Since we as a people are so dense in population and thus diverse, it is hard to project a message that all of our people will understand and agree with. There are so many aspects to Chicanismo & Mexicanismo, that a message will be hard to reach all of us. There needs to be a common demoninator that all of our people can agree with and really understand. Sometimes there is nothing wrong with the solutions and for the most part they are there, but if you have a good message and only a minority of the people understand and believe in it, then there’s a problem with the messenger or the way the message is conveyed.

The United States government needs to stop meddling in with the politics and the economy of Mexico if they wish not to see any more poor Mexicans migrating here by the hundreds of thousands.

The NAFTA treaty has sent already poor mexicans, into complete bankruptcy, poor Mexicans who usually have agricultural jobs could not compete for example with the US genetically modified corn that yields more corn per cob. Im using corn as an example as it is one of the most important crops.

The organic arming that has been the same for centuries could no longer compete with the prices genetically modified US corn growers were pushing into the Mexican market. The corn is not without flaw, as it has abnormal levels of carbohydrates when compared to native grown corn in Mexico. It is one of the main reasons why Mexicans are being diagnosed with diabetes at an astonishing rate.

But middle class and upper class consumers in Mexico who buy the final product did not know this, nor do they really care when their main motive is finding the cheapest product, which is not really something to blame but to realize that is one of the pitfalls of capitalism.

Mexicans who move here are usually of lower class, and mostly work with their hands, as they did in the mother country. My parents are an example, they have little or no formal education, not too different from any other poor peoples in this world. You dont see the Middle Class Mexicans or Upper Class moving here in mass numbers do you? Of course not. Only the poor are the victims.

If “Americans” want to see this “immigration problem” stemmed. Require that your Executive branch not meddle with the Mexican Politics or Economy, cancel NAFTA and any other provisions that are similar.

During the recount of the Mexican votes recently between Calderon and Obrador, the judges did not even bang their gavel to declare who is the new Mexican president is, President Bush called and congratulated Calderon for winning. The European Union sent people during the Mexican elections and even made a formal statement that “We did not see any irregularities”. These are two examples of how the rest of the world meddles with something they are not involved in.

This is all because there is interests that wish to exploit the Mexican people, of course capitalistic, which is why you see alot of young Chicanos and Mexicanos flirting with Communism, because they see what capitalism has done to our people and our ancestor’s lands. They revere Che Guevara and Karl Marx, all this out of what? To counter the thoughts of such a system? The exploitation of Mexico? The ruin of Mexico?

I personally believe it does not matter what kind of system there is, socialism, democracy, communism, anything. People will exploit people, in China, there is currently investigations to clear out corruption, the Chinese are making billions selling products to the rest of the world, when their workers are getting paid next to nothing.

So what can we do? The Gusanos have influence over the US government to say whatever they want towards the Cuban government and their people, yet we the Mexicanos and Chicanos have no influence whatsoever when our numbers are more than ten-fold? Maybe it is a wrong comparison, the gusanos have business interests, they are the white elitists of Cuba and there’s a reason why they all live in Miami.

Regardless, the problem is there, and we need to do something about it.

Hey! See that lady protesting against

injustifce

es mi mama.

That girl in the brown beret, the one teaching the children

She's my hermana

Over there fasting with the migrants

es mi tia…

Listen to her shout!

La Nueva Chicana

by Viola Correa

Viva La Raza(The People)

When one of us say Viva La Raza, we refer to our own people, not a race.

Mexicans are actually the only ones who say “Viva La Raza”, People from El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Brasil, etc. do not say this despite we being the same color skin and probably “race” as well.

This is a common mistake that media and people like minutemen like to exploit, they say we are racist because we say Viva La Raza. When its closest translation is probably “Long live the People.”

People doubt this and refer to spanish translations of ‘raza’ and read that it says race, spain’s spanish is different from Mexican spanish. Mexican Spanish is a dialect of Spain’s. Castellano is what is spoken by the Spaniards.

