Oye Carnal

I read this poem in my HILD7C Chicano History class and fell in love with it. It's so strong and fights tirelessly against the double-standards in society in general and more specifically found in el Movimiento and Chicano/a culture.

Notes From a Chicana Co-ed

By Bernice Zamora

To cry that the gabacho

Is our oppressor is to shout

In abstraction, carnal

He no more oppresses us
Than you do now as you tell me

“It’s the gringo who oppresses you, Babe.”

You cry “the gringo is our oppressor.”

To the tune of $20,000 to $30,000

A year, brother, and I wake up

Alone each morning and ask,

“Can I feed my children today?”…

And when I mention

Your G.I. Bill, your

Ford Fellowship, your

Working wife, your

Three gabacha guisas

Then you ask me to

Write your thesis

You’re quick to shout,

“Don’t give me that

Women’s lib trip, mujer

That only divides us, and we have to work

Together for the movimiento

The gabacho is oppressing us!

Oye carnal, you may as well

Tell me that moon water

cures constipation, that

penguin soup prevents crudas

or that the Arctic Ocean is Menudo…