A half century has passed since the publication of Chicano Manifesto.
This 50th Anniversary Edition entails the reprint of the original text by Armando Rendón so that present generations of Mexican Americans can see for themselves how a movement evolved, who were the main players, and what was accomplished. As noted in the 1996 reprint, not a whole lot had been achieved 25 years after the height of the Chicano Movement.
In 2021, one can look around the country and find some Mexican Americans in high places, in corporations, national organizations and even in Congress. But these notable achievements are eclipsed by the fact that Mexican Americans by and large are invisible. And what is most discomforting is that while much of the blame is due to our own lack of cohesion and aggressiveness in social and political arenas, much of the reason for our invisibility is the relentless use by governments, media and academia of Mexican Americans as Hispanic, Latino, and more recently the use of the letter x, pronounced equis, in Spanish, all of which homogenize and trivialize the richness of our individual cultures, language, arts and contributions to the U.S. into an amorphous mass. Mexican Americans represent the largest ethnic group among the diverse cultures and histories of the peoples in the U.S. who are of indigenous-Hispanic origin and yet it is ignored, misunderstood, mischaracterized, and largely denied full acceptance as Americans.
Chicano Manifesto deals with the history, culture, and identity of the largest "minority" group in the U.S. Inside the covers is a spectrum of historical events, leaders who evolved from the barrios and fields, philosophical and mythological platforms, voices of all kinds from throughout the Southwest and Midwest, vying for and worthy of attention.
Anyone who proclaims to be concerned about the future of the U.S. and wondering about who these people are, these Chicanos and Chicanas, what Chicanismo is about, must read Chicano Manifesto to learn where it all started, from someone who was there and whose own life was changed as he learned about who he was through his own people.
