00:00:10
1968 was a time in which the entire
00:00:12
planet was feeling corporations of
00:00:14
Newton a new spirit
00:00:20
it certainly it was going on in Mexico
00:00:22
it was going on in France it was going
00:00:24
on all over the United States with
00:00:27
students of every single state and
00:00:29
college in town demanding that there was
00:00:33
and had to be a better alternative to
00:00:36
what was going on in the world at that
00:00:38
time
00:00:42
the Vietnam War was a big issue for
00:00:44
everybody particularly for Chicanos
00:00:46
because we were dying there are higher
00:00:47
proportions to anyone else and no one
00:00:49
was acknowledging that so that our
00:00:52
contributions didn't mean anything to
00:00:53
the country and we saw reflected in the
00:00:56
world that people thought that something
00:00:59
could be done
00:01:01
and we felt that we had to do what we
00:01:04
could do with our lives as well
00:01:06
that was a time in 1968 there was never
00:01:18
a school term like this one it began
00:01:20
with a simple protest by students who
00:01:22
wanted a better education school
00:01:25
officials became involved and the
00:01:27
parents then the police and the FBI
00:01:39
before long school children were branded
00:01:41
as subversive their lives threatened all
00:01:45
because they wanted a better education
00:01:54
Oh
00:03:18
East Los Angeles in the 1960s this was
00:03:23
home to almost a hundred thousand
00:03:25
mexican-americans
00:03:29
it was the largest bottle in the United
00:03:32
States
00:03:35
growing up in East Los Angeles I wasn't
00:03:37
actually aware of it as a young child
00:03:40
but it soon became apparent that I grew
00:03:43
up in a very isolated very segregated
00:03:45
neighborhood
00:03:47
a community that was totally separate
00:03:48
from the rest of Los Angeles
00:03:57
education was seen as a way to break
00:03:59
down those barriers a way for young
00:04:02
people to one day have what everyone
00:04:04
else had
00:04:08
I was buying into this whole thing about
00:04:10
the American Dream get an education you
00:04:13
can be whatever you want to be and Ana
00:04:15
you know read all these books on this to
00:04:17
teachers even though out the back oh I
00:04:18
might have seen something's going on
00:04:20
here you know the reality that I see
00:04:22
here is different from what you're
00:04:23
saying something was definitely wrong
00:04:29
only one out of four Chicanos completed
00:04:32
high school
00:04:34
the dropout rate was really kind of what
00:04:36
some people called a push-out rate I
00:04:37
mean these were students who were being
00:04:39
pushed out of school because their needs
00:04:42
weren't being met their culture was not
00:04:43
addressed the school really wasn't doing
00:04:46
anything for them
00:04:51
unemployment was almost double the
00:04:53
national average
00:04:55
those who work earned about two-thirds
00:04:57
of what other Los Angeles residents earn
00:05:01
these conditions had a dramatic impact
00:05:04
on Mexican American children
00:05:09
I started Elementary School in the early
00:05:14
1950s and I was the only student in my
00:05:17
kindergarten class it was a monolingual
00:05:19
Spanish speaking child and I was
00:05:22
immediately led to the front of the
00:05:24
class and I was instructed on how to
00:05:26
create a cone hat out of a construction
00:05:30
paper a teacher painted a word on it and
00:05:33
told me I could take it off when I
00:05:34
learned to speak English and the word
00:05:36
sheets painted on that was the word
00:05:37
Spanish
00:05:43
I remember going to elementary school
00:05:45
taking my tacos of the Hollis and me and
00:05:49
rise and being made fun of by the other
00:05:52
kids in junior high especially to the
00:05:55
point where I didn't want to take tacos
00:05:57
their cabinet to school I want to take
00:05:59
bologna sandwiches
00:06:04
I remember feeling a shame you know when
00:06:07
my father would go to school because he
00:06:09
didn't speak good English and
00:06:10
translating for him feeling a shame of
00:06:14
being Mexican and which fed this growing
00:06:17
anger in me and I think those same
00:06:21
things were you know infecting everyone
00:06:23
else and everyone responded in a
00:06:26
different way the burden was pretty
00:06:31
heavy you know in terms of the shame of
00:06:33
not feeling that your parents were worth
00:06:35
anything
00:06:35
because the teachers in the schools
00:06:38
treated them like children
00:06:47
there were clear signs of prejudice and
00:06:49
discrimination
00:06:53
I remember vividly when I was an honor
00:06:55
student being asked by the white
00:06:58
consular what my father did for a living
00:07:00
and me telling her well you know he's a
00:07:03
laborer you know I works with his hands
00:07:05
and then she told me and I'll never
00:07:07
forget this these were the exact words
00:07:08
that is a very honorable profession you
00:07:12
should follow in your father's footsteps
00:07:15
my homemaking teacher she would say you
00:07:19
know your little Mexican's you better
00:07:21
learn and pay attention this class is
00:07:24
very important because you know most of
00:07:27
you are gonna be cooking and cleaning
00:07:29
for other people it was real clear to me
00:07:33
that there was a definite tracking
00:07:35
system some students went into the
00:07:37
academia tracking and what we were being
00:07:40
prepared to go to college others were
00:07:43
being tracked into going into the shop
00:07:45
classes into the vocational areas it
00:07:48
wasn't that there was anything wrong
00:07:49
with with that but you didn't have a
00:07:51
choice you were tracked into those areas
00:07:55
students were grouped into the classes
