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Aztlan, as experienced in Chicano Park - Chicano Park is a
7 acre park located beneath the San Diego - Coronado Bridge
in Barrio Logan. Historically one of the largest Latino
neighborhoods in America, by the 1960s Barrio Logan's
Latino population had dramatically decreased due to seemingly
endless highway expansion projects.
In 1970 the community had had enough when bulldozers
began tearing up a slice of real estate originally slotted to be a
park. Logan Heights residents fought back and held a nearly 2
week stand-off with CHP construction and police. The flag of
Aztlan was raised at the site, marking a symbolic "reclamation"
of land that was once Mexico by people of Mexican descent.
Today the reverberations of that historic stand-off can still be
felt in the park - now beautifully ornamented with murals
celebrating the Chicano experience. Many neighborhood
activists believe in "La Tierra Mia" and look to the year 2020
when it is said the Latino population will outnumber that of
whites in the state of California. Coincidentally, 2020 is also
symbolic in ancient Mayan astronomy as the year that the
"world" will end and a rebirth would take place.
7 acre park located beneath the San Diego - Coronado Bridge
in Barrio Logan. Historically one of the largest Latino
neighborhoods in America, by the 1960s Barrio Logan's
Latino population had dramatically decreased due to seemingly
endless highway expansion projects.
In 1970 the community had had enough when bulldozers
began tearing up a slice of real estate originally slotted to be a
park. Logan Heights residents fought back and held a nearly 2
week stand-off with CHP construction and police. The flag of
Aztlan was raised at the site, marking a symbolic "reclamation"
of land that was once Mexico by people of Mexican descent.
Today the reverberations of that historic stand-off can still be
felt in the park - now beautifully ornamented with murals
celebrating the Chicano experience. Many neighborhood
activists believe in "La Tierra Mia" and look to the year 2020
when it is said the Latino population will outnumber that of
whites in the state of California. Coincidentally, 2020 is also
symbolic in ancient Mayan astronomy as the year that the
"world" will end and a rebirth would take place.
Copyright (c) 2007 A State of Mine. All Rights Reserved.
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