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| Struggling for space and place in El Barrio |
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What prompted this column was a phone call from my prima living in Wichita, Kansas who has been given the daunting task as Executive Director of a newly formed Community Development Corporation (CD) of revitalizing a portion of a neglected neighborhood. She is 4th generation Chicana. This happens to be el barrio from whence I emerged. How wonderful! Although very late in coming!
The Raza’s struggle for space and place in American society has a long history of encroachment, confiscation and land grabbing. The Mexican American War with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is a prime example of land encroachment resulting in the creation of colonias and barrios.
El Barrio is a state of mind. As the saying goes, “You can take la Chicana/o out of el barrio; but you can’t take el barrio out of la Chicana/o. Its’ vestiges are imprinted in our psyches like placas, never to be erased, always available for reminiscing, reminding us of those cultural spaces and wonderful experiences spent as children in neighborhoods stigmatized as ecological disasters; but in reality casualties of environmental racism.
An excursion back in time brings back memories of cultural workers in the community struggling for social justice. Cultural art forms such as, danza, both indigenous and folklorico, teatro, poesía, Chicana/o rapperas/os and musica Mexicana were and remain imbedded in the hearts and souls of la gente.
We should never forget the struggle cultural workers embarked upon during the Chicano Civil Rights and Liberation Movement. A part of that struggle was about local control over space. Local control translated into making decisions about utilization and creation of space where our cultures could be practiced without retribution. Activist struggles were about protecting spiritual space that had been infringed upon, a common thread permeating las almas de la gente during those turbulent times; a space where we could revere and honor our history.
Since their inception, barrios were under constant destabilization with spillover effects onto its residents. Residents seldom had land tenure. Dilapidated spaces became shanty towns owned and operated by slum lords interested only in the almighty dollar. Public policies were shaped, interpreted and implemented without inclusion; thus, depriving la Raza of space where communities and families could share.
People were treated as fungible commodities in barrios y colonias worth only the manual labor they could provide for capitalistic endeavors. Barrios were seen as necessary evils portraying Chicanas/os as derelicts unable to contribute positively to society and unable to govern themselves politically. Gravitation to these ethnic enclaves was a forced choice. Early forms of gentrification moving la gente around like checkers on a checkerboard became common practice.
On the positive side, the many cultural rituals and customs such as tamaladas, fiestas, celebraciones, activismo y puro familia that made us who we are today live on.
When all else failed, governments created public policies like eminent domain to legally take possession and redistribute land “for the common good.” Eminent domain refers to the power possessed by a state to appropriate property for public use. Ironclad policies like eminent domain remain in the hands of the elite and power brokers in governmental circles with local communities expected to struggle against the demoralizing policies that keep la Raza literally without any spatial alternatives.
At times, blighted conditions and multiple forms of oppression suffered by la gente became the catalysts for political action. With or without public or private space to do their work, Chicana/o cultural groups, at the drop of a hat, would respond to community crises, protests and celebrations. Cultural performers accepted and continue to accept any and all invitations to perform at community gatherings and protests.
I remember performances by teatro groups in parks, prisons and community centers in the 1970’s. It was always in spaces that had to be negotiated, never in spaces that belonged or were controlled by our communities. The many evening musical, theatrical, and poetry recitals were in protest on someone else’s turf and in public parks after big feuds with modern day hacendados, the gatekeepers of public land in cities and states.
The distressing fact is that many of these groups don’t have tenure or ownership of spaces to leave their placas. They opened the doors for struggle but may leave as landless servants to private land owners, governments and elitists that horde up empty spaces as they are abandoned.
To shun gallant community warriors would be to erase an important part of our history. It would be a travesty especially since they were and continue to be consciousness raising groups surviving pressures of racism and austere economics on a path para luchar por los derechos de la comunidad.
Perhaps, resistance against those who control space and place needs to be reborn.
Dr. Ramón Del Castillo is an independent journalist.
© 2010 The Weekly Issue/El Semanario
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