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History & Current Issues Before distinctions were made between "Mexican" and "American," there were indigenous peoples who lived in the areas that are now politically defined as Mexico and the United States. The culture of these indigenous peoples continues to play a role in the lives and values of many of those who consider themselves Mexican American. There was a long tradition favoring the Spanish side of Mexican culture over the indigenous side, but that value system was challenged by the Chicano movement of the sixties and seventies which emphasized and embraced the roots of pre-Columbian greatness.
The first wave of Mexican immigration into what had become the United States occurred during the mid 1800's when many came as farm hands, shepherds, cowboys, and miners. From 1910 to 1917 the second wave arrived seeking refuge from the turmoil of the Mexican revolution. By the 1920s, Mexicans had replaced the Chinese and Japanese as the most important source of agriculture labor in California; Mexicans made up 70 to 90 percent of the workers on the southwestern railroads. By 1925, Los Angeles had the largest Mexican population outside Mexico City, which remains true today. During the depression of the 1930's, an estimated half a million Mexican Americans, including those whose families had been living in the U.S. for centuries, were deported to Mexico. Most were never fully integrated into Mexican society, and many returned when labor shortages developed during World War II. At that time, the United States instituted the Bracero program to encourage Mexicans to work in the fields on a seasonal basis. In 1943, an incident later called the Zoot Suit Riots would form the catalyst for one of our nation's worst race riots. On June 3, eleven sailors on leave became involved in a brawl with a group of men in a predominantly Mexican Los Angeles neighborhood. This "attack" on members of the U. S. armed forces outraged white residents and aroused the rest of the ship's crew stationed in Los Angeles. The next day 200 sailors hired a fleet of taxis, circled Mexican American neighborhoods, and beat up any Mexicans youths they could find. Many African Americans and Filipino Americans were also attacked. Police did nothing to the sailors, and arrested the Mexicans. Because Mexican American teenagers at the time adopted the dress fashion known as "drapes," resembling the zoot suits worn by young men in Harlem, they were called "zoot-suiters," and were typecast as hoodlums. The press claimed that the Mexican zoot-suiters were planning retribution on the white residents, so on June 7 hundreds surged into the streets of Los Angeles, beating and stripping off the clothes of Mexican American youths. Other riots broke out in major cities during that summer. A citizen's committee appointed by then Governor Earl Warren determined that the riots were caused by police practices and inflammatory newspaper articles. Shortly thereafter, the Los Angeles Commission on Human Rights was established to prevent future outbreaks of hate crimes. By 1956, 25 percent of all farm labor in the United States was Mexican American, and most were working for subhuman wages, living in poor conditions, and possibly suffering from exposure to dangerous pesticides. Pubic Law 78 gave them some protection and Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and other members of the Farm Workers Union would fight for more. Today Mexican Americans have moved into prominent positions in all areas of business, politics, and the arts. It has certainly not been an easy or just journey.
Current Issues Given the tremendous differences within the group known as Mexican Americans, it is almost impossible to list all the important current issues. For many recent immigrants, the most immediate concern is how to assimilate. For the second generation, often the more important issue is how to maintain a Latino identity. Many at the pinnacle of their professions struggle with the fine points of acculturation and, in some cases, the glass ceiling of limited advancement opportunities due to prejudice and discrimination. The principal of Esperanza School in the Pico-Union area, for instance, struggles with the appropriate language development program to provide for her group of students who have arrived from Chiapas and the Yucatan and speak an indigenous language, not Spanish. Ramon, a classroom teacher and graduate student at Mount St. Mary's College, has just reverted to using the non-Anglicized form of his name, now that he does not have to worry about being tracked into non-college prep classes as he once did. How safe is it to be Mexican American? Roberto Rodríguez has just published his story of the police brutality he suffered as a reporter. His only crime was to witness and photograph police attacking a defenseless man on Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles in 1979. How far have we come if court injunctions can prohibit family members living on certain blocks in Los Angeles from gathering socially because they might be involved in gang activities? When Proposition 187 passed in 1994, denying undocumented workers public education and emergency medical care, many of Los Angeles' high school youth walked out of their classes in protest. They and their families seemed to have become "the enemy." The legality of the proposition is still being contested. After the last elections, the Los Angeles Times headlines bubbled with predictions about the new strong Latino voice in politics. It is time to analyze how to support that voice in all aspects of our society, but most importantly in our schools where we need to teach the truth, and encourage, rather than discourage, development of students who are honored for being both American and Mexican.
References: Banks, James A. Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies (6th ed.). 1997. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0-205-18940-7. Kanellos, Nicolás. The Hispanic Almanac From Columbus to Corporate America. 1994. Visible Ink. ISBN 0-7876-0030-X. Novas, Himilce. Everything You Need to Know about Latino History. 1991. Plume. ISBN 0-452-27100-2. Pitt, Leonard and Dale Pitt. Los Angeles from A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and County. 1997. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20274-0. Rasmussen, Cecilia. Curbside L.A.: An Offbeat Guide to the City of Angels from the Pages of the Los Angeles Times. 1996.The Los Angeles Times. ISBN 1-883792-11-8. Rodríguez, Roberto. Justice: A Question of Race. 1997. Bilingual Press. ISBN 0-927534-69-X. Cultural Connections The mestizaje nature of Mexican culture, that is, the intermingling of
indigenous and Hispanic traditions, has led to the inclusion of some recommendations
that might also be included on a Native American list. Espresso Mi Cultura
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Southwest Museum Tia Chucha's Café Cultural Journey El Mercado del Este de Los Angeles Some time during your visit you might want to look for the three examples
of outdoor art by José-Luis Gonzalez that decorate the exterior of
the market. In the rear of the parking lot is a mural portrait of Edward
James Olmos, commissioned for the cover of Time magazine on July
11,1988, the year the Hollywood film Stand and Deliver was released.
On the east side of the market, Mr. Gonzalez completed a tile mosaic of
a Mayan warrior reaching toward the sun, and on the side facing Lorena is
a glazed ceramic tile Mayan Rain God in bas-relief . Entering the market on the bottom floor, you will enjoy stalls with Mexican music, clothing, hats, shoes, ceramics, and botanicas as well as a travel agency and electronics and pager booths. Going up to the middle floor, you will find more of the same, but food enters the picture. A grocery store offers a large selection of Mexican spices and corn husks as well as specialty items such as churro mix. Adjacent to the grocery store are long counters of seafood and meat where one can buy fish, octopus, and chorizo, the spicy Mexican sausage. Shoppers can take a break here or get a bite to eat at one of the many small restaurants that open into the market. The top floor is where one goes to dine with friends and family and hear the mariachi bands that play every day until 1:30 a.m. Posters around the market advertise which band is playing at which restaurant. Since the restaurants all open to the center of the market, this floor as well as the floors below are filled with festive music. If you care to wander a bit outside the market, across 1st Street is El Centavtio, a well-stocked party supply and piñata store. Continuing east on 1st Street is Tamales Lilianas at 3448 1st , (213.780.0829), an excellent place to pick up your holiday tamales. They are open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Journey Directions: |
According to the 1990 census, 2,519,514 people
of Mexican origin live in Los Angeles County. A few are descendants of the
original forty-four non-indigenous settlers of Nuestra Señora
la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula who came from New Spain (Mexico)
in 1781. In 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain and governed California
until the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. At that time the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hildalgo was signed, promising the rights of citizenship and
land ownership to the Mexicans living in the territories that became part
of the United States. In reality, many rights were denied and land was confiscated.
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