In 1967, Reies Lopez Tijerina led an armed takeover of a New Mexico courthouse in the name of land rights for disenfranchised Spanish-speaking locals. The small-scale raid surprisingly thrust Tijerina and his cause into the national spotlight, catalyzing an entire generation of activists. The actions of Tijerina and his group, the Alianza Federal de Mercedes (the Federal Alliance of Land Grants), demanded that Americans attend to an overlooked part of the country's history: the United States was an aggressive empire that had conquered and colonized the Southwest and subsequently wrenched land away from border people—Mexicans and Native Americans alike. To many young Mexican American activists at the time, Tijerina and the Alianza offered a compelling and militant alternative to the nonviolence of Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr. Tijerina's place at the table among the nation's leading civil rights activists was short-lived, but his analysis of land dispossession and his prophetic zeal for the rights of his people was essential to the creation of the Chicano movement. This fascinating full biography of Tijerina (1926–2015) offers a fresh and unvarnished look at one of the most controversial, criticized, and misunderstood activists of the civil rights era. Basing her work on painstaking archival research and new interviews with key participants in Tijerina's life and career, Lorena Oropeza traces the origins of Tijerina's revelatory historical analysis to the years he spent as a Pentecostal preacher and his hidden past as a self-proclaimed prophet of God. Confronting allegations of anti-Semitism and accusations of sexual abuse, as well as evidence of extreme religiosity and possible mental illness, Oropeza's narrative captures the life of a man--alternately mesmerizing and repellant--who changed our understanding of the American West and the place of Latinos in the fabric of American struggles for equality and self-determination.
A fascinating and beautifully argued interpretation of how the American war in Southeast Asia affected Chicano communities. The author provides the most complete and well-documented study to date of this important chapter in U.S. history and its impact on an ethnic group with long-standing traditions of military service, assimilation, and resistance to injustice. Oropeza's book is what students of the Chicano Movement, especially the Mexican American role in antiwar activities during the Vietnam War period, have been waiting for."—George Mariscal, author of Aztlán and Viet Nam: Chicano and Chicana Experiences of the War "¡Raza Sí! ¡Guerra No! is a superb first book. Maintaining a balance between national context and the activism in the every day, Lorena Oropeza seeks to understand and contextualize antiwar activism among a generation of Mexican American youth. Bolstered with an array of archival sources and oral interviews, she carefully delineates the nature of political organizing among Mexican Americans across the Southwest. To her credit, Oropeza avoids a narrative of solidarity as she interrogates the internal messiness and contradictions of movement politics and the result is a finely nuanced interpretation of Chicano youth rebellion, one rooted firmly in ‘the politics of confrontation.’ I highly recommend it!"—Vicki L. Ruiz, University of California, Irvine "With this important study, Lorena Oropeza grapples with some of the central questions in the history of ethnic Mexicans in the United States. Although the central thrust of the work is an exploration of the evolution, political trajectory, and eventual implosion of the Chicano mobilization against war in Viet Nam, the study is ultimately a meditation on much larger questions involving Mexican American's political and cultural orientations, loyalties, and sense of status and place in American society. In these unsettled times, Oropeza's analysis of the relationship between war, citizenship, and masculinity should also contribute a much-needed reassessment of these important issues in contemporary American and Mexican life."—David G. Gutiérrez, author of Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity
Sometimes falling is a way of learning how to fly.. This autobiographic novel tells the saga of the experiences of a woman that we must call “invulnerable”. Since she was born confronted adversity, abuse, harassment… She has survived situations of unfathomable danger. Whoever reads this novel, will cry, suffer and experience the extreme fear that the protagonist felt and suffered, and together with her, will experience the catharsis and the healing that comes with having touched bottom and said: “I cannot take it any longer…” Well, this woman did…, she faced life and continued growing. This story is a story of search, of overcoming adversity and of an indubitable growth towards wholeness. It is a story that shows the will and strength of a woman that still has a sweet and funny naivety about her; for that reason, she will make us laugh sometimes. Chapter by chapter she shows her growth process to reveal an extraordinary woman whose process is due to her faith, her work, and very definitely her audacity… Take Lorena D’LaTorre’s hand and take on this saga with her; you will be surprised by the strength, the prowess and valor of this woman.
