Fuels for Change in Chicanx and Latinx Social Movements

Anti-Mexican Hysteria and State-Sanctioned Repression

Anti-Mexican hysteria, vigilante actions, state-sanctioned fear-mongering, repression, and violence fuel movements for social change.
Surveillance is used as a tool for both state-sanctioned fear-mongering and repression.
Vast inequalities serve as ongoing realities that drive these movements.

Responses to Fuels for Change

Labor Union Organizing: Organizing labor unions to fight for workers' rights and better working conditions.
Fighting Through the Court System: Pursuing civil rights through the court system to end discrimination.
Fighting Against Inequalities: Challenging inequalities such as segregation and the idea that separate is equal.
Standing Up: Activating social movements through visible protests, marches, participation, and claiming of space.
Aiming to get access and empowerment, increasing political participation and representation.

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

Established in 1938 during the Great Depression and on the eve of World War II, but rose to power after World War II during the Cold War (1945-1991).
Weaponized subpoena power to force US citizens to testify in high-profile hearings.
Used intimidation, fear, and fomented distrust; sanctioned repression.
Forced individuals to reveal sources and other people affiliated with activities deemed un-American.
Anti-HUAC protests emerged in the late 1950s, helping to fuel civil rights activism in the 1960s and 70s.

Luisa Moreno (Blanca Rosa Lopez Rodriguez)

Born in Guatemala to a wealthy family, lived in Guatemala and Oakland, California.
Moved to Mexico City as a journalist for a Guatemalan newspaper, married, and moved to New York City in 1928.
Worked as a sewing machine operator and was spurred towards labor organizing due to horrible working conditions.
Founded the Latina Garment Workers Union.
Worked with the AFL (American Federation of Labor) and later the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations).
Organized the United Cannery Agricultural Packing and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA), bringing thousands of Mexican, Black, Asian, and Anglo food processing workers into organized labor (75% women).
Championed the rights of Latinx peoples.
One of the founders of El Congreso in 1938.
Joined the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee in 1942, defending Mexican Americans wrongfully arrested after the death of Jose Gallardo Diaz.
Deported to Guatemala in 1950 by the HUAC committees due to affiliations with communist activities.
Her commitment was to the workers and making the work environment safe, recognizing the rights of workers.

Repatriation and Deportation Programs

Raids, deportations, and fear-mongering fueled the need for social and political change.
Removals and deportations occurred from 1931 to 1936, with a smaller program in 1921.
Forced removal of anyone deemed to be Mexican, regardless of citizenship.
Coercion was used, such as denying services to force people to leave.
An estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were deported, with nearly 60% being US citizens.
The program was paid for by federal governments of Mexico and the US, along with local relief organizations.
Local enforcers (employers, local governments, police, schools, hospitals, private organizations) worked together to coerce or forcibly remove Mexicans.
The mass expulsion did not create more jobs but became a model for future removal efforts.

Operation Wetback

Aimed to send back undocumented immigrants to get jobs back, supported by the US and Mexican governments and some Mexican labor unions.
Huge publicity campaign that presented the appearance of greater force than the actual resources available.
Fomented public anger against immigrants, portraying them as job stealers, potential traitors, and communists.
Disruptions in agriculture led to promises of braceros (guest workers) to compensate.
Some Mexican American rights organizations acknowledged problems of undocumented workers but didn't actively fight Operation Wetback until later.
Long-term consequences:
- No rise in jobs for Americans.
- Cementing of anti-Mexican sentiments: Mexicans as illegals regardless of citizenship.
- Increased visibility of border patrol and INS as defenders of America.
- Cemented fears of La Migra (immigration enforcement) in Mexican neighborhoods and the vulnerability of communities, documented or not.
- Did not significantly reduce undocumented crossings.
- Media had a central role in the successes of deportation programs.

Contemporary Context: 2025

US Department of Homeland Security announces incentives for undocumented immigrants to self-deport, using an app originally developed for asylum cases.
Ramped-up ICE raids and forcible removals without due process.
The US federal government argues that a $1000 incentive is cheaper than the estimated 17,000 it takes to round up and deport each individual.

Historical Perspective

Under President Clinton, the size and financial resources of the border patrol tripled, leading to a huge explosion of border deaths.
Under President Obama, 2,700,000 people were deported, earning him the moniker "Deporter in Chief."
Removals, forcible removals, and coercive removals have a long history in The United States, using the language of illegality and the need to get them out for our jobs.

Title 42

Created in 1944 due to fears about masses of people moving and coming into The United States, particularly as refugees from war, and public health concerns.
Invoked during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Trump administration, giving the border patrol authority to expel all migrants to their home country without being shackled by the provisions of standard US immigration law.
Used to override The US immigration law provisions that allowed people to ask for asylum.
Expulsions under Title 42 were greater than the regular immigration apprehensions in 2020.
The Biden administration established a new rule in 2023 that prevents people from claiming asylum if they are already in The United States, requiring them to apply from outside The United States using an app.
The overwhelming number of people who were exported were coming largely coming trying to come through The United States Mexico border, but there were also some at The US Canada border
Notably, cases were processed in fifteen minutes, without due consideration, and Title 42 did not significantly deter undocumented migration into The United States.
Close to 3,000,000 migrants were expelled under Title 42.

Demographic Changes

In 2020, the top four countries of origin were Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
By 2023, the top countries were Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Haiti, with El Salvador further down the line.

School Segregation and Mendez vs. Westminster

Ongoing vast inequalities cause people to see schools as sites for protest.
School segregation started long before specific legislation.
By the 1940s, 80% of Latinx children attended separate, unequal schools.
Schools were dilapidated, underfunded, and offered vocational classes only.
Children were forced to attend based on their last name and complexion.
In 1945, the Mendez family and four other families filed suit against Orange County School District to ensure that all children could attend California schools regardless of race.
School districts argued that Mexican kids were dirty, infected, and didn't speak English.
The Mendez defense attorney and experts in social science argued that the policy of separating the kids by race and segregating them was against the constitutional rights of children.
District did discriminate against Mexican American students and that it did violate their constitutional rights by segregating them out away from the Anglo kids and by not providing equal resources.
The Mendez family and attorneys won the case, ending school segregation in California.

Key Figures: Sylvia Mendez

Sylvia Mendez, who was eight years old when she was denied admission to Westminster Elementary School
Her father, Gonzalo, was from Mexico, and her mother was from Puerto Rico.
In 1945, they hired David Marcus, a civil rights attorney who filed the federal lawsuit against the school districts in Orange County.

Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v Board nineteen fifty four case definitely won against the reversing the charges of separate but equal
The Westminster case laid the legal groundwork for the success of Brown v Board.
In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race is unconstitutional, signaling the end of legalized racial segregation in US public schools.
Overriding what had been operant for the previous Fifty six years.
Separate but equal policy that had been in place all the way back to the end of the nineteenth century in Plessy versus Ferguson

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

Founded in the 1920s, committed to protecting basic civil rights of Mexican descent peoples against deportations and anti-segregation.
In 1954, they win the Hernandez versus State of Texas case, which is winning the right for Mexican Americans to serve on juries.
Joined with allies in 2006 to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and fight for the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor.

Key Takeaways

The fuels for change are what lead to action.
Action means standing up, pushing to be recognized, valuing their culture and distinctiveness, fighting for their rights against discrimination, and learning to fight for change together.