Chicano Park Mural Discussion Forum + 3 replies

IN TERMS OF THE CONTENT OF YOUR DISCUSSION, I AM LOOKING FOR THREE MAIN POINTS OF DISCUSSION. THIS DISCUSSION WILL SATISFY THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT’S STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME (SLO) ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS. FIRST, YOU WILL DRAFT A THESIS STATEMENT BASED ON YOUR OBSERVATION OF THIS MURAL. A THESIS STATEMENT IS SOMETHING YOU WOULD PROVE IN A PAPER; A STATEMENT THAT CAN BE SUPPORTED BY THE MURAL YOU HAVE REVIEWED. YOUR THESIS STATEMENT SHOULD BE ABOUT 3-5 SENTENCES. IN YOUR THESIS STATEMENT, ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHAT WAS THE ARTIST’S OBJECTIVE IN CREATING HIS/HER MURAL AND WHAT DOES THE MURAL REFLECT ABOUT THE ERA IN WHICH THIS MURAL WAS CREATED?

FOR THE SECOND POINT OF DISCUSSION, NAME AND DESCRIBE ONE CAUSE OR CONSEQUENCE OF AN EVENT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS MURAL. IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT WERE SOME OF THE HISTORICAL OR POLITICAL EVENTS OF THE ERA THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MURAL, OR WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS THE POLITICAL OR CULTURAL IMPACT OF THE MURAL IN CHICANO PARK, SAN DIEGO, THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, OR FOR THE OVERALL CHICANO MOVEMENT? ABOUT ONE GOOD-SIZED PARAGRAPH, UP TO ⅔ OF A PAGE, DOUBLE-SPACED, WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR YOUR RESPONSE.

AND FINALLY, FOR YOUR THIRD POINT OF DISCUSSION, DESCRIBE ONE HISTORICAL INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN THE EVENT DEPICTED IN THE MURAL AND EXPLAIN HIS OR HER SIGNIFICANCE IN THIS EVENT. IN OTHER WORDS, WHY WAS THIS PERSON SIGNIFICANT? AND BY A HISTORICAL INDIVIDUAL, YOU MAY DISCUSS THE ARTIST INSTEAD OF ANY HISTORICAL PERSONALITIES PRESENTED IN HIS OR HER MURAL. HOWEVER, IF THERE IS A CLEAR HISTORICAL PERSONALITY PRESENTED IN THE MURAL, I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DISCUSS THAT PERSONALITY IN YOUR RESPONSE. EVEN IF THE HISTORICAL PERSONALITY IS A MYTHICAL FIGURE, SUCH AS A GOD OR GODDESS, YOU CAN DISCUSS THAT TOO. ABOUT ONE GOOD-SIZED PARAGRAPH, UP TO ⅔ OF A PAGE, DOUBLE-SPACED, WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR YOUR RESPONSE.

this is my mural name “Mi Raza Primero (A Tribute to Roger Lucero)” (1993) by Mario Torero

and please don’t forget to give me the resources you have used, and the type of writing the resource is like this down below:

References

Cataño, (Links to an external site.)A, (2018), Here Are the Stories Behind 10 Murals in San Diego’s Chicano Park,Retrieved from https://remezcla.com/lists/culture/here-are-the-st…

Talamantez, J. S. (2011). Chicano Park and the Chicano Park murals: a National Register nomination.

about the 3 replies I’ll send you the discussion and you write three individuals replies to it.

