ABSTRACT
Spring 1972, an unspecified university, Aztlán EEUU, U.S.A. A Chicano critic prepares to labor, desk replete with now widely recognizable instruments of literary production: “I am Joaquín” (1967), Pocho (1959), With His Pistol in His Hand (1958), Barrio Boy (1971), The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972), … And the Earth Did Not Part (1971), The Chicano Manifesto (1971). Walls are lined, on the one side with brave Aztec Chicano warriors who scout the cultural horizon accompanied by shapely Aztec Chicana princesses sporting the national denomination, Aztlán, on their reproductive organs, and on the other side, with revolutionary posters imaging Ché’s angry admonition: You are not a minority! In the background, inspirational music, that much loved movement song, resounds:
I am a Chicano, brownskinned, an American but with honor. When they tell me that the revolution has started, will defend my people with all my courage.
I have my pride and manliness, my culture and love, I have my faith, I’m different, my skin is brown. have a culture, have a heart. And no one can take them from me, no not any bastard. 2
