The chicano movement: dead or alive?  (Page 4/11)

White supremacy in the united states and the americas

The origins of White supremacy are rooted in the construction of a national identity in the U.S. grounded on the notions of a liberal democracy sponsored by Anglo Saxons. This national identity assumed a White nation free of Indians Some vestiges of Indian hatred and expulsion are still found in antiquated laws such as in Boston, Massachusetts which prohibited Indians from setting foot in the city for the past 330 years. See Theo Emery, Associated Press, “Racist 1675 law reprealed in Mass.,” Press Telegram, May 21, 2005, p. A17. and Mexicans but dependent on African slave labor. White supremacists did not see a contradiction in espousing racial superiority and non-White primitivism. The four rest posts of this contradiction made for a racist ideology: social Darwinism; White privilege; liberal democracy for Whites; and Protestantism. Herbert Spencer’s phrase, “survival of the fittest,” was adapted from the animal kingdom to fit Whites. How else to explain their progress and qualifications for global leadership? White privilege was made possible by the tenets of a liberal democracy mostly benefiting only White males with property. The “rule of law” was extended only to those White males who could afford the benefits of such a system. Justice, freedom, democracy, equality, and equity were espoused but made costly principles to acquire. Protestantism has emphasized the work ethic and has equated richness with godliness; affluence with providence; and, progress with destiny. These national views not only became the hegemonic umbrella for White nationalism, but also gave rise to a global view and into foreign affairs. Paul McCartney, “Anglo-Saxonism and U.S. Foreign Policy during the Spanish-American War,” in Thomas Ambrosio, ed., Ethnic Identity Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2002. The United States became a world power by the late 1940s. Mexican migrants found themselves inside the world power but with little power of their own. Mexican migrants had little power because first generation migrants—such as those that came in 1910 and subsequent decades—clung to homeland politics rather than engage in assimilationist practices.

In the 1940s several major events took place that prompted a break with the homeland politics of Mexicans. First, the numbers of Mexicans residing in the United States exceeded 3 million; not all concentrated along the border but some congregated in major urban centers in the country. Second and third generation Mexican-Americans were now among the population and some espoused the liberal democratic agenda as their own, not Mexican homeland politics. The first of several Mexican-American civil rights organizations were formed by this decade. Generational politics became a traceable pattern among persons of Mexican ancestry See various sources that detail and analyze this organizational development and era such as Ignacio M. Garcia, Hector P. Garcia: In Relentless Pursuit of Justice, Houston: Arte Publico Press, 2002; Henry J. Ramos, The American G.I.Forum: In Pursuit of a Dream, Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1999; Carl Allsup, The American G.I. Forum: Origins and Evolution, Austin: Center for Mexican American Studies, 1982; Benjamin Marquez, LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American Political Organization, Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1993; Thomas H. Kreneck, Mexican American Odyssey: Felix Tijerina, Entrepreneur and Civil Rights Leader, 1905-1965, College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001; and, for the era, Mario T. Garcia, Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology, and Identity, 1930-1960, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. . (See Appendix 1.) Second, the U.S. government and Mexico implemented the Bracero Program, an emergency war measure of 1947, which brought hundreds of thousands more Mexicans into the U.S. and began the addiction to cheap labor that remains today. The Bracero Program finally ended in 1964, almost two decades later. An early work on the Mexican laborer in the U.S. was Manuel Gamio, The Mexican Immigrant, His Life Story, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931 and subsequent work by a labor organizer turned academic on Braceros was Ernesto Galarza, Strangers in Our Fields, Washington, D.C.: Joint United States-Mexico Trade Union Committee, 1956 and Spiders in the House&Workers in the Field, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1970.. Many tenets of this program have been proposed in the various immigration bills passed by the U.S. Congress in past decades. Third, the U.S. Census Bureau racially re-classified the Mexican population from “Other Race” to “Caucasian” in 1940. Voting rights were expanded with the elimination of the White Primary. The Democratic Party in Texas, instituted a whites-only requirement as a prerequisite for registering to vote in the Primary election in which candidates seek to obtain a majority of the votes cast to become the nominee in the General Election held every two years in November of even-numbered years. The Unit Rule The Unit Rule adp[ted by the Democratic Party in Southern states required the losing minority votes to be added to the winning majority votes and cast as a total for the nominee elected at state conventions for president. and Poll Tax The Poll Tax was a tax of $1.75 per person levied as a prerequisite for registering to vote in Southern States. remained as serious impediments to the budding Chicano civic engagement. Segregation that had been implemented in the Southern states since Reconstruction Immediately after the Civil War of 1860 the northern troops occupied and restored order in the Southern states. This era is known as Reconstruction. African slaves were emancipated and allowed to vote, own property, and attend public schools. was ripe for attack by Chicano civil rights organizations. The first social protests against school segregation and discrimination in public places began to be reported across the Southwest and Midwest. For a history of Chicano legal challenges to segregated schools see Guadalupe San Miguel, “Let Them AL Take Heed,”: Mexican Americans and the Campaign for Educational Equalityi n Texas, 1910-1981, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987. Fourth, World War II made military service compulsory for residents, consequently, thousands of Mexican-American youth became veterans. The subsequent rewards for military personnel were educational and housing loans and employment. The “G.I. Bill,” as it was known, helped to make a Mexican-American middle class. For a depiction of Mexican American military heroes see Raul Morin, Among the Valiant: Mexican Americans in World War II and Korea, Los Angeles: Borden, 1963.