00:07:57
and generally based on some kind of
00:08:00
ability rating usually it was IQ the
00:08:03
lower groups didn't get the same
00:08:05
benefits and he also didn't get the same
00:08:07
support for going to college
00:08:11
gradually these students realized they
00:08:14
were not alone in their frustrations
00:08:17
I heard that there were many more
00:08:19
students who have the same kind of
00:08:21
yearning anger and desire to do
00:08:24
something with their lives and not be
00:08:26
stereotyped and pegged into being some
00:08:30
sort of commodity for labor a lot of us
00:08:33
had the same sort of complaints about
00:08:37
what was happening in our lives as far
00:08:39
as our education so we decided to take a
00:08:43
survey that's when we start to gather
00:08:47
that information and start interacting
00:08:49
with the school district saying you're
00:08:51
not meeting our needs and look it uh you
00:08:53
know people are saying they don't get
00:08:55
college advisements uh kids are saying
00:08:58
that they get pushed out of school that
00:09:00
discipline is not fair they went from
00:09:02
better food all the way to you know we
00:09:05
want to go to college we have the lowest
00:09:09
reading rate any selling in the Indy
00:09:13
Eastside schools we have graduates to
00:09:16
graduate from high school to graduate
00:09:18
that are in the twelfth grade that
00:09:20
graduating ought to face the world and
00:09:22
can only read eight and a ninth grade
00:09:25
reading level and we believed is a
00:09:27
crisis uh we were just in the past
00:09:29
because of our age and nothing else so
00:09:31
they really didn't care if we learn how
00:09:33
to read or we know how to spell or
00:09:35
anything else like that it was just a
00:09:37
matter of you know okay just going I
00:09:40
think the bottom line is the lack of
00:09:42
concern of the teachers towards the kids
00:09:44
and where the kids were really getting
00:09:46
an education or not uh the reality set
00:09:50
in that teachers weren't really
00:09:53
concerned for the kids
00:09:56
students called for bilingual
00:09:59
instruction mexican-american history
00:10:01
courses an end to corporal punishment
00:10:04
and the hiring of more mexican-american
00:10:07
teachers and counselors their efforts
00:10:11
transformed America's understanding of
00:10:13
what was meant by civil rights
00:10:19
they presented their demands to the Los
00:10:21
Angeles school board
00:10:26
they felt like we were not counseling
00:10:28
him but we're trying to have them go
00:10:30
into Industrial Arts well that wasn't
00:10:32
true at all we were trying our best to
00:10:34
get as many go up to a four-year school
00:10:36
as would what can we do when we do not
00:10:40
have the actual authority to control
00:10:42
what the whole of society is doing if we
00:10:45
could distribute everybody equally and
00:10:48
have equal funds everywhere and have
00:10:50
equal quantity of teachers there would
00:10:53
be no problem they patted us on the back
00:10:56
and my recollection was is that they
00:10:59
literally just threw away the results of
00:11:02
our survey and that began to politicize
00:11:05
us
00:11:12
the students were facing a problem that
00:11:14
had for years cause concern within their
00:11:16
community as early as the turn of the
00:11:20
century mexican-american families called
00:11:22
for educational reform
00:11:26
they protested the segregation of their
00:11:28
children in so-called Mexican schools
00:11:31
where teachers severely punished
00:11:33
mexican-american students for speaking
00:11:35
Spanish in the classroom
00:11:38
keep in mind that the Spanish language
00:11:40
for many Mexicans is almost a
00:11:43
characteristic of being Mexican it's a
00:11:45
defining characteristic not an
00:11:48
incidental characters
00:11:51
young children were taught that the
00:11:53
culture of their community of their
00:11:55
parents was really a hindrance to
00:11:57
success of a child learned these kinds
00:12:01
of things
00:12:01
he began then to look upon his cultural
00:12:06
background upon his parents upon his
00:12:08
community in a negative way
00:12:11
so you treat them and you teach them at
00:12:14
the lowest common denominator of Labor
00:12:16
and how to use your hands and you get
00:12:19
them out into the fields and into jobs
00:12:20
as quickly as possible that was the
00:12:22
Mexican experience in schools by 1946
00:12:27
parents in Santa Ana California were fed
00:12:30
up they filed suit against local school
00:12:33
officials and one Mendes versus the
00:12:37
Westminster School District declared the
00:12:40
segregation of Mexican American children
00:12:42
to be unlawful it set the stage for the
00:12:46
landmark US Supreme Court decision Brown
00:12:48
versus Board of Education which declared
00:12:51
segregated schools unconstitutional
00:12:53
throughout the United States
00:12:57
despite this ruling segregated schools
00:13:00
remain and even in integrated settings
00:13:04
mexican-american students still suffered
00:13:06
from neglect and unequal resources
00:13:10
the end result of this is that the
00:13:12
Mexican children were given an inferior
00:13:15
education which repaired them for menial
00:13:18
kinds of positions and jobs as cheap
00:13:20
laborers the kinds of positions of their
00:13:22
parents filled
00:13:27
our greatest resource is the skill and
00:13:30
the vision and the wisdom of our people
00:13:34
if your education falters or fails
00:13:37
everything else that we attempt as a
00:13:39
nation will fail if you succeed America
00:13:43
will succeed over half of all the
00:13:47
Mexican American children have less
00:13:53
and eight years of school how long can
00:13:57