Ending Varrio Warfare is not as simple as it sounds. Varrio Warfare in terms of Nortenos vs. Surenos is rooted in pre-chicanismo times. It is our version of Israelis vs. Palestinians, they are the same people yet they are enemies. Our varrio warfare started in San Quentin State Prison, between La Nuestra Familia(Nortenos) and La Eme(Surenos). A member of La Eme stole some shoes from a Northener, the shoes did not fit him so he sold them to another Eme member named Robot. Robot was called on the shoes by the original owner, Hector Padilla of Nuestra Familia, after a brief physical confrontation, they didn’t know it, but they threw the first two fists of our Chicano Varrio Warfare which would remain to this day after decades.

It might seem pathetic to fight for shoes, to the point where to kill one another. In prison, it is a completely different society, inmates hold onto their belongings very deeply because it is esentially all they have and can be used as cash or be traded for other things. If you don’t stand up for yourself even with something small like shoes, the rest of the prison population will take you for a punk and will abuse you themselves in the future, to the point of taking away your manhood because anything you have is esentially up for grabs because you did not fight for your property in the past.

La Eme is a much older, larger clique than the Nortenos. Back in the day everyone was in La Eme and remained a soldier for them. Most of the original Nuestra Familia members originally were born from the south, excluding one or two I believe who were born in Bakersfield. La Eme was formed to protect Chicano/Mexicano inmates in prison. They offered protection from the Blacks and Whites who were physically bigger and stronger than most Mexicanos who were known to be short and stocky for the most part. They were able to stand united against other factions like The Black Guerilla Family and Aryan Brotherhood members. La Eme started abusing its positions and started charging high “rent” or demanded valuables too often from those who they were protecting, sometimes it got out of hand and they would attack other Mexicanos and Chicanos themselves, destroying the bond of carnalismo that we all once had in the prisons.

La Nuestra Familia was then born to protect Chicanos and Mexicanos, forming an alliance where they stood united against the more powerful, larger, Eme family. The animosity built between them over the years. While the Northeners were relatively small in numbers, they stressed quality over quantity and claimed the Surenos would only attack if there were a group of them. The Nortenos built on this and attacked La Eme’s concept of war, you have to consider both La Eme and NF(Nuestra Familia) are built on Chicanos and Mexicanos. In prison, they both stress the learning of our history, the Mexica, some of them are able to speak fluently in Nahuatl and it is not unheard of to be vocal about Mexica War Chants to taunt the guards and taunt the rival group.

You have both sides calling on each other’s honor for War. Both sides kill civilians and do not keep it between the soldiers. Both sides funnel harmful drugs like crank and cocaine into the community. It might seem elementary to argue over details or may seem like outright bickering but they do make a very strong argument for why Varrio warfare continues to this day. Both sides question each other’s machismo, “balls” when it comes to warfare, Nortenos claim that Surenos won’t fight you one on one, and Surenos claim the same. When you have a clique against another, it turns personal, it is not over red or blue, the fight is engaged because of other reasons like they jumped your homie or simple carnalismo exercised within the cliques. A homie backing up another homie no matter what.

From there builds the taunts each group have each other that are definitely insulting. The Northerners are referred to as Farmeros, because argiculture land dominates Northern California. Other ridiculing names for Northerners are Nortontos, Busters, While the Surenos are city boys, they are referred to as rats, scraps. The colors are only an excuse for war and the ability to practice warfare. Examples are these two insults, the first is from a Northener point of view “The reason why scraps wear blue is because they’re wanna be cops, always snitchin’ n shit”. This one is from a Sureno point of view “The reason why you guys wear red is so they can see you at night picking your onions”.

