Chicano

From Geography

The Chicano and Chicana are considered to be Americans of Mexican descent. They mainly live in the South-West of the United States of America. The Chicano term has many variations as some see it to name people who have Mexicans parents, but were born in the US. Others use the Chicano term to label Americans of Mexican descent in general (thefreedictionary.com, 2012).

Many Chicanos have lived on US soil for centuries, since the South-West of the US used to be part of Mexico. During the Mexican-American war, Mexico was forced to surrender a third of its territory to the USA. After the signing of the peace treaty between the US and Mexico, many Mexicans found themselves living on US soil instead of Mexican soil. Many of them stayed in the US, but were stripped of their land and exploited by the white Americans. An example of this exploitation is the fact that many Chicanos had, and still have, to work over 12 hours a day for a wage too low to live off. Wages of $15 per week are common. The exploitation of Chicanos, which started nearly 200 years ago, is still common today in the USA. The poverty many Chicanos live in, has resulted in the creation of gangs. One example is the 'Cholo' gangs, of which many young poverty-stricken Chicanos are part of (Anzaldua, 1987).

Literature

Anzaldua, G. (1987). Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza San Fransisco: Aunt Lute Books.

Thefreedictionary.com. (2012). Chicano Vinddatum 15 oktober 2012, op http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Chicano

Published by Bert Hegger on October 15th.

• Picture added by --AnneStrien 12:32, 26 October 2012 (CEST)