chique

Chiques is Calo slang for "Little Chicago." A name synonymous to the segregated areas of the Southern California town, Oxnard. The East-Side La Colonia, became a major epicenter of the Marijuana trade on the West coast, during the 1920's all the way up to the 60's. The local's would spread rumors that this underground market extended all the way up to Chicago, where many Chicanos and Mexicano migrants have relocated in search of jobs. Rumors at that time, boasted that the Barrios of Oxnard had connections to the Chicago Outfit. The Brown Power Movement of the 60's and 70's have politicized the word to distinguish the colored working-class people of the town, who have a lack of political representation in this area, in stark contrast to the Middle/Upper-Class Anglo population of Oxnard.