Embrace communion!

Once again, I am in utter disgust. I realize the value that Chicano Americans have on this land. Ironically, I got this epiphany in sociology class by my African American peer. The professor was not here today so we were assigned this movie on the Chicano Civil rights movie. My assumption was we were not watching it for without a purpose, so why not pay full attention to the movie.

About 20 minutes into the discussion, I became deeply interested into the movie. The parallelism of the Chicano Equality Movement with the Black Equality Movement amazed me. From the symbolism of the tags they gained (Chicano = poorest of the poor and Black = ignorant and submissive) to the leadership, marches, and even quotes they used amazed me! The period was during the sixties for both entities as well. It really built an innate propensity in me to understand more.

Suddenly, I am distracted by a few of my peers having a legitimate conversation on the side of me. I politely ask them to tone their voices down. They respond, “You really watchin this Chicano shit” [laughter] “It’s not like we gone get tested on it or anything”. I was appalled. Shocked. How could someone who attends an institution that constantly embeds having a social conscious and breath of understanding of knowledge, revoke such precious information? Haphazardly he showed me how much people value the Chicano people. After watching the movie a second time, I strongly encourage others to get a glimpse of their past. Do not be content with only your history and culture… embrace diversity. Bell hooks once said that our community protects its complacency. She said that maybe if we “replace the notion of community with communion” that we will be better off as a race, a nation and a world. (Communion means the exchange of culture)