ARNOLDO’S BROTHER:

We chose a "cholo" as our witness to challenge our viewers’ preconceptions of the Chicano/a and Latino/a in a time of anti-Latino sentiment. The image of this fourteen year-old boy, Arnoldo’s brother, can stir up a firestorm of controversy, yet he is an individual and a child…. He stands on a field of what appears to be street graffiti: in actuality, it is a painting of a respected Chicano artist Charles "Chaz" Bojorquez; represented in the CARA exhibit.
In choosing this witness, we wanted to propose that our community review its own prejudices and not only learn to understand the struggles of, but to take pride in our youth. Cholos (and the pachucos before them) have historically been scapegoats and much-ignored witnesses of Mexican-American culture.
Divisions are constructed of social borders created by our own people as well as the physical borders imposed by others. Our common struggle for education and political power, and against racial assaults on our community -- in the form of Proposition 187, anti-affirmative action and growing anti-immigrant sentiment – are all implied in this image.