we pay that price
00:14:02
there's a vast ignorance about the
00:14:04
Mexican and consequently there's a
00:14:07
there's a myth that the Mexican is
00:14:10
pliable he is not resistant and that
00:14:12
anybody can do anything to him that
00:14:14
anybody wishes well this isn't true but
00:14:16
now that he's become an urban Mexican
00:14:18
and now that there's a more numerous
00:14:21
generation of dr. ernesto Galarza a
00:14:24
longtime labor activist and educator
00:14:26
since that traditional perceptions of
00:14:29
the mexican-american community were
00:14:30
about to be challenged the tensions
00:14:33
within the mexican community are
00:14:34
increasing and they show themselves in
00:14:37
the current protest movements despite
00:14:41
the earlier efforts to improve education
00:14:43
a half-century of frustration was about
00:14:46
to explode in the east los angeles
00:14:48
schools
00:14:50
this was a time in which enough Chicano
00:14:52
students had gained mastery of the tools
00:14:55
that were necessary to shake up the
00:14:57
system and had taken the ideals of the
00:15:00
country to heart and so we protested for
00:15:04
our rights was the political evolution
00:15:07
of a group of young Chicanos in East LA
00:15:10
from being involved in community civic
00:15:13
minded activities as young citizens from
00:15:15
Community Action and then becoming
00:15:18
culturally aware of their background
00:15:21
their history their race and becoming
00:15:23
young Chicanos for community action and
00:15:25
asserting their real identity and then
00:15:28
getting involved and realizing that the
00:15:30
system wouldn't change unless you became
00:15:32
more more direct action during that time
00:15:36
we were building support we were all
00:15:39
talking to other students at campuses
00:15:41
we're talking to teachers people were
00:15:43
talking to their parents um and we were
00:15:46
building the support in the community I
00:15:48
was a first-year graduate student and I
00:15:52
was involved in the initial organizing
00:15:55
of umas which stands for the United
00:15:57
Mexican American students and we had
00:16:00
begun to talk with other leaders in the
00:16:03
area at Elder campuses that we needed to
00:16:05
commit ourselves as college students to
00:16:08
the betterment of our community and in
00:16:11
particular to changing things for the
00:16:13
betterment of our sisters and brothers
00:16:15
in the high schools for example in the
00:16:17
elementary schools Sal Castro an
00:16:20
outspoken history teacher helped to
00:16:23
organize the students for years the
00:16:27
schools have wrapped we're blaming the
00:16:29
Mexican home for not doing a good job in
00:16:31
educating the kid in other words if the
00:16:33
kid doesn't go to school it's a Mexican
00:16:35
parents fault or the Mexican homes fault
00:16:37
well I've yet to see a Mexican kid come
00:16:40
into school at the age of 5 or 6 years
00:16:42
of age not knowing a language Castro
00:16:44
grew up in East Los Angeles where he
00:16:46
learned firsthand the problems within
00:16:48
these schools
00:16:49
he has learning readiness or he's he's
00:16:51
ready to learn when he walks in the
00:16:53
school so it's not the fault his never
00:16:55
bit has never been the fault of
00:16:57
a Mexican home
00:16:59
his activism was shaped by vivid
00:17:01
memories from his youth
00:17:05
in the 1930s Al's father was deported to
00:17:07
Mexico part of a u.s. repatriation
00:17:10
program provoked by the Great Depression
00:17:15
in the 1940s he witnessed the Zoot Suit
00:17:17
Riots when US soldiers and sailors
00:17:19
attacked Mexican Americans in the
00:17:21
streets of Los Angeles
00:17:29
by the spring of 1968 salic Castro knew
00:17:32
clearly what he was up against most
00:17:36
features of prosto Mexican is with a
00:17:37
negative attitude in it you have nothing
00:17:39
to give to me I am going to make you an
00:17:41
angle come hell or high water and
00:17:43
whatever you have to say about it makes
00:17:45
no difference
00:17:46
we had to now say the schools are not
00:17:50
working they're taking our taxpayers
00:17:52
money the hard money that our fathers
00:17:54
and mothers worked for and not returning
00:17:57
in any way we're the only ones losing
00:17:59
out a massive walkout to sit down the
00:18:05
schools was what we somehow decided on
00:18:09
change wasn't gonna come from within it
00:18:11
had to come from without
00:18:22
how many people were going to do it and
00:18:25
who was gonna do it was I think decided
00:18:28
that morning to work for a lot of us me
00:18:30
included
00:18:39
and at 9 a.m. while we were all sitting
00:18:43
in class everyone was aware this was
00:18:47
gonna happen
00:18:53
the signal was gonna be blow out blow
00:18:56
out and so we went around the schools he
00:18:58
blow out blow out so then all of a
00:19:00
sudden kids begin to come out of his
00:19:01
classes and the teachers in what was
00:19:03
going on my friends would go down the
00:19:06
the hallway saying walk out walk out and
00:19:10
I remember looking at them and thinking
00:19:12
my god am I really gonna do this
00:19:29
and all of a sudden the champion became
00:19:31
Chicano power Chicano power ya basta
00:19:36
we demand change
00:19:47
in the morning as I walk in the school
00:19:49
as a bell rang for the kids that go to
00:19:51
school into the classroom out they went
00:19:54
get from all over different hallways and
00:19:57
everything else babe out in the streets
00:19:59
with with their heads held high with
00:20:03
dignity it was beautiful of each cup
00:20:39
4,000 students walked out of five East
00:20:41
Side high schools that day by the end of
00:20:44
the week 16 schools were affected with
00:20:46
