What is the word Chicano?

    The word Chicano involves more than just a cultural identification. There has been a continuity of a discussion of its origins, it meanings, its purpose and its affirmations throughout generations. Through oral histories, scattered essays/political pamphlets, Chicano studies courses and personal relationships, I have evolved my usage of the word Chicano, as many in history have. Through experience I have learned that social, geographical and economical elements have twisted and turned the meaning according to the moral judgments of the class or national origin.

    In this essay, I have connected my knowledge and my life as a Xicana to the word Chicano. I did this in order to illustrate the assignment's topic, in that outside factors have a significant effect on the usage and definition of a word. I will refer to the term Chicano to identify both Chicanos and Chicanas, in Spanish the masculine usage of a word is preferred in order to indicate both the masculine and the feminine. The usage of the "X" instead of the "Ch" will be covered later, but Chicano and Xicano are the same words pronounced, however signifies something different in written language.

    The term Chicano has signified something entirely different from before the age of thirteen and now. I had considered myself a Chicana, because that is what my mother and father had identified themselves as. The term for me was interchangeable with another term, Mexican-American. It wasn't until a mentor of mine provided me with a history of the word Chicano that I became proud of the term by which I identified myself with. He asked me, "Lisa why do you consider yourself a Chicana?" My answer was a simple, "because I am Mexican-American." He proceeded to tell me the history of this word and its connection to a political ideology.
    To explain what I learned that day and what I've learned since that day can be summed up in a quote by Ruben Salazar in an essay he wrote called "What is a Chicano? And what is it Chicanos want?" He states within the article, "A Chicano is a Mexican American with a non-Anglo image of himself." During the 1960's American society was influenced by movements that were fighting the political and social injustices of the time. The Chicano movement was no exception. During this time there were visible signs of "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed" as well as a general sentiment of segregation based on racial and economic class. As the movement started to progress in the Chicano (or Mexican-American) community, identifying with the term Chicano became more widely accepted. Chicanos felt that as a nation, the history has had some significant Chicano influence that also needed to be recognized and taught within our school system. They also felt that the institutions that let this country function like law enforcement, government and education, were set up to systematically work against the Chicano. This was their way to identify themselves with the struggle against such entities.

    My uncle first told me a story about the origins of the word Chicano with the prime intent on steering me away from using the word to identify myself. He said to me that Mexicans joke about the history of the word Chicano through this story. In Mexico there has existed for long time a small population of peoples of Asian decent, primarily from Japanese decent. In Spanish the word for pig is Cochinitos, and after time the word became shortened, and Mexican farmers started to use the name chinito to refer to a pig. Chinito is also used to refer to people of Asian ancestry, primarily rooting from the term Chinamen which is Chino. Adding the "-into" at the end of Chino is slang to reference to something smaller than the original noun. Naturally the Asian-Mexican farmers became very offended by the connotation that their race was pig like. It is said that a Chinito refuted the Mexican slang term by calling his pigs Chicano which is a variation of the indigenous term Mexicano (Mê-she-kan-o). After hearing this story my uncle reaffirmed a point that was trying to be made: the word Chicano means pig. In Mexico, many Mexicans believe that the word Chicano is an ugly term to use when identifying one's cultural background. Chicano signifies a lower class of the Mexican. Those that are dirty or indigenous, two synonymous terms to Mexicans. Mexicans have felt that Chicanos are nothing more then sell-outs and traitors to their country of origin. Chicanos are affiliated with US born individuals that have roots in Mexico. These US born individuals have no sense of their Mexican culture, do not know the Spanish language and are a "disgrace" because their lack of knowledge of the history of the land that their parents come from. In regards to the history of Mexico, the most elite and purest Spanish blood held themselves in higher esteem then those with indigenous blood since the colonizer's mentality first plagued the soils of the Americas. Those that were of pure Spanish blood would consider themselves Casitllano, which would indicate their superiority as well as their economic class. Those that were mixed with indigenous blood were referred to as Mestizo, just a class up from the indigenous populations. Mestizo has roots in the indigenous culture, however was appropriated to Spanish language as well. The closer you got to indigenous terminology the more you were deemed of a lower class or altogether nonexistent to society.

