Conversations with Raul Chavez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Raul Chavez.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Grew up in Baldwin Park. Graduated from BPHS in 1977, moved to El Paso after graduation, and lived there for five years, living as a shit-ass. When I was done, I returned to Baldwin Park to get back on track. Took almost thirty years of bouncing around from job to job and school to school, but received my Ph.D. in Native American History from UC Riverside in 2005. I have been a full-time professor at Mt. San Antonio College since 2000. The ride has been too fun to describe in this task. Beer me some more!!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My memory seems to remember it as smooth, but I know it wasn’t. The racism I faced was deflected through my humor or ignorance. I was too focused on accomplishing the task at hand to recognize personal attacks against me for who I am. It wasn’t until 2015 that I first began to see people attacking me for being a male of color and for speaking as a man of color.

It never struck me that while I was teaching at five institutions 7-8 classes a semester, my white colleagues in the Ph.D. program were talking about their grants and stipends from teacher-assistant assignments. I never understood. I do recognize these experiences and share with current students, know what institutionalized racism looks like.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a Native American historian. I teach students the reality of America’s treatment of Indigenous America. I am known for my passion/candor. I share my feelings within the material. If students are offended by what I say, fuck it, get over it. Women and people of color never received any special treatment when their story was being manipulated and misrepresented. The truth is painful. I just want to create a space where assholes do not dictate the narrative. Each person must control their own story; it belongs to them, not to billionaires, religious leaders, or politicians. What sets me apart from others…I don’t give a shit what people think. I’m on the backside of my career; if anyone is offended by my material, by the time the courts have determined I did nothing wrong in the first place, I’ll be retired. I stopped working for the factory(Mt SAC) and speak my conscience; from Land-Back, MMIW, Palestine, BLM, right to choose, people who share their time with me will know what my position on Human Rights are.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Truth is, I am at a place in my life where the spoken word is more powerful than what I put down on paper or online. As I explain to online classes during Zoom meetings, if you truly want to understand what the weekly assignments are about, you really need to know me in person. I am an acquired taste!