In 1967, Reies Lopez Tijerina led an armed takeover of a New Mexico courthouse in the name of land rights for disenfranchised Spanish-speaking locals. The small-scale raid surprisingly thrust Tijerina and his cause into the national spotlight, catalyzing an entire generation of activists. The actions of Tijerina and his group, the Alianza Federal de Mercedes (the Federal Alliance of Land Grants), demanded that Americans attend to an overlooked part of the country's history: the United States was an aggressive empire that had conquered and colonized the Southwest and subsequently wrenched land away from border people—Mexicans and Native Americans alike. To many young Mexican American activists at the time, Tijerina and the Alianza offered a compelling and militant alternative to the nonviolence of Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr. Tijerina's place at the table among the nation's leading civil rights activists was short-lived, but his analysis of land dispossession and his prophetic zeal for the rights of his people was essential to the creation of the Chicano movement. This fascinating full biography of Tijerina (1926–2015) offers a fresh and unvarnished look at one of the most controversial, criticized, and misunderstood activists of the civil rights era. Basing her work on painstaking archival research and new interviews with key participants in Tijerina's life and career, Lorena Oropeza traces the origins of Tijerina's revelatory historical analysis to the years he spent as a Pentecostal preacher and his hidden past as a self-proclaimed prophet of God. Confronting allegations of anti-Semitism and accusations of sexual abuse, as well as evidence of extreme religiosity and possible mental illness, Oropeza's narrative captures the life of a man--alternately mesmerizing and repellant--who changed our understanding of the American West and the place of Latinos in the fabric of American struggles for equality and self-determination.
This incisive and elegantly written examination of Chicano antiwar mobilization demonstrates how the pivotal experience of activism during the Viet Nam War era played itself out among Mexican Americans. ¡Raza Sí! ¡Guerra No! presents an engaging portrait of Chicano protest and patriotism. On a deeper level, the book considers larger themes of American nationalism and citizenship and the role of minorities in the military service, themes that remain pertinent today. Lorena Oropeza's exploration of the evolution, political trajectory, and eventual implosion of the Chicano campaign against the war in Viet Nam encompasses a fascinating meditation on Mexican Americans' political and cultural orientations, loyalties, and sense of status and place in American society.
La Gente traces the rise of the Chicana/o Movement in Sacramento and the role of everyday people in galvanizing a collective to seek lasting and transformative change during the 1960s and 1970s. In their efforts to be self-determined, la gente contested multiple forms of oppression at school, at work sites, and in their communities. Though diverse in their cultural and generational backgrounds, la gente were constantly negotiating acts of resistance, especially when their lives, the lives of their children, their livelihoods, or their households were at risk. Historian Lorena V. Márquez documents early community interventions to challenge the prevailing notions of desegregation by barrio residents, providing a look at one of the first cases of outright resistance to desegregation efforts by ethnic Mexicans. She also shares the story of workers in the Sacramento area who initiated and won the first legal victory against canneries for discriminating against brown and black workers and women, and demonstrates how the community crossed ethnic barriers when it established the first accredited Chicana/o and Native American community college in the nation. Márquez shows that the Chicana/o Movement was not solely limited to a handful of organizations or charismatic leaders. Rather, it encouraged those that were the most marginalized—the working poor, immigrants and/or the undocumented, and the undereducated—to fight for their rights on the premise that they too were contributing and deserving members of society.
Written by a native daughter of the Visayas, Philippines, in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan's devastation of the Philippines, this touching memoir tells the story of what it was like growing up in the tiny fishing village of Guinob-an, in Eastern Samar, Philippines during the 1970's when there was no electricity, no running water and people lived a simple, beautiful life of fishing and coconut farming. The youngest of twelve children and the daughter of a native fisherman, Lorena Llevado raced down to the beach every day to meet her father when he would return from fishing; she walked with her mother up into the jungle to the family coconut plot; she would clamber into guava trees on the forty-five minute walk to school to gather her snacks for the day. Life turned adventurous when the war between the Philippine military and communist insurgents came to town, forcing the family to evacuate to remote Homonhon island where they lived off the sea and land for a year. The book is a treasure of detailed, emotionally charged memories of a way of life that should be remembered with delight.
Although empirical evidence indicates that HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions) are making some progress in recognizing that enhancing the racial and cultural experiences of Latino/a/x students, “Latinx-enhancing” is part of their role as institutions that enroll and serve large numbers of minoritize students (Garcia, 2019), there are still institutional gaps on prioritizing opportunities for Latino/a/x students to engage in leadership development. Latino/a/x students often rely on informal out-of-college support systems found in their community-- comunidad, such as family and peers to thrive within college (Ceballo, 2004; Easley, et al, 2012), it is important to assist them in their development and implementation of strengths-based problem-solving communication approach (Guerra, 2015, 2016). ENDORSEMENTS: "This book is valuable to scholars and practitioners of higher education, especially those at minority-serving institutions invested in culturally relevant approaches to student success and asset-based development—particularly in relation to Latinx students and communities. Overall, the book paints a beautiful portrait of culturally responsive leadership that is rooted in partnership with the students we serve." — Christian A. Bracho, California State University, Long Beach "The manuscript presents a perspective that has been untapped at HSIs- the student, student leadership and the student advocacy that is required to improve and intentionally influence HSI development. To date, no other work has been developed that addresses the role of the student in growth and servingness at HSIs." — Paloma Vargas, Oxnard College
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