Toward an Evolutionary Theory for Mexican American Liberation
By Armando Rendón
In a presentation titled, Organizing, Ernesto Mireles* recalls the idea that every successful revolution requires a revolutionary theory. I would like to throw out for discussion the notion that within the overall concept of a Blueprint for the next 50 years, we are committing ourselves to conceiving an evolutionary theory which may lead to the liberation of Mexican Americans and thus generate an evolutionary process for social justice within the United States.
We expect the U.S. to become different over the next half century; every social organism now existing will certainly change or adapt to social, scientific and technological advances, which are occurring as we deliberate our own future as a people. What will be the nature of a “Chicanan revolution?” Would a “theory” drive the kinds of changes we expect to happen among Mexican Americans? Or, must we instead redefine for ourselves the nature of our social evolution, in parallel with an evolution of the country, driven by real, political and economic forces that are inevitable as against theoretical ones?
Our evolution will become manifest when we embrace our indigenous origins, and align ourselves with the other native peoples in the U.S. and the rest of the Americas. We are not Hispanic, Latino or Spanish. Those designations have been imposed on us, but they are meaningless. When have any of us acted or thought as people of Hispanic or Latino origin? Still, we have to re-examine our nature and figure out the consequences of not just thinking it but being indigenous. Our future depends on understanding our indigenous nature; the European influences are essential in terms of distinctive facets of who we are, but we’ve moved beyond that plane. As I suggest, we are evolving.
We have an understanding and acceptance of the fundamental democratic principles of the U.S., its Constitution and Bill of Rights and its overall system of governance. We can argue over specific areas where we might not meet eye to eye, but in terms of the broad makeup of the society, we Mexican Americans are very much Americanized in regard to democratic principles. We don’t want to overthrow the basic principles of the American system of governance; we want to help ensure the ideal matures into a reality that can serve all peoples. You can quote me: I said as much in Chicano Manifesto nearly 50 years ago. “It is this mixed heritage that has thrust the Chicano into a nationwide movement, a national search, individual by individual, to reassess our role as Mexican Americans and to achieve fully the guarantees of the U. S. Constitution and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.” (Macmillan, 1971, pg. 4)
Yet, the notion that a revolutionary theory is needed for a successful social revolution may also suggest a parallel for a movement such as ours which is still a people’s movement, that is, that a social evolution requires an evolutionary theory. I believe that the Blueprint entails such an approach. It’s not a manifesto for action, but rather a recognition that certain forces are at work which we as a people must address for our own survival within a broader system of evolutionary change—at a societal level—and in which at present we play a minor role.
The Blueprint posits that due to vast demographic changes and shifts in political and social interactions the burden of carrying forward this social experiment called the USA will more and more fall to what are now labeled as minorities, notably the Mexican American people because of our population growth both from births and immigration. It is easy to relate the growing hate crimes by white supremacists to a nationalist trend that seeks to retain white privilege, literally white control of the nation. To such individuals, a short focal lens does not allow them see the details in the more distant field of vision when they will have to come to terms with those larger forces that are in motion. We Mexican Americans must also recognize that the future must be fashioned in a way that we avoid the shortcomings of the past. Specifically, we must not allow a different form, or color, of supremacism to replace another.
On this point, in building a successful evolutionary theory, we need to define a number of factors, starting I suggest with the nature of the liberation we seek. I believe that our liberation is defined by the national goals we set for ourselves—the context is our present status as a nation within a nation. The fact is that we don’t have national goals. The Blueprint is the guidebook, so to speak, for us to begin to list what it is that we as a people, as Mexican Americans, intend to accomplish within the timeframe of the next two, five, 10, 20… 50 years.
My underlying reason for putting forth the Blueprint, which I’ve stated in print and public comment, is so that at the end of this coming half century cycle, the Mexican Americans who are left, if any, don’t look back and wonder, complain, “Why didn’t they do something, why are we still facing the same problems, why are we powerless, voiceless, nameless?” In other words, echo the same questions we are speaking today.
