De Colores Means All of Us

When I was younger I asked my mom if I was Mexican-American she said yes but when I asked her if I was a Chicana she said no. I didn’t understand at the time but to her it was something very important in her struggle for acceptance. In all reality there is still no set definition to what exactly a Chicano is other than a Mexican-American. To her it meant a struggle of being accepted by the United States Anglo-dominated society. Her definition is that to be a Chicano you had to be part of the Chicano movement of the 1960s. My mother is a strong advocate for the United Farm Workers and La Causa and she struggled during the 1960s and 1970s to help Mexican-Americans in the civil rights movement. The cultural aspects that contributed to the Chicano movement were the literature, arts and musical movements. Elizabeth Martinez like my mother is a product of that time. She guides the reader to a path of a revolutionary based compassion for equality and justice. For me the book was not just for women or minorities but also for all people in general. This book gives all people including the Anglo community a chance to walk in the shoes of a revolutionary struggle for justice. I am glad people of all socio-economic statures can read this book and find something even the slightest thing to relate to. I found an interesting article from 1991 that shows how underrepresented Latinos and Chicanos are on the Stanford University campus http://news.stanford.edu/pr/91/910429Arc1429.html