It meant a radical analysis of U.S. history and foreign policy coupled with a commitment to progressive activism. Although many of us followed fathers and uncles into all military branches, some of our brothers took the courageous stand of resisting the draft.
Young men like Manuel Gómez and Ernesto Vigil took principled positions against the killing. Refusing induction, former UCLA student body president Rosalio Muñoz wrote: "I accuse the educational system of uneducating Chicano youth. Generally, we are ineligible for higher education, and thus are ineligible for the draft deferments which other college-age youth take for granted."
Recently, historian Rudy Acuña suggested that if you are a Mexican American with a flag on your SUV, you are well on your way to becoming White. Without dealing in colors, I believe the new assimilationism typical of recent Mexican immigrants and their children is the product of fear. It is a fear of challenging an economic and cultural system that offers enough incentives to seduce, but fails to provide equal and unfettered opportunity. Immigrant children tracked into the military are "thankful." College fraternity members may think of themselves as "Hispanic," an invented 1980s term with undertones of devotion to career and consumerism. They seek a sense of belonging that includes "ethnic pride" and "charity" for less fortunate brethren, but no deep changes to lift them up.
Is there enough of a critical Chicano/a community left to initiate a real debate on the current crisis and perhaps mount a critique of the administration's blueprint for our future? Or will Mexican Americans willingly send their sons and daughters to die once again for vague notions of freedom and democracy ?
Professor Jorge Mariscal, University of California, San Diego
Young men like Manuel Gómez and Ernesto Vigil took principled positions against the killing. Refusing induction, former UCLA student body president Rosalio Muñoz wrote: "I accuse the educational system of uneducating Chicano youth. Generally, we are ineligible for higher education, and thus are ineligible for the draft deferments which other college-age youth take for granted."
Recently, historian Rudy Acuña suggested that if you are a Mexican American with a flag on your SUV, you are well on your way to becoming White. Without dealing in colors, I believe the new assimilationism typical of recent Mexican immigrants and their children is the product of fear. It is a fear of challenging an economic and cultural system that offers enough incentives to seduce, but fails to provide equal and unfettered opportunity. Immigrant children tracked into the military are "thankful." College fraternity members may think of themselves as "Hispanic," an invented 1980s term with undertones of devotion to career and consumerism. They seek a sense of belonging that includes "ethnic pride" and "charity" for less fortunate brethren, but no deep changes to lift them up.
Is there enough of a critical Chicano/a community left to initiate a real debate on the current crisis and perhaps mount a critique of the administration's blueprint for our future? Or will Mexican Americans willingly send their sons and daughters to die once again for vague notions of freedom and democracy ?
Professor Jorge Mariscal, University of California, San Diego