Thinking about racism in terms of just black and white is a further "invisibilization." We have to recognize the commonality of experience of racism … - Elizabeth Martínez

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Thinking about racism in terms of just black and white is a further "invisibilization." We have to recognize the commonality of experience of racism among people of color. Sometimes racism is based on skin color or other physical features; it can have added components of culture, language and legal status -- as in the case of people of Mexican descent.That's important to understand, because seeing commonalities of experience serves as the grounds for alliance. Chicanos aren't going to do it alone. Black people aren't going to do it alone. We all have to get in there together and build a social movement -- which is the only thing that will change this structure that we're up against.

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About Elizabeth Martínez

Elizabeth Martínez (December 12, 1925 - June 29, 2021) was an Chicana feminist and a community organizer, activist, author, and educator.

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Elizabeth Martinez Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez Elizabeth Sutherland Martínez
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Additional quotes by Elizabeth Martínez

Many young Raza activists today are adopting a vision that embraces the strengths of nationalism while shunning its divisiveness. They call it "native spirituality," or "the natural way," or "indigenismo," and see it as that revolutionary worldview we urgently need...indigenismo can subvert the colonized mentality found among mestizo peoples that elevates the European and denigrates the Indian. For Chicano/a youth, discovering they have roots in indigenous, often advanced, pre-Columbian cultures can help develop a sense of potential empowerment.

That struggle points to our need for a politics that recognizes the globalization of racism that today accompanies economic globalization. Does anybody really think the best way to deal with more than 100 million migrants wandering the planet today is by locking doors in the spirit of nineteenth-century nationalism? It is profoundly backward to go on seeing countries primarily as bordered nation-states that can resolve issues like immigration policy unilaterally. It is not only backward but monstrous to think of the world's people as divisible into those who should be dehumanized at will and those who should not. Once again, it must be said: ¡No hay fronteras!

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