Reclaiming Our Roots: Reflecting on the Chicano Movement's Impact. A Chicano constantly trying to decide on what side they belong on the most, but why should they have to decide when they are both? The definition of a Chicano is an American that has Mexican origin or descent. Nobody truly knows the origins of this word, but it is commonly and openly used now; many believe it originated from being used as a slur and derogatory term that was used against Mexicans who were considered less cultured due to being from Mexico. Chicanos decided to use the word that was used to hurt them in the past and make it into how they identified themselves. They turned such a word into something powerful that described them, and they were proud of it. Chicanos …show more content…
They wanted to blend in as much as possible so they wouldn't be targeted. After a while of trying their hardest to fight back to get their rights, they decided to stop trying to blend in and embrace their full heritage from both sides. They no longer needed to choose a side because they were both Mexican and American. Chicanos weren't treated like U.S. citizens, even if they were. They were downed by white people for being too “Mexican” for them. Despite all their problems, they weren't going to rest until they got justice. So they started The Chicano movement which greatly impacted not only them but the future generations that would follow after them. The Chicano movement was one of the biggest civil rights movements up to date that fought for the rights of those with Mexican ancestry. This particular movement started in the 1940s to the 1970s but before Mexican Americans pushed to fight for their rights and failed so they connected that movement with the Chicano movement. Although these two movements wanted the same thing, that didn't mean they were the same. The Chicano movement was started to give Chicanos a choice in their …show more content…
The Chicano students were forced to take classes in dogmatic training, but their white peers got to take classes to prepare them for college. They were training the Chicanos to have labor jobs instead of educating them to have what they considered “important” jobs. In an interview with Sal Castro in 2011, he stated, “Despite many years of effort by Mexican Americans to change these schools, including legal struggles, the basic nature of these schools continued into the 1960s. These schools were characterized by high dropout rates, a heavily vocational curriculum and a marginalized academic one, low reading scores, few academic counselors, overcrowded conditions, and worst of all, low expectations of the Chicano students by a mostly Anglo or white faculty.” These students often dropped out of high school due to people having low expectations of them so they started to believe that and had low expectations for themselves. They felt like they were unimportant and that they weren't going to go far in their life. The acknowledgment of the discrimination the Chicanos were facing was finally coming to light and