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Ernest Rodriguez' "Impressions," 1960s-1980s

""The Chicano and Racism in the Midwest"" by Ernest Rodriguez Page 3

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to be Americans and we don't want any cultural classes that will destroy our American way of life." "As for the word Chicano, I think they dug it out of the bottom of the barrel." "I am white and causasian of Mexican descent". "I don't know why then need migrant programs, my parents were migrants and they didn't ask for help, they made it on their own, and they can too". 

Unfortunately many of these Chicanos have become very localized due to isolation and lack of communication with the growing Chicano movement of the southwest and the Chicano movement thriving in large barrios such as Chicago. 

The problem of Chicano community organizers is to inform and educate these communities to an awareness of the movement and how it relates to them. This Chicano reclamation program has to be carried out with hard cold facts of the injustice suffered by our people on the barrios of the southwest and elsewhere. This is done thru documentation such as U.S. Civil Rights publications, barrio newspapers and newsletters. 

This is what we are about in the midwest and it involved the concerted efforts of students, barrio dudes, radicals of yesterday like myself, and even so-called vendidos working for the federal government. I don't believe we can exclude anybody from the movement regardless of his or her degree of Chicanismo. I believe as long as a Mexican American, Hispano or Chicano of whatever you call yourself , as Corky Gonzalez say in his epic poem "I am Joaquin" still eat beans and tortillas there is hope for him.

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-3- to be Americans and we don't want any cultural classes that will destroy our American way of life." "As for the word Chicano, I think they dug it out of the bottom of the barrel." "I am white and causasian of Mexican descent". "I don't know why then need migrant programs, my parents were migrants and they didn't ask for help, they made it on their own, and they can too". Unfortunately many of these Chicanos have become very localized due to isolation and lack of communication with the growing Chicano movement of the southwest and the Chicano movement thriving in large barrios such as Chicago. The problem of Chicano community organizers is to inform and educate these communities to an awareness of the movement and how it relates to them. This Chicano reclamation program has to be carried out with hard cold facts of the injustice suffered by our people on the barrios of the southwest and elsewhere. This is done thru documentation such as U.S. Civil Rights publications, barrio newspapers and newsletters. This is what we are about in the midwest and it involved the concerted efforts of students, barrio dudes, radicals of yesterday like myself, and even so-called vendidos working for the federal government. I don't believe we can exclude anybody from the movement regardless of his or her degree of Chicanismo. I believe as long as a Mexican American, Hispano or Chicano of whatever you call yourself , as Corky Gonzalez say in his epic poem "I am Joaquin" still eat beans and tortillas there is hope for him.