MURAL: “TRIBUTE TO ALLENDE” (1973) BY SMILEY BENAVIDES
THESIS STATEMENT BASED ON YOUR OBSERVATION OF THIS MURAL: IN HIS MURAL “TRIBUTE TO ALLENDE,” SMILEY BENAVIDES IS ILLUSTRATING THAT THE MILITARY FORCES UNLEASHED AGAINST THE SUPPORTERS OF THE ALLENDE REGIME IN CHILE ARE A METAPHOR FOR THE POLITICAL OPPRESSION FACING CHICANOS IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE EARLY 1970S. BENAVIDES IS DEMONSTRATING THAT THE CHICANO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE IS COMPARABLE TO THE CHILEANS’ SUPPORT FOR ALLENDE’S “POPULAR UNITY” PLATFORM OF JUSTICE, EQUALITY, LABOR RIGHTS, QUALITY EDUCATION, ETC. FURTHERMORE, BY DEPICTING THE CHILEAN MILITARY IN DARK, AUSTERE MONOCHROME TONES, BENAVIDES MAKES THE ANALOGY THAT FORCES OF CONFORMITY AND CONSERVATISM OF THOSE OPPOSED TO ALLENDE ARE EQUIVALENT TO THAT OF THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION AND ITS DISDAIN TOWARD THOSE IN SUPPORT OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND THOSE OPPOSED TO THE VIETNAM WAR.
ONE CAUSE OR CONSEQUENCE OF AN EVENT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS MURAL: FOLLOWING THE OUSTER OF THE ALLENDE GOVERNMENT ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1973 (THAT’S RIGHT, CHILE HAD ITS OWN 9-11), GENERAL AUGUSTO PINOCHET OVERSAW THE INSTALLATION OF A BRUTAL MILITARY GOVERNMENT THAT LASTED UNTIL 1990, WHEN DEMOCRACY RETURNED TO COUNTRY. BUT IN THAT 17-YEAR DICTATORSHIP, THE PINOCHET REGIME IN A BRUTAL CAMPAIGN OF TERROR AGAINST ALLEGED “SUBVERSIVES” AND “RADICALS,” INCLUDING STUDENTS, SOCIAL WORKERS, DOCTORS, ARTISTS, AND MUSICIANS, SUCH AS LEGENDARY FOLK SINGER VICTOR JARA, WHO WAS EXECUTED BY SECURITY FORCES AT THE NATIONAL STADIUM IN SANTIAGO. PINOCHET WAS CONVINCED HE HAD TO PROTECT “LA PATRIA” FROM ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC, AND BECAUSE PINOCHET WAS COMMITTED TO FIGHTING COMMUNISM, HE EARNED MUCH PRAISE FROM US PRESIDENTS THROUGH THE 1980S. ALTHOUGH PINOCHET DID USHER IN AN ERA OF ECONOMIC EXPANSION IN THE COUNTRY IN THE REST OF 1970S, POPULAR AGITATION BEGAN TO EMERGE DURING THE EARLY 1980S, AND AS THE COLD WAR WAS WINDING DOWN BY THE END OF THE DECADE, PINOCHET WAS BECOMING MORE AND MORE ISOLATED, AND AFTER A 1988 “PLEBISCITE” IN WHICH CHILEANS VOTED TO END THE REGIME, PINOCHET FINALLY CEDED POWER IN 1990. BUT THE BRUTAL LEGACY OF PINOCHET’S REGIME STILL LINGERS TODAY, AND IT’S A REMINDER OF JUST HOW GOVERNMENTS, INCLUDING CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLICS, WILL GO TO GREAT LENGTHS TO EXTERMINATE ITS OWN CITIZENS JUST FOR THE SAKE OF PRESERVING ITS POWER STRUCTURE.
ONE HISTORICAL INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN THIS EVENT AND EXPLAIN HIS OR HER SIGNIFICANCE IN THIS EVENT: THE DECEASED FIGURE IN THE MURAL REPRESENTS SALVADOR ALLENDE, THE CHILEAN PRESIDENT WHO DIED IN THE VIOLENT COUP AGAINST HIM ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1973. NOBODY KNOWS FOR SURE IF HE TOOK HIS OWN LIFE OR WAS MURDERED BY MILITARY FORCES THAT STORMED THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE. ALLENDE WAS THE CANDIDATE OF THE UNIDAD POPULAR (“POPULAR UNITY”) PARTY DURING THE 1970, DEFEATING TWO OTHER CANDIDATES IN A THREE-WAY RACE. THE UP COALITION WAS MADE OF VARIOUS LEFT-LEANING GROUPS, INCLUDING SOCIALISTS AND COMMUNISTS, WHICH ANGERED THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION. NIXON WAS SO INCENSED THAT HE VOWED TO “SMASH THAT SON-OF-A-BITCH ALLENDE.” BUT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORTED ALLENDE, HE REPRESENTED THEIR ASPIRATIONS OF OVERCOMING THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISM THAT HAD PERMEATED LATIN AMERICA SINCE THE DAYS OF THE SPANIARDS. FOR ITS SUPPORTERS, THE UP PROMOTED IMPROVED SOCIAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH, AN IMPROVED AND EXPANDED HOUSING SECTOR, GENDER EQUALITY, AND THE EXTENSION OF THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE UNIONS. THEREFORE, ALLENDE BECAME A HERO TO MANY CHICANO ACTIVISTS, WHO FELT THAT THEIR OWN ASPIRATIONS WERE THE MIRROR IMAGE OF WHAT UP SUPPORTERS WERE FIGHTING FOR. UNFORTUNATELY, ALLENDE COULD NOT CONTAIN MANY OF THE INTERNAL STRUGGLES WITHIN THE UP COALITION, LET ALONE PRESSURES FROM THE CHILEAN ARMED FORCES, CONSERVATIVE FORCES, AND THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION. AND AS BENAVIDES INDICATES IN HIS MURAL, THE DEATH OF ALLENDE IS SYMBOLIC OF THE DASHED HOPES AND DREAMS OF MANY IN THE CHICANO MOVEMENT DURING THE MID-1970S. BUT IN MODERN TIMES, ALLENDE IS STILL VIEWED AS A MARTYR, AS SOMEONE WHO FOUGHT FOR THE INTERESTS FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE, BUT PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR HIS BELIEFS

