Cholo (subculture)


A cholo or chola is a member of a Chicano and Latino subculture or lifestyle associated with a particular set of dress, behavior, and worldview which originated in Los Angeles. A veterano or veterana is an older member of the same subculture. Cholo was first reclaimed by Chicano youth in the 1960s and emerged as a popular identification in the late 1970s. The subculture has historical roots in the Pachuco subculture, which is embraced by both Chicanos and Cholos. Cholo/a youth endure hyper-criminalization because they are stereotyped and equated with criminal behavior and gang activity, even though this is not a necessary precondition of being a cholo/a.
The cholo/a subculture has spread to cities in the United States with large Chicano or Latino populations, including New York City, as well as to Mexico, such as in Nogales, Sonora, and cities in Japan. Other terms referring to male members of the subculture may include foo, vato, and vato loco.

Usage of terms

Historical

Cholo was originally used to denote a racialized individual of lower socioeconomic status. It first emerged in the early 17th century as a term used by Spanish colonizers as follows: "The child of a Black male and an Indian female, or of an Indian male and Black female, they call mulato and mulata. The children of these they call cholos. Cholo is a word from the Windward Islands; it means dog, not of the purebred variety, but of very disreputable origin; and the Spaniards use it for insult and vituperation." In the latter part of the 19th century, it referred to "culturally marginal" mestizos of Native American origin, being applied to "peasant mestizos as a pejorative ethnic label to distinguish the rich, the upwardly mobile, and other aspiring members... from the working class."

Reclamation

In the 1960s, Chicano youths reclaimed the term cholo. The Chicano Movement turned the term cholo on its head and it became a way to express Chicano pride and identity. Since then, it has been more widely reclaimed among Latinos of mixed heritage, otherwise known as mestizos.

Style

Cholo

Cholo style is often associated with wearing some combination of a tartan, flannel, or Pendleton shirt buttoned at the top over a white T-shirt or tanktop, a hair net over short hair combed straight back or a shaved head, a bandana tied around the head and pulled down just above the eyes, reverse baseball caps, dark sunglasses, loose-fitting khaki pants or shorts, long chains, long socks, white tennis shoes, and stylized tattoos. The style has been described as both a necessity and a style of empowerment. Cholo style is important and comprises a large portion of the social image of the cholo subculture, although it does not represent it in its totality.
Cholo style has been identified as combining the loose-fitting comfort of the traditional huipil and baggy draping of the zoot suit donned by the pachuco. Gilberto Rosas describes the fashion of cholos as a style which has become criminalized–"a radically conditioned choice to be visibly and self-consciously identified with a criminalized class"–that situates cholos "in realms of nightmares that criminalize, racialize, and marginalize lower-class Mexican Americans." Because the way cholo style has been criminalized, it commonly excludes cholos from employment opportunities while opening them up to routine police harassment and arrest.
Adopting cholo style has also been identified as a way for youths to assert their Chicano identity, especially for those who are only English-speaking. James Diego Vigil analyzes how some barrios in the United States that were predominately Spanish-speaking in the 1960s became mostly English-speaking by the 1980s. Some use cholo style to deny their anglicization or cultural assimilation as well as to separate themselves from affiliating with Mexican migrants. As stated by Vigil, "much of this interethnic friction revolves around... competition for scarce job resources, especially between members of the depressed underclass and desperate immigrants." However, it is also cultural, with "Mexicans making fun of a Chicano's inability to speak 'proper' Spanish and conversely" Chicanos and cholos sometimes using interethnic pejoratives against Mexican migrants, such as "chuntaro" and "wetback."

Chola

Chola style is often associated with wearing some combination of a long white T-shirt or tanktops, sometimes worn under plaid shirts, baggy jeans, flat black shoes, long hair, spiked bangs, dark or heavy eyeliner, and dark lipstick and lip liner. Chola style has been identified as exhibiting "a radically criminalized femininity, situating them in the purview of official and unofficial policing as well as legal and extralegal sanctions." Chola style is perceived with less menace than cholo style, although it has been described as more directly challenging to the gendered expectations placed on women.

