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el Barrio Have you heard about the so-called apathy and indiffer-ence of the Mexican-Amen-can? We aneaiways accused of not caring, not being in-tenested, and that indiffer-ence is givenas the main cause of the political disen-franchisement of our people. Our pseudo-politicians go a-long with that assessment of our problems, with the re-suit that we end up attacking each other for the common misery: The "leaders" ac-cuse their tttroops" of being apathetic, and the "troopsT' accuse their "leaders" of being vendidos. There is some truth in those mutual accusations, but, in our view, bothapathyand sel-ling out are the resultand not the c au s e of ou r condition. The main cause is the lack of power. Our community is di-vided against itself, but that division is not of our own ma-king. The best example is what has happenedtothe bar-nos in the Eastside, The Eastside has had for years the largest concentra-ti on of Mexican-Americans anywhere in the U.S. , in fact the largest concentration of Mexicans outside of Mexico City. Wave after wave of im-migrants became "ame rican-ized" and moved out, and still the areahas retainedits char-actenistics. Infact, the num-ber of "spanish surname" people inthe Eastside in- C r e a s e d between 1960 and 1965. Whythendowe have no elected representative at the city, county, state, or nati-onal levels. The answer is gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is not un-american, it is very ameni-can. The word comes from the name of the man, Elbridge Gerry, one of the signers of the Declaration of tndepen dence, who set the boundaries for some local elections in Boston. The Eastside is di-vided among several asses-blyand congressional dis- tricts , with their bases of power outside of East Los Angeles. Eachone ofthe dis-tnicts is given a few "Mexi-cans" to insure the marginof votes which will guarantee the election of s e 1 e c t e d politi-oians. The resultis that po-liticians turn deaf ears to the demands from the communi-ty. Supervisonial districts and city council districts are also gerrymandered with al-most the same effects. But gerrymandering is not limited to political boundar-ies. Our communityhas been divided physically into many sections. Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights "belong" to the city of Los Angeles; Al-hambra, Monterey Park, Montebello, and Commerce want to "annex" other sec-tions ofour community. Cha-vez Ravine was destroyed to build a stadium. Hazard Park is in dangerof being destroy ed to buildahospital. Whole sections of the barrio have been destroyed tobuild free-chicano power g 1O ways for people to go back andforthto places of employ-ment whe r e we work ourselves. If the trend con-tinues, the only things that will be left to us will be the C em ete r ie s where we can come tó be buried, and stores to come and spend our money. All the decisions that affect Our lives, economically and politically , a r e s a d e out-side of our community.To take a good look atthepublic agencies providing vital ser-vices. Theemploymen, welfare , education , health, sanitation, light and gas, and manyotherneeds ofour com-munity are handled in conference rooms located o u t s i d e of our community. The people who occupy ad-ministrative positions in those agencies, have little, if any, knowledge of our com-munity and our culture. Sometimes we wonder if they even have any desire to find out what we want. The negro became aware of those facts a long time ago, and has been able to demand a share ofpower for self-determination. The power structure knows that the black people will no longer p a s s iv e ly a c c e p t second class citizenship. Maybe we should, in a way consistent with our tradition and Our cul-tune, demand a share of that Power: CHICANO POWER. REtES TIJERINA & GORKY GONZALE MEXICAN AMERICANS aNd he VIETNAM WAR 'oan baez SUNDAY OCTOBER 15 *. TEATRO CAMPESINO . 2:00 p.m. I1i The Midnighters e.I.a. college stadium VT9 Vol. i No. Z October 1, 1967 Los Angeles
Object Description
Title | La Raza, 1967-10-01 |
Description | Published in Los Angeles, California, Monthly |
Publisher | El Barrio Communications Project |
Date | 1967-10-01 |
Type | Newspaper |
Source | Newspaper |
Language | English, with some Spanish |
Relation | Historic Mexican and Mexican-American Press |
Coverage | 1967-1970 |
