Chicano History and I Am Joaquin...

Okay, so last week, we started reading the Noriega text and watched the short film version of I Am Joaquin. I have to say that one of the biggest things that I took away from last week was the fact that I really knew nothing about Chicano history, nor had I really even heard much of the term “Chicano” before. Based on the discussion boards, many other people in the class seemed to feel the same way, which I thought was kind of interesting. It seems a little strange that with all we are taught growing up about racial issues in this country (the civil rights movement, for example), that we have no real understanding of Chicano history. I think that this is in some way due to the fact that when we think of the term “minorities”, we automatically assume that it is in reference to African Americans. We don’t think as much about some of the past struggles faced by people of other ethnicities, which seem to be just as important. Getting into the new textbook and hearing the powerful words in I Am Joaquin has made me more aware of the fact that I need to pay closer attention to other race related issues that I had not given much thought to before.