Delivering the Mexicano Vote

Chapter 5 continues the story begun in chapter 4, when a split between Chicano Democrats and Chicano/Mexicano immigrant rights activists leads to the exodus of the latter from the statewide MAPA organization to the seemingly more radical politics of La Raza Unida Party, an ethnic third party effort. The chapter explores how this moment led to debates between various factions of the California La Raza Unida Party through which San Diego Chicano/Mexicano activists participated from roughly 1970-1975. Community activists in San Diego LRUP facilitated an approach in between a persistent narrow nationalism that, despite rhetoric otherwise, deemphasized the noncitizen migrant experience and struggled to embrace the diverse political positions within the ethnic Mexican community. San Diego Chicano/Mexicano LRUP organizers maintained engagement with the diverse ethnic Mexican community in their registration efforts, as they continued to learn about the limits of voting strategies in their mixed-legal status community.