Chicano Punk Research Paper

You can’t talk about Chicano punk without bringing up East Los Angeles and what was happening in the backyard punk scene. Even within the punk subculture, those from East Los Angeles were alienated by the West LA punks who were predominately white. Only recently has more awareness been given to a community that birthed greats such as the very political Los Illegals (founders of the Club Vex), the socially conscious and all female band The Brat, and the D-I-Y group The Plugz who eventually played with Bob Dylan. At the time the only way to be noticed was by performing at the West Los Angeles venues, but the Chicano punk bands were denied due to concerns that they would bring with them a “dangerous element”. Willie Herron III, singer for …show more content…
Chicano punk Anthony Macias best describes the benefits: "You have a bad day and get stressed out and punch someone in the street, you're going to go to jail. But if you have a bad day and come to a show, you can blow off some steam and people are probably going to shake your hand. And at least you’ll have it out of your system." Such is the therapeutic outlet that these backyard punk shows provide for those who feel like they just can’t be understood by the adults in their lives. The scene also teaches its participants to not be afraid and to be genuine. It teaches them to dive in and try, even if they fail, because they are going to have people surrounding them to pick them back up.
Most, if not all, of the people that are a part of the East LA backyard punk scene describe it as a family, the family they can choose. To them it is a place where everyone is taken care of be it by making sure they have something to eat, somewhere to stay at, or that they can get a ride to get where they have to go. It is not uncommon to see the punks sharing their stash if another person has run out or doesn’t have