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What's mas firme, to be called Chicano or Latino?
Well, the ASU Chicano Faculty and Staff Association wants it both ways. Rather than saying "¡Hay te wacho!" (Chicano slang for 'see you later') to the use of the word "Chicano," the 37-year-old organization now will be known as the Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association.
(Trucha, the CLFAS acronym is dangerously close to Califas, Chicanese for California.)
Lisa Magaña, the group presidente and associate professor of Chicano/a studies, says the new moniker is needed because of changing demographics and state politics surrounding Latinos.
"One of the main purposes of the organization is to serve as a watchdog group for our Latino students," Magaña said in ASU's Luces newsletter. "To accomplish this goal, we need to reach out to other Latinos who may have been hesitant to join because they come from different backgrounds and don't consider themselves to be Chicanos."
For those not in the know about the Chicano onda (movement), the term refers to Mexican Americans old and young who identify with the civil rights struggles of the '60s and '70s, a term they continue to use today. Or as the Regional Dictionary of Chicano Slang describes them, "members of La Raza." (Si, Maria, there is such a dictionary.)
Where's El Pachuco when you need him?