Let me suggest one freedom we should address and understand for what it really entails: liberation. Liberation from what? Are we in chains? Can we not travel where we wish in this country? Are all doors to opportunity for education, jobs and personal development closed to us?
Technically, no. Gone are the signs—Mexicans and Dogs Not Allowed, the de jure system that enforced segregation, discrimination, and violence against us through all the decades following the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and we have leaders and celebrities in most sectors of the society. But do we, Mexican Americans, have the liberty to determine our own future, do we know what we can be, can we assure an ever-evolving advancement for our children, can we be sure that a Mexican American culture and history survive and thrive at least for the next half century?
There still remain barriers to opportunity and advancement: systemic racism, white supremacism, which is the source of violence against Mexican American and Latinos in general, and a pervading aversion among many white Americans to “others,” much of which derives from elected officials, bigoted religious leaders, and the everyday encounter with racist individuals voicing a hateful arrogance toward brown people.
Other internal barriers persist within our own community. A lack of self-esteem, the residue of generations of colonized mentalities, the internalized racism toward our own relations of indigenous origin, an inculcated self-loathing resulting in racist tendencies among ourselves, even within families, as displayed in preference for the lighter-skinned child, and so on.
What a relief, or liberation, it would be to rid ourselves of these long-held attitudes, which have burdened our people with externally imposed and sometimes internally inflicted self-degradation and views which have ended up in our suppressing our own children and family members, for example, youth seeking to better themselves through education but never getting the chance for any of the reasons I mention above. As a child, growing up in San Antonio, Texas, in the Westside barrio, I heard someone in my family say, when talking about a friend or neighbor who had done something wild or crazy,“Se le salió el indio!” It was the Indian in him that made him do it. In a way, the phrase recognized our native roots, but denigrated them at the same time.
In regard to these and other aspects of group self-awareness, we need to establish some operational goals: e.g.,
Ernesto posits the existence of an indigenous philosophy, which I believe exists but needs to be explored with regard to our world view. Forming a world view from the standpoint of our indigenous origins and many common psychological and cultural experiences would move us forward. A “common vocabulary” to which Ernesto refers suggests a means of communicating ideas and insights among native peoples in the Americas. What are the underlying concepts of an indigenous philosophy or is this a goal toward which we must collaborate with the other native peoples to evolve? **
A growing group of Chicanan professors from throughout the U.S. have formed the Society for Mexican American Philosophy. This is a group we need to add to the list of alliances we have to create; their scholarly approach to the whole question of founding a philosophical base to the goals of the Blueprint think-tank can be a vital addition to our efforts.
It seems an irony to me that we Mexican Americans will inherit along with other “peoples of color” a system of government which was founded as a white nationalist institution, which has discriminated and oppressed the indigenous peoples of the Americas for the sole benefit of white society. The truth is that the present system of government and laws has been reached in spite of its white nationalist origins because of the “minority peoples” re-enforcing at every juncture in our history a more generous democratic society because we have made the nation abide by its own laws under the Constitution. This is one reason that the situation in the U.S. at this time can be viewed from one standpoint as an aberration, but also an inevitable convulsion by the remnants of white nationalist origins. What else could the term, “Manifest Destiny,” mean, but the belief among the whites who pillaged this country and decimated the peoples already living here that they could do so by divine decree? There must be millions who still believe in an imprimatur that blesses their ideas and actions.
Thus, I urge that we recognize that Mexican Americans are evolving, that we are moving away from a mindset cast in an obsolete notion that our mestizaje is our nature and strength when in fact it is our indigeneity, our being Indian that will take us into the future, and that it is our destiny to play a larger role in the evolution of American society than we could have ever dreamed.
Ysidro Macias, The Compassion of the Feathered Serpent, A Chicano Worldview. Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2013.
Armando Rendón
November 18, 2019
In a presentation titled, Organizing, Ernesto Mireles* recalls the idea that every successful revolution requires a revolutionary theory. I would like to throw out for discussion the notion that within the overall concept of a Blueprint for the next 50 years, we are committing ourselves to conceiving an evolutionary theory which may lead to the liberation of Mexican Americans and thus generate an evolutionary process for social justice within the United States.
