Between Sovereignty and Coordination: Reevaluating the Treaty of Peace, Harmony, and Mutual Assistance

Abstract

Written and signed in 1967 by Black and Chicano Power movement leaders in Albuquerque, NM during the fifth annual convention of La Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal Land Grant Alliance), the Treaty of Peace, Harmony, and Mutual Assistance documents one of many instances of coordination between economically disadvantaged and culturally marginalized groups in the 1960s and 70s seeking civil rights. In this project, I examine this Treaty for its affordances and limitations, affirming its radical reframing of Mexican American and African American relationships, communication, and interaction and critiquing it for its unproductive ambiguity that didn’t allow them to mobilize in the way the Treaty envisioned to unpack lessons for activists and groups seeking to organize and create interorganizational communication.