While the insults are elementary, they do attack one’s ego, especially among young males who have defiance for conformity. When you have members on either side, they will build cliques and therein forms the bonds of brotherhood. The sense of belonging to a group where they would roll with you and defend/back you up to the end. The bonds are tighter when they are not just Sureno for example, but a clique within the Sureno faction. An example is Pecos Pero Locos, PPL. So all the Southeners within PPL will definitely back up their homies no matter what, not just against Nortenos. Once again, the colors are just cosmetics to what really does happen and how they physically engage society.

In more contemporary times, Southeners are more of a mix of recent immigrants from Mexico, 1st gens and multi-gens. Northeners are more dominated by 1st generation and multi gen Mexican Americans. The Surenos insult the Northeners for not speaking spanish fluently or if at all. They counter argue the logic as being gabacho and then go on to insult them and say that is the reason why they are in bed(allied) with the Aryan Brotherhood. The Surenos call the Northeners as being “nigger lovers” for being allied with the Black Guerilla Family. This \feed the animosity between the more Mexican American dominated(North) clique and the Newly Arrivals, who tend to join with the Surenos moreso than with Nortenos. They build this animosity between city and country boys, and recent immigrant vs citizen. So the Surenos use this to their advantage when they regularly insult just to instigate a physical match.

The Surenos do claim that Northeners have lost their Mexicanismo, that they don’t speak the “mother” tongue of Mexico that is Spanish, while Northeners tend to have a more indigenous-centric view about it. Both do, however learn the ancestor’s ways and use that when recruiting for soldiers. It largely depends what prison the inmates are in, the opinions will differ.

This Norteno vs. Sureno Varrio Warfare has been tried to be stopped by one of the more famous Eme members named Cheyenne Cadena. His cousin who was in Nuestra Familia, name is Gonzalo “Chalo” Hernandez tried to request his cousin call off the war declared by La Eme in Folsom State Prison and Chino, to kill any NF member on site. The peace was agreed upon for a short while until La Eme confused by information they received from kites and wilas, broke it the truce and stabbed some Nuestra Familia members. After that, NF declared war and stabbed Cheyenne Cadena, threw him over the pier and when his body hit the floor, Nortenos stabbed him multiple times again. This scenario might sound very similiar to the scene in “American Me” when Olmos character gets stabbed by his own clique, while the movie was based on Cheyenne, most of the facts were changed, in real life, he was stabbed by NF, in the movie he was stabbed and killed by his own.

To end or even mitigate Varrio Warfare is definitely not an easy task, ultimately, to some people they feel the change has to come from within the Norteno and Sureno cliques, and they are La Eme and Nuestra Familia who are the ultimate “shot callers”. Bangers will not listen to anyone outside of the clique as far as their lifestyle, they will exclaim that they won’t understand. According to some “veteranos”, the change will never happen because the shot callers have to constantly fight their own younger soldiers who are out for power, even among the shot callers, for example, Norteno shot callers mostly reside in Pelican Bay, while in another prison the supreme shot caller in that prison will call for actions that is against those in Pelican Bay. So the constant struggle of power is an obstacle.

There is also the issue of honor, the older more experienced bangers “remember the days” of when war was honor and no civilians were murdered at least if they didn’t interfer with banger business. When soldiers were more loyal and trustworthy. Nowadays it is not like that, where you have your own bunkmate snitching on you or even helping carry out your assination because you were hypothetically “slipping”. There are even some veteranos who still are against the coca and crank that is distributed throughout the community by their own. So have to include greed and “money is power” when trying to understand this problem. When coke and crank were introduced in the 60s and 70s, it changed Varrio warfare forever, it was no longer a simple rivarly between cliques, but a struggle for money on drug sales.

Instiling and teaching both factions REAL “brown pride” as far our Mexicanos unidos is one way to mitigate Varrio warfare, but they already twist this information when they teach Mexica history to the inmates and few of the general population. We have to take this and show the bangers on the streets that they are twisting the information in prison. Real carnalismo is carnalismo with your people in whole, not just a clique. Both sides claim brown pride when both sides do not exercise it.

Is Chicano Studies really failing? Some authors and some of the people believe so.

