Mexican Inclusion by Gritter Matthew;

Author:Gritter, Matthew;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

Good Neighbors and Good Citizens

People of Mexican Origin and the FEPC

Previous chapters have explored how community involvement and transnational and international pressures influenced the direction of the FEPC. But how did the FEPC influence people of Mexican origin, in particular the small group of civil rights leaders such as Carlos Castañeda who became so involved with the agency? How would the tactics of a group virtually shut of out of the political process change with a taste of power, however limited and qualified? Would political entrepreneurs be shaped by the agency they sought to infiltrate?

This chapter traces how Mexican American civil rights leaders shifted their preferred discourse and policy options from appeals based on whiteness and assimilation to using the resources of a federal civil rights apparatus to protect them on the basis of their national origin. Particular attention will be devoted to the way Mexican American civil rights leaders shifted their support from the Texas Good Neighbor Commission, the state-level agency organized around the precept of Caucasian rights, to the FEPC. In profiling this shift, it will become evident how the institutional organization of the FEPC shaped these changes. The FEPC recognized plural forms of difference in American society and sought to combat discrimination that traditionally marginalized groups experienced in dealings with the federal government. In addition, the agency provided leaders from the community of Mexican origin an opportunity to help direct the FEPC’s services to their community and develop approaches that took account of specific concerns such as language issues and reaching out to people mistrustful of the American state. A combination of federal and power and community leadership provided Mexican American civil rights leaders with framework for incorporation that produced results.

Some Mexican American civil rights leaders have traditionally been characterized as conservatives,1 and there were those who rejected working with African American groups to focus on embracing a white racial classification and assimilation into American society. This chapter, in contrast, shows Mexican American civil rights leaders more willing to build alliances. In supporting the FEPC they focused on community-specific concerns rather than allying with African Americans. While supporting the same policies as African American civil rights leaders, they created particular justifications for their goals based on their own community. As people of Mexican origin, for instance, they sought incorporation as part of the fulfillment of the Good Neighbor Policy. As American citizens, they grounded their appeals in the realization of American democracy.

In addition to presenting the public comments of Mexican American civil rights leaders, this chapter also looks at their private interactions with FEPC officials. It will become clear that Mexican American civil rights leaders directly involved with the FEPC came to see their community as a minority group, one that was in need of federal intervention to gain equal opportunities in American society. In both private correspondence and public comments in the postwar era, Mexican American civil rights leaders no longer turned to appeals based on whiteness or assimilation.

While John Skrentny has portrayed people of

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