#10: Claiming they’re Aztec

Chicanos marching in Aztec gear

Ask most Educated Chicanos what “kind of Indian are you?” and they’ll bust out with the Aztec bomb. ‘Yeah, my folks back in Mexico were Aztec,’ they’ll say. ‘My great-grandmother in photos look like those Navajos in Gallup, New Mexico, because, you know, I’m Aztec,’ they’ll claim. ‘I feel some much of a connection with the Mayans in Chiapas because of my Aztec lineage,’ they’ll add.

Right.

True, a number of ECHs are mestizos — a hybrid of the Spanish and New World. But very few — if any — can really claim Aztec. That’s because ECHs’ families come from all over Mexico like border towns, Michoacan, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Chihuahua and the like. So, statistically, it’s more likely that most ECHs living in present-day Los Estados Unidos are most likely descendants of Indian tribes that got beat up by the Aztecs (hence, the reason a small band of Spanish where able to conquer present-day Mexico City.) Still, that doesn’t stop ECHs from decorating their homes with Aztec calendars and that painting of that Aztec warrior holding an Aztec princess over his knees with that waterfall in the background. That doesn’t stop those MEChista from performing Aztec danza at university multicultural day and wearing big-ass eagle-head sets and ankle shells.

Why do ECHs do this? Blame it on the Mexican Revolution. After the war, the ruling party encouraged the citizenry to look into its indigenous past. Murals were painted and old Indian sites were turned into tourist attractions. That was also the same time that the US saw a big migration from Mexico. Enter the Chicano Movement, and the hippies began romanticizing the Aztecs as a way to battle white supremacy and self-hatred of their brown bodies. When all is said, it’s better than what those weirdos New Mexico ECHs claim. Those brothers and sisters are adamant that they are descendants of the conquistador Juan de Onate. Right…