I don’t necessarily believe it is failing us but it is only failing those of us who have indigenous mindsets, those of us who have reverted back to the ancestor’s type of thinking, their perspective on things. We Chicanos are by the day, are going back to the ancestor’s ways.

Reverting does not mean, living in a hut and wearing clothing that barely covers the privates, your standards of living does not define who you are or what your culture is.

Chicano Studies may have failed to follow the pack and revert to indigenous teachings, learn more about indigenous society. Instead it is staying with Chicanismo, which is influenced very much by european culture and style. Mestizaje is what Chicanismo focuses on. La Nuestra Raza, we are not a new kind of people. They believe in this Melting Pot theory that everyone born in Mexico is Mexican. They are Mexican by nationality but not by blood. And both have huge differences between them.

Do we need to aquire euro thought and go by blood quantum to see who can get into the “tribe�? Get on the “reservation�? While it may be true that not all Mexicanos or Chicanos may have very much indigenous roots, is it fair to teach the same type of material to the entire community? Chicano Studies promotes these claims of being a mix of spaniard and indigenous blood, both, in a half-breed manner type of thinking, why do you have to have such thoughts?

On the other hand though, Chicano studies is just reporting and teaching what some of us are already doing, practicing spanish influenced culture, the fact that some of us go to Church. So it’s not really a black and white thing when it comes to really explain what Chicano Studies is all about. To say that Chicano Studies is failing is basing such a statement on a portion of the facts. You cannot practice Chicanismo, a european influenced type of thinking and say it is failing the indigenous minded gente. Indigenismo is more on our path, maybe there needs to be a set of classes under Indigenismo, however, the word itself “Indigenismo” is spaniard. It can be called Mesoamerican studies or even go under the umbrella of “American Indian Studies”. What is true however is that we need teachings to satisfy the brains of Chicano Students who are on an indigenous path. However there is an alternative.

In the beginning, Chicanos pushed for our indigenous path to be raised, they referred to Aztlan, a place that has been proven to exist, the beginning of the Mexicas. It is theorized the tribes who stopped along the path to Tenochtitlan are part of the old Mexica tribes who took on new names like the Hopi and Comanche who are in the uto-aztecan family. However there is no doubt that Chicanos of the past were very proud in our indigenous roots and before the Chicano Movement there was no indigenous culture being practiced on a large scale, nowadays you can go to Los Angeles or San Jose to find a Danza Azteca group engaging in our ancestor’s warrior dances. Some people in our community believe that Chicano Studies have migrated to teachings that stress Mestizaje. Promoting the colonized mind, promoting and abetting those who believe a Chicano has to learn spanish to be considered Chicano, these Chicanos promote the assimilation of Mexicans into Spaniard culture. Chicano Studies can change back, to accomodate a more indigenous-centric ideology and thinkings, instead of books that promote Chicano-european influenced folklore, use books by Miguel Leon Portilla, Guillermo Banfil.

Guillermo Banfil’s books covers modern day indigenous culture and society, the rules in a community, the types of cultures and ways of getting these done in an indigenous society. So that could cover the Sociologic aspect of Indigenismo. If you read Miguel Leon Portilla’s book on “Aztec Thought and Culture”, there are bits and pieces where they cover the mindset of a man in Aztec society, whether that person is a warrior or not. It covers the psychologic principles of war, hunger, association with the female species and whatnot.

Our Ancient Mexican studies in school is not up to par, full of european rhetoric and systems of theories. The push of the Bering Strait theory being the reason how our indigenous people of the Americas got here. Everytime they find carbon data that surpasses the number in years the Bering Strait theory claims, the theorists who support and argue for the Bering Strait theory are always “mistakened” and quietly add in terms of thousands of years to the Bering Strait theory. We cannot even get our own true history being taught to us but we are fed books written by eurocentric scientists and historians who still use the accounts written by Hernan Cortes and Bernal Diaz del Castillo as factual evidence never to be challenged.

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