more than 10,000 students out in the
00:20:48
streets reaction in the community was
00:20:53
mixed not everyone supported the
00:20:55
blowouts the majority of the students at
00:20:57
Garfield High School do not do not
00:20:59
condone or accept the method which has
00:21:02
been used for me it was kind of a sad
00:21:06
time I felt embarrassed about the way
00:21:10
people were acting that it felt
00:21:12
uncomfortable to watch people acting
00:21:18
rudely loudly uh treating people with
00:21:22
disrespect
00:21:30
school officials blamed Outsiders
00:21:32
singling out a group of young militants
00:21:34
called the Brown Berets
00:21:43
some people seem to feel that it's the
00:21:45
Brown Berets who are running this show
00:21:47
and getting everybody out do you agree
00:21:49
with that or who's responsible for
00:21:50
what's happening is it the brown Berets
00:21:52
or it's the Garfield High School strike
00:21:54
committee who organized this we
00:21:57
organized this the Garfield High School
00:21:59
strike committee how'd you get the idea
00:22:01
we just saw that the school was bad the
00:22:06
brown beret organization became involved
00:22:09
as we were fearful at the police you
00:22:12
know we're going to come down heavy on
00:22:14
these kids and we wanted to protect him
00:22:16
as much as possible so the Brown Berets
00:22:17
represented the security
00:22:22
the Brown Berets were a paramilitary
00:22:23
group they advocated direct action and
00:22:26
were often confrontational as such they
00:22:30
became a source of great concern for the
00:22:32
police in the local press the boundaries
00:22:36
of a group of a young Chicano students
00:22:38
in college and we've finally gotten
00:22:40
together and are aware that the Chicano
00:22:42
the mix American and the black man is
00:22:44
not benefiting from this great American
00:22:46
society little by little newspaper the
00:22:49
local East Delhi Tribune started
00:22:52
accusing the robberies of being outside
00:22:54
agitated troublemakers and we would tell
00:22:57
everybody that look at what they're
00:22:59
writing about us you know who we are we
00:23:00
live here we grew up here you know and
00:23:02
we're still here if the mexican-american
00:23:06
students want to lead this protest a
00:23:08
protest which we unfortunately have not
00:23:10
had the courage as adults to lead in the
00:23:12
past then we will back and support the
00:23:14
mexican-american students in their
00:23:16
efforts the administrators are saying
00:23:18
that we're disrupting the educational
00:23:20
process that's not so the educational
00:23:22
process of mexican-americans for over 20
00:23:24
years and these Los Angeles and
00:23:26
throughout the Southwest has been
00:23:27
disrupted by its failure to communicate
00:23:30
with the Mexican American that is the
00:23:31
disruption when 57 percent of the
00:23:34
students at Garfield drop out year after
00:23:35
year there has to be a problem we're not
00:23:38
operating in a vacuum there's social
00:23:40
injustice
00:23:43
they needed to be jolted and shocked and
00:23:45
it's what happened
00:23:46
I think the establishment the status quo
00:23:49
was surprised that all these little
00:23:50
Mexican kids would be blowing out and
00:23:53
walking out and protesting
00:23:58
what could the community have done did
00:24:01
they have a legitimate complaint
00:24:03
absolutely did they bring that complaint
00:24:07
to the public attention and the only way
00:24:08
they could have probably but were they
00:24:12
right on everything no striking students
00:24:17
gathered at a local park and demanded a
00:24:19
meeting with school board members
00:24:21
I cannot compel the Board of Education
00:24:24
to cover my feelings all right you can
00:24:27
either and members of the Board of
00:24:30
Education will be happy to come and talk
00:24:33
with you respond now when I said to you
00:24:37
is that I realize your limitations but
00:24:39
I'm also saying that we the students are
00:24:42
demanding that they come we are only
00:24:44
asking you to relay this information and
00:24:48
I remember the aryans he contended tried
00:24:50
to talk to us but he didn't have
00:24:52
anything to say what could he say to us
00:24:53
and so they were the students got up
00:24:56
there and spoke and there was this
00:24:58
tremendous energy and fervor there was
00:25:01
an excitement that we actually pulled it
00:25:03
off
00:25:05
despite opposition walkout leaders from
00:25:08
East Side schools forged a united front
00:25:10
and we're supposed to have a meeting
00:25:13
with a school bar and then click
00:25:16
download us with our title door when
00:25:20
approached to put us up doing my
00:25:26
decision the walkout was probably the
00:25:28
lightest decision in terms of what I
00:25:30
probably would have liked to have done
00:25:32
at that point with that kind of youth
00:25:35
and energy and anger that's why we're
00:25:39
not gonna be her life separate school
00:25:41
ground united with goggle but the
00:25:45
walkouts continued tensions increased
00:25:49
the complete diagraph a difference the
00:25:54
assembly will stop until the police
00:25:56
please
00:25:56
we are having a peaceful demonstration
00:25:58
we will use not be police officers at
00:26:01
this
00:26:07
people eat but if they are here could
00:26:10
leave the area
00:26:11
I think this we can take care of things
00:26:14
are well
00:26:19
community leaders and school board
00:26:21
members tried to calm the situation to
00:26:25
the extent that you privatize the
00:26:27
problem you'll help me to the extent
00:26:30
that you can bet the public that you
00:26:32
will turn on all class to have attacked
00:26:35
me leather vest
00:26:38
