Ana Castillo Quotes

Early white feminists, such as Kate Millett and Germaine Greer, made arguments that resounded throughout the western world, regarding their rage against white, male-dominated society and claimed their right to be angry. "Woman" had for too long been forced into quiet complacency. In the sixties, what was the purpose of the campus bra-burning, after all, if not to demonstrate their militant refusal to be continually sexualized by male culture. And yet, when feminists of color show their indignation and express intolerance of racism, some white feminists and intellectuals accuse us of being "too angry". Should we ask first what is "anger-appropriate" so as not to offend anyone by expressing our indignation and pain?

Chicano/as-Mexicans are the only people besides the Native Americans who have a treaty with the United States. As with many of the treaties between Native Americans and the U.S. government, ours, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo has been largely violated. This appropriation of territory came as a result of what is known on this side of the border as the Mexican-American war (1846-1848). In Mexico it is known as the North American Invasion. Again, we see that history depends on the view of the chronicler. Despite our constant presence on these lands since before the establishment of this nation, the book-market industry in the United States continues to render us invisible.

I am a brown woman, from the Mexican side of town-torn between the Chicago obrero roots of my upbringing and my egocentric tendency toward creative expressions.

We pray for joy and love to fill our hearts,
our days and our nights

We pray that our government's leaders
look into their souls,
that they think with the heart of a mother
in making the decisions that affect
the world's populations.

Today you try what suits you and when it don't-
move on, move on, move on.

You chose, as I choose
to despair, or not
on a given night or day.
That despair turned inside out
you called love.

As if we should not be scandalized
by surprise bombing over any city at night,
bombs scandalizing the sanctity of night.

No one is very certain about anything after a while.

How does it feel to be cruel to a woman?

paintings
and books conceal more than they ever tell.

do you remember the Conquest
of the New World? Some scholars call it the Conquest
of women, because that is when women became a thing to own.

And I write these few
words
into the earth
before I forget that sadness
isn't everything.

Let us shout louder than her memory,
louder than the unheard cries
of 200,000 disappeared,
buried alive in pits,
thrown alive from planes,
butchered and bayoneted
defenseless and blindfolded
in the name of democracy.
It is real, the nightmare,
and without end.
How can we sleep?
How can we sleep?

And life is in my hands,
suckling at my breast,
thrives on the rhythm of my beating heart,
warmth of my throbbing belly.