Chicano/a/xs in the United States experienced racial discrimination through regional segregation, marginalization in suburbia, and construction of a selective fantasy past. This relationship between space, cultural citizenship, and race relations were apparent in the unequal opportunities and the marginalization Latinos faced in racialized suburbia. An imagined Spanish fantasy past was constructed through mission revival and Olvera Street in Los Angeles that placed the Mexican people and their culture in the past. It was implied that the only place for them in modern day Los Angeles was in the past, supporting the belief that the Mexican immigrants in the present were not a part of the Los Angeles community and were just a temporary workforce in America. This further emphasizes this racial segregation they faced from the Anglo community who constructed a physical
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The socioeconomic hierarchy was even evident in the colorful, entertaining Olvera Street through how the Mexicans were seen as a separate group of people who were either labeled as “yesterday” or as a temporary workforce. The Spanish fantasy past was not only seen through Olvera Street, but was demonstrated in the romanticism in Santa Barbara. Olvera Street’s Spanish fantasy past was what the Anglos viewed as “Mexicanness,” whereas the emergence of mission-like architecture and the popularity of the Spanish Past romanticism arose due to Americans wanting to identify with the “holy and pious Spaniards” and not the “lazy” downfall of the Mexican presence (Sagarena, 2002). Although these two reasons of why the Spanish Fantasy Past and Spanish Romanticism gained popularity contrasts, they both depict the racial discrimination towards the Mexican community, whether by denying their history or selectively creating a past for
The socioeconomic hierarchy was even evident in the colorful, entertaining Olvera Street through how the Mexicans were seen as a separate group of people who were either labeled as “yesterday” or as a temporary workforce. The Spanish fantasy past was not only seen through Olvera Street, but was demonstrated in the romanticism in Santa Barbara. Olvera Street’s Spanish fantasy past was what the Anglos viewed as “Mexicanness,” whereas the emergence of mission-like architecture and the popularity of the Spanish Past romanticism arose due to Americans wanting to identify with the “holy and pious Spaniards” and not the “lazy” downfall of the Mexican presence (Sagarena, 2002). Although these two reasons of why the Spanish Fantasy Past and Spanish Romanticism gained popularity contrasts, they both depict the racial discrimination towards the Mexican community, whether by denying their history or selectively creating a past for