I was aware that there was frustration
00:26:41
within the minority community I was
00:26:44
aware that there was great political
00:26:46
opposition within the majority community
00:26:48
and so I knew that in a sense we were
00:26:50
sitting on a tender bounce now I want to
00:26:53
tell you what's good breath for do you
00:26:55
have to get bad ii8 I really hope you do
00:26:58
ever get we will adjust after I work for
00:27:06
you
00:27:09
California to the first immediately go
00:27:12
mad
00:27:14
problems began to escalate police were
00:27:17
called in to maintain order the police
00:27:20
were not our friends back then they were
00:27:23
there to keep us down
00:27:25
and certainly the authorities of the
00:27:28
time felt that we were just crazy you
00:27:31
know that did Mexicans were getting out
00:27:32
of control
00:27:33
divert you from arachidonic at this
00:27:36
point enough people gonna die to burn up
00:27:38
there are so many times pretty bad
00:27:41
I mean ran through a stop taking him in
00:27:43
a buses general order exactly included
00:27:47
this man inside me football field anyone
00:27:51
on this man will be arrested
00:27:57
following watts ride in 1965 law
00:28:03
enforcement began to undergo what we
00:28:07
call the dart training disaster and riot
00:28:10
training recognizing that we may be
00:28:14
facing a period of unrest
00:28:20
I'd be less than truthful if if I sat
00:28:23
her and said that we always do
00:28:25
everything perfectly in and never
00:28:29
overreact there there are occasions when
00:28:32
individuals do overreact
00:28:37
the only thing that happened was that
00:28:39
one of the gates I had Wednesday
00:28:41
afternoon they couldn't get out the
00:28:42
eighth and and one of the of all things
00:28:45
the quarterback on the football team
00:28:46
tried to break the lock and the police
00:28:48
arrested him and I said you can't you
00:28:51
know we need him now just take it easy
00:28:52
he's the quarterback
00:28:56
I felt two arms on each side of my body
00:29:00
grabbed the underneath my arms pulled me
00:29:03
away off from the main line of students
00:29:10
they assumed I was an outsider from the
00:29:14
school
00:29:17
people were just running into the
00:29:18
streets just clubbing people I mean the
00:29:22
police were just clubbing the people on
00:29:23
the streets and running after them and
00:29:25
some of them were just sitting on the
00:29:27
lawn sir
00:29:47
at first to see such resistance and then
00:29:51
to see outright hostility brutality it
00:29:55
didn't match the the thing that we were
00:29:58
doing we didn't commit a crime we were
00:30:01
protesting
00:30:05
I thought they had overreacted somewhat
00:30:08
and that might have been because I don't
00:30:10
think they had had such a thing before
00:30:12
in their career of confronting two or
00:30:15
three hundred high school students
00:30:16
determined to cross the street that's
00:30:18
what it amounted to I think what people
00:30:21
saw was that even when kids were
00:30:24
involved in constitutionally protected
00:30:26
activity such as legitimate protests
00:30:30
such as the walk outs were and yet they
00:30:32
were abused in jail police were not kind
00:30:37
to high school students they treated
00:30:40
them in the same way that they treated
00:30:42
other Mexicans and that was not very
00:30:43
good so the parents were concerned that
00:30:46
somebody would get hurt we knew what the
00:30:51
danger was we could see it but we also
00:30:53
couldn't stop it they were already there
00:30:56
they were doing it themselves so it just
00:30:59
spurred us on to get these reforms going
00:31:03
so that would cool off school
00:31:09
authorities began to pressure the
00:31:11
striking students the kids are getting
00:31:13
now getting calls from from principals
00:31:15
that they're gonna be suspended that
00:31:17
they're gonna be expelled that anybody
00:31:19
that was headed for college and had
00:31:21
grants or scholarships the scholarships
00:31:23
were to be taken away we need it so we
00:31:26
needed some some public official and say
00:31:28
the kids are right we all went to go
00:31:32
meet Bobby Kennedy on the day he was
00:31:33
about to go meet Cesar Chavez who was
00:31:36
undergoing this fast at the point to
00:31:38
request that he support our efforts and
00:31:40
which he did and which he was very I
00:31:43
guess generous with his words and very
00:31:46
offered us positive support he knew all
00:31:50
about the walkouts he had had a list of
00:31:53
our demands he asked us a couple of
00:31:55
questions and he told us that he
00:31:58
supported everything that we did
00:32:03
we are not going to fly again
00:32:06
parents concern for their children's
00:32:09
future became actively involved we are
00:32:13
not going to allow this situation to
00:32:17
continue we are not going to let young
00:32:20
people below the age of 18 do the work
00:32:24
that belongs to us as their children had
00:32:29
done they asked to meet with school
00:32:31
officials their request was denied
00:32:37
it seems that our voices are not hurt
00:32:41
what else have they left for us to do
00:32:44
all we can do is support them we spent
00:32:49
three weeks trying to find one educator
00:32:52
who understand the meaning of lack of
00:32:55
respect and respect of the HOA know is
00:32:59
the path it's a real place where our
00:33:03
movement was going to definitely
00:33:05
demonstrate his full potential and
00:33:07
strength was here in the city for the
00:33:10
first time what was more significance
00:33:12
not what individuals were doing about
00:33:13
what masses of people were doing and
00:33:15
that's what the Walcott's demonstrated
00:33:18
our movement was not a movement of
