Posts tagged chicanisma
Alice Bag
No soy monedita de oro.
“I always felt connected to the eastside. I think people had low expectations of me because I was a non-English speaker and they assumed that I was less intelligent because I didn’t understand them. I have to confess that I wasn’t always out to prove them wrong, I often didn’t care what people thought of me because I was sure that they were idiots and not worth my time. Outsiders’ expectations of me didn’t have much of an effect on me because my father used to tell me everyday that I was beautiful and really smart; this message penetrated my skin and bones and there is no part of me that ever feels like I’m not at least as good as the next person. - Alice Bag, November 2012 interview.
Photo by Carlos Uribe, 1991 Univision pilot taping.
“Punk taught me that I am the architect of my world. By working together with others who had the same vision and drive, we created and defined a movement that still affects people today. That is powerful. Punk’s strength came from the fact that it was inclusive. I want to use that knowledge to help redefine what it means to be a Chicana. I think in order for the Chicano movement to succeed it has to be inclusive, we have to behave like we’re on the same team. If we waste precious time and energy criticizing each other we will never achieve anything. We have to value the diversity within the Chicano community if we expect the mainstream to value diversity. We have to lead by example.” Alice Bag, November 2012
112 Plays →
Con dinero y sin dinero, hago siempre lo que quiero. #ElRey #Chst302
“I would like to see the Chicano movement be more inclusive and welcome people who are not Mechistas or who have different ideas. When I first tried to be involved with the Chicano movement, I was laughed at. I was really into glitter, I looked funny, and I was made to feel like a weirdo who couldn’t possibly be serious about my Chicanisma. Those people are trying to keep others out. Since I didn’t look like them or listen to the same music, I wasn’t seen as political enough, and that’s detrimental to the Chicano cause. If the cause is equality, we need to include as many people as possible, including people from other races. ” - Alice Bag, January 2012 interview with SF Weekly.
13 Questions with UC Santa Cruz
“Those of us who were permanently changed by punk will never allow women’s contributions to punk to be overlooked or diminished.” An interview with UC Santa Cruz on punk feminism and Chicanisma.
Chicana Punk Identity
Q: Do you identify as Chicana and if so, how do you feel you embody this identity in punk?
Alice: “I do now, but I didn’t always. When I was younger I wrongly believed that there was something I had to do, a test I had to pass or a class I had to take to be able to call myself a Chicana. I know better now. I identify as a Chicana punk. Punk is an attitude, it’s a rebellious, unapologetic dig at the status quo. As Chicanas we’ve had to fight to carve our way into a narrow and bigoted definition of what it means to be an American in the US while at the same time refusing to be blanched and synthesized by assimilating into the American mainstream. Refusal to relinquish our ethnic identity is punk.”
I don’t think I have rebelled against Latin@ culture. I have rebelled against those who try to make me warm tortillas for my brothers when they can warm them for themselves, I have rebelled against a patriarchal religion. I rebel against small mindedness in all ways and in every situation but those things are not an intrinsic part of latin@ culture and I will fight tooth and nail against anyone who tries to make me feel like I’m less Chican@ for not embracing the small-mindedness. - Alice Bag, interview on 1/23/12
