The Creation of Mexican American Resistance and its Association with Gangs: The Story of El Chuco

• In Event: Latina/o Criminology Panel 1: Gangs, Communities, and Resistance

Abstract

Most studies of gangs focus on self-reported behavior differences while failing to examine the social environment from which such strategies were first produced. In this presentation, I will outline the origination of the pachuquismo/a in El Paso, Texas during the Mexican Revolution and how it provided a counter culture to the nationalist white supremacy of U.S. expansionism maintained through manifest destiny, colonization, and imperialism. By incorporating a revisionist history advocated by critical race theory, I incorporate oral histories and archival work to outline how indigenous residents created organizations to protect a culture, a people, and a way of life during a time frame of overt racism. After the 1940s, continued segregation ensured these groups would become rivals with other neighborhoods but ongoing community efforts ensured the context for this large city would greatly differ from Chicago and Los Angeles.

Author

• Robert Duran, University of Tennessee