    Another reason my uncle steered me away from using the word Chicano was its gang affiliation. In the 1940's, the word Chicano seemed to spring up out of very impoverished areas of Mexican-American neighborhoods known as Barrios. Mexicans, as well as US culture connected the word Chicano with another term called Pachucos, or zoot suiters. The Pachucho (a word that also has indigenous roots within the Mexica language Nahuatl) were known for their violent and drug-related activities. They would be today's Cholos or gang-bangers, however even though the gang culture has evolved from Pachuco to Cholo, the individuals immersed in this culture are still considered Chicano. Nonetheless, because of this affiliation, the word Chicano sparks up images of lowriders, prison life, tattoos, dickies, and other signifying cultural aspects of both the Pachuco and the Cholo.

    There is something important to consider before moving forward with an understanding of Chicano. Some of the items I've covered so far is that Chicano/Xicano has affiliations with: 1) a poor economic class, 2) political/social movements, and 3) it is also associated with a criminal social group of people that are marginalized or altogether ignored. However what has not been explicated very well is Chicano/Xicano as an indigenous term.

    The country of Mexico is named after an indigenous tribe called the Mexica (pronounced Mê-she-ka), that we know as the Aztecs. The Aztecs/Mexicas, along with the Chicimecas, the Mayans, the Incas, the Toltecs, and many others, were the nations that existed in Mesoamerica pre-colonial times. Mesoamerica is known as the region of Central America and the Southwest part of the United States (vaguely). The original inhabitants of Mexico became known as the Mexicano after the appropriation of Spanish masculinity to this term, which in English means Mexican. In one version, as mentioned in the story my uncle told me is the word Chicano (She-kan-o)is a shorter variation of the word. The Mexica, the Mexicano (Mê-she-kan-o), were the nation that controlled Tenochitlan, which is now Mexico city before the arrival of the Spanish. During the colonization period the term Mexicano not only developed with "ano" at the end but with a Spanish variation of how it was pronounced. The Spanish pronounced the "x" with a "ha" sound. So Mexicano became Mejicano in Spanish pronunciation, and in English the "x" became the English pronunciation. The Mexica/Aztecs used a language known throughout Mesoamerica as Nahuatl. The original pronunciation of the "x" in Nahuatl was with a "ch" sound, however this never carried over, other than through the streams of oral history and other salvaged codex (indigenous scribes recovered during the colonial period of the way of life of the Mexica/Aztecs).

    So why not just identify with the term Mexicano (Mê-she-kan-o)? Young Mexicans needed a way to signify their US experience as well as make a statement about their political and social ideologies of resistance and reaffirmation with their indigenous roots. Through oral history Chicanos came to accept that the term Chicano, spelled with an X, was actually a term used by the Mexica to refer to their children. To call oneself Xicano was to call yourself a child of the Mexica. Therefore, you claimed your indigenous roots and at the same time recognized that you did not fully understand the culture because of the loss through colonization.

    In 1969, students from across the southwest and northwest part of this nation came together in a conference in order to establish a political entity that could mobilize these ideologies. Out of the conference came a well known organization called M.E.Ch.A. (Movimento Estudiantil Chicanos de Aztlan, The Chicano Student Movement from Aztlan-Aztlan being the Mexica nation before the colonization period). They produced a political document by which all the organization's efforts should be based off of. The document was entitled "El Plan de Santa Barabara." In the document it talks about the political consciousness, this an excerpt from the actual document itself.
    "Commitment to the struggle for Chicano liberation is the operative definition of the ideology used here. Chicanismo involves a crucial distinction in the political consciousness between a Mexican American (or Hispanic) and a Chicano mentality…Chicanismo is a concept that integrates self-awareness with cultural identity, a necessary step in developing political consciousness. As such, it serves as a basis for political action…"

    To end this essay with a quote from an organization that has developed my understanding of the word Chicano and exposed me to enriching circles that reaffirm my indigenous roots was only appropriate. The word has evolved from a cultural identifier to a daily affirmation of my indigenous roots and history. To call myself Xicana has meant something different for a Chicana in 1969, its political and social contexts have changed with the evolution of struggles that we are consistently submerged in under a society with a colonizer's mentality still present. The influencing outside elements that signify the meaning of this word have also helped shape this word to mean something different today then it did 40 years ago. Without prolonging this essay further, the word is evolutionary, yet still maintains it defiant basis, as it will always.