"Imperialism, sexism, chauvinism, racism. All these isms. Man, I hate this English language."

This assessment reflects the beliefs of many Xicanos. It was given by Roseanne "Rocky" Rodriguez, who began walking the path of liberation during the Chicano Power Period in which thousands of our people united to end injustices committed against them by racist people and oppressive governments. Some sought a solution by a total reformation of government. Others, echoing the words of black nationalists, believed in achieving justice "by any means necessary."

An adopted Lakota and Xicana by birth, Rocky has been involved in many organizations. One of these was the crusade for justice (CFJ) in Denver. Colorado . Before being bombed by the government, the CFJ was relatively successful in implementing the Xicano agenda of the day. Also, the CFJ aided in drafting the basic premises for El Plan de Aztlan, one of the guiding documents of Xicano nationalism to this day. Rodriguez currently represents the Xicano nation on the International Indian Treat Council as as a non-governmental representative to the United Nations. She is also the chairwoman of the National Chicano Human Rights Council.

In a recent interview, Rodriguez gave a first-hand account of the Xicano Movement: " I started in the Movement when I was 13. Back then, we had police beating everybody up in the community. The Vietnam War was going on., and we had many of our people spilling blood on foreign shores for an undeclared, illegal and immoral war against people in their own homeland. Everybody's going off to war, and meanwhile, they're beating the shit out of us at home. (During this time) our people were just barely starting to embrace each other again.

"For example, the name Xicano, that's a name that we gave to ourselves to reject the terms that were imposed on us or imported and given to us. This was a time when we were starting to come together within the Xicano Movement. We were learning what it was going to take to be a family and adhere to our indigenous values (again). Even that word, indigenous, wasn't popular. It wasn't an international standard yet. (Xicanos) said "Indian blood" back then."

Many argue that the Xicano Movement, like many struggles for liberation, as (and still is) full of sexism. Historically, many of the women who participated in these movements were relegated to secondary positions. They worked as clerks in the offices, while the men were fighting "in the belly of the beast." However, at times of protest, these same women could be found in the crowds, pumping their fists with the best of them. Helping in the struggle gave some women enough confidence to handle greater tasks. These women now felt that they could take on leadership positions. No longer did they feel that someone should speak for them. They could speak for themselves. However, some men still tried to hold them back.

"I saw that women were part of the Movement, but not as leaders," Rodriguez said. "They did all the cooking and the cleaning. I'm not saying that there weren't women leaders back then. I was inspired a lot by Dolores Huerta (and) women who could act on and do things with or without the organizations. These women didn't need a leader or a mentor. But there wasn't equality in the Movement back then, that's for sure."

The Xicanas who wanted to be at the forefrontof the Movement began to recognize another form of oppression that they would have to fight. They saw that they were being treated as second-class citizens by the same people who were fighting alongside them for supposed liberation. So these women began to question their role in the Movement. Some began to listen to what the primarily white middle-class feminists were preaching.

In an article, Jennie V. Chavez recalls her encounter with sexism and machismo within the United Mexican American Students organization and the University of New Mexico. Her response was to form another group, called "Las Chicanas." However, many in the movement, including some women, saw this as divisive. The prevailing attitude was that gender separatism worked against La Causa. Thus, many Xicanos shunnded Chavez and her followers. Chavez wrote that she "caught more shit than (she) knew existed from both males and females in the Movement.

Jessie Lopez de la Cruz also faced the same adversity from her brothers in arms. But Cesar Chavez put this to rest. When her husband would go attend union meetings, de la Cruz wrote that she" either stay(ed) at home or outside in the car." But then Cesar said, "The women have to be involved. If you can take them to the fields, you can certainly take them to the meetings."

During her speeches, de La Cruz would recruit women for the union. She would say things such as, "women can no longer be taken for granted! It's way past the time when our husbands could say, "You stay home." One can say, perhaps, that Jessie Lopez de La Cruz believed in fighting for women's rights within the male dominated Movement. Rocky also believes in this ideal.

"I'm not a feminist, just for the record. I don't belong to any women's liberation movements. I don't believe in any of that. I saw that the women's liberation movement got people more divided. When a lot of our women started to be more assertive and started to follow the feminist women's line of thinking, which comes from the white women's movement, they started dividing everybody and treating our brothers like half men. Granted, there's a lot of sexism and chauvinism. All those isms, you know. I don't agree that women have to separate themselves from men in order to be heard or let their positions be known.

For Rockey and other indigenous women, the indigenous concept of femininity is different from the white perspective: "I also saw Xicana feminists adopt the white womens' view of femininity and what feminism was. I don't think that white women have truly understood what femininity is. If they did, then they would have an understanding of why the earth is the mother and why the moon is their grandmother and how they are supposed to be living in harmony with the natural laws that govern over their bodies and themselves, rather than thinking they hold all of those powers. I guess I'm going out on a limb here. I'll put it this way, I haven't seen anything come out of any women's movement that has helped me to understand what being feminine really is.

"See, in those days, (the women's) movement was predominantly white. They didn't include red, black or yellow or brown (people). And if you were in any of those movements, you were quite a minority. (So) they didn't understand you. And their main gripe was sexism. Whereas for us, the women of color, we had to face imperialism, racism and sexism. We had a three-headed monster to deal with."

At least one feminist acknowledged the other factors that were causing the oppression of so-called minority women. In the book, "Betty Friedan and the origins of feminism in Cold War America," the author wrote that Friedan portrayed herself as someone whose radical consciousness relied on the American labor movement as the bulwark against fascism. Betty was also known to write articles in her school newspaper that supported the aspirations of African Americans. Despite all this, Betty Friedan subjected herself to working "as a freelance writer for mass circulation magazines who concentrated on the suburban middle class in more muted tones." The author even suggests that Friedan left the intricacies of why she left the UE News because she wanted to "tell the story of her conversion in order to heighten the impact of her book and appeal to white, middle-class women." Perhaps this can reflect the tendency for feminists to seek out white women.

No one can say for sure whether Xicana feminists will choose to walk the path toward freedom alongside men again, or whether men will ever embrace women as equals. But in the words of Roseanne "Rocky" Rodriguez, "I don't view the struggle as a women's struggle, a man's or a children's struggle. I view it as a people's struggle. And if we're really going to talk about human rights, then we have to be human."