In this section, La Voz de Aztlan features articles, essays, poems and other forms of writings that present La Raza's critical thinking on Aztlan and the Movimiento.
In [a] poem from his Aguila o Sol? anthology, Octavio Paz describes in metaphor the great cultural conflict that rages consciously or unconsciously within most Mexicans. Are we Western European and Spanish, or Indian and Mexica? Aguila o sol? Mexico has taken four hundred years to recognize this simple, yet profound dilemma. How many more years before it can be resolved remains beyond speculation.
Time has only complictated the issue, for the basic conflict continues both in Mexico and in the thought of Chicanos in the Southwest United States. However, the original conflict, altered now by time and geography, has taken on a third dimension : the dichotomy has changed to aguila o sol o anglo-saxon . A triangular conflict has evolved, and in an effort to resolve it, we have probed into the history of Mexico from Precolumbian through the Colonial era, the Indpendence movement and the tumuluous Revolution of 1910.
..........
We Chicanos must devote concentrated efforts toward resolving
that dilemma that has afflicted Mexico for so long, mainly the
conflict that is implicit in mestizaje. Paz and other Mexican
writers such as Zea and O’Gorman have attempted to deal with
the issue in terms of Hegelian dialectics. It is time for us to
affirm the fact that we are a hybrid culture, assimilate our past, and
begin the arduous task of describing the various Chicano cultural
configurations. The idea that we have created something new is one of
the principal themes in Chicano literature.
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Excerpt from: RAICES MEXICANAS
by Federico A. Sanchez
in GRITO DEL SOL:
A Chicano Quarterly-Flores del Mestizo 1976
Edited by Octavio I. Romano-V.