00:33:20
cadres of individuals of organizations
00:33:23
but of mass involvement men and women of
00:33:26
the Mexican American community three
00:33:30
weeks later the school board bowed to
00:33:32
pressure and agreed to meet with parents
00:33:34
we have allowed our young people to get
00:33:38
the short end of the stick or too long
00:33:52
the students returned to school hoping
00:33:55
things would work out
00:34:01
parents and teachers from East LA began
00:34:03
meeting regularly with the school board
00:34:05
to implement the students demands the
00:34:09
students had not only taught their
00:34:11
parents about education they'd also
00:34:13
expanded the concept of what civil
00:34:15
rights meant in America by early June
00:34:19
things seemed back to normal
00:34:26
2:30 in the morning banging the door
00:34:29
bang bang bang and I go to the door bang
00:34:33
door comes down the LAPD Sheriff's
00:34:37
County Sheriff's with her weapons drawn
00:34:40
come right in with her weapons pointed
00:34:42
in my head he grabbed me threw me into a
00:34:45
car pulled his gun handcuffed me
00:34:49
and I asked what am I being arrested for
00:34:51
they wouldn't tell me you know so the
00:34:53
next thing I knew I was downtown in the
00:34:55
Glass House
00:34:59
they put the cuffs on me and it says you
00:35:01
know we're gonna take him off and took
00:35:02
him up again and we're gonna give you
00:35:04
ten steps and you can make a run for it
00:35:08
I knew what they wanted to do is a chi
00:35:11
when I said to myself this is really
00:35:13
serious business you know and I was
00:35:16
scared for my life and I walk occure
00:35:18
ever thinking what my children you know
00:35:19
my two children what's gonna happen to
00:35:22
them after they kill me and put my hands
00:35:24
back again you better company taking any
00:35:27
13 Chicano leaders involved in the
00:35:29
walkouts were arrested and indicted on
00:35:32
conspiracy charges one of them was Sal
00:35:35
Castro if convicted each defendant faced
00:35:40
66 years in prison you know
00:35:45
in reality it's not us there are that
00:35:51
are indicted it's not us that are up for
00:35:56
conspiracy because in the long run the
00:36:01
indictment will be on the Board of
00:36:04
Education the convictions will be on the
00:36:10
individual members of the Board of
00:36:11
Education principals vice principals and
00:36:16
counselors who've been completely
00:36:19
negligent of their jobs for years and
00:36:21
years and years and it's not only an
00:36:24
indictment of the Los Angeles schools
00:36:26
the Wallis schools in the southwest for
00:36:30
Chicanos had gone to four years and
00:36:32
where the schools have failed miserably
00:36:34
and teaching them they will be indicted
00:36:39
and they will be convicted and in the
00:36:42
long run our kids will win
00:36:48
go Mexican will win the United States
00:36:52
will win
00:36:55
all of us and animals
00:37:09
what we were told what we were arrested
00:37:11
for we were shocked because in
00:37:14
particular they created a felony
00:37:16
indictment disrupting a public school
00:37:19
was only a misdemeanor but the
00:37:21
conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor was a
00:37:23
felony
00:37:29
least I 13 with the first political
00:37:31
trial that you gotta move it all of a
00:37:33
sudden now we had a real pro hand then
00:37:35
we had some very very good dedicated
00:37:37
people that were going to be given a
00:37:39
terrible time in the course and possibly
00:37:41
a criminal record for trying to make the
00:37:44
city and the state do its job better I
00:37:51
think that the community recognized that
00:37:53
that arrest was designed to stop this
00:37:56
movement and so we knew that we had to
00:37:59
come to their defense it was just an
00:38:01
another thing they were throwing at us
00:38:03
that we had to surmount the reason for
00:38:07
the interest of the American Civil
00:38:08
Liberties Union in this case is that the
00:38:11
indictment charges no more than acts
00:38:14
abridging others for instance to engage
00:38:16
in a boycott of the schools in our view
00:38:18
such urging is fully protected by the
00:38:21
First Amendment and the prosecution
00:38:23
violates the Constitution the entire
00:38:27
conduct of these proceedings has been a
00:38:29
political heresy
00:38:30
it's a it's an outright political attack
00:38:33
on the
00:38:34
in community directly and indirectly on
00:38:37
on all of the rest of us because our
00:38:39
civil rights are involved to the
00:38:41
demonstration is a poor man's grunting
00:38:43
fest and his right to use it has got to
00:38:46
be as involved as the rich man's right
00:38:47
to print his newspaper or or else our
00:38:50
talk about free speech is just a mockery
00:38:53
police harassment or harassment is not
00:38:56
new to the boundary seems that she
00:38:59
threatened and Los Angeles Police
00:39:01
Department have mistook community
00:39:05
sediments the LA thirteen were released
00:39:09
on bail on Monday June 3rd 1968 but
00:39:13
their release was overshadowed by the
00:39:16
assassination of Robert F Kennedy two
00:39:18
days later the Chicano Movement was
00:39:22
suddenly on the defensive against the
00:39:24
police and even the FBI
00:39:27
the day that we were at Lincoln High
00:39:30
School for the first blowout
00:39:32
there were guys with suits on with
00:39:34
cameras taking our pictures it was part
00:39:37
of I learned later on part of the FBI
00:39:40
counterintelligence program or
00:39:43
COINTELPRO that had been created to deal
00:39:47
with the civil rights movement and the
00:39:49
Black Power movement and documents that
00:39:52
I got also showed the infiltration of
00:39:55
