A Targeted Group
Lorenzo Garcia, International Liberation Reference Person for Chicanos/as
Hello. Buenas tardes. I am the International Liberation Reference Person (ILRP) for Chicanas and Chicanos in Re-evaluation Counseling. I also think about the Latinas and Latinos. I have been doing this job since—well, since I had black hair and a really beautiful moustache [mustache].
Chicanas and Chicanos have been referred to as Mexicanas and Mexicanos. Some of us do have a relationship with Mexico, but a number of us come from people who were there before the colonizers came, before some interesting and horrible things started to happen.
Recently someone said some terrible things about my people, my family. How did that happen? Well, he was looking for a scapegoat. Why did he choose us? Because we’re probably a pretty [quite] good target. As a group, we generally keep to ourselves and keep our heads down. (We certainly don’t do ILRP jobs!)
I would like us to grow up and not have to go to prison. I would like us to grow up and be able to have good families and not have to assimilate.
A big issue for us is language oppression. Spanish is the language of the colonizer. Many of us have lost our Indigenous languages.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA