Cholo (subculture)

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."[13] In the latter part of the 19th century, it referred to "culturally marginal" mestizos of Native American origin,[14] 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."[5]

In the 1960s, Chicano youths reclaimed the term cholo.[1] The Chicano Movement turned the term cholo on its head and it became a way to express Chicano pride and identity.[15] Since then, it has been more widely reclaimed among Latinos of mixed heritage, otherwise known as mestizos.[12]

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 (chinos) or shorts, long chains, long socks, white tennis shoes, and stylized tattoos.[6][8][16] The style has been described as both a necessity and a style of empowerment.[1] 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.[11]

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.[5] 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."[1] 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.[1]

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."[14] 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."[14]

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.[1] 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.[1]

• There is a reference to "The Cholo" in Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), although it is used to refer specifically to a blood oath instead of a Mexican person.
• In the film Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nano and Arturo De Silva play characters simply referred to as "Cholo No. 1" and "Cholo No. 2".
• The film La Mission (2009), starring Benjamin Bratt, is an authentic representation of the style, language, cars and music associated with the Cholo culture.
• In Logan (2017), 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 (2007), Ben (Seth Rogen) and Pete (Paul Rudd) have a back and forth joke where Pete says that Ben '...got dressed up like a Cholo on Easter to come to this party."

• In the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, there is a street gang called the Cholos who resemble the stereotypical gangster image of a Cholo.[20]

• 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."[12]

• LA punk rock band The Dickies recorded "I'm a Chollo" for their album Dawn of the Dickies (1979).
• Prayers coined the term cholo goth to describe their electronic rock sound.[21][22]
• Hip-Hop artists Delinquent Habits and Control Machete have been described as representing the cholo subculture.[1]
• 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 ("Luxurious" and "Hollaback Girl"), Cher, Madonna, Missy Elliot, Selena Gomez, FKA Twigs, and Rihanna.[8][23][12]
• Fergie's music videos "London Bridge" and "Glamorous" feature backup dancers dressed as cholas.[23]
• Alejandro Aranda performed an original song called "Cholo Love" during his run on American Idol.

• In Sons of Anarchy (season 6), 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.