Alvarez 1

Maria F. Alvarez

Professor Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

03 December 2019

Cholos in Los

If you don’t know what a cholo is the dictionary defines it as “​a young man belonging to

a Mexican-American urban subculture associated with street gangs.”. ​Now that you know this do

not let the words “Mexican-American” missguide you because like the majority of Americans,

you probably think that cholos originated from Mexico but believe it or not, cholos do not exist

in Mexico. Cholos were originated here in the United States after the pachucos. Being

descendants of Mexican parents or grandparents many of these boys were unable to find an

identity in either Mexican or American culture, on the one hand they could not relate to their

cultural origins because they were not being raced nor lived in Mexico so they had no idea what

their “mother culture” was really about and on the other hand if they embrace the american

culture they were thought of as being “whitewash” or as not honoring where they came from.

Therefore many of these children made up their own identity by becoming cholos, they decided

to be from neither, for this they started to not act as mexican by speaking more of spanglish

instead of spanish and they also decided to conform themselves to have not education and

become criminals because that is what society thought of them. Cholos also live around a gang

culture and this has caused them to become performative about being gangsters. Being born into

a cholo family in America is bad and hard for many because they grow up not being accepted by

Mexicans or Americans, they also grow up in a gang related community with a lot of violence.
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Before talking about cholos we need to talk about los pachucos and the things cholos

took from them to build their own identity. “Pachuco” was a way of life that Mexican-American

kids adopted; with this way of life they would often be associated with the nightlife, street gangs

and rakish behavior, to identify themselves they would wear zoot suits. Due to this many became

targeted by Americans and this caused the zoot suit riots of 1943 in Los Angeles California. As

the years past pachucos started to banish but the next generation still carried some of their

traditions like their slang and their street gangs as well as the nightlife. One thing that change

was the way cholos dress instead of a zoot suit to identify themselves they “changed the dress

style to khaki pants, plaid, pendleton shirt, deck shoes and a watch cap or bandana” (James

pg.14). Although many of the pachuco traditions no longer continue, cholos are still highly

associated to pachucos. As James Diego Vigil talks about in his article, “One Response To

Mexican Urban Adaptation In The Los Angeles Area”, where he discusses how the Mexican

adaptation to areas in the United States has resulted in the rise of youth street groups, up until

today many officials and many media sources have associated cholos with the attacks of 1943

and they have “frequently with exaggerated descriptions intended to ridicule the dress and

speech styles. Thus, although most "pachucos" and most "cholos" were not involved in

destructive anti-social activities, the general public has been encouraged to view their cultural

styles as a manifestation of criminal gang behavior” (James 14). This has become part of the

social deviance that cholos have to undergo. They become a target to society even when they

have not done a thing therefore they are forced to act recklessly and they are though as criminals

and gansgster no matter what. Clearly taking some of the pachucos traditions and practices to

build their identity gave cholos a bad reputation even before they knew who they were, now they
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carry this image of a gangster and a person who break the rules by wearing long khaki shorts

long socks white t-shirts and having tattoos.

Now that we talked about pachucos and their contribution to cholos we can move on and

talk about some of the things that as a cholo you are expected to or not expected to do. For

example education is not important for cholos as a matter of fact kids that grow up in a cholo

family are hihgly encourage to drop out of school. Reason for this is because many

Mexican-American believe that education is only for white people because they see it as a

privilege that white people also because many see the educational system as a continued

exploitation; and this results in many of them not even completing a high school career. Many

cholos do not feel accepted in a school dominated by white folks, cholos were attending these

schools as the minority. Min Zhou in her article “Growing up American: the challenge

confronting immigrant children and children of immigrants” explains the difficulties cholos had

to build their own identity and by rejecting education they felt as if they were not being sheep to

the white people in America, she says “they reacted to their exclusion and subordination with

resentment, regarded efforts toward academic achievement as "acting white," and constructed an

identity in resistance to the dominant majority white society.” (Min pg.4). This demonstrates the

anger this kids had because even when they tried their best, it was not enough just because they

were not white. Adding to this inequality in the opportunities given to these cholos or families of

cholos was another triggering aspect of education for cholos, they thought that even with a

diploma they were not going to be given the same opportunity as the white folks and this due to

“the inequalities of class and race that plague American society are carried into the American

educational system. Schools have thus become "arenas of injustice" that provide unequal
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opportunities on the basis of class and race.” (Min 7). This demonstrates the reasons for cholos to

give up and encouraging their families to give up in education before even trying because at the

end of all they are discriminated against and they know it. After all cholos choose have a culture

where education has not importance and this has a lot to do with the lack of equal opportunities

and the majority of students in schools being white. Cholos see education and schools as a form

of time consuming and not an opportunity, they see it as a form of explosion caused by the

inequality in opportunities.

The lack of aspirations does not only apply to education, cholos also tend to have very

little aspirations about life. In this clip from the movie “A Better Life” directed by Chris Weitz,

we see two kids talking in a park Facundo, the kind in the plaid short sleeve who comes from a

family full of cholos, tells Luis, the kid in the hoodie who does not come from a family of

cholos, “What's so special about you foo? You aint no gangsta. All you're gonna do is mow

lawns like your pops” To which Luis replies “Aww hell no!” Then Facundo continues to say

“Then what bus tables at dennys? Park cars in one of them little red vests?” This demonstrates

the difference between the kid that grew up in a space full of cholos and the kid that did not.

