La Raza Unida Party

EPILOGUE: Prospectus for a New Partido and Movement

Epilogue Prospectus for a New Partido and Movement In spite of the powerful legacy left by the Raza Unida Party and the Chicano Movement , upon entering the new millennium, Mexicanos and other Latinos find themselves in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that is a result of the liberal capitalist system and its two-party dictatorship. This political reality raises two interrelated questions: (1) How is it possible to effect change within the confines of the liberal capitalist system? And (2) how is it possible to effectively challenge the omnipotent power and control of the nation's two-party dictatorship? For Latinos, in particular, it is critical that during the next few years intellectual dialogue, debate, and research be directed toward answering these two questions. I write to foster this change. Arguments Supporting the Need for Major Change In this epilogue, I posit the idea that while it may seem Latinos in the United States have made great strides as a people, the reality is that the change is more illusory than substantive. The following arguments buttress my assertion that unless the liberal capitalist system and its two-party dictatorship undergo major change, the overwhelming majority of Latinos in the twenty-first century will be relegated to an increasingly apartheid and South African-syndrome existence. Moreover, without major changes occurring within the liberal capitalist system, the United States will decline as a superpower.1 Argument 1: The dramatic growth of the Latino population will increase its prospects for political change. Both the browning of the United States and the re-Mexicanoization of the Southwest are contributing to the demographic changes occurring in the country today. The Copyrighted Material 284 EPILOGUE former denotes that people ofcolor are fast becoming the nation's majority population. Some one hundred years ago, Latinos in the United States, who at that time were mostly Mexicanos, numbered only 100,000; at the close of 1999, the number had increased to some 31 million. This means that the United States is the fifth largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Demographers predict that by no later than 2004, Latinos will replace Blacks as the nation's largest minority. One publication went so far as to predict that by 2005, the Latino population would reach 50 million.2 Other demographers predict that by the year 2050, Latinos will comprise some 25 percent of the national population, nearly 100 million,3 with most concentrated in the Southwest. (Mexico's current population is 95 million.) In California alone, in 1999, Latinos numbered nearly 11 million, constituting a third of the state's population.4 Whites in California that same year became a minority; making people of color the new majority.5 Latinos are projected to reach majority population status in California by 2020; by the year 2030, Latinos will make up some 60 percent of the state's population. In New Mexico, in 1999, Mexicanos were approaching 50 percent of the state's population. Consequently, in the very near future, Latinos will compose clear-cut majorities in California, Texas, New Mexico, and quite possibly even Arizona. One must also consider the rapid growth of the Latino population in the states of Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Washington, and Nevada.6 Evenin the state ofNew York, Mexicanos in 1998numbered 306,000.7 By 1999, in numerous counties and local communities throughout the Southwest, Mexicanos constituted new majorities. In California's Imperial County, the number of Mexicanos reached 58 percent, while in Los Angeles County, Latinos made up some 45 percent of the 7 million population. In Texas, Mexicanos were the majority population in San Antonio, El Paso, and Laredo, as well as in scores of counties and local communities in South Texas; cities such as Dallas and Houston had substantial Mexicano populations. New York, Miami, and Chicago also had large Latino population centers. There are three major variables driving this demographic transformation: (1) the immigration from Mexico and Central America, (2) the high birthrate among Latinos, and (3) White flight in key states.s Efforts by both federal and state administrations to curb immigration from Mexico and Central America have failed and will continue to do so. This became evident in 1999, when U.S. efforts such as militarizing the U.S./Mexico border under Operation Gatekeeper, passing increasingly restrictive immigration laws and propositions (e.g., employer sanctions and Proposition 187 in California), and conducting aggressive border patrol enforcement efforts (e.g., raids on businesses and homes) all failed. The...