What is the difference between the terms Chicana/o and Hispanic?
The term “Hispanic” was promoted during the Nixon Administration to label Spanish-speaking people in the U.S. without regard for their cultural roots or identities. Simply put, Hispanic means a person is from Spain or the Iberian Peninsula. Since the 1960’s, the term Chicana/o has become a political and cultural means of choosing our own identity and future. Chicana/o means that we are the descendants of the original civilizations of this land (i.e. Mexica, Inca, Maya) with our own history, language, and cultura having roots in Ixachitlan (Tip of Alaska to Tierra del Fuego) older than those of the colonizer.
