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  • The Chicano Generation: Testimonios of the Movement by Mario T. García
  • Juan David Coronado
The Chicano Generation: Testimonios of the Movement. By Mario T. García. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. 352pages. Paperback, $29.95.

Mario T. García’s The Chicano Generation: Testimonios of the Movement fills an important void in the historiography; it focuses on three Chicano organizers. Continuing in the tradition he set forth in his classic work, The Mexican American: Leadership, Ideology, and Identity, 1930-1960 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991), García records the political consciousness and activities of the Chicano generation. He bases his study on oral histories he conducted with Gloria Arellanes, Rosalio Muñoz, and Raul Ruiz, who were all involved in the battle for civil rights in the Los Angeles area during the 1960s and 1970s. García utilizes these oral histories to demonstrate how Chicanos vocalized, condemned, and challenged societal oppression. These testimonios, or oral histories, serve as a microcosm of what the Chicano community experienced during their struggle for social justice.

As Chicanos faced rejection and oppression in American society, they connected with their indigenous roots, which, many argued, originated in the very same lands Chicanos now occupied in the southwestern United States: Aztlán, the ancestral homeland of the Aztecas. The concept of Aztlán gave Chicanos a sense of belonging while also externalizing a history of conquest and the need to stand up to all colonizers and oppressors. Through these testimonios, García demonstrates ideals of chicanismo—the romanticized ideology behind the Chicano movement—that promoted the concepts of self-determination, community empowerment, and rejection of assimilation.

García dedicates a chapter to each testimonio; thus, the book is comprised of three chapters plus an introduction and epilogue. Each testimonio serves almost as a mini autobiography as it focuses on the individual’s life history, which [End Page 444] had an impact on her or his political consciousness and involvement. It seems that García does edit these oral histories for the sake of clarity and chronology; this allows him to present the testimonios in a more readable fashion while still retaining each narrator’s own voice and point of view. García also includes a wealth of notes that corroborate and support the respective accounts.

The first chapter focuses on the life of Raul Ruiz and starts with his early years in El Paso. Among the topics of interest discussed in his testimonio are his trip to Cuba in 1969, his work with La Raza, his eyewitness testimony of the killing of Ruben Salazar on August 29, 1970, during the East Los Angeles protest march led by activists in the national Chicano Antiwar Moratorium, and his role during the National La Raza Unida Party (RUP) Convention in El Paso in 1972. As he recounts, Ruiz happened to be outside the Silver Dollar Café when police killed renowned Chicano reporter Ruben Salazar. Because of his proximity to the scene, Ruiz was able to take a number of photographs and to provide testimony in the subsequent inquest—although to no avail, as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was never brought to justice for Salazar’s death. Instead, Ruiz faced a grilling session from the district attorney as part of the attempts to cover up what Ruiz believes to have been the deliberate murder of Salazar. Ruiz’s reflections on the National RUP Convention in El Paso are perhaps the strongest point in his testimonio; he provides significant details on what transpired behind the scenes among the Chicano leadership cadre and the election between Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez and José Angel Gutierrez. With Ruiz’s oral history, García brings to life events that had tremendous consequences and eventually led to the decline of the Chicano movement.

Next, García focuses on Gloria Arellanes and her involvement with the Brown Berets. As an active Chicana, Arellanes grew concerned with an array of issues that deeply impacted the Chicano community, including police brutality, poverty, and female empowerment. Among the highlights in her testimonio are the experiences she shares about her participation in the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, DC. A few...

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