I am Chicano

I am Joaquín, lost in a world of confusion, 
caught up in the whirl of a gringo society, 
confused by the rules, scorned by attitudes, 
suppressed by manipulation, and destroyed by modern society.

These words are engraved in my skull, not through historical text, but through experience. One needs not to look into the historical textbooks for slavery, for oppression, for systematic inferiority of people; one only needs to observe the world around us. Slavery has adapted to the 21^st century. No longer are blacks exploited in the fields of Virginia, no longer are blacks hung from light posts, but the brown skin people in the Fresno Strawberry fields are still there, working under inhuman conditions. 

I am lost torn between the atrocious events of the past perpetuated on my people, the slaughter of my kin, the exploitation of my fathers, mothers, brothers and the realization that I love America. I am a new breed of people, I am Chicano. Chicano entitles a person of moral conscious as well as a human being who is willing to forgive the past. We as Mechistas need to move the nation in the right direction, instead of blaming the decedents of the Anglo for past events we need to unite the people. We Chicanos bleed, cry, love the same way as Blacks, as Asians as Anglos, we are all part of the human race.

What exactly means to be Chicano? Is it a nationality, cultural, or ethnicity issue? I know some generalize Mexican-Americans as Chicanos, while others derive the word for Mechica ancestry, to me the word goes beyond any cultural, it’s so much greater than just a nation or an ethnicity. Chicano is an idea of person who fights against injustices where ever they may arrive, morally. Not by the code implemented by the mainstream media, but by his/her values, a Chicano is not willing, nor should he compromise his pledge to the world.

We live in tumultuous times, where morality, justice, fairness, courage are taken as words, but to a Chicano they are perspectives. We act on our convictions; we face the challenge straight on using or mind and bodies in unity. A Chicano loves mother Earth, for she has given us life, given us the ability to love, given us the ability to think, she has provide the tools to mold the world as he see fit. A Chicano must always remember his past, but live with no anger, guilt, or reproaches for the past, we must live here and now. The past can’t be change. The Future is on our hands. Chicanos unite as one, for a long and arduous battle for justice awaits us.