- When you think of cholos or cholas,
you might think of tattoos, pencil thin eyebrows
or maybe Flaca from Orange is the New Black.
What up, Flaca?
But have you ever wondered
where the word cholo even comes from?
Here's a hint, it's really old.
There are a lot of words floating around
to describe Mexican-Americans these days.
Hispanics, Chicanos, Latinx, you get the picture.
Now, not all of the words are nice
or even accurate, but all of the have their own history.
Cholo is one many of us know from pop culture,
but this word predates
your culturally insensitive Halloween costume
by a long shot.
My friend, Veronica Garza, is here
to help us break it all the way down.
- That's right, Franchesca.
I'm gonna take you all the way back in the day
before Europeans showed up in Latin America
and before Leanin' Like a Cholo hit the charts
and before this guy played a cholo in every movie.
Anyway, the origin of the word cholo is complicated
and it's meaning differs across Latin America.
But when it comes to a cholo in the U.S.,
it probably stems from xoloitzcuintlil,
which is a word in Nahuatl,
the language of my people, the Aztecs.
Xoloitxcuintlil, or xolo for short,
is not just a word that will royally screw you over
in a spelling bee, it's a word that refers to a dog
that's native to Latin America.
No, not the chihuahua, it's this guy.
The Aztecs believed this hairless little guy
guided people to the underworld after death.
Pero, as as often been the case in world history,
when Europeans show up for gold and spices,
things quickly got racist.
See, when the Spanish showed up,
they created a racial cast system
where indigenous people were at the bottom
and Spaniards were at the top.
And because they were so creative
the Criollo, or people of Spanish descent,
used the word cholo to describe indigenous
and mixed indigenous people as being like dogs.
Of all the times to not have a chancla.
Now fast forward to the United States
where the Spanish cast system was done away with
and the mixed raced immigrants of Mexico
were met with open arms and no one ever compared them
to animals ever again.
I'm kidding.
It got more racist.
Anyway, in the 1940's, chicanos,
or people of Mexican descent living in the U.S.
were known as Pachucos.
They mostly lived in East L.A.
and were known for wearing zoot suits.
Looking sharp, homie.
All right now, let's talk about las mujeres.
Pachuca women known for breaking the mold
of the good wife that was all over the place
in wartime America.
They formed girl gangs, sometimes wore zoot suits
and rocked huge bouffant hairstyles.
That's a lot of hairspray.
It's important to remember this was a time
where America was fighting in World War Two
and it was seen as patriotic
to conform to gender roles and of course, to be white.
Uncle Sam wants you to be white.
Chicanos and other people of color used fashion
to protest forced assimilation into American culture,
daring to take up space with extravagant garments
at a time when poor people were being made
to ration their clothing for the war effort
and when white people basically wanted them to disappear.
But this came at a price.
In 1943, a bunch of cops in L.A. decided
to spend their free time targeting
and brawling with young Pachucos
and participants of zoot suit culture.
This led to the zoot suit riots
which were a pivotal point for the Pachucos
and what would later become cholo culture.
Yeah, even a riot can't stop us from looking good.
Fast forward to the 50's and 60's
and here come the cholos,
the children of Pachuco zoot suit culture
with a new look and a whole lot of attitude.
Basically, the cholos drew from their surroundings
and represented their experiences on their bodies.
They were influenced by gang culture,
jail attire and working class migrant clothes.
The real lives a la gente,
we're talking bandanas, Dickies,
flannel shirts and big hoops.
Big hoop earrings, never leave home without them.
Just like their predecessors,
these folks were styling on a budget
but they brought a more street aesthetic
and rocked more tattoos and eyeliner.
They were also associated with lowriders,
customized muscle cars that cruise
through the barrio todo bajito y suavicito
instead of fast and furious.
Cholo culture and lowrider culture represent a lot
of the same goals.
In 1976, journalist Ted West wrote
that lowriders express the refusal
of a young Chicano American to Anglicized.
There has never been a clearer case
of the automobile being as an ethnic statement.
What up, Batmobile?
When we connect the dots,
cholo cultures represents a long history
of resistance to colonization and cultural assimilation.
It's more than just a look, it's an attitude and a movement.
These days, I know it's cool to dress up
like a cholo or a chola,
even if you have no idea what it represents, Gwen Stefani,
and cholo is a word that was meant to insult us,
but has been transformed to a look,
attitude and culture based
on our experiences with marginalization.
So don't be a Columbus.
Tu sabes?
- Thanks for the history lesson, Veronica.
Who knew the word cholo went all the way back to the Aztecs?
And who could have guessed that Gwen Stefani
would take something from a culture that isn't hers?
The more you know, am I right?
Special thanks to Veronica Garza
for helping us out and as always,
thanks for watching.
We'll see you next time right here on Decoded.