Keynote Address by Dr. José Angel Gutiérrez—"Chicano Rights Movements: Then and Now" (2014)

Friends,

I just came across this powerful video of Dr. José Angel Gutiérrez speaking at the 2014 LEAD Conference in San Bernardino—and I had to share it. If you’ve ever wanted a window into the heart of the Chicano Movement, this is a good place to start. Dr. Gutiérrez isn’t just a civil rights icon—he’s an iconoclast, a fearless truth-teller who has spent his life fighting for the dignity, voice, and power of our communities. If you read the statement attached to the film that you can view below—and you listen to his presenation—I'm sure you will see how he is a force of nature.

I find his discussion of second- and third-generation Mexican Americans—or better said, "Chicanos," and how holding this specific standpoint endowed entire cadres—whose parents and grandparents were also part of the one million people that migrated to Texas in 1910 when the Mexican Revolution began. This resulted in a critical mass, of his generation with a kind of perspective and wisdom that did not take "no" for an answer. The research literature refers to this as the dual frame of reference.

However, even "crossing over" itself, in historical perspective, was actually a coming home for those who were displaced and dispossessed by Anglo settler colonials who happened to be the first "illegal aliens" or "undocumented migrants" to these parts. This is the history that the powers that be do not want you to know.

In any case, I think it a good and appropriate conversation to consider how generational status coincides temporally with the revolution and the kind of consciousness among youth that later came of age in the 1950s and 1960s where the seeds of resistance took root among youth like Gutierrez who later became the vanguard of the Mexican American Civil Rights movement—which along with Blacks, Asians, and Native Americans—resulted in the civil rights policies and legislation that are presently under serious attack by the republican administration at the state and national level.

Dr. Gutierrez' parents were born in Mexico and Dr. Gutierrez was born in Texas. They were able to judge matters similarly as a generation because they became skilled border crossers, symbolic and real. Other, especially later, generations can also have a dual frame of reference, but more by learning about it and what it means for those that experience it—if they, too, want to embark on traversing symbolic borders of language, culture, class, and so on, as the case may be.

I also appreciate his enunciations that we, as Chicanas and Chicanos, are on our homeland and that we are "hosts," and that the dominant group in power are our guests. So, a little respect here, okay?

I do respectfully disagree with Dr. Gutierrez on one important detail. Paraphrasing, he said that

I also don't like how he derided Pres. Obama while agreeing that I am disturbed by he deported 3 million people during his administration (

From founding MAYO and La Raza Unida Party to organizing school walkouts in Crystal City, his life’s work has been about challenging systems that were never built for Mexicans, in the first place. Watching this talk, I was reminded not only of how far we've come, but all that we still carry forward from eras gone by—the same fire, the same questions, and the same call to act.

-Angela Valenzuela

Reference

Garsd, J., & Inskeep, S. (2024, December 5). Lessons learned from the Obama administration's deportation of millions. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/12/05/1229415821/lessons-learned-from-the-obama-administrations-deportation-of-millions

Dr. José Angel Gutiérrez is a pivotal figure and one of the iconic founding fathers of the Chicano rights movements. He is an attorney (Dallas TX) and Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Arlington; Founder of the Center for Mexican American Studies. Dr. Gutierrez, along with Cesar Chavez, Reies López Tijerina, and Corky Gonzales, stands out as among the most important and influential leaders of the Chicano movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

He was a founding member of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) in 1967, one of the first student activist groups of the Chicano movement; and founding member and past president of the political third-party La Raza Unida Party, which left its mark on the political scene, challenging Democratic and Republican parties alike to court the ignored Mexican American and Latino voter. 

Dr. Gutiérrez was one of many activists working to change public education on a local level in the 1960s and 70s. Born in Crystal City, Texas, and educated in local schools, Gutiérrez mobilized the community to demand equal treatment for Chicano students. He was lead organizer of the Winter Garden Project, the project that which led to the now famous walkout of 1969. 

Dr. Gutiérrez has been organizer, founder and co-founder of several other organizations such as the Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC), Ciudadanos Unidos, Obreros Unidos Independientes, Becas Para Aztlán, Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement, Northwest Voter Registration and Education Project, and Grupo de Apoyo para Immigrantes Latin Americanos (GAILA). He has been the subject of many articles and film documentaries, including the PBS video series, CHICANO! The Mexican American Struggle for Civil Rights, and is mentioned in many Chicano history and political science books. 

He was also featured as an "Innovator" in the PBS documentary series - School: the Story of American Public Education. Most recently Dr. Gutiérrez was featured in a segment of: “Prejudice and Pride: the Chicano Movement”, which was part of the PBS series - "Latino Americans." Introduction / Moderator: Mary Valdemar, Vice President, Latino Faculty, Staff & Administrators Association,

San Bernardino Community College District, and Co-Founder, Core Team & Volunteer Support Staff, Chicano Indigenous Community for Culturally Conscious Advocacy and Action (ChiCCCAA) Speaker: José Angel Gutiérrez, Attorney, Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Arlington, founding member of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), and founding member and past president of La Raza Unida Party.

This address is date/time stamped: March 27, 2014; 4:20 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Share our links and show your online community that Latino education is the economic imperative of our time, and the civil rights issue of our generation. / leadprojects / leadprojects / leadprojects / leadcsusb http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&... / leadprojects