mexican brothers whatever their label and join the social revolution of La Raza Unida, recognizing the strong bond of our common heritage and ancestry as a necessary focal point to accomplish our unity? Will we defend our people against the Judge Chargins, the Giumaras, and yes, the Nixons? Will we adopt for ourselves the firm and determined attitude of Cesar Chavez as expressed in his statement about
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-3- WHICH WAY LULAC by E. Rodriguez The young Mexican American of the southwest, Chicago and other areas of concentration of the Mexican people are disenchanted with LULAC as a representative of the Mexican people. They are forming and joining organizations employing a more agressive approach in getting the attention of public officials and educational institutions to focus on the needs and aspirations of Mexican Americans. We of LULAC connot ignore this lack of confidence of a majority of our people in our organization to respond to their needs and provide them with an effective instrument to solve their social problems. We must admit that the progress achieved to date has been minimal in view of the ever increasing enormity of our social problems. The new Chicano is not satisfied with the conservative approach of LULAC to achieve social progress for the Mexican American. He realizes that our approach is far outstripped by the growing magnitude of our people's problems. This feeling is made apparent by Corky Gonzalez, head of the Crusade For Justice movement in Denver, when he commented on Mexican Americans being appointed to positions in government. He said, "It's like walking into a house full of disease with a bottle of mercurochrome and expecting to make cures." The new Chicano has a clearer picture of who he is, where he's going and who his oppressor is. His unrest and frustration with our people's social progress is accentuated in a comparison with the gains made by the Black Ameridan through the more agressive and faster pace of the civil rights movement. The Chicano is coming to the realization in many instances that he must align himself with his black brother to put an end to the social injustice they both are victims of. More and more he is viewing inadequate funding programs by his oppressor as a device to engage brown and black people in infighting over the sharing of program funds and thus keeping them down and out of participation in the American dream. The younger energetic Mexican American is more educated and cognizant of the various detrimental social forces deterring his progress in education, employment, politics etc. He is promoting an ethnic spirit of unity among our people of Mexican descent and translating it into a vibrant meaningful social revolution by means of which the Chicano will attain his rights as a first-class citizen without losing his identity as a Mexican through American acculturation. Where will LULAC fit into this Chicano movement and spirit sweeping eastward and north from the west and southwest? We must reexamine our organizational efforts as to their relevance to our people's new aroused spirit of unity. We must ask ourselves these questions. Will we give credence and participation to the concept of La Raza Unida or will we relinquish our role as national leader and voice of La Raza? Will we retreat under the umbrella of protective semantics by denouncing the new Chicano movement as not reflecting the spirit of our people? Will we support the movement by giving lip service to it in high sounding rhetoric in lieu of action? Or will we embrace our Mexican brothers whatever their label and join the social revolution of La Raza Unida, recognizing the strong bond of our common heritage and ancestry as a necessary focal point to accomplish our unity? Will we defend our people against the Judge Chargins, the Giumaras, and yes, the Nixons? Will we adopt for ourselves the firm and determined attitude of Cesar Chavez as expressed in his statement about
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