Chicano Rights Movement

We have been learning about the Chicano Rights Movement and how it affected the last 5 decades. We have learned about the United Farm workers movement and we also have learned about the Chicano movement for a better education and equal civil rights. I learned the vital roles that Cesar Chavez and Corky Gonzalez played in the movement but I also learned how vital women like Delores Huerta were in the success of the Chicano movement. The question you asked the class about are we Latinos on this campus content with the way everything in this community and the surrounding area. I began to think about that question really hard and I don’t know why we are content with the way things are going because we are still paying more for college than other college students in other states and we are still facing racism like a local bartender throwing out a Latino male for speaking Spanish. The other bars/clubs like Uptown and Sky Bar have dress codes that are biased towards certain ethnic groups. But yet we still use these facilities because we are content? Or is it because we fear the repressive state apparatuses like the Bowling Green Police Department? I think that it has to do with Latinos in this generation being duped in believing that we are equal and that we are Americans, and they give us that sense that we are better than our Latino brothers and sisters from our actual homelands and they want those people to believe that we think we are better so that keeps us divided and content with being an American when it is beneficial to America. The same question you brought up about why we are not picketing in front of establishments like uptown are the same thoughts that I have but I think to many people in LSU fear what might happen, they say they don’t feel that it has reached that level yet but I think it needs to reach that level if we ever want to end racist dress code profiling that certain clubs in Bowling Green use. I know the big argument that these club owners and staff use to justify the dress code policy is safety, but I don’t know how my safety can be threatened by someone’s hat being slanted to the side or by someone who is wearing a white T-shirt, if they want to ensure safety than they need to install a metal detector and throw this racial profiling out the window. When I see the videos and I see the people out there protesting what they feel isn’t right I feel proud and I also question the things that we could protest that we don’t. We try one night marches and what not but we haven’t done anything that has taken notice by the city, I think in order for the protest to be successful you have to stir the pot get the Polices attention and the peoples attention you can get peoples attention by protesting until you do not just for a couple hours. The things that we are doing right now is we are going to these clubs purposely dressed against their dress code and seeing if it is race that plays an issue. We are documenting what each person was wearing with a written description and photo along with what clubs let them in and what clubs did not let them in. I think this is good to have a record of events and what not but I don’t feel that the owner of Uptown is going to care with these results as much as he would if we were outside protesting and getting people to go to another club I think the only way to get the owners attention would be his club empty on a weekend night. Like I stated before I think that a few people have thought about these methods but no one has stepped up to lead in protesting because of the fear. Fear of getting in trouble with the law, fear of not having the support of your people, or the fear of being labeled a terrorist. All in all I think that just maybe the government has been successful in forming us to be the humble and content spics that the government wants in society today.