Chicanas of 18th Street: Narratives of a Movement from Latino Chicago

Women of 18th Street: Our Preliminary Assessment

Women of 18th Street Our Preliminary Assessment yenelli flores, maría gamboa, isaura gonzález, victoria pérez, magda ramírez-castañeda, cristina vital The Movement brought unity. . . . It brought us together for the same cause. —María Gamboa What Was Gained The Movimiento took steps to overcome some of the barriers that have traditionally divided Mexicans and deterred their formation into a strong political entity. Nationally, the Movement’s response to racism and political and economic disenfranchisement was community empowerment. In Chicago, the Comité used popular education and direct action to fight for reforms and recruit others to the process of social change. The long-term goal was the creation of a unified and mobilized community that could join with broader forces to offer an alternative to the economic and political system. While activists of that period did not transform society or resolve the problematic circumstances faced by the majority of Mexicans, some gains were made. Families received health care. Immigrants were informed of their rights. Workers attempting to unionize, secure a livable wage, and stop workplace abuses received support. Pilsen activists also opened up employment opportunities that improved the lives of many families. Nationwide, the pressures that the Movement exerted brought additional resources into neighborhoods. Locally, this helped fund community ceni -xxx_1-226_Rami.indd 201 8/19/11 10:56 AM 202 . women of 18th street ters and programs for children and adults. Activists helped stop the use of mobile trailer units to address school overcrowding and organized to fight for new schools and improve education. We joined the campaign to build a new library in Pilsen and pressured for bilingual programs so that children would not fall behind or lose their native language. Latino citywide coalitions pressured colleges to admit and support working-class and poor Latinos, not just at token levels but in greater numbers. University recruitment and support programs, cultural centers, and Latin American and Latino studies programs were founded to teach youth their history, develop self-awareness and pride, and prepare them for leadership. The Comité also had a popular educational agenda. Grassroots education programs brought antiwar and alternative educational policy perspectives into the community. Through the Chicano bookstore and other ways, we made critical scholarship and journalism available to people who generally did not have access to alternative points of view. It was presumed that with greater exposure, working-class people would be more likely to contemplate issues that at first glance might seem unrelated to their lives. The left encouraged community residents to consider fundamental (radical) questions about racism and class inequalities. Militants affiliated with the network used the arts, including music and theater, to raise concerns about sexism and issues that came from the lived experience of ordinary people. The Comité sought to facilitate the critical capacity of Mexicano/Chicanos, who, equipped with a more accurate sense of their own interests, could develop a more profound understanding of policy and politics. It often took the mobilization of many community sectors to produce results, but the Comité was in the thick of most of the important struggles of the day. The network was not always the leading force, but together as a group or as individuals with a dedication to La Causa, we were on the picket lines, passed out leaflets, organized events, marched down city streets, sat in, got arrested, or were involved in other forms of protest, direct action, and organization. Our objective was not to become Chicago-style politicians or in any other way be absorbed by the system. We were working-class Mexicanas/ Chicanas that took responsibility for the empowerment of our community. Fault Lines in the Struggle In our attempts to be better organized and refine a process that could provide consistent and quality leadership for our community, we invested too much time and effort attempting to link up with groups that had already begun to i-xxx_1-226_Rami.indd 202 8/19/11 10:56 AM our preliminary assessment · 203 lose touch with the realities of everyday people. This process ended up dissipating our energies and demoralizing our friends and allies. Competition among Pilsen-based left groups discouraged cooperation and sometimes made it next to impossible to work together to achieve important community goals. This eventually cast a gray cloud over the Movement and worked to depress enthusiasm for community organizing and progressive leadership. Physical and emotional exhaustion followed years of intense organizing...