The Chicano artistic expression is the unique way of the entire human conduct of the Mexican Americans in their quest to fight racial discrimination in the America. It links the present Mexican- American social, political and cultural issues to the post Mexican ideologies of revolution. The movement sought to liberate the society from the tyranny of any dominant social principles and beliefs and also achieve an autonomous culture and self-confidence. The liberation spirit among the Chicano residents has culminated the emergence of the Chicano art to illustrate the current struggle and also unify the diverse youth besides their diverse cultures and history. The Chicano art is a representative public forum for representativeness, unity, solidarity, political activism and cultural affirmation. It seeks to lift high the identity of Chicano.
The Chicano movement
This was a cultural as well as a political movement also known as the Chicano civil rights movement. It emerged in the 1960’s but could trace its roots to the Mexican American civil rights movement of the 1940’s. It operated in many cities in the USA such as Chicago, Phoenix, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco among many others. The movement was established to address massive issues which were on the necks of the people at that particular time. The issues included the reinstatement of land rights, equal access to education, Voting opportunities, and other forms of ethnic stereotypes occasioned by the media and the American mentality. The Mexican Americans felt that they were being unfairly treated and that discrimination had become the order of the day. There was a lot of discrimination against the Mexican Americans in the public and private institutions.
The injustices and unfairness meted on the Mexican American was responsible for the emergence of the Chicano Movement which was a liberation oriented movement. Equality for all people on land was at the heart of the Chicano Movement. The movement was seemingly dormant until after the Second World War when it gained its full momentum. This was when other groups joined the course of liberation movement. The joining civil movements made the Chicano movement a vibrant revolutionary group which fought against the discrimination against the Mexican Americans often occasioned by the American natives. The movement has continued to grow with a central focus on the people who belong to the Mexican American society.
The general Mexican American History in the USA
Mexican Americans had spent quite some long period of time in the USA such that some of them even never knew about Mexico. Such people considered themselves as Native Americans since they had been born and brought up in America. The history of Mexican Americans in the USA had been a very sad story. There had been all sorts of discrimination against the Mexican Americans for many years. Equality had never existed for the Mexicans in America and they had been viewed as lesser human beings by the natives. They could not access equal education facilities as the Americans. Land ownership was also discriminatory against them and they had no rights to work in executive positions despite their fitness for such positions. The height of discrimination was achieved by political dimensions. The Mexican Americans could not vie for any elective leadership position and this enabled the political system to mete out its discriminatory policies against the Mexican Americans. They were also not allowed to vote in any elections. This was a mechanism to subdue any of their representative leaders from ascending to power as it would mean fairness and equality for them. The rights of workers had also been violated over a long period of time: with unfairly low pays (wages and salaries), accompanied by heavy taxation. The workers were also compelled to work for long hours. The victims of discrimination and subordination, Mexican Americans in this case, were aggrieved and so they were provoked by their sad history to craft and implement the Chicano artistic expression which sought to fight for freedom from any kinds of discrimination on the American land. The subordination of the Mexican Americans over a long period of history contributed significantly to the emergence of the Chicano artistic expression. The Chicano artistic expression arose as an outcome of the struggle for equality and freedom.
The pre-cuauhtemoc period
This was a three era period when America experienced huge numbers of foreign immigrants. It occurred between 2000BC-1521AD. It was aperiod when the European civilizations were being transferred to other races in the world. The periods are: Triassic, Juriassic, and cretacus periods. Over this period, all immigrants settled down in different parts of the country not knowing that they could become the victims of future discrimination. The immigrants eventually understood their foreigner statuses and hence the discrimination meted against them by the Americans. They thus decided to pull strings together and cooperate to end the unfairness of the American system. This awareness served as a stimulant to the emergence of many civil rights movements which came together after the Second World War reloaded with determination to gain freedom from oppression and discrimination. The unfairness on the part of the Mexican Americans rooted the Chicano art.
References
F. A. Rosales, (1997), Chicano, The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, Arte public press, Texas.
R.Rosaldo, R.A. Calvert, (1974), Chicano: The beginnings of Bronze power, Cengage learning, London.
I.H. Lopez, (2004), Racism on Trial: The Chicano fight for Justice, Havard University press, USA.
