Outsiders Telling Us Who We Are

Sometime this past June, I attended a meeting with the dean of CSULA who oversaw Chicano Studies and the chair of Chicano Studies, Michael Soldatenko whose not a Chicano which means Mexican American, born in the US.

I was part of The Chicano Task Force which is a subcommittee of the Chicano Roundtable that meet weekly at the Boys and Girls Club in East Los Angeles one block east from Ford/710 freeway exit. I attended with great guys who even though we have different perspectives on all things we agreed that changing the name from Chicano Studies to Latino Studies was an affront to Mexican Americans and wrong for the sake of the politically correct era that somehow people born in Latin America have to be accomodated while Mexican Americans born in the US are thrown under the bus.

I have not written about because I needed to process the words and reasoning from both the dean and the chair. Dean Henderson sounded like he was given a script from the non Mexican American faculty in Chicano Studies that justifies why Guatemalans, Salvadorians, Southern Mexicans have to be given recognition when they are not historically Americans. Can Guatemalans and Salvadorians trace their history to California or Arizona or New Mexico?  Where are their historical monuments in California?

And I do take it personal because as someone from Apache Cucapah lineage from Southern California/Yuma I view outsiders with mistrust especially when they arrive and feel entitled. They sure don't show any consideration to those of us born here and the same can be stated for southern Mexicans who show up to the north and believe they are owed something.

The likes of Saul Figueroa, Chihuan Montalvo, David Sanchez, Ruben Lopez, Agustin Cebada, Luis Garcia and Popeii Aguilar were in attendance to protest the proposed name change.

After back and forth respectable but heated debate the dialogue took us to the most important part of the meeting that began with Michael Soldatenko stating the following:

"The problem here is I think we have a different definition of what is a Mexican American, according to your definition, somebody like Rudy Acunha is not a Chicano".

And for the record, Soldatenko admitted he was born in Mexico City too when questioned where was he during the Chicano Movement of the early 70's and he stated, "I was in Mexico". Meaning he was not in the US.

"That's true, Chicanos are US born people". I replied.

He was not happy at my reply and yet the most poignant point was made when Luis Garcia asked him: "What's your definition of a Chicano"? And he remained quiet.

I couldn't help but think the following in the subsequent months since that meeting.

Since the time of my birth in 1969 a constant legal definition of a US citizen has been birth with naturalization coming in at second. Though some might say that they are the same, there are certain qualifications that only applies to US born and not those naturalized. Second, in an era where laws are being changed and those that naturalized but engaged in illegal activities find themselves being deported after their time, one can't help to comprehend that those Mexican Americans  won't be on any bus for deportation. And vice versa, Mexican Americans in Mexico do not exist as an anything because they weren't born there so to them we are foreigners and gringos to them too. Birth is sacred to both countries.  At least those born in Mexico have a place to return to, we don't. And it shows history to both countries. When someone is born in Mexico it means they have had a presence there for at least one generation. The same can be said for those of us born here, we have presence. I was born here, my grandmother was born in Yuma eventhough she gave birth to my father in Mexicali, her father and mother were born in Arizona, my children are born in the US too. Birth isn't just luck, its a connection which people born outside don't have. My children are 7th generation by their Mexican American grandmother: born in Los Angeles, grandmother born in Clifton, AZ, great  grandmother born in El Paso, great great in Isleta, mother in Santa Ana. How do others compare to my children's history.  They don't.

And I'm not the only one, Cebada was born in Cuba, New Mexico whereas Soldatenko and his mention  of the so called father of Chicanos was not so how do they compare to somebody like Cebada or myself.

But the part that irks me the most is the following:  Who are foreigners to come to the US and tell us, US citizens, Mexican Americans who we are.

That is the part I cannot reconcile because its these outsiders who are the heads of so called academia of Chicanos when they are not Mexican Americans. Non Mexican Americans are telling us who we are and I find that to be disgusting because it's another form of colonialism.

Mexican Americans don't go to their universities and tell them who they are thus what gives them the right to feel that they can dictate to us. Where else is this permitted?