*Mural: “Death of a Farm Worker” (1979) by Michael Schnorr and Susan Yamagata

*Thesis statement based on your observation of this mural: The piece of work is an accompaniment to the death of Farmworker in an enclosed vegetable farm that was built at the base of the mural by the two artists. Besides, the artist mounted a sign at the fence of the farm that read, “In memory of all farmworkers’ in the farm that have struggled to ensure that there is a better life for the people (Guerra, 2016). The artists provided that the garden and statue are not in situ anymore. The purpose for the creation of the mural by the artist was to commemorate the death of a farmer by the name Rufino Contreas during the start of the Chicano Media movements in the United States. Besides, the mural was created to encourage the entire farm plus farmers to continue with the good work of supporting people’s lives during the Chicano Movement (Guerra, 2016). The mural was created during the era when the Chicano Movement was created, and the painting reflects that the period was characterized by a lot of killing of innocent Chicanos. The mural shows a striking scene of the farm Chicanos being killed during the era of the Chicano Movement.

*Cause or consequence of an event associated with this mural: The mural was created during the Chicano movement that emerged during the fight for the civil rights era. The most important manifestation of the period at which the painting was created is that there was an active restoration of lands and farms. Fight for the rights of farmworkers and education reforms (Patiño, 2017). Politically, the Mexicans created the Mexican American Political Association that ensures that John F. Kennedy becomes President of the US during 1960. Besides, the Mural was created by the artist when the Chicanos were actively fought for justice. This was during the activism parade of the 1960s when made the Chicanos winning two major legal victories. Moreover, the Chicanos were also fighting for equal rights.

The mural that was created in 1979 when the Chicanos were using city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict the culture of Mexican Americans. The Mural recorded the Mexicans rituals and history during the revolution of the Chicanos and fought for the rights of the farmers in the country (Patiño, 2017). This mural is a representation of literary renaissance and production of the reinvigoration of their cultural heritage that led to the rise of movements like United Farm Workers Union and Riza United party in the effort of affirming cultural identity and challenge racism (Patiño, 2017).

*One historical individual involved in the event depicted in the mural: Cesar Chavez is a multicultural civil right activist and social justice activist of the Chicano that help change the perception of the US society toward the Mexicans during the 20th century because of his efforts in fighting class, racial and regional disparities. He was born and arose by a migrant parent in the US (Bardacke, 2012). Cesar Chavez was a vocal activist and advocate of the Chicano farm workers plus farmer from all other backgrounds like the Hispanics, black, white, and Filipino farm workers. Chavez drew popularity and national attention because of his continuous support for the elimination of the poor working condition of minority group farm workers in the United States (Bardacke, 2012). Besides, Chavez was fighting for the rights for the farm workers because of the situation they are exposed to chemicals and pesticides during working hours and poor health they are exposed during working hours. Chavez is also remembering because of his efforts in raising awareness about the rights and safety of farm workers in the US through the embrace of nonviolence philosophy (Bardacke, 2012). Chavez did not just stop in enlighten the forms but also went ahead to make sure that farmers engage in hunger strikes that focuses on the public interest of the farmers. Chavez later died in 1993.

Significance of Chavez to Farmer’s Rights

After working as a community leader, Chavez became a labor organizer in the early 1950s. His efforts of enlightening workers were helped by his quest of opening and founding of the National Farm Worker Associations in the year 1962 (Bardacke, 2012). Through this union, Chavez was able to ensure that farmers are protected from harassment and they join Agricultural Workers organization that will help then make strikes as seen by the first strike of grape growers in California. In the year 1978, Chavez calls for the first national boycott of California table grape growers (Bardacke, 2012). His battles through these boycotts help to improve the compensation system of farmer and labor conditions that lasted for a couple of years. He also made sure that farmers signed contracts with unions which later benefited workers. As a labor leader in the US, Chavez made sure that there was nonviolent employment in the country because of his efforts in bringing attention to the plights of farm workers (Bardacke, 2012). He led marches, called for boycotts and lead hunger strikes to bring to an end plight of workers. Lastly, Chavez brought to end danger farmers faced in the farm like exposure to dangerous pesticides and improved health of worker on the farm.

