Poem Analysis: I Am Joaquin

This week's readings involved introductions to problems faced by the Chicano community. It depicts how far back these cultural problems have arose and how the community continues to struggle and overcome it. For example, in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, it is a historical document stating peace, friendship, limits, and settlement for the people of Mexico and the United States. This treaty was drafted in 1848, which ended the Mexican-American War, in hopes for a better relationship between the two countries. In contrast, in the poem, I am Joaquin, the poet brings light how the treaty is broken and how the Chicano people and all people represented in the poem are oppressed socially, economically, culturally, and politically, by the "Gabachos".