Rights | The contents of this collection are available to the public for use in research, teaching, and private study. U.S. Copyright and intellectual property laws may apply to the resources made available through this site. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Description | Published in Los Angeles, California, Monthly |
Publisher | El Barrio Communications Project |
Type | Newspaper |
Source | Newspaper |
Language | English, with some Spanish |
Coverage | 1967-1970 |
Rights | The contents of this collection are available to the public for use in research, teaching, and private study. U.S. Copyright and intellectual property laws may apply to the resources made available through this site. |
Full-text | el Barrio Have you heard about the so-called apathy and indiffer-ence of the Mexican-Amen-can? We aneaiways accused of not caring, not being in-tenested, and that indiffer-ence is givenas the main cause of the political disen-franchisement of our people. Our pseudo-politicians go a-long with that assessment of our problems, with the re-suit that we end up attacking each other for the common misery: The "leaders" ac-cuse their tttroops" of being apathetic, and the "troopsT' accuse their "leaders" of being vendidos. There is some truth in those mutual accusations, but, in our view, bothapathyand sel-ling out are the resultand not the c au s e of ou r condition. The main cause is the lack of power. Our community is di-vided against itself, but that division is not of our own ma-king. The best example is what has happenedtothe bar-nos in the Eastside, The Eastside has had for years the largest concentra-ti on of Mexican-Americans anywhere in the U.S. , in fact the largest concentration of Mexicans outside of Mexico City. Wave after wave of im-migrants became "ame rican-ized" and moved out, and still the areahas retainedits char-actenistics. Infact, the num-ber of "spanish surname" people inthe Eastside in- C r e a s e d between 1960 and 1965. Whythendowe have no elected representative at the city, county, state, or nati-onal levels. The answer is gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is not un-american, it is very ameni-can. The word comes from the name of the man, Elbridge Gerry, one of the signers of the Declaration of tndepen dence, who set the boundaries for some local elections in Boston. The Eastside is di-vided among several asses-blyand congressional dis- tricts , with their bases of power outside of East Los Angeles. Eachone ofthe dis-tnicts is given a few "Mexi-cans" to insure the marginof votes which will guarantee the election of s e 1 e c t e d politi-oians. The resultis that po-liticians turn deaf ears to the demands from the communi-ty. Supervisonial districts and city council districts are also gerrymandered with al-most the same effects. But gerrymandering is not limited to political boundar-ies. Our communityhas been divided physically into many sections. Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights "belong" to the city of Los Angeles; Al-hambra, Monterey Park, Montebello, and Commerce want to "annex" other sec-tions ofour community. Cha-vez Ravine was destroyed to build a stadium. Hazard Park is in dangerof being destroy ed to buildahospital. Whole sections of the barrio have been destroyed tobuild free-chicano power g 1O ways for people to go back andforthto places of employ-ment whe r e we work ourselves. If the trend con-tinues, the only things that will be left to us will be the C em ete r ie s where we can come tó be buried, and stores to come and spend our money. All the decisions that affect Our lives, economically and politically , a r e s a d e out-side of our community.To take a good look atthepublic agencies providing vital ser-vices. Theemploymen, welfare , education , health, sanitation, light and gas, and manyotherneeds ofour com-munity are handled in conference rooms located o u t s i d e of our community. The people who occupy ad-ministrative positions in those agencies, have little, if any, knowledge of our com-munity and our culture. Sometimes we wonder if they even have any desire to find out what we want. The negro became aware of those facts a long time ago, and has been able to demand a share ofpower for self-determination. The power structure knows that the black people will no longer p a s s iv e ly a c c e p t second class citizenship. Maybe we should, in a way consistent with our tradition and Our cul-tune, demand a share of that Power: CHICANO POWER. REtES TIJERINA & GORKY GONZALE MEXICAN AMERICANS aNd he VIETNAM WAR 'oan baez SUNDAY OCTOBER 15 *. TEATRO CAMPESINO . 2:00 p.m. I1i The Midnighters e.I.a. college stadium VT9 Vol. i No. Z October 1, 1967 Los Angeles |