umas and Chicano student organizations
00:39:59
it changed the political landscape of
00:40:02
the movement and it changed my life
00:40:04
because instead of pushing for social
00:40:07
justice we had to completely reverse
00:40:10
into defending ourselves so that the
00:40:14
political struggle became a struggle to
00:40:16
keep some of its own leadership out of
00:40:19
jail and I remember you know just
00:40:22
beginning to have this sense that I was
00:40:25
being watched and people started talking
00:40:28
about it we started talking about
00:40:31
provocateurs and infiltrators and
00:40:35
certainly after these arrests everyone
00:40:38
was paranoid
00:40:42
the Brown Berets were a special target
00:40:46
the LAPD at that time was doing
00:40:49
surveillance or taking a lot of
00:40:51
photographs we didn't realize this till
00:40:52
way later on when we were arrested we
00:40:56
thought it was an attempt to try to stop
00:40:59
the movement the growing movement and
00:41:01
little did we know that the parade's by
00:41:04
then had already been infiltrated by the
00:41:06
sheriff's and the LAPD one of the
00:41:09
walkout leaders who said he was from
00:41:11
Wilson High School turned out to be an
00:41:14
LAPD everyone was suspect and one good
00:41:17
reason it turned out that a significant
00:41:19
number of the people and these various
00:41:21
organizations were police officers or
00:41:23
informants many of them were actually
00:41:25
the people who were proposing violent
00:41:29
actions
00:41:32
the officials were keeping tabs on
00:41:35
certain individuals which were then
00:41:37
being referred to the FBI on subversive
00:41:40
activities in which I was one of those
00:41:42
people who was listed as a one of the
00:41:44
hundred most subversive individuals in
00:41:46
the United States in 1970
00:41:51
well I started to see was a series of
00:41:53
rest and and threats against me
00:41:58
personally another berets you know you
00:42:01
guys are troublemakers you're making our
00:42:02
people look bad and we you know we're
00:42:05
gonna be sure that you spend the rest of
00:42:07
your life in prison or you end up dead
00:42:10
and I began to get these documents as
00:42:12
the years went on in doing my research
00:42:15
and sure enough I got a bunch of
00:42:18
documents on myself and then and then I
00:42:20
realized why was that that night that I
00:42:22
was arrested that early morning that I
00:42:24
was arrested why I was almost killed
00:42:26
because in those documents the FBI
00:42:29
j.edgar hoover himself had identified me
00:42:33
and the rest of us you know conspirators
00:42:37
and protesters as subversives dangerous
00:42:41
armed subversives you know and my god
00:42:46
oliver doing was nonviolent protest
00:42:54
as schools opened in the fall the East
00:42:57
la 13 felt the full impact of their
00:43:00
indictments I walked in this morning and
00:43:02
they told me I could not teach that I
00:43:05
would have to go downtown to personnel
00:43:06
that I could not teach who told the
00:43:09
principal there was a ruling part of the
00:43:12
Education Code that if you are arrested
00:43:14
or you cannot be in the classroom and
00:43:17
then because I was indicted I was an
00:43:19
indicted felon for sure I could not be
00:43:21
out in the classroom so I was gonna have
00:43:24
problems as far as teaching the struggle
00:43:30
in the East Los Angeles school system
00:43:32
came down to a single defining moment
00:43:35
students and parents fought to get Sal
00:43:38
Castro reinstated
00:43:43
this was a person who put himself out on
00:43:45
the line and his community came to his
00:43:48
support and at that point whether you
00:43:50
liked him or you didn't like him wasn't
00:43:51
even the issue the issue was is that
00:43:53
this community the Chicano community in
00:43:56
Los Angeles had to have a role in what
00:43:59
the school's did what do you think it
00:44:02
will take to get people to pay attention
00:44:03
to the demands of the mexican-american
00:44:05
community well you know that's a good
00:44:07
question actually in looking in
00:44:10
retrospect there were about 15 thousand
00:44:12
kids out in the street in that week of
00:44:15
March they were about 16 schools
00:44:18
involved not only senior High's
00:44:20
throughout the East Los Angeles but also
00:44:22
in West Los Angeles in support of the
00:44:24
kids in East LA they were junior high
00:44:26
schools involved there were about the
00:44:27
forty five high school students arrested
00:44:29
there were about 25 adults and you know
00:44:31
the majority community seemed like Ganga
00:44:33
was unconcerned business as usual we
00:44:38
pick it at that high school every day
00:44:41
with a contingent of people picketing to
00:44:43
call for South has to be returned to
00:44:45
Lincoln and in between our daily pickets
00:44:48
at Lincoln we also went to the school
00:44:49
board meetings which were on Tuesdays
00:44:51
and Thursday afternoons to address them
00:44:54
and ask them to return Sall to Lincoln
00:44:57
it was no bottom Sebata who said I would
00:45:01
rather die on my feet than live on my
00:45:04
knees
00:45:09
when of Lincoln high last week the
00:45:12
and the blind parade it so that
00:45:15
you might have eyes to see encourage to
00:45:17
stand on your feet and to deal in good
00:45:20
faith with the mexican-american
00:45:21
community after 10 days of picketing
00:45:25
without results Chicano activists
00:45:27
resorted to a new tactic instead of
00:45:34
walking out they sat in maybe said well
00:45:38
we're not gonna leave and we'll sit here
00:45:40
and we'll stay here until you make the
00:45:42
decision that our needs of the Chicano
00:45:44
community in this city are taken care of
