RESOURCE COMPETITION

Question 1

ANGLO COLONIZATION OF MEXICAN LAND

Answer 1

“A colonial labor system exists where the labor force is segmented along ethnic and/or racial lines and one or more of the segments is systematically maintained in a subordinate position” (Barrera p. 39)

Question 2

BLAUNERS 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERNAL COLONIALISM

Answer 2

1. Group entry & freedom of movement: “Although the migration of individuals and families in search of work and better living conditions has been largely voluntary, classifying this process as immigration misses the point that the Southwest is historically and culturally Mexican, Spanish speaking region (Blauner p.55). Colonized minorities were incorporated through conquest, enslavement or imprisonment. Lack of freedom of movement. Immigration minorities had CHOICE but colonized minorities did not.
2. Colonial Labor Principle. “By 1900 Anglo-Americans had assumed economic as well as political dominance over most of the Southwest. As white colonists and spectators gained control (often illegally) over the land and the livelihood of the independent Hispano farming and ranching villages, a new pool of dependent labor was produced to work the fields and build the railroads of the region” (Blauner p. 60).
3. Cultural & Social Organization: “Africans, Indians, and Mexicans are all conquered people’s whose cultures have been in various degrees destroyed, exploited and controlled” (Blauner p.68).

Question 3

PROFIT, PRIVILEGE AND LAND USURPATION

Answer 3

 Land Tenure System in Mexico: Land Grants to Community & Verbal Contracts. “…at the beginning of the Texas Revolt in 1835 every foot of land in Nueces County was held under Mexican land grants two years prior to the Civil War..all but one had passed out of Mexican hands, and by 1883 none was held by Mexicans” (Mirande p.27).

Question 4

ANGLO SQUATTERS & TAX DEFAULT

Answer 4

“… Senator William Gwinn, encouraged Americans to “homestead” on Mexican owned land and placed the burden on the latter to prove they held valid TITLES” (Mirande p.21).

Question 5

USE OF MEXICAN CULTURE

Answer 5

Marriages, Patron Client and Compadrazgo

Question 6

MECHANIZATION OF MODERNIZATION

Answer 6

Farming

Question 7

EXPLOITATIVE COLONIAL LABOR SYSTEM: BARRERA (IMPORTANT)

Answer 7

1. Labor Repression: Unfree labor under control of colonizer
2. Dual Wage System: different pay for different groups
3. Occupational Stratification: different jobs for different people
4. Chicanos as a Reserve Labor Force: large number of under & unemployed workers
5. The Buffer Role: “…the impact of hard times is concentrated on the workers who are most vulnerable and least able to defend themselves, thereby lessening the discontent of the potentially more dangerous non minority workers” (Barrera p. 48) Made Mexicans the scapegoats

Question 8

BARRIOIZATION

Answer 8

“…the virtual elimination of the Mexican from the social & political life of the community at large; through isolation Chicanos became invisible, if not nonexistent” (Mirande p. 19).

Question 9

RACIAL PREJUDICE IS USED BY THE EMPLOYERS TO:

Answer 9

1. keep labor costs to a minimum 2. have greater control of labor supply 3. maintain elasticity of labor supply. “…racial prejudice is largely a product of racial ideologies that were developed to justify sturctural discrimination” (Barrera p. 197)

Question 10

AGENTS OF SOCIAL CONTROL TO MAINTAIN COLONIAL LABOR FORCE WERE THE:

Answer 10

Texas Rangers 1835 - To provide protection for the Anglos against the Mexicans & Indians.
• Texas Rangers sole purpose was to control Mexicans. - “Historically no other police agency has evoked more fear, resentment or distrust among Chicanos than the Texas Rangers (los rinches). They represent the epitome of police abuse and brutality” (Mirande p. 75).

Question 11

LEGAL SYSTEM FAVORS COLONIZER AND THE COLONIZED ARE DISENFRANCHISED

Answer 11

 “The oppression of Chicanos at the hands of the legal and judicial system has been intensified by the proximity of the border and the availability of a vast pool of cheap Mexican labor which can be exploited by American industry and agriculture” (Mirande p. 77).

Question 12

SOCIAL BANDITRY (HOBSBAWM)

Answer 12

“The bandits revolted against the gringo and the people admired them for doing what they were unwilling to do” (Acuna).
 Juan Cortina, Catarino Garza, Tiburcio Vasquez, Joaquin Murieta, Gregorio Cortez

Question 13

GREGORIO CORTEZ

Answer 13

A young tenant farmer who killed a sheriff in self-defense and was transformed into a notorious bandit and ringleader of a Chicano gang.

Question 14

JOAQUIN MURIETA

Answer 14

A victim of injustice when he was forced from his mining claim by a group of Anglos. They beat him and raped his female companion. A mob killed his brother and he vowed revenge.

Question 15

JUAN CORTINA

Answer 15

He led an army into Brownsville, occupying the city and proclaiming it the Republic of the Rio Grande.

Question 16

LAS GORRAS BLANCAS (1889-1891)

Answer 16

Emerged in the early 1890s as a response to the Anglo land grab which threatened the traditional pastoral way of life of the region. They took matters into their own hands.