AP Explains: Why term ‘la raza’ has complicated roots in US (2024)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The National Council of La Raza announced this week that it was changing its name to UnidosUS, dropping a word that has deep roots but may have hurt the organization in moving toward the future.

The change to remove “la raza” comes amid a backlash from conservatives and a desire by the civil rights group to appeal to younger Latinos in the United States.

The term la raza —meaning “the people” — has roots in post-revolution Mexico and in the U.S. Chicano Movement of the 1970s which helped elect some of the nation’s first Latinos to public office. Often mistaken for its literal meaning in English, “the race,” la raza has been used to describe people whose families have migrated from Latin American countries.

But in the ever-evolving discussions of race and ethnicity in the U.S., some Latino advocates see the term as outdated and no longer useful in an era of a racially diverse society and President Donald Trump.

A look at the history of the term la raza in the United States:

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LA RAZA CÓSMICA

Following the Mexican Revolution, cultural philosopher José Vasconcelos penned the essay “La Raza Cósmica,” or “The Cosmic Race,” in 1925 in response to white supremacist rhetoric coming out of the United States and Europe. Vasconcelos argued that a “fifth race” of people had emerged in the Americas that encompassed races from around the world and transcended all the others.

The mixture of the indigenous and the Old World, he wrote, were “the moral and material basis for the union of all men into a fifth universal race, the fruit of all the previous ones and amelioration pf everything past.”

José Angel Hernández, a University of Houston history professor, said Vasconcelos became the first Mexican presidential candidate to campaign in the United States among Mexican-Americans. There, he spread his message about “la raza cósmica.”

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The CHICANO MOVEMENT

After World War II, some Mexican-American civil rights leaders fought against racial segregation. They also argued that Mexican-Americans were white or “a class apart” who didn’t fit into a black/white racial U.S. legal structure.

But radical activists from the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s rediscovered Vasconcelos’ essay and rejected notions that Mexican-Americans were white. They established the La Raza Unida Party in South Texas in 1970 to give more political power to Mexican-Americans in Texas and California.

They fielded candidates for city council and school board seats and eventually for Texas governor. Maria del Rosario Castro, the mother of former Housing Secretary Julián Castro and Texas Congressman Joaquín Castro, was an active member of La Raza Unida Party.

At political rallies in Texas and at marches in California to support Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers, young Latino activists yelled, “Viva La Raza!”

Out of the political upheaval, a more moderate group was formed — the National Council of La Raza — with the help of Ford Foundation funding in 1968.

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CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH

The National Council of La Raza developed into a major Latino civil rights organization, hosting U.S. presidential candidates and receiving sponsorship dollars from tobacco, automobile and oil companies.

Still, because of the group’s outspoken stances in support of immigrant rights, some conservatives attacked the organization as being “anti-white” and pointed to the term “la raza” in its name. Conservative pundits also often confused the National Council of La Raza with the defunct La Raza Unida Party, wrongfully attributing its philosophies about Aztlan — the mythical homeland of the Aztec in the present-day American Southwest — to the mainstream NCLR.

During his campaign, Trump criticized a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against him by mentioning that he was a member of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association.

Mike Madrid, a California GOP consultant, said such attacks were unfair. “But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t have a group based on identity politics and not expect a backlash,” he said. “I think other groups will change their names.”

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MORE DIVERSE US LATINO POPULATION

In Latin America and part of the U.S., Columbus Day has been rebranded as “Día de la Raza,” or Day of the Race. The day is meant to honor the meeting of Europeans with indigenous populations that eventually created a new mixed population.

But Claudia Milian, director of Latino/a Studies in the Global South at Duke University, said the term is not as encompassing for U.S. Latinos as some might believe and is more of a Mexican-American term.

The Latino population in North Carolina, for example, contains many Central American indigenous migrants who are suspicious of any talk of racial theories since it usually meant destroying their way of life and culture, Milian said.

“So I don’t know if la raza would work for some indigenous migrants here,” Milian said. “After all, to them, it was la raza who were trying to wipe them off the face of the earth.

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Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras .

AP Explains: Why term ‘la raza’ has complicated roots in US (2024)

FAQs

Why is La Raza important? ›

The Chicano Movement

They established the La Raza Unida Party in South Texas in 1970 to give more political power to Mexican-Americans in Texas and California. They fielded candidates for city council and school board seats and eventually for Texas governor.

What is the underlying cause that led to the founding of the La Raza Unida Party? ›

It was created in 1970 and became prominent throughout Texas and Southern California. It was started to combat growing inequality and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party that was typically supported by Mexican-American voters.

What does the Spanish slang Raza mean? ›

The Spanish expression la Raza ('the people' or 'the community'; literal translation: 'the race') has historically been used to refer to the mixed-race populations (primarily though not always exclusively in the Western Hemisphere), considered as an ethnic or racial unit historically deriving from the Spanish Empire, ...

What does viva La Raza mean? ›

"Viva La Raza" literally means Long live the race.

What is Raza known for? ›

What is he best known for? Raza experimented with a number of Modernist styles, but it's probably his works in Abstract Expressionism and, later, Geometric Abstraction, for which he is most famous.

What is the La Raza in the Chicano movement? ›

The term la raza —meaning “the people” — has roots in post-revolution Mexico and in the U.S. Chicano Movement of the 1970s which helped elect some of the nation's first Latinos to public office.

What is the full meaning of Raza? ›

The name Raza embodies “contentment” and “satisfaction.” Raza is generally used as a boy's name and can be considered a form of the Arabic Razi or an Urdu name derived from the Arabic Ridha. It represents a calm-natured person who is satisfied or happy in life—or could serve as a reminder to work to embody this nature!

What does El Dia de la Raza represent for Latinos? ›

Dia De La Raza celebrates the heritage, colonization, and cultural diversity of Latin America. History/Origin: On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus stepped foot on the new world marking the moment of the first encounter between Europeans and America, changing the known world forever.

What is Raza used for? ›

Rasa provides a framework for developing AI chatbots that uses natural language understanding (NLU). It also allows the user to train the model and add custom actions. Chatbots built using Rasa deployed on multiple platforms like FB messenger, Microsoft bot and slack etc.

What does "por la raza" mean? ›

"La raza" was a source of pride for many Latinos, the most militant of whom adopted the motto: "Por la raza todo, fuera de la raza nada" — "For the race, everything, outside the race, nothing." But it drew resistance from many leaders who sought a place for their people within the broader American society.

What is La Raza mission? ›

Our Mission

To serve as a bridge between San Francisco and Spanish speaking immigrant families with direct support and advocacy to ensure Latino and Indigenous immigrant communities can access resources, realize their power, and thrive.

What is the meaning of La Raza studies? ›

La Raza Studies is an interdisciplinary academic program that provides students with an in-depth analysis of the rich life experiences of Chicanas/os and Latinas/os in the Americas. The program emphasizes comparative and trans-border study of Latinos/as and indigenous people.

What is the main purpose in celebrating El Dia de la Raza? ›

Anyone that lives in a Spanish speaking country generally sees it as a National holiday. What is the purpose? Dia De La Raza celebrates the heritage, colonization, and cultural diversity of Latin America.

What was the purpose of La Raza newspaper? ›

Driven by an acute hunger to give voice and representation to Chicano experience, La Raza became a repository for young people who developed new Chicano sensibilities and an empowered sense of identity as Mexican Americans.

What is the purpose of the National Council of La Raza? ›

The NCLR seeks to advocate for Latino civil rights issues that address voting rights, housing and employment discrimination, racial profiling, and social inequality. As part of its civil rights advocacy, the organization also aims to address the criminal justice system and the Latino community.

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