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

The experiences of Chicano high school students in Texas during the late 1960s serve as a microcosm to analyze the evolution—rather than the revolution —of the Mexican American civil rights struggle. It is useful in this case to remark that “immutable” is a synonym for inalienable, but also to remember that specific understandings of rights have changed over time. The history of inalienable rights is mostly a tale of gradual recognition of what in hindsight should have been patently obvious. Indeed, this is why the American Declaration of Independence can without irony claim that its stated truths are selfevident , although they seem to contradict millennia of custom. A profound shift in social and political attitudes culminated during the 1770s into a new definition of inalienable rights and gave rise to a new species of confrontational political activism. And so it was among young Mexican Americans in Texas nearly two hundred years later. The shift of the 1960s was rooted not only in anger at the continuing racism of white, or “Anglo,” society, but also in a new race consciousness that celebrated a worthy “brown” identity. Members of this generation called themselves Chicanos to demonstrate their pride in being Mexicano, indicating a shared indigenous or mestizo heritage. They took that name to counter white opinions and histories that disregarded Latino contributions to the origins , evolution, and culture of the Southwest. But the Chicanos also rejected the goals of their elders, the so-called “Mexican American Generation,” which had so long sought accommodation and assimilation with whites. Although loosely defined, the Chicano movement was basically progressive, and even radical within the greater Latino community. Chicanismo was a direct repudiation of the sensibilities of the Mexican American middle class, which had become a stable pillar of the Democratic Party in Texas—a state party that, Steven Harmon Wilson 1960s agitation and litigation by mexican american youth in texas Chicanismo andtheFlexible FourteenthAmendment chapter eight 148 = CHICANISMO and the flexible fourteenth amendment even under the relatively liberalizing influence of Lyndon B. Johnson, long retained a conservative orientation. Chicanos originally eschewed both the goals and the tactics of liberal politics . Instead of canvassing to win elections, or agreeing to exchange present votes for future patronage, they promoted mass protest, direct action, and self-reliance. Chicanos at first had little use for the courts, an attitude that paradoxically had parallels within the “Mexican American Generation.” Ultimately , however, some Chicanos recognized that working within the system rather than rejecting it outright could bring benefits. The courts once more beckoned when encouraging signals emanated from the White House, the Congress, and, especially, the U.S. Supreme Court, indicating that new legal tools were at hand. Mexican American civil rights still faced myriad legal obstacles , not just opposition and obstruction by recalcitrant officials, but also internecine disputes over community goals and priorities, ethnic labels and identities, and cultural and political commitments. Fortunately, the generational and ideological gaps among Latinos could be bridged by a fresh cohort of politically committed lawyers. Although generations collaborated in civil rights revival, Chicano youth led the way forward with their energy and idealism . These youthful activists deserve more recognition for having learned, and for having reminded their jaded elders, that the U.S. Constitution was flexible enough to serve both traditional and radical ends. The history of Mexican American civil rights during the twentieth century traces many twists and turns because the participants in that history were forced to backtrack at significant points as they encountered resistance, reversals , and dead ends. For example, influential Mexican Americans in Texas and the rest of the Southwest long accepted the assumptions of the “Jim Crow” system of race-based segregation. It must have seemed that they had little choice in the matter. The division of U.S. society into a black-white binary was rooted in the constitutions of many states, the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the customs of a century. Jim Crow had the appearance of legal and social immutability, and Mexican Americans had learned to live within its structures and strictures. This led to their curious efforts to defend the seemingly “inalienable” rights of whites. People of Mexican origin suffered many humiliations and discrimination at the hands of white Texans. In defense, Mexican Americans relied on political, social, and religious organizations , business networks, and, when necessary, lawsuits, to establish and hold onto a precarious position within (but ever apart from) white-dominated...

Share