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Chicano conference programs and speeches, April 1973-May 1974

1973-04-14 Keynote Speech Page 3

This organization whose name was in Spanish attempted to take care of its own. Since we couldn't be buried, since we couldn't go to the doctor, since we couldn't go to school, since we couldn't go to the certain places in town or cross certain streets or railroad tracks, this organization became a mutual benefit society and this is the first kind of organization we have in our Chicano communities throughout the U.S. Mutual benefits societies, because this country no sooner than it stopped conquering us, began the process of making us bastard children of this country. Not wanting us but wanting our land and riches. Not wanting us but wanting our labors. Not wanting us but wanting our talents and our skills. So, from this organization came another one, Orden Hijos De America.  America, the word America has a very special and different meaning to us. It exemplifies our non-racist position.  It exemplifies our humanitarian position because to us America does not have stamped on it "United States of" America. America to us is the whole western hemisphere. America is a land of all of us. The people who worked the soil, the people who were born on this soil. But, gringos with their racism have stomped on this country. The "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval". They say this is their country, they sloganeer "America, Love it or Leave it" as if we were the foreigners.

We tried to use this word America to explain to people we were Americans too. But it did not work. Then came some wars, because not every Mejicano tried to assimilate and try to ignore the problems like these two organizations were doing. There were some people who went out and fought and resisted. In New Mexico you had the Lincoln County Wars. These wars have been glorified in the T.V. series and the movies which have been produced by M.G.M. and the comic books on Billy the Kid. Billy the Kid was nothing more than an outlaw that belonged to the Santa Fe Ring. The Santa Fe Ring not only stole land they stole cattle. In Lincoln County, the Santa Fe Ring was coming in to steal the land from Mejicanos; the Mejicanos shot back. The Mejicanos resisted. The young Mejicanito who was leading them in a successful revolt was Jose Padron, who graduated from Notre Dame, in Indiana. And he succeeded. A similar experience was in El Paso, where Mejicanos had discovered salt. But being humans, con un sentido de responsabilidad, we did not try to go and put a copyright or a patent on the land that the salt bed was on. We figured this was a natural resource that belonged to all the people as we still hold today under Raza Unida Party. The resources belong to all the people. So, simply people went and got the salt they needed. Well Sam Maverick, from San Antonio, found out that there was a salt bed by El Paso and he went out and staked a claim. Because our legal system under Mexico was different than the legal system under this country we didn't have land deeds and we

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This organization whose name was in Spanish attempted to take care of its own. Since we couldn't be buried, since we couldn't go to the doctor, since we couldn't go to school, since we couldn't go to the certain places in town or cross certain streets or railroad tracks, this organization became a mutual benefit society and this is the first kind of organization we have in our Chicano communities throughout the U.S. Mutual benefits societies, because this country no sooner than it stopped conquering us, began the process of making us bastard children of this country. Not wanting us but wanting our land and riches. Not wanting us but wanting our labors. Not wanting us but wanting our talents and our skills. So, from this organization came another one, Orden Hijos De America. America, the word America has a very special and different meaning to us. It exemplifies our non-racist position. It exemplifies our humanitarian position because to us America does not have stamped on it "United States of" America. America to us is the whole western hemisphere. America is a land of all of us. The people who worked the soil, the people who were born on this soil. But, gringos with their racism have stomped on this country. The "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval". They say this is their country, they sloganeer "America, Love it or Leave it" as if we were the foreigners. We tried to use this word America to explain to people we were Americans too. But it did not work. Then came some wars, because not every Mejicano tried to assimilate and try to ignore the problems like these two organizations were doing. There were some people who went out and fought and resisted. In New Mexico you had the Lincoln County Wars. These wars have been glorified in the T.V. series and the movies which have been produced by M.G.M. and the comic books on Billy the Kid. Billy the Kid was nothing more than an outlaw that belonged to the Santa Fe Ring. The Santa Fe Ring not only stole land they stole cattle. In Lincoln County, the Santa Fe Ring was coming in to steal the land from Mejicanos; the Mejicanos shot back. The Mejicanos resisted. The young Mejicanito who was leading them in a successful revolt was Jose Padron, who graduated from Notre Dame, in Indiana. And he succeeded. A similar experience was in El Paso, where Mejicanos had discovered salt. But being humans, con un sentido de responsabilidad, we did not try to go and put a copyright or a patent on the land that the salt bed was on. We figured this was a natural resource that belonged to all the people as we still hold today under Raza Unida Party. The resources belong to all the people. So, simply people went and got the salt they needed. Well Sam Maverick, from San Antonio, found out that there was a salt bed by El Paso and he went out and staked a claim. Because our legal system under Mexico was different than the legal system under this country we didn't have land deeds and we