Since facundo grew up around cholos he believes that him as well as his friend are not going to

be able to have good aspirations in life, he belives that his friend will end up as his dad because

he knows he will end up in gang and becoming a cholo as his family because that is what he has

seen growing up in Los Angeles that the kids only turn out to be like their families and not

something bigger. Another thing that happens in the scene is that Facundos cousin, a cholo,

approaches them as asks them why are they out of school, they said they asnwer him saying they

gor suppended and he then proccedes to say “Thats all they know how to do. Lock us out or lock
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us up. Whatcha you know what they used to do to us put on a video and leave the boom. So I

decided to screw it I’m getting into the hood” This is a huge example of how the system and

society itself drives this young cholos to turn to the streets because they feel that no one cares

about them, all the system was to do is lock them up in cells without giving them the opportunity

to become something better. Therefore the space created in Los Angeles by white people, where

they blame these kids for turning into delinquents but also do not provide them with the

opportunity and tools the need to become better people has drove these youngsters to turn to the

streets where they feel like they at least have an opportunity to become someone.

Although the space around cholos were mostly built by white people, in now days cholos

are the ones building this space of gangs and violence for the new generations. In the short film

“Hermanos” directed by Timur Bootzin, we are introduced to two kids that become best friends

and they grow up continuing to be best friends, later we learn that both of these teenagers belong

to families from opposite gangs, their older brothers are the leaders of those gangs and Juan’s

brother prohibits him to hang out with his best friend Mateo. After a while of Juan avoiding

Mateo they see each other once more and Mateo tries to figure out why did Juan stop talking to

him. Juans older brother and his gang see them hanging out and jump Mateo just because he was

talking to his brother. Later that day Mateo goes home and see that his brother just got out of jail,

his older brother gets mad and asks who jumped him, Mateo refuses to answer but Mateos mom

tells him it was Juan and his brothers gang. In the rage of the moment Mateos brother takes him

and all of his gang to Juan’s house, there they both start arguing and from one moment to another

everyone starts shooting. The film ends with Mateo and Juan laying down next to each other

after being shot and they both died. This film is really strong and shines at light in an important
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subject that is that many of the new generations are forced by their families and if they refuse to

join gangs and become cholos if they don’t their are seen as if they are dishonoring their family.

Although many cholos do not presuit their education and goals in life their kids try to but

they are usually stopped by their own families. In the article “Blurred Borders for Some but Not

“Others”: Racialization, “Flexible Ethnicity,” Gender, and Third-Generation Mexican American

Identity” written by Jessica M. Vasquez she talks about ​how Mexican-Americans of the third

generation of the middle class survive both culturally and sexually. She believes that

“Third-generation Mexican American men and women confront specific racialized and gendered

stereotypes” (Vasquez pg. 46). This goes to show that even they hold back their own family

members from reaching their goals in education because they expect them to meet the

stereotypes everyone around them has created for them.

In my opinion I believe that cholos give up in any goals or aspirations they have in life

due to the lack of oportunities and the discrimination they recive. They have been stuck in the

middle of two cultures that they know they are not completely accepted by neither of them. They

turn to the gang violence and streets to feel like they belong in a way. They try to save their sons,

cousins and nephews from feeling the rejection of society by turning them into what they believe

is something that will accept them. They are set up by Los Angeles to become minimum wage

workers their whole life, or not even work, they are set up for failure and they accepted, they

know that nobody will help them or give them an opportunity. They are forced to act as if they

do not want something better in life, as if they are delinquents as if they are reckless and do not

care about consequences. Although it is also their fault because if someone decides not to join

gangs or to try and get a better education they are thought of as white and they are seen as if they
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are trying to become something they are not just because they do not follow the stereotypes.

Overall being a cholo is a life changing decision that would probably turn out to be bad due to

the violence and racisms they face on a everyday life.

Work Cited

Bootzin, Timur, director. “Hermanos Short Film (2018)”.​ Youtube, 2018. Accessed

12/03/2019. ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy2oJD0BzDI

Vasquez, Jessica. “​Blurred Borders for Some but Not ‘Others’: Racialization, ‘Flexible

Ethnicity​," Gender, and Third-Generation Mexican American Identity.” Sociological

Perspectives, vol. 53, no. 1, 2010, pp. 45–72. Accessed 12/03/2019.

https://journals-sagepub-com.libproxy.csun.edu/doi/pdf/10.1525/sop.2010.53.1.45

Vigil, James Diego. “​Chicano Gangs: One Response To Mexican Urban Adaptation In

The Los Angeles Area.​” Urban Anthropology, vol. 12, no. 1, 1983, pp. 45–75. ​JSTOR​, Accessed

12/03/2019. ​www.jstor.org/stable/40552988​.

​ ime Orchard Productions, 2011. Accessed

Weitz, Chris, director. ​“A Better Life”. L

12/03/2019. ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3XcExCD3HM

Zhou, Min. “​Growing Up American: The Challenge Confronting Immigrant Children and

Children of Immigrants.​ ” ​Annual Review of Sociology,​ vol. 23, 1997, pp. 63–95. ​JSTOR​,

Accessed 12/03/2019. ​www.jstor.org/stable/2952544​.