We expect the U.S. to become different over the next half century; every social organism now existing will certainly change or adapt to social, scientific and technological advances, which are occurring as we deliberate our own future as a people. What will be the nature of a “Chicanan revolution?” Would a “theory” drive the kinds of changes we expect to happen among Mexican Americans? Or, must we instead redefine for ourselves the nature of our social evolution, in parallel with an evolution of the country, driven by real, political and economic forces that are inevitable as against theoretical ones?
Our evolution will become manifest when we embrace our indigenous origins, and align ourselves with the other native peoples in the U.S. and the rest of the Americas. We are not Hispanic, Latino or Spanish. Those designations have been imposed on us, but they are meaningless. When have any of us acted or thought as people of Hispanic or Latino origin? Still, we have to re-examine our nature and figure out the consequences of not just thinking it but being indigenous. Our future depends on understanding our indigenous nature; the European influences are essential in terms of distinctive facets of who we are, but we’ve moved beyond that plane. As I suggest, we are evolving.
We have an understanding and acceptance of the fundamental democratic principles of the U.S., its Constitution and Bill of Rights and its overall system of governance. We can argue over specific areas where we might not meet eye to eye, but in terms of the broad makeup of the society, we Mexican Americans are very much Americanized in regard to democratic principles. We don’t want to overthrow the basic principles of the American system of governance; we want to help ensure the ideal matures into a reality that can serve all peoples. You can quote me: I said as much in Chicano Manifesto nearly 50 years ago. “It is this mixed heritage that has thrust the Chicano into a nationwide movement, a national search, individual by individual, to reassess our role as Mexican Americans and to achieve fully the guarantees of the U. S. Constitution and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.” (Macmillan, 1971, pg. 4)
Yet, the notion that a revolutionary theory is needed for a successful social revolution may also suggest a parallel for a movement such as ours which is still a people’s movement, that is, that a social evolution requires an evolutionary theory. I believe that the Blueprint entails such an approach. It’s not a manifesto for action, but rather a recognition that certain forces are at work which we as a people must address for our own survival within a broader system of evolutionary change—at a societal level—and in which at present we play a minor role.
The Blueprint posits that due to vast demographic changes and shifts in political and social interactions the burden of carrying forward this social experiment called the USA will more and more fall to what are now labeled as minorities, notably the Mexican American people because of our population growth both from births and immigration. It is easy to relate the growing hate crimes by white supremacists to a nationalist trend that seeks to retain white privilege, literally white control of the nation. To such individuals, a short focal lens does not allow them see the details in the more distant field of vision when they will have to come to terms with those larger forces that are in motion. We Mexican Americans must also recognize that the future must be fashioned in a way that we avoid the shortcomings of the past. Specifically, we must not allow a different form, or color, of supremacism to replace another.
On this point, in building a successful evolutionary theory, we need to define a number of factors, starting I suggest with the nature of the liberation we seek. I believe that our liberation is defined by the national goals we set for ourselves—the context is our present status as a nation within a nation. The fact is that we don’t have national goals. The Blueprint is the guidebook, so to speak, for us to begin to list what it is that we as a people, as Mexican Americans, intend to accomplish within the timeframe of the next two, five, 10, 20… 50 years.
My underlying reason for putting forth the Blueprint, which I’ve stated in print and public comment, is so that at the end of this coming half century cycle, the Mexican Americans who are left, if any, don’t look back and wonder, complain, “Why didn’t they do something, why are we still facing the same problems, why are we powerless, voiceless, nameless?” In other words, echo the same questions we are speaking today.
Let me suggest one freedom we should address and understand for what it really entails: liberation. Liberation from what? Are we in chains? Can we not travel where we wish in this country? Are all doors to opportunity for education, jobs and personal development closed to us?
Technically, no. Gone are the signs—Mexicans and Dogs Not Allowed, the de jure system that enforced segregation, discrimination, and violence against us through all the decades following the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and we have leaders and celebrities in most sectors of the society. But do we, Mexican Americans, have the liberty to determine our own future, do we know what we can be, can we assure an ever-evolving advancement for our children, can we be sure that a Mexican American culture and history survive and thrive at least for the next half century?
