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The History Of Texas That You Must Not Exclude By Dennis Medina

876 Words4 Pages

Agency is the power of an individual or group to evoke change in their situation, given impeding external factors. One assumes agency when they realize that they have a capacity to act and in a sense, control of their situation and environment. In Dennis Medina’s essay, “We Are A Part of the History of Texas That You Must Not Exclude!” he illustrates the manner in which the latino/a community in Houston, Texas was no being incorporated in to the mainstream LGBT movement, with the exclusion of Latina/o representation in leadership positions in addition to lack of consideration for Latina/o issues. It was the Gay and Lesbian Hispanic Unidos agency in organize several bailes which served the Latino/a LGBT community in providing a space for …show more content…

This viewpoint is dangerous because it views such concepts as a final product, instead of a dynamic process by ignoring the multidimensional process taking place. The reification of the Latinx/Hispanic community has led to notion outside and within the latinx community that there are no LGBT people. This is very problematic because it has served as a basis for discrimination within the Latinx community on its own people where one is “less” latina/o because of their sexual orientation. In the essay, “No te Rajes--Don’t Back Down! Daring to Be Out and Visible” by Letitia Gomez, she illustrates the discrimination and obstacles to be visible within the Latinx community. Her organization, ENLACE, knew it was necessary to be present at the Latina/o festival parade to demonstrate that the LGBT community was incorporated within the Latinx. The parade organizers faced pressure to take ENLACE out of the parade, regardless, they were guaranteed a spot in the parade, where they faced yelling and harassment by attendees. In addition, only eight people showed up to ride with ENLACE, although the whole membership was invited. This is again, a result of the reification of the Latinx Sphere, where comments made by a local D.C. Latino DJ that in the Latinx community, there were no gays, that there did not exist a word for “gay” in Spanish, become materialized when people in ENLACE, felt …show more content…

She notes attending Northeastern University where she felt at odds with the topic of feminism, not for its analysis and empowerment of women, but because as a Latina--in addition to lesbian, teenage mom, and on welfare--her experiences from mainstream feminism were significantly different (141). Noriega’s experience at Latina Lesbians en Nuestro Ambiente (LLENA) exposed her to a multitude of realities in the dealings with being Latina and lesbians in a heteronormative worlds where issues such as, immigration, education, class background, language diversity, etc were being considered and discussed. The author noted that her legacy is defined by her ability to have created an infrastructure where intersectionality is addressed and expressed, such as being Latina/o in the context of civil

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In her book, From Out of the Shadows, Viki L. Ruiz argues the contributions to history that was made by farm workers, activists, leaders, volunteers, feminists, flappers, and Mexican women. She explores the lives of the innovative and brave immigrant women, their goals and choices they make, and how they helped develop the Latino American community. While their stories were kept in the shadows, Ruiz used documented investigations and interviews to expose the accounts of these ‘invisible’ women, the communities they created, and the struggles they faced in hostile environments. The narrative and heartfelt approach used by Ruiz give the reader the evidence to understand as well as the details to identify or empathize with.

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“I make no more calculations except to spend my life here. Rich or poor, here I expect to remain permanently.” Stephen Fuller Austin was a very important figure in early Texas history. Austin was an American empresario born on November 3, 1793 in Austinville, Virginia and raised in Missouri. He was the second child of Moses and Mary Brown Austin; their first child, Eliza, only lived one month.

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During the Chicano Nationalist Movement, a well-known speaker, Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales, delivered a speech titled Chicano Nationalism: Victory for La Raza. In this speech, Rodolfo Gonzales tries to unify the Latin American people within the United States by using the idea of a family and to create a new political organization for the Chicano people. This speech was a cumulation of various ideas which stemmed from his own life, the experiences of the Chicano people, and the Chicano Nationalist Movement in general. Each of these factors contributed to the context of the speech and how the ideas within the speech are presented by Rodolfo Gonzales.     Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales was born to Federico and Indalesia Gonzales, two Mexican immigrants, on June 18, 1928.

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