Chicano as Will: Resisting Erasure, Reclaiming Identity
500 Years of Indigenous Resistance and the Battle for Our Name
The war on the word Chicano is not just a battle over identity; it is a calculated attempt to sever a people from their roots, to erase the scars and stories of 500 years of indigenous resistance. Roberto Rodríguez’s Who Declared War on the Word Chicano? captures the urgency of this struggle. In a society where language shapes reality, the refusal to abandon the term Chicano becomes a radical act—a stand against the machinery of cultural erasure and colonial violence.
Chicano is not merely a word; it is an equation: Space + Time = Will. It encapsulates the refusal to accept the imposed identities of Hispanic or Latino, terms that bend to the logic of European hegemony and capitalist commodification. To call oneself Chicano is to assert an indigenous presence, to stake a claim to the land and the history stolen by colonizers. It is to declare, “We are not the foreigners!” and, by extension, to reject the narrative that indigenous people must justify their existence on their own soil.
Rodríguez’s essay makes it clear that Chicano was never just an identifier; it was a call to action, a collective will to resist. When European settlers labeled us wetbacks, the word Chicano became our response: defiant, unapologetic, and deeply rooted in our indigenous identity. It was a rejection of compromise and an embrace of our shared history—both the glory and the trauma. Just as the Spaniards imposed the myth of mestizaje to dilute indigenous identity, so too does the modern state wield the term Hispanic to erase our defiance.
The war on the word Chicano is part of a broader psychological campaign—what Rodríguez describes as “genocide against our minds.” The colonizers of the past used swords and guns; today, they use language and ideology. By coining and enforcing terms like Hispanic, the state seeks to Europeanize La Raza, turning the descendants of indigenous civilizations into willing participants in their own erasure. Yet, as Rodríguez argues, genocide is not just physical—it is cultural, spiritual, and psychological. The refusal to surrender the word Chicano is a continuation of the resistance waged by our ancestors against Spanish swords and yanqui imperialism alike.
The Chicano identity embodies this equation. It is rooted in space: East L.A., El Paso, the colonias of Texas, the streets of Denver, the barrios of the Midwest. It spans time: from the 1521 fall of Tenochtitlán to the 1960s walkouts to the present-day struggles against gentrification and deportation. And its will is unyielding, a testament to the power of resistance and the refusal to be erased.
We see that the war on Chicano is part of a larger spectacle—a system that thrives on commodification and control. The spectacle tells us to accept the label Hispanic, a term sanitized and stripped of resistance, because it fits neatly within the logic of American capitalism. It reduces identity to a market demographic, erasing the history of genocide and resistance that Chicano represents.
But the Chicano movement defies the spectacle. It refuses to let identity be co-opted or reduced to a commodity. To claim the word Chicano is to reject the imposed order, to shatter the spectacle, and to assert a reality rooted in indigenous truth. It is to proclaim, as Rodríguez reminds us, that we are not foreigners but the original inhabitants of this land.
The battle for the word Chicano is not just about preserving a term; it is about fighting for the soul of a people. As Rodríguez warns, the stakes are high: in 20 years, the difference between Chicano and Hispanic could mean the difference between liberation and subjugation. If we allow ourselves to be labeled Hispanic, we risk being cast as immigrants, forever foreign in our own land. But if we embrace Chicano, we reclaim our indigenous roots and assert our rightful place as the true stewards of this land.
The struggle is not over. Today’s generation of Chicano educators, organizers, and artists carries forward the resistance of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s. The war on the word Chicano continues, but so does the fight to preserve our identity, history, and dignity.
So, the question remains: Will we let the spectacle define who we are, or will we continue the 500 years of indigenous resistance? Will we embrace Hispanic, or will we proudly declare: Soy Chicano, y qué?