References

Bardacke, F. (2012). Trampling out the vintage: Cesar Chavez and the two souls of the United

Farm Workers. Verso Books.

Guerra, L. F. (2016). Beautified by the spirit: Community murals as a liberativesource for

constructive pneumatology. Graduate Theological Union.

Patiño, J. (2017). Raza Sí, Migra No: Chicano Movement Struggles for Immigrant Rights in San Diego.

UNC Press Books.

Mural: “Cosmic Clowns” (1974) by Congresso de Artistas Chicanos en Aztlan (CACA): Mario Torero, Pablo de la Rosa, Tomas Casteneda, Felipe Barboza

Thesis Statement based on Observation of this Mural: I believe that the artists of this mural had multiple objectives. Considering this mural was painted one year after the first murals got painted at Chicano Park. The first objective is to display images for the Chicanos to enjoy and to have a place to celebrate and reestablish this place that they once called home. This mural has multiple levels, on one of the levels the clowns were painted for the kids who play in the park to have something else to look at besides the revolutionary imagery that was represented throughout the park. This mural reflects a time period when the Chicanos were doing everything they could to make Chicano Park their own little sanctuary. They want to make it a place to have fun and display creativity images as well as images of their history. With that being said this mural is a little bit controversial because the Chicano Park Steering Committee and local residents were not thrilled to have clowns painted in the park.

One cause or consequence of an event associated with this mural: There were many different events that led up to the creation of this mural. It all started with the Chicano movement that began in the early 1960’s. The Chicano movement began during the civil rights era and they had three goals: education reforms, restoration of land, and rights for farm workers. Cesar Chavez played a huge role in the movement. He went on a 23-day fast in support of a non-violent strike involving the grape growers. Cesar Chavez was a leader that helped get Senator Robert F. Kennedy to acknowledge United Farm Workers (UFW) as a union in 1970. Which later led up to April 22, 1970 when the Chicanos took over Chicano Park and stopped the city from building a California Highway Patrol Station. The first murals started getting painted in 1973. One of the most influential events that happened the year this mural was painted was when Congress passed the Equal Opportunities Act of 1974. The implementation of this act resulted in the occurrence of more bilingual education programs in public schools. Many of the other murals at Chicano Park represent these events that were going on during this time period. I’m not actually sure if the “Cosmic Clowns” mural is a representation of those events. I do believe that the Chicano Movement had an impact on the artists of this mural. It seems to me that this mural is more of a creativity piece and was created to entertain the children.

One historical individual involved in this event and explain his or her significance in this event: There are four artists that took part in this mural: Mario Torero, Pablo de la Rosa, Tomas Casteneda, and Felipe Barboza. I would like to provide some background information about each one. Mario Torero is a phenomenal artist, you can find his murals at more places besides Chicano Park. His murals are displayed at the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University. Mario’s father Guillermo Acevedo was a famous artist and he was a huge influencer on Mario’s paintings. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any background information about the other three artists. All I can say is they contributed their efforts in the painting of the mural “Cosmic Clowns”.

References:

http://laprensa-sandiego.org/featured/35219/ (Links to an external site.)

https://www.thoughtco.com/chicano-movement-brown-and-proud-2834583 (Links to an external site.)

http://www.chicanoparksandiego.com/murals/clowns.html (Links to an external site.)

http://chicano-park.com/ChicanoParkMap.jpg (Links to an external site.)

https://pbase.com/amoxtli/image/83842630 (Links to an external site.)

https://tph.ucpress.edu/content/23/4/91 (Links to an external site.)

Make sure to write about this mural “Mi Raza Primero (A Tribute to Roger Lucero)” (1993) by Mario Torero. Because this is what the professor assigned to me

Solution Preview

Tribute to Roger Lucero

Thesis statement based on your observation of this Mural: In his Mural, “Mi Raza Primero (A Tribute to Roger Lucero),” Torero illustrate the importance of family in the society and the need of straying united as a nation at large (Talamantez, 2011). The artist of this Mural played a central part in the foundation of the Chicano Park and thus the importance of standing as one, as illustrated by the Mural.

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