In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • The Chicano Generation: Testimonios of the Movement by Mario T. García
  • Katherine E. Bynum
The Chicano Generation: Testimonios of the Movement. By Mario T. García. (Oakland: University of California Press. Pp. 352. Photographs, notes, index.)

“Viva la Raza! Chicano Power!” When Mario T. García first heard these phrases, he was an instructor at San Jose State College. Of course, he knew the word “Chicano.” Growing up in El Paso and attending a Catholic high school, García was familiar with Mexican American students using the term to assert pride. Beginning in the late 1960s, however, the term became linked to the Chicano movement and was used politically by a new generation of Chicano militants to fight for civil rights, ethnic pride, and political empowerment. This was García’s generation, and he, too, became politically conscious as an activist in the movement.

This vignette begins The Chicano Generation, in which García follows the political consciousness of three Chicano activists: Ramón Ruiz, Gloria Arellanes, and Rosalio Muñoz. Over twenty years in the making, the book relies on the use of testimonios, or testimonies. More than just stories, testimonios are intended to educate others while also inspiring them to continue the struggle. García conducted more than one hundred hours of oral history interviews with each of his subjects, but by using an array of primary source materials as well as secondary sources, he constructs three first-person biographies of Ruiz, Arellanes, and Muñoz. Though presented as separate stories, the testimonios also relate to one another since the activists often participated in the same events.

The testimonios trace the Chicano activists’ early lives as well as their political involvement in Los Angeles between 1965 and 1975. Ruiz recounts his work with the Chicano newspaper, Inside Eastside, which focused on discrimination of Chicano high school students, as well as his [End Page 330] affiliation with student blowouts, what he calls his “baptism by fire” in the movement (51). This participation inspired him to join new political adventures, including reforming the Catholic Church and supporting the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War. Arellanes’s testimonio details her involvement with the Brown Berets, including her promotion to be the managing editor of La Causa and the establishment of El Barrio Free Clinic. Her story also includes a section on feminism at the Denver Youth Conference and gender relations within the Brown Berets. The third narrator, Muñoz, became active within the Chicano movement while attending UCLA, where he joined the United Mexican American Students (UMAS) and later the Chicano Moratorium. Muñoz’s testimonio pays particular attention to the Chicano Moratorium march on August 29, 1970, including the death of journalist Ruben Salazar.

The Chicano Generation provides a fascinating account of three central figures in the Chicano movement. Similar to his previous testimonios on Sal Castro and Bert Corona, García allows the reader to deconstruct the meanings and motivations of the lives of Ruiz, Arellanes, and Muñoz. By doing this, García creatively provides a “human face to this historic struggle” (322), showing how these activists viewed themselves as well as their actual contributions to and limitations within the movement.

Katherine E. Bynum
Texas Christian University
...

pdf

Share