Criminalization

youth who adopt a cholo or chola culture endure hyper-criminalization, since police and institutions equate cholo style with a criminal style. Educational institutions and the police "translate cholo as 'gang member'." While older residents in barrios initially embraced cholas and cholos as "a larger subculture not necessarily associated with crime and violence, law enforcement agents, ignorant or disdainful of barrio life, labeled youth who wore clean white tennis shoes, shaved their heads, or long socks, as deviant." Convinced by the police and schools of cholo/a criminality, some community members shamed and policed cholos and cholas, "reminiscent of the criminalization of Chicana and Chicano youth during the Zoot-Suit era in the 1940s."
Sociologist José S. Plascencia-Castillo refers to the barrio as a panopticon–a space which leads to intense self-regulation–as cholo/a youth are scrutinized by police to "stay in their side of town" and by their community who sometimes "call the police to have the youngsters removed from the premises." Cholos are frequently registered into gang databases simply for their style, which results in repeated arrests and prolonged prison sentences. This can lead to drug abuse, socioeconomic and emotional stress on families, and domestic violence. The intense governance of cholo/as also has deep implications on youth experience, harming their physical and mental health as well as their outlook on the future. Some cholo/a youth feel they "can either comply with the demands of authority figures, and become obedient and compliant, and suffer the accompanying loss of identity and self-esteem, or adopt a resistant stance and contest social invisibility to command respect in the public sphere."
In a study of cholos in a Southern California community renamed "Riverland", Victor Rios and Patrick Lopez-Aguado discuss how cholos are marked as "human targets" and come to understand their own perceived criminality. Rios and Lopez-Aguado identify that cholos experience routine harassment and arrest by police because they "contradict the dominant image of Riverland as a profitable, carefree resort town." Tito, a self-identified cholo, states, "those fools will tell us to get the fuck out of here 'cause they don't want the tourists to be–or the yeah–the tourists and the white people to get scared."
As stated by Rios and Lopez-Aguado, cholos remain "steadfast in their stylistic stance because their visible opposition appeared to be the entire point," as it is "intentionally oppositional to the mainstream." Santos, a self-identified cholo, stated "I'm not going to change my style just for a stupid ass cop that thinks I'm gonna, you know, get into something." Cholos are aware that their style will not grant them social mobility and often maintain their style after having been rejected by multiple institutions, including "family, schools, police, and the labor market." Rios and Lopez-Aguado explain:
Riverland depended on a docile servant community, available to cater to the whims of this privileged population, but by adopting cholo styles that magnified their visibility in the public sphere, marginalized youth challenged this power and authority–and paid the consequences. Nonetheless, the feeling of dignity and affirmation often outweighed the punitive consequences meted out by the state... Based on these ideas, the South Riverland youths' adoption of highly visible cholo styles could indicate resistance to the mainstream expectation that they become servants of the privileged whites. Conscious of the few opportunities to find legitimate career paths, Latino youth adopted appearances they knew would block them from the low-level service positions they were expected to fill. They tapped into racist fears of their inherent criminality to create a public impression that would counter the image of the submissive, stigmatized servant. In a racialized, hyperexploited service economy, these youths deliberately put themselves out of service to retain their dignity.

Media

Film

  • There is a reference to "The Cholo" in Assault on Precinct 13, although it is used to refer specifically to a blood oath instead of a Mexican person.
  • In the film Napoleon Dynamite, Nano and Arturo De Silva play characters simply referred to as "Cholo No. 1" and "Cholo No. 2".
  • The film La Mission, starring Benjamin Bratt, is an authentic representation of the style, language, cars and music associated with the Cholo culture.
  • In Logan , the titular character begins the film defending his limo from individuals to whom Donald Pierce derogatorily refers as "Cholos," who are trying to strip the car's rims.
  • In the film Knocked Up, Ben and Pete have a back and forth joke where Pete says that Ben '...got dressed up like a Cholo on Easter to come to this party."

    Games

  • In the video game , there is a street gang called the Cholos who resemble the stereotypical gangster image of a Cholo.

    Literature

  • The Adventures of Chico Loco, a comic strip created by David Gonzalez popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s led to the production of toys known as "Homies," which have become collectibles across the world and have inspired numerous imitations. The Los Angeles Police Department stated that the toys promoted "gang life."

    Music

  • LA punk rock band The Dickies recorded "I'm a Chollo" for their album Dawn of the Dickies.
  • Prayers coined the term cholo goth to describe their electronic rock sound.
  • Hip-Hop artists Delinquent Habits and Control Machete have been described as representing the cholo subculture.
  • Cholo gained even further notoriety in 2007 in the United States with the song "Lean Like a Cholo" by Down AKA Kilo.
  • Chola style has been appropriated and adopted by Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Cher, Madonna, Missy Elliot, Selena Gomez, FKA Twigs, and Rihanna.
  • Fergie's music videos "London Bridge" and "Glamorous" feature backup dancers dressed as cholas.
  • Alejandro Aranda performed an original song called "Cholo Love" during his run on American Idol.

    Television

  • In Sons of Anarchy, Tara leaves prison with a new haircut, about which she says, "All the cholas are wearing it".
  • Entertainer Adore Delano often refers to herself and her mother as Cholas in season 6 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
  • In Mayans M.C., the motorcycles owned by EZ and Angel Reyes are refereed to as "cholos chops" by two members of a hostile club.