Bringing Aztlan to Mexican Chicago: My Life, My Work, My Art

Notes

Notes Preface 1. This other publication, referred to in this text as “Zimmerman forthcoming,” is entitled José Gamaliel González: Documenting the Life of a Chicago Mexican Artist/Activist and is due for publication in 2011. It is a collection of documents, pictures, newspaper articles, and a wide range of other materials featuring key articles about José written by Jeff Huebner and published in the Chicago Reader; an essay by his longtime associate, Victor Sorell, which was written as part of a program for a retrospective of José’s work in 1998; an essay by Nicolás Kanellos on José’s role as art editor for Revista Chicano-Riqueña; and an interview of the late artist-writer Carlos Cortez— perhaps the last extended interview with this iconic figure who died in 2004, focused not on himself but on his longtime friend and former MARCH associate , José González. 2. For two examples of the growing literature on Latino autobiography, see Olivares 1988b and my section on Chicano autobiography in Zimmerman 1992: 92–93. 3. The two previous examples are those by Dr. Jorge Prieto (1989) and Gabriel Aguilera (2000). 4. The other two are Victor Sorell’s edited volume on Carlos Cortez Koyokuikatl (2002) and Francisco Piña’s on Marcos Raya (2004). 150 Notes 5. See, for example, Marquesa Macadar’s interview with me (1999). I should also note that the only fictional treatment, however partial and veiled, that I know of about Latino Chicago’s artistic world from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s is in Ana Castillo’s novel, Sapagonia (1990). Introduction 1. For a study of Saul Alinsky’s influence in Mexican Chicago, and especially on Danny Solís and his UnitedNeighborhoodOrganization(UNO),seeWilfredo Cruz 1987. This Chicago organization should not be confused with UNO of Northwest Indiana, with which José worked in the early 1970s. Chapter 3 of this volume recounts how José left the Concerned Latins of Lake Country (CLLC), which indeed bore the Alinsky influence, to form UNO of Northwest Indiana, which diverged from Alinsky tactics. The section in question outlines José’s indirect relation to and view of Alinsky, as José discusses the role of the community organizer Ernie Cortez. Unfortunately, José’s Indiana activism is not referenced in the key book that should have detailed it (Lane and Escobar 1987), even though Ernie Cortez’s organizing style, affiliation, and efforts are mentioned briefly (254). 2. For an extremely positive portrait of the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum and its evolution, see Dávalos 2001. Another positive account is found in Herrera 2008: 59–62. 3. See Arias Jirasek and Tortolero 2001: 155. For the interview, see Backley, Davis, Hernández, and Nava 2003: 22–27. 4. In English, “Prints Workshop”; it was later renamed and reformulated as Mestizarte and most recently as Taller Carlos Cortez Mestizarte. 5. For work on Mexicans in northwestern Indiana, in addition to Lane and Escobar 1987, see Samora and Lamanna 1967; Rosales 1976 and 1978; and Rosales and Simon 1975. For Mexicans in Chicago, see Kerr 1976; Arias Jirasek and Tortolero 2001; and De Genova 2005. 6. On the transition in Chicago ethnic politics from Washington to Daley, see Betancur and Gills 2004. On Chicago Latinos and economic restructuring and gentrification, see Betancur, Córdoba, and Torres 1993. On Mexican Chicago and globalization, see Mora 2007. It must be noted, however, that Mora’s statement that José was a Brown Beret leader who, in 1970, joined with other activists to occupy Pilsen’s Howell House and rebaptize it as Casa Aztlán (6) is apocryphal—apparently based on misleading comments made by Marcos Raya in an interview with Mora. José had strong, fundamental ties with Casa Aztlán, but he did not participate in the protests that led to its founding. In 1970, José was involved in Chicano activism at Notre Dame. His limited relation with the Brown Berets is spelled out at the beginning of chapter 3. 7. For a pioneering look at intensifying national identifications and general Latinization not as contradictory but as complementary processes in Chicago , see Padilla 1985. 8. For the best treatment of space in Cisneros ’s work, see Olivares 1988a; but also see Saldívar 1990. 9. I myself may have first suggested this Anglo trope to José. If so, it is an instance of how an interviewer’s own background can distort the cultural bases of an interviewee. But it would be naïve to conclude that...