The Illusion of Inclusion: The Political Story of San Antonio, Texas

8. The Cultural Is Political; the Political Is Cultural

/ 8 / The Cultural Is Political; the Political Is Cultural The previous chapter focused on the consequences of independent political representation for the Chicano community in San Antonio. The particular argument in that chapter was that political change in itself is not the sole guarantee of greater political inclusion in terms of how policy is made at the local level. Especially as we take into consideration the broader national and regional political context, as well as the immediate demands of the urban market economy, local political initiatives often become captive to forces and opportunities outside their influence. This is not to imply that a monolithic politics has come out of that experience. It is a process, and the formation of that process is still taking place. As has been pointed out, Chicanas have played a critically important role in the mobilization of the Chicano community throughout this century. The aim of this chapter is to examine the legacy of politics that Chicanas bring to the political arena. I will begin by providing detailed profiles of two of the most visible Chicanas in San Antonio politics today. The profiles will bring out the particular philosophical perspectives that each of the Chicanas selfconsciously , albeit in different ways from each other, articulate in their politics . The significance of the politics of Maria Antonietta Berriozabal and Rosa Salazar Rosales is that they advance an agenda that is, at its core, radically opposed to how politics is played out today.1 The key, as proposed in this chap- ter, to understanding their politics is in the translation of the cultural to the political through their continuous connection to community. Simply focusing on “position and power” only gets at individual achievement . It does not get at the current that flows beneath the various descriptions of San Antonio politics. It is there below, where Chicanas are forging a politics that begins with community and remains connected to that community’s issues, sometimes at the expense of electoral or otherwise personal achievements . This is not to say that there are not Chicanos who go beyond the personal agenda model of politics in their efforts to connect back to community, but it is Chicana politics which presents the model more clearly and not as an exception. For example, the election of Mary Roman as district judge in 1991 was seen by Chicana activists, who still see the process as a “male” process, as more than simply an electoral victory. As Rosie Castro so aptly stated, her campaign represented Chicanas’ expression of a need to provide a different paradigm for politics; Chicanas see themselves as able and willing to provide that different paradigm. Tell Me What You Do Politically Carol Hardy-Fanta, in her study of Latina politics in Boston, discovered that Latina and Latino politics differed significantly in terms of how those politics were forged and eventually played out.2 She points out that a simple question, “Tell me what you do politically,” brought out how Latinas reflected a politics that, while including it, went beyond the notion of “position and power.” Moreover, her study showed how this broader approach also more directly reflected the needs and concerns of the overall Latino community than “position and power” could possibly reflect. Indeed, her investigation revealed a paradigm shift in the definition of politics by Latinas in general. The following profiles reveal not a shift, but a continuance of a kind of politics that arises out of a political experience of exclusion and neglect. For it is not gender itself, but the gender experience that provides the critical difference in a political environment that has historically been able to co-opt those who successfully challenged the system’s exclusionary politics. In fact, the unfolding story in this book has been about a community that mobilized inchallengingapoliticsofexclusion,onlytoendupplayingthesamegamethat they had challenged. These profiles also reveal the forging of a particular kind of politics in the intersection of two patriarchies: Chicano Machismo, arising out of the community itself; and a public racially defined male-dominated hi160 The Illusion of Inclusion / erarchy (Anglo Machismo?), produced and maintained by dominant Anglo mainstream institutions and processes. The profiles are not a story of heroism, although that may just be the case. Nor are they a story of personal achievement, although that cannot be denied. Nor do they represent the entire spectrum of...