assignment_2.docx
Trevino’s documentary, Quest for a Homeland, highlights significant moments in the Chicano Movement. The Chicano Movement was born in the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement was spreading across the United States. Only a few minutes into the documentary, the viewer learns about La Alianza (the Alliance in English) which was an organization that fought on the behalf of Mexican-Americans in New Mexico who had lost their land after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. The organization was run by Rene Lopez Tijerina whose actions led him to become despised by the American government. Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez tells how Tijerina’s actions helped united Mexican-Americans because they now began to understand that this, the United States, “used to be Mexico. It used to be our land.”
Edward Roybal, who was one of the first Mexican-Americans elected to Congress, then talks about how the police discriminated against him. Politically, Mexican-Americans were underrepresented in the United States; only four served in Congress in 1967. President Johnson appointed a Mexican-American to Congress, but his would not be the only voice fighting for justice. Corky Gonzalez started a political party that fought for Mexicans because Corky believed “if Mexicans did not fight for Mexicans that nobody was going to.” Gonzalez’s words seemed to motivate many Chicanos to continue the struggle for better opportunities in social and educational affairs.
Then the Vietnam War came and Chicanos were drafted at higher rates than almost any other minority. Chicanos held a Vietnam Moratorium because they did not agree with the war and wanted to show solidarity with people of the Third World. The protest was peaceful until the police showed up and started to harass many of the demonstrators. Even one of the most famous reporters, Rueben Salazar, was shot dead by the police. The police brutality against Chicanos at this time caused the Chicano movement to lose some of “its innocence, some of its ideals,” but showed that Chicanos had power that couldn’t go unheard.