There still remain barriers to opportunity and advancement: systemic racism, white supremacism, which is the source of violence against Mexican American and Latinos in general, and a pervading aversion among many white Americans to “others,” much of which derives from elected officials, bigoted religious leaders, and the everyday encounter with racist individuals voicing a hateful arrogance toward brown people.
Other internal barriers persist within our own community. A lack of self-esteem, the residue of generations of colonized mentalities, the internalized racism toward our own relations of indigenous origin, an inculcated self-loathing resulting in racist tendencies among ourselves, even within families, as displayed in preference for the lighter-skinned child, and so on.
What a relief, or liberation, it would be to rid ourselves of these long-held attitudes, which have burdened our people with externally imposed and sometimes internally inflicted self-degradation and views which have ended up in our suppressing our own children and family members, for example, youth seeking to better themselves through education but never getting the chance for any of the reasons I mention above. As a child, growing up in San Antonio, Texas, in the Westside barrio, I heard someone in my family say, when talking about a friend or neighbor who had done something wild or crazy,“Se le salió el indio!” It was the Indian in him that made him do it. In a way, the phrase recognized our native roots, but denigrated them at the same time.
In regard to these and other aspects of group self-awareness, we need to establish some operational goals: e.g.,
- Gather findings of research on identity, on internalized racist and bigoted attitudes among Mexican Americans;
- Amass data and research findings about the social, cultural and political activities by Chicanan and Latino organizations;
- Analyze the elements for success vs failure of organizations involved in a wide range of community development, political action, health services, housing improvement, etc.
- Research and analyze the nature and rationale for achievement of power/control by state, corporate and organizational bodies.
- Determine how the Blueprint think tank can compare and track these various elements for the benefit of the Mexican American community.
Ernesto posits the existence of an indigenous philosophy, which I believe exists but needs to be explored with regard to our world view. Forming a world view from the standpoint of our indigenous origins and many common psychological and cultural experiences would move us forward. A “common vocabulary” to which Ernesto refers suggests a means of communicating ideas and insights among native peoples in the Americas. What are the underlying concepts of an indigenous philosophy or is this a goal toward which we must collaborate with the other native peoples to evolve? **
A growing group of Chicanan professors from throughout the U.S. have formed the Society for Mexican American Philosophy. This is a group we need to add to the list of alliances we have to create; their scholarly approach to the whole question of founding a philosophical base to the goals of the Blueprint think-tank can be a vital addition to our efforts.
It seems an irony to me that we Mexican Americans will inherit along with other “peoples of color” a system of government which was founded as a white nationalist institution, which has discriminated and oppressed the indigenous peoples of the Americas for the sole benefit of white society. The truth is that the present system of government and laws has been reached in spite of its white nationalist origins because of the “minority peoples” re-enforcing at every juncture in our history a more generous democratic society because we have made the nation abide by its own laws under the Constitution. This is one reason that the situation in the U.S. at this time can be viewed from one standpoint as an aberration, but also an inevitable convulsion by the remnants of white nationalist origins. What else could the term, “Manifest Destiny,” mean, but the belief among the whites who pillaged this country and decimated the peoples already living here that they could do so by divine decree? There must be millions who still believe in an imprimatur that blesses their ideas and actions.
Thus, I urge that we recognize that Mexican Americans are evolving, that we are moving away from a mindset cast in an obsolete notion that our mestizaje is our nature and strength when in fact it is our indigeneity, our being Indian that will take us into the future, and that it is our destiny to play a larger role in the evolution of American society than we could have ever dreamed.
- Ernesto Todd Mireles, Ph.D., is a professor in the Cultural and Regional Studies department and the coordinator of the Frantz Fanon Community Strategy Center at Prescott College, Prescott, Arizona.
Ysidro Macias, The Compassion of the Feathered Serpent, A Chicano Worldview. Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2013.
Armando Rendón
November 18, 2019