Mexican Inclusion: The Origins of Anti-Discrimination Policy in Texas and the Southwest

Chapter 7. Conclusion

ChaPTer 7 conclusion The Fair employment Practices Committee (FePC) provided people of Mexican originwiththeirfirstopportunityforsmall-scalestatebuildinginanexpandingfederal government. World War ii provided the justification for a significant increase in the United states’ state capacity, including the first antidiscrimination agency. incorporating people of Mexican origin into the FePC provided a framework for seeking state intervention in the fight to eradicate discrimination. Transnational issue networks, emboldened by the newfound influence of the good neighbor Policy,helpedtobringattentionandresourcesfromtheFePCtopeopleofMexican origin. Mexican american civil rights leaders created community-specific policies thatfocusedonparticularindustriesandtookintoaccountissuessuchaslanguage. asaresultofworkingwiththeFePC,Mexicanamericancivilrightsleaderscould pointtoatangiblemodelforcombatingdiscriminationintheircommunity,using both hemispheric solidarity and discourse based on democracy and citizenship. as the battle turned to the state level, people of Mexican origin called for federal interventionwhenstateactionwasnotpossibleinTexas. innewMexico,Mexican americancivilrightsleadersjoinedforceswithafricanamericancivilrightsgroups to pass state-level fair employment legislation. Throughout this book the two factors that shaped incorporation of people of Mexican origin into the FePC were the local and regional autonomy of Mexican american civil rights leaders coupled with the protection and support of the federal government. Best exemplified in the relationship between Carlos Castañeda and Malcolm ross, this framework resulted in Castañeda securing a position of authority in the FePC; workers of Mexican origin gaining limited promotions at companies such as shell oil; and Mexican american civil rights leaders embracing broad, comprehensive national fair employment legislation. ross’s understanding of the needs of people of Mexican origin and his willingness to include them as part of the traditionally marginalized groups the FePC assisted helped to give Castañeda the support he needed to provide services to his community. in the postwar era, leaders such as Castañeda continued to advocate for federal assistance, as state-level remedies lacked the protection of the federal government and often participation from community leaders. Conclusion • 121 The response of the FePC to people of Mexican origin was initiated by Mexican american civil rights leaders supported by Malcolm ross’s national leadership. They shaped a framework grounded in appeals to hemispheric solidarity with appeals to wartime and citizenship. They were good citizens seeking to have their country be a good neighbor by combating discrimination against people of Mexican origin. The key person in this struggle was the political entrepreneur, Carlos Castañeda. in a decade, Carlos Castañeda went from an immigrant struggling to obtain his american citizenship amid the repatriations of the early 1930s to a federal government official organizing the FePC’s efforts to combat discrimination against people of Mexican origin. The leadership opportunities of the FePC helped Mexican american civil rights leaders imagine the ways in which federal intervention could improve opportunities for people of Mexican origin. The leaders also realized that these policy instruments needed community-based leadership. a lack of direct involvement and authority hampered the Texas good neighbor Commission. People of Mexican origin have traditionally been characterized as aliens in american society, as a cheap labor supply to be imported and exported at will. The FePC and the origins of civil rights policy gave Mexican american civil rights leaders a new way of talking about themselves and seeking state assistance. Federal intervention emerged as the most promising method for real substantive improvement in the lives of people of Mexican origin. Mexican american civil rights leaders constructed themselves as americans of Mexican origin, entitled to protection by a federal government committed to the ideals of democracy. The civil rights movement of the 1960s was traditionally seen as dismissing the “Mexican american” generation for their embrace of whiteness and assimilation. recent scholars, including Cynthia orozco, have challenged these older claims, and the leaders profiled in this book paint a different picture. The shift by Castañeda and his associates from seeking assimilation on the basis of whiteness to supporting federal civil rights policy should not be minimized. This change in strategy was part of a greater embrace of federal intervention. Craig Kaplowitz chronicled this shift by noting that the new Deal, World War ii, and the g.i. Bill had increased a new generation of leaders’ faith in the national government. Funding during the Depression for projects in the barrios and civil rights talk in the midst of the Cold War had convinced many in and outside of lUlaC that the path to improvement lay in voting, winning elections, and getting appointed to influential positions in the policy making bureaucracy.1 122 • ChaPTer 7 Mexican american civil rights leaders were gradually moving toward seeking political power. Positive interactions with the american...