¡Despierten, Hermanos!

Huerica KVlBW¡Despierten, Hermanos! Graciela Limón Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano Movement: Writings from El Grito del Norte Enriqueta Vasquez Edited by Lorena Oropeza and Dionne Espinoza Foreword by John Nichols Preface by Enriqueta Vasquez Arte Publico Press http://www.artepublicopress.com 320 pages; paper, $16.95 For those of us who lived and experienced the turbulent years 1968 through 1972, Enriqueta Vasquez's voice still resonates with the same clarity and power as when we first read her columns. Much of this is due to the commendable editing of Lorena Oropeza and Dionne Espinoza, who have crafted the setting that defines the anthology. Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano Movement : Writingsfrom El Grito Del Norte is a moving commentary on the pressing Chicana/o issues which interestingly enough arejust as real now as they were nearly forty years ago. Vasquez's columns articulate her views ranging from local to international, from cultural to corporate, from social to religious. Furthermore , her writings are easy to read, being that hers is a simple and relaxed expression. However, this doesn't mean that the content ofher words is unproblematic . On the contrary, to read her columns is to face a serious challenge. One example ofthis is when Vasquez asserts that the Church has made slaves of those of us who call ourselves Raza. Here, Vasquez rips through a sacred place at the risk of offending the usually Catholic Chicana and Chicano. Still, she unabashedly confronts the reality of our religious ways, challenging, prodding, always demanding a more liberated approach to religion. Such writing is courageous, even ifit is upsetting, and there are many other such examples of her bold attitude. If the range of her writing is broad, the same can be said of the topics covered by Vasquez's writings . Her views on land, race, poverty, history and even communism ("a DIRTY word") are direct yet penetrating. Her columns dealing with culture are among the best, reminding the reader that the Chicano way must be kept alive even when surrounded by "rich and powerful exploiters." Vasquez uses Spanish or coded expression numerous times, sometimes translating her words into English, at other times providing an English version of a column such as with "¡Somos Aztlán!" and "El Soldado Raso Today." It is difficult to discern if this is a plus or a negative in the sense that, on the one hand, inclusion of Spanish brings authenticity and rhythm to her writing. On the other, however, it might become a "turn-off" for the reader not readily disposed to wrestle with a language with which there is unfamiliarity. From the point of view of this reader, however, this language diversity adds to the cultural richness of her writings. Vasquez's feminist voice is seen best in chapter 4, "Chicanas, Organize!" The columns here included are brief but arguably the most impassioned of her columns when she points the way for the Chicana to build a new life and when her language becomes so understandable to her fellow Chicanas: "Bueno, Comadres, here we go again on the woman thing." She speaks to all of us: the urban Chicana, the rural Chicana, those of us living in the barrios and in the projects, the ones who are single and bringing up kids, the ones working long hours as well as those that are jobless. She writes of attending a Raza Conference in Colorado and of the consensus coming out of that group that Chicana women simply do not want to be liberated. Vasquez agonizes: "this was quite a blow. I could have cried." Thereafter she speaks of the National Chicana Conference in Houston and of the walkout that took place on the last day as being inevitable because the conference agenda was selfcentered , in competition with the Movement and simply not addressing the true place of the Chicana in that movement. We know that the era ofthe stoic Chicana is becoming a thing ofthe past. Vasquez's views are especially important on this issue because it can be said that hers was nearly a solitary voice sounding out in contradiction of the strong wind that came from other Chicanas insisting that the feminist movement...