00:45:46
and the community has the right to make
00:45:48
decisions about the kinds of people who
00:45:50
teach in their schools it just seemed
00:45:53
like the next logical step you know that
00:45:55
we had to kind of apply a little bit
00:45:58
more pressure we were determined to
00:46:01
occupy that room and that was our main
00:46:03
our main function we we slept there we
00:46:06
kept that room occupied through that
00:46:08
whole period
00:46:12
I've never done anything like that
00:46:13
before and it was civil disobedience and
00:46:17
civil disobedience means that you have
00:46:19
to be consequences so we knew what the
00:46:22
stakes were but we knew he had to do it
00:46:43
at one point they turned off the
00:46:44
air-conditioning at one point they
00:46:45
turned off the phones at one point they
00:46:47
turned off the heat when they did all
00:46:48
these interesting things to make us
00:46:49
uncomfortable but there were things you
00:46:52
read a lot of books were saying we had
00:46:55
mass it was um it was a time to talk
00:46:58
about what we were gonna do next
00:47:13
and everyday you know we thought was
00:47:15
gonna end every day we thought okay
00:47:17
it'll be over they're gonna listen our
00:47:19
people want the school system to respect
00:47:24
the integrity to have respect for the
00:47:26
dignity of the person regardless of this
00:47:29
cultural background on regardless of his
00:47:31
economic power we live in a society that
00:47:34
respects money and we in the Mexican
00:47:38
community are insisting that that
00:47:40
schools learn to respect people I still
00:47:47
have a very vivid memory of the people
00:47:51
sitting on the floor as I walk to my
00:47:52
office I wish I could have had them come
00:47:55
into my office or come into the board
00:47:59
and executive session and see all the
00:48:01
problems then they would understand that
00:48:03
we didn't want to do to them what they
00:48:06
thought we were doing to them
00:48:10
after seven days the Board agreed to
00:48:13
vote on Sal Castro's reinstatement but
00:48:16
they demanded that protesters end the
00:48:18
sit-in or be arrested
00:48:23
that last night the officers came in and
00:48:26
made the announcement that they were
00:48:27
going to begin arrests and those of us
00:48:30
who didn't want to be arrested had to
00:48:31
leave 35 demonstrators refused to leave
00:48:42
you are hereby notified that this
00:48:44
building will be closed at 10 o'clock
00:48:46
p.m. that any permission implied or
00:48:51
otherwise to remain on these premises is
00:48:54
hereby revoked you will be considered
00:48:58
trespassing and in violation of
00:49:00
California Penal Code section 602 in
00:49:08
it was clear to us if we did not have
00:49:10
the power and that they could crush us
00:49:13
if they decided to as certainly they had
00:49:16
crushed many other movements
00:49:22
the next day as the board prepared to
00:49:24
vote Chicano leaders made a final appeal
00:49:28
dr. Monica Castro is the issue what the
00:49:33
man means to every teacher academic
00:49:36
freedom shall call it to a Negro to
00:49:38
America to an end law shall we say
00:49:44
we are here to express to you accepting
00:49:53
a Mexican teacher who says that is good
00:49:56
to the Mexican you're also accepting a
00:50:02
principle that may govern our city
00:50:08
without barbed wire in the middle of the
00:50:12
street for our one place has God meant
00:50:16
as God made all men
00:50:34
the Los Angeles School Board began to
00:50:37
vote as the community watched so please
00:50:41
garden yes our party yes Kamala
00:50:45
yes arteries are clogged no bourbon John
00:50:48
yes
00:51:05
careful
00:51:28
Kelly called you a troublemaker or
00:51:30
rabble rouser and everything else are
00:51:32
you that no I don't think so I'm a
00:51:34
reformer in education what does that
00:51:36
mean oh there are many changes that have
00:51:39
to be made because at this point
00:51:40
education is not relevant to kids in
00:51:42
general in Mexicans in particular Sal
00:51:46
Castro and the other la 13 defendants
00:51:48
won their battle with the school
00:51:50
district but they still face the
00:51:52
possibility of long prison terms their
00:51:55
legal battles would continue for two
00:51:57
more years the East LA 13 which was of
00:52:01
course the case coming out of the
00:52:02
walkouts was ultimately thrown out of
00:52:05
court on appeal again based on the Bill
00:52:08
of Rights freedom of speech freedom of
00:52:12
assembly freedom to petition the
00:52:13
government for redress of grievances
00:52:17
the walkouts were the first significant
00:52:20
urban struggle of the Chicanos and all
00:52:25
that our kids were trying to do was to
00:52:27
make the schools work better what the
00:52:31
walkouts did it it focused the attention
00:52:35
now on the Chicanos in the city because
00:52:39
these kids were serious these kids that
00:52:41
went to school from that time they were
00:52:43
gonna do something they were gonna
00:52:44
change the world Los Angeles was only
00:52:50
the beginning
00:52:51
soon after the blowouts Chicano students
00:52:53
across the country staged similar
00:52:55
protests igniting a movement for
00:52:58
educational reform that would continue
00:53:00
for many years to come
00:53:08
we were very successful at informing the
00:53:11
public about how serious the conditions
00:53:15
were also in getting our parents and
00:53:19
other community people involved
00:53:28
the blowouts made us all realize that
00:53:30
while collectively we had a strong voice
00:53:32
and it gave us a power that we didn't
00:53:34
realize that we had before and we knew
00:53:37
that we were gonna win one way or
00:53:39
another
