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El Laberinto, 1971-1987
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ESSAY by Rusty Barcelo As the years go by yesterday becomes more and more a blur. In fact when I reflect back, the period between 1969 to 1973 is one long year to me because so much was taking place.... Artificial boundaries of time had no place for what was going on. "Chicano" was not a popular term in 1969 among Mexican-Americans in Iowa and generally unfamiliar to most people. As a newcomer from California I found myself in an environment lacking the cultural support I had taken for granted at home. In telephone calls and letters I described the situation to mom. To help me through the bleak winter she sent chorizo, tortillas, and pan dulce. By spring I thought I would be in California again, back to the safety of my cultural blanket: the Mexican store on the corner, radio programs, signs in Spanish, family. But by fall 1970 I returned to Iowa to complete my studies and met Antonio Zavala and Ruth Pushetonequa. All of us survived the spring unrest of 1970 (students were rioting over the Kent State killings), though each survived in his own way, unknown to the other. After we met we agreed the movements on campus were not particularly geared to our concerns. It was laced with middle-class anglo values. So the three of us issued the following statement to The Daily Iowan: "WE the Chicano and Indian students, fully aware that our interests at the University of Iowa and in society at large are tied together, UNITE: 1. To preserve our heritage and our identity; 2. To raise a social consciousness among our people who for so long have been brainwashed, denied, oppressed and murdered; 3. Demand that the University of Iowa recruit Chicano and Indian students from around the state--a responsibility we feel the University of Iowa has not met. We have been for a long time referred to as "the forgotten Americans." We are here to state our identity: CHICANO POWER! INDIAN POWER! That fall Chicano and Indian students on campus met and the Chicano-Indian American Student Union began. . . . Juan Rodriguez, a graduate student in Spanish from Texas attended; and Greg Vasquez, undergraduate in business from Newton, Iowa and his wife Cherry were also there. Pedro Rael, a law student from New Mexico came and so did Gilbert Aragon. We were all surprised and relieved to find each other. We were not alone. The boldness of our statement, we though, brought us together. [clenched fist] We spent the remainder of 1970 socializing, defining goals, programs, and rallying around the UFW lettuce boycott. We met regularly not only to plan cultural activities but to discuss our roles as Chicanos and Indian students and the two movements in general. With each meeting new faces appeared and gradually our own levels of awareness began expanding through discussion and new articles shared among ourselves. From such meetings a single issue always kept surfacing: recruiting Chicanos and Native Americans. By spring 1971 we found ourselves an active and vocal body. In spite of our limited numbers, we began the process of laying the base for a Chicano preschool, initiating negotiations for a cultural center, formulating a construction in order to be recognized as a student organization, establishing ties with Special Support Services through the identification of our concerns, recruiting students, and electing the first CIASU Chairman for the 1971-72 school year. 3
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ESSAY by Rusty Barcelo As the years go by yesterday becomes more and more a blur. In fact when I reflect back, the period between 1969 to 1973 is one long year to me because so much was taking place.... Artificial boundaries of time had no place for what was going on. "Chicano" was not a popular term in 1969 among Mexican-Americans in Iowa and generally unfamiliar to most people. As a newcomer from California I found myself in an environment lacking the cultural support I had taken for granted at home. In telephone calls and letters I described the situation to mom. To help me through the bleak winter she sent chorizo, tortillas, and pan dulce. By spring I thought I would be in California again, back to the safety of my cultural blanket: the Mexican store on the corner, radio programs, signs in Spanish, family. But by fall 1970 I returned to Iowa to complete my studies and met Antonio Zavala and Ruth Pushetonequa. All of us survived the spring unrest of 1970 (students were rioting over the Kent State killings), though each survived in his own way, unknown to the other. After we met we agreed the movements on campus were not particularly geared to our concerns. It was laced with middle-class anglo values. So the three of us issued the following statement to The Daily Iowan: "WE the Chicano and Indian students, fully aware that our interests at the University of Iowa and in society at large are tied together, UNITE: 1. To preserve our heritage and our identity; 2. To raise a social consciousness among our people who for so long have been brainwashed, denied, oppressed and murdered; 3. Demand that the University of Iowa recruit Chicano and Indian students from around the state--a responsibility we feel the University of Iowa has not met. We have been for a long time referred to as "the forgotten Americans." We are here to state our identity: CHICANO POWER! INDIAN POWER! That fall Chicano and Indian students on campus met and the Chicano-Indian American Student Union began. . . . Juan Rodriguez, a graduate student in Spanish from Texas attended; and Greg Vasquez, undergraduate in business from Newton, Iowa and his wife Cherry were also there. Pedro Rael, a law student from New Mexico came and so did Gilbert Aragon. We were all surprised and relieved to find each other. We were not alone. The boldness of our statement, we though, brought us together. [clenched fist] We spent the remainder of 1970 socializing, defining goals, programs, and rallying around the UFW lettuce boycott. We met regularly not only to plan cultural activities but to discuss our roles as Chicanos and Indian students and the two movements in general. With each meeting new faces appeared and gradually our own levels of awareness began expanding through discussion and new articles shared among ourselves. From such meetings a single issue always kept surfacing: recruiting Chicanos and Native Americans. By spring 1971 we found ourselves an active and vocal body. In spite of our limited numbers, we began the process of laying the base for a Chicano preschool, initiating negotiations for a cultural center, formulating a construction in order to be recognized as a student organization, establishing ties with Special Support Services through the identification of our concerns, recruiting students, and electing the first CIASU Chairman for the 1971-72 school year. 3
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