Letter from the Editor

By Felix Alvarado

August 20, 2015

This month we feature Jose Angel Gutierrez the last of the 4 Horsemen of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.  The other three were Cesar Chavez, Corky Gonzalez, and Reis Tijerina.  Being of Mexican descent in the 50’s, 60’, and early 70’s was not a pleasant experience for many even though most were now second and third generation Americans. There were the usual never ending epithets, Mexican this and Mexican that and on and on and on.  Yes.  Being of Mexican descent was not easy in Texas.  Since the arrival of the first Mexicans to North Texas the discrimination against Mexican-Americans has been more insidious.  Labeled as White but discriminated and treated as Blacks.  Mexican-Americans could fight and die for their country but they could not even be buried alongside their fallen comrades.  Two factors that disenfranchised Mexican-Americans were low wages and little education.  In the days of Jim Crow laws both factors assured low political participation by Mexican-Americans.  We are still paying a price for this legacy.  We Mexican-Americans have never had political equity, not with White, Blacks or even amongst ourselves. 

It was into this environment that the 4 Horsemen were born into.   We Mexican-Americans never had a national icon that could speak for our cause.  When the term Chicano came into vogue and there was a label that we could all identify with, someone coined the word Hispanic and we lost our cultural identify again.  The saying goes “Some people talk the talk, others walk the walk”.  The 4 Horsemen walked.  In their day they may not have been popular because of their political views however change was not going to come easy. Others with much more radical political views are now lionized.  It is time to recognize our 4 Horsemen.  Some Mexicans were exempt from this name calling for example those that could blend into the White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture.  In Spanish there is a word that promotes unity, Hermandad.  That is something that we have never practiced. 

The Mexican experience of North Texas is unlike that of any other part of Texas or the United States.  North Texas has its own history.  In this edition we feature the Traqueros.  They passed through North Texas on their way north, west and east installing the rails used today.  They did not settle, they just kept on trucking or perhaps tracking is a better word.

We applaud the DMAHL and their efforts to record our history in North Texas.  We need to preserve as much of the history as we can. 

We prepare our own articles.  You will not find them in any other publications because they are unique to us.  They are there to inform you, educate and entertain you.  We like to write about issues that are relevant to you.  But we do care about current events.  The thing about current events is that they are not current too long.  There is no such thing as a newspaper that reports current events.  Most events are outdated before they get to print.  So let me introduce you to our website.  If you want to know what is going on in the world that affects you, see our tweeter section.  It is all there.  To keep current you have to stay current.  That is our website.  We keep you current.  www.nuestravozdetc.com.