DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Chicano conference programs and speeches, April 1973-May 1974 | 1973-04-14 Workshop II, Chicanos: Political Process Page 4

Transcribe
Translate

Chicano conference programs and speeches, April 1973-May 1974

1973-04-14 Workshop II, Chicanos: Political Process Page 4

(and I am going to include myself since I am also a student, and I am still continuing my education.) We have a moral responsibility to our people. We must learn and we must acquire knowledge. we must also return to our people and pass on the knowledge we have acquired. We have to be careful what we learn. We have to analyze what they are teaching us.

In the past our people have been subjected to a brain-washing process called the Americanization Process. We have been told since kindergarten that we are no longer Mexican, Puerto Rican or Latino. All though our young lives and through our school days we have been told to forget where we come from, that we are now Americans, that we are no longer Mexicans. So many of us will soon discover after we leave the school system and we go out into the real world, we discover hard reality. Unfortunately, many of us have to find this out the hard way. We find out that in reality, this country, America, does not accept us as equals. After we leave the school, after 12 years of telling us we are Americans, we are equal, we go out and we discover that they still look at us as being Mexicans and inferior beings. 

So upon discovering this hard reality many of us embark upon a goal of becoming educated and to acquire a sheepskin to prove to them we are equal. Somewhere along the line we lose insight as to what we are doing and why we are doing it. Upon acquiring our sheepskin we then go out into the world to make it. We join the so called "Rat Race". Our only goals then become to make more money and to live out in gringo landia to prove to them we can also make it. We forget where we come from, who we are. It even gets to a point where we start saying we are Spanish-Americans or even worse start telling the people out there we are Americans.

So, we do this and we forget one thing. We forget about our people, and we deny our people, and we justify our actions by falling into the trap that we also have the right to dream the American Dream. In reality that American Dream to most of our people or to all of our people is nothing but a nightmare of anxieties, fears, hungers, suffering and discrimination, injustices, police brutality, forced labor and disrespect for our women, coal factories, hot steel mills, cotton fields, cleaning house for Mrs Gavacha, cannon power for the war machine, corrupt procedures, fraud court procedures, corrupt politicians, unscrupulous merchants, inadequate educational systems, deteriorating housing, butcher shops for medical facilities, never ending struggle just for mere survival. This is what the American Dream is for our RAZA. If we intend to stop all this suffering, we have to accept a responsibility as students. Not only to school and getting our education but also we have the responsibility to return to out barrios, to our colonias to help our RAZA.

Saving...

(and I am going to include myself since I am also a student, and I am still continuing my education.) We have a moral responsibility to our people. We must learn and we must acquire knowledge. we must also return to our people and pass on the knowledge we have acquired. We have to be careful what we learn. We have to analyze what they are teaching us. In the past our people have been subjected to a brain-washing process called the Americanization Process. We have been told since kindergarten that we are no longer Mexican, Puerto Rican or Latino. All though our young lives and through our school days we have been told to forget where we come from, that we are now Americans, that we are no longer Mexicans. So many of us will soon discover after we leave the school system and we go out into the real world, we discover hard reality. Unfortunately, many of us have to find this out the hard way. We find out that in reality, this country, America, does not accept us as equals. After we leave the school, after 12 years of telling us we are Americans, we are equal, we go out and we discover that they still look at us as being Mexicans and inferior beings. So upon discovering this hard reality many of us embark upon a goal of becoming educated and to acquire a sheepskin to prove to them we are equal. Somewhere along the line we lose insight as to what we are doing and why we are doing it. Upon acquiring our sheepskin we then go out into the world to make it. We join the so called "Rat Race". Our only goals then become to make more money and to live out in gringo landia to prove to them we can also make it. We forget where we come from, who we are. It even gets to a point where we start saying we are Spanish-Americans or even worse start telling the people out there we are Americans. So, we do this and we forget one thing. We forget about our people, and we deny our people, and we justify our actions by falling into the trap that we also have the right to dream the American Dream. In reality that American Dream to most of our people or to all of our people is nothing but a nightmare of anxieties, fears, hungers, suffering and discrimination, injustices, police brutality, forced labor and disrespect for our women, coal factories, hot steel mills, cotton fields, cleaning house for Mrs Gavacha, cannon power for the war machine, corrupt procedures, fraud court procedures, corrupt politicians, unscrupulous merchants, inadequate educational systems, deteriorating housing, butcher shops for medical facilities, never ending struggle just for mere survival. This is what the American Dream is for our RAZA. If we intend to stop all this suffering, we have to accept a responsibility as students. Not only to school and getting our education but also we have the responsibility to return to out barrios, to our colonias to help our RAZA.