I was grateful for the opportunity to visit Chicano Park as a class – I first heard about the park in Prof Alvarez’s HILD 7C course but hadn’t yet had the chance to visit. The murals at the park gave me some more insight into the ideas, feelings, and strategies that were circulating at the height of the Chicano movement. I was particularly struck by the close connection between land and people. On the one hand there is the mythic ideal of Aztlan, the yearning for a homeland – but there is also a recognition of the importance of one’s local community and environment. There are themes of protest against pollution and the need to clean up and restore what was then a degraded and denuded landscape under the overpass.
While we were at the park, there was a memorial service going on at the same time. It was in the style of a ‘celebration of life’, with food on hand and happy children running around. I found it rather uplifting to see firsthand how valuable the park is to the community. A single park may not be much ground won in the broader fight for social justice, but it was a victory that has positive effects in the community to this day. It gives me some hope.