The assumption is that because Whites see us all as "Mexicans" then we can be lumped with people from Mexico but in actuality for US Whites to lump US citizens with another country is in itself racism. Just because we might share the same name then Mexican Americans must be from Mexico. Can people not distinguish between the American part? Why because we're racialized?  It is easier to write us off as foreigners versus considering us to be American. But I don't deal with anything that a Mexican national has to deal with when migrating to the US. I don't stand in line for a green card, take a citizenship test or deal with relatives in southern Mexico. That is not my history.

So yes, I find it insulting and disrespectful that universities permit foreigners from Mexico and now Central America to dictate to me a Mexican American what I am which is not a foreigner. If I don't allow Whites, my fellow US citizens to dictate who I am why should we permit a Mexican national to dictate. Who the hell are them? If they want to talk about Mexican Nationals in the US go ahead but don't speak for Mexican Americans and don't steal from us what little we have.

The same could be said for Central Americans, they don't know Mexican American culture, we don't speak the same, have a different cosmic vision and look different and the same can be said when employing other US citizens such as Puerto Ricans in Chicano Studies much like CSULB has done. They don't know Mexican American culture and we don't know them either and this I can tell you by the two Puerto Rican boyfriends my mother has had, we don't have cultural simularity.

Though the issue is not isolated to CSULA, it's at CSULB as I mentioned along with their current chair who was undocumented by his own admission, Mexican Americans have never been illegal, that narrative does not apply to us. And even the UCLA has faculty from Mexico like Raul Hinojosa who was my instructor at UCLA in Urban Planning but he's not Mexican Ameican because he was born in Mexico City.

That is University racism by lumping them into Chicano Studies which has always been about those from the US not those that migrate north but those faculty don't care because it's a job, a retirement to them and they benefit while we US born lose.

And the best part, these foreigners born in Mexico hire others born in Mexico because that's their shared narrative and screw over those born here.  Some say, they have qualifications, but why do they hire an EDD when that's not a PHD or MA in Fine Arts or Creative Writing.  They make up rules as they please and attempt to change to meet their cultural needs which always ends up coming at the expense of US born Mexican Americans because nobody believes they exist today because they are all assumed to be immigrants.

Lastly, I could help but thing that the majority of us complaining about the proposed name change were the Mexican Americans looking in while the foreigners where the ones in positions that belonged to Mexican Americans.

So they had the last laugh.

The X Files

I recently came across a chapter in year 9 of The X Files, I have been watching every episode from season 1, have turned on the subtitle and have read like if it was a novel. In this episode, they are on an oil ring investigating how one Mestizo was killed by a specific radiation but were not effected by the alien virus, oil.

Then in a dialogue over the so called Mestizo Mexican, that even the human like White aliens referred to them as mestizo, Scully tells Skinner, her boss the following line in the autopsy:


“Mr Simon de la Cruz is listed of mixed Mexican ancestry, when in fact he is of Hecha Indian, the Huecha are an indigenous Mexican culture that has a rate undiluted gene pool. Now, these genes may have an innate immunity to infection.”

Considering the Aztecs saw themselves as People of the Sun, literally coming from the sun and a belief in outer space is quite prevalent without having to ever go on an airplane, I could not help but think why this television program basically spelled out who Mexicans are and Mexican Americans but colleges who specialize in Mexico and Mexican American Studies keep insisting that they are something they are not.  Why do these centers of higher education keep shoving down ignorance when the opposite is true.

To keep insisting Mexican Americans are mestizos with categories that are invalid perpetuates not just a mislabeling of the very people they profess to know but also a confusion of identities because they the very professors of knowledge are themselves confused.  What more evidence do they need other than Black hair and brown or red skin to prove what they are? Or eating the same diet for centuries even if the cow came from Europe. As Dick Cheney said, "so". Are Spaniards or Germans Mexican because they have incorporated chocolate or a papa into their diet? They don't change other than better looking teeth and satisfied females, so why doesn't that argument hold truth for Mexicans. US whites drink more tequila than the tequila Gods just listen to country music and you would think hot water comes from Tenneesee. Maybe it does.

For you Chicano lost professors just look in the mirror and if you don't resemble maybe you are not which is ok, just don't confuse those who are "indigenous" because if the writers of The X Files got it correct why can't you?

Or as my fellow Mexican American Apache friend Ruben Lopez was told by the American Red Cross when he donated blood: "you have rare antagems, we want you to come back". And he just wanted the extra credit.

I personally love being a Cucapah Apache!

Kunahuati Chalea Turi!