CHICANISMO
When we use the term Chicano we include any disenfranchised, detribalized Indigenous person.
We do not use, and will vehemently fight against using the terms Latinos/Latinas, Americans of Mexican descent, Americans of Spanish Surname, Mexican-Americans, and Hispanics. Using those terms is an erasure of our indigeneity and assimilation into the colonizers system, even going as far as adopting the colonizers identity. We are one people, One Nation of both women and men.
To us Chicano means All people of original Native Indigenous blood on the continent known as “Turtle Island” and in the region known as "Aztlan". A Chicano/a is someone who understands the struggle of our people and fights to defend them. Chicanismo is born in the heart of every individual who knows their culture and puts it into practice. It is not a term that is to be thrown around as a “cool” thing, or some neo-cultural fad. It is who we are and carries with it a great weight of responsibility and honor, never to be taken lightly.
The Chicano Movement started off in the height of the Civil rights movement and originally it was a fight for equal rights and fair treatment under the US government.
People identified themselves at that time as Mexican-Americans or Americans of Spanish descent because that is how they were taught through the poor education that they were given, if any at all. The identity that was “imposed” on us was that we were of European descent and therefore immigrants, “illegals” in this country. As the people began to read and receive a higher education they became conscious of the fact that they were of Native Indigenous descent, mostly from the tribes of Mexico, but also the Natives of the Southwest with Spanish last names that were colonized through the Catholic Mission system. This revelation sparked an uprising, a demand for us to reclaim the lands that were stolen, not just from Mexico, but going back thousands of years before Mexico existed. This land was Native land and it needed to be returned back to its rightful keepers.
At first the idea of “Mestizaje” took hold. Mestizo means that we were of European AND Native descent.
Initially, many activists and organizers were drawn to "Mestizaje" (which should also be considered as derogatory) as a source of pride amidst their struggles with colonization and internalized racism, but over time, they recognized the painful history behind it, which included the violence against their ancestors. This led to a transformation where the Chicano Movement evolved into an Indigenous movement focused on reclaiming traditions and fighting for liberation.
The Chicano Movement sparked a cultural awakening among first-generation Chicanos as they learned about their indigenous roots—through Northern Native teachings like those from the Lakota and the embracing of Mexicayotl and Aztec traditions—leading them to identify the Southwestern U.S. as Aztlan, their ancestral homeland, and to assert their identity by declaring themselves the Chicano nation of Aztlan in various manifestos and treatises.
