#chicanoposting

[knxfesck]

often the grand racialization of mexicans in the usa provides perfect conditions for obscuring the reality of mestizaje, indigenous oppression, and racial tension in mexico, especially historically

[catgirltitties]

.

[knxfesck]

every time I see one of those "guysss wait latine people are like. cool because they do so much labor for This Salvageable Nation" posts I think a long string of deeply violent thoughts. it's the kind of posting that exists only for the fantastically racist ego of the poster. there is nothing to celebrate about the vast amounts of exploitative labor the latin american diaspora completes to keep the project of the united states afloat. I take no solace in the fact that my family members helped build this country's railroads and sidewalks and freeways and single family homes. I think all that economic power shouldve never been coerced into one place through the fallout of imperialism and I hate it so much. I wish the hundreds of millions of people who have lived and are living the migrant struggle were able to put that work into their home countries and not be (quite literally) shot down for it by the same powers they have to work for here. I will never tell people I know not to take pride in their labor but those of us with less pressing situations and a less suffocating need to cope are happy to hold onto that rage. there is a really horrible kind of grief in all this that white liberals will never understand.

[knxfesck]

also I think there is a tendency for people who are of a diaspora esp in the imperial core to develop a sort of victim complex the more they unconsciously subscribe to softer american ideals which is directly related to having a tenuous relationship in any way with their original culture and of course being a member of an Oppressed Group. But it is so suffocating to both experience and deal with in 3rd person. You have to kill the thing in your head telling you you are the #1 point of attention at all times. You also have to kill the thing in your head demanding validation for existing, specifically because you yourself are in a position of power over the optics of an entire country of people who are on average not thinking of you at all. Maybe that's the crux of it idk

[knxfesck]

This is a barely articulated thought but I do think analyzing chicano culture* is relevant to understanding the position of the mexican diaspora in the US. it's true that different conditions creating waves of immigration at different times and the much more antiquated frozen-in-time cultural attitudes that influence extended diaspora populations are unique factors. But I think it's important not to dismiss a really relevant reference point. It's very easy to assume that certain admirable progressive attitudes are uniquely unbreakable traits, when in reality they're just as affected by personal material circumstance. We would all like to believe that there's some kind of collective latine Understanding Of Truth but that analysis isn't based in reality. A bigoted-through-osmosis person with a bad understanding of politics isnt magically less likely to become a rabid yanqui when they no longer have to identify with their community or with the struggle. It can be kind of hard to do the math for that when the only people you have as references are maybe your parents. And I'm obviously not denying that being comparatively more socially progressive or anti imperialist are often culturally developed traits- it's just that culture and especially subconscious political belief is incredibly fragile in the hellscape that is the US. You can't depend on it to incite consistent action. I guess I'm just frustrated when I see others trying to appeal to the turbo-yank chicanos**, especially the elderly, on the basis of la raza or wtv other ideal. They're not gonna get it, and you can analyze why by looking at how they acted or how their parents acted during the civil rights era and other consequential periods. And inversely, you cannot guarantee that current immigrants will always act in the best interests of their people (although I do think there was a kind of assimilation bubble in postwar america that's unlikely to ever return in full force). Basically, education and radicalization will always rank over shifting senses of identity and obligation.

* using this to refer to the southwestern mexican-american culture developed over the past ~100 years as the term "chicano" has come to colloquially represent for most people, not the og political movement of the 1960-70s

**as shorthand to refer to (in the same way) longtime members of this diaspora, not as a political identifier

[knxfesck]

la frontera

[knxfesck]

always think its funny when people act like chicanos are some model minority perpetually in pure of heart marian struggle these are the people filming their travel back to mexico for the holidays gloating about how weak the mexican peso is/complaining when its not, generationally holding eachother back by framing regressive, traditionalist, colonialist, and racist ideals as "culture" that is something to be protected, dismissing their own racism constantly by branding it as separate and therefore not real, and so much more. I know I love to complain post about other chicanos and chicanismo but this social poison is the number one roadblock to so much solidarity and successful organizing. As long as chicanos hide behind liberalism and idpol to stay on activism clout pedestals and view themselves as temporarily embarassed true (powerful) americans and indigenous sages at the same time nothing lasting will be accomplished.

[knxfesck]

it does bother me when people get up in arms over calling mexico a settler state, as if a country has to be an ally of the united states in order to disenfranchise its indigenous people