Chapter Nineteen
The involvement of the United States in World War II interrupted many
of the organizing activities of the Mexican Americans. This was partly
due to the fact that many Chicanos were drafted into the armed services
and many others volunteered. Indeed, the number of Chicanos serving in
World War II was considerably out of proportion to their representation
in American society. They served well and earned many honors and distinctions
for valor (Acuña, p.198), including the largest number of Congressional
Medal of Honor awards. But while they were in the armed forces, Chicano
males were not available for the labor market.
As was the case during World War I, American industry expanded to produce
for the war effort. Many job opportunities in a variety of industries
became available to some Chicanos for the first time. The jobs paid well.
And when union membership was necessary for employment, the unions accepted
Chicanos, since a labor shortage existed. It was a time of national crisis
and wages and salaries were extremely good, jobs were plentiful and there
was little labor strife.
In the agricultural industry it soon became apparent that few people would
harvest the fields at the low wages offered when other opportunities for
employment existed. Male seasonal farm workers joined the armed forces
in large numbers and both men and women left the fields to work in defense
and other industries.
To take care of the harvest the United States and Mexico entered into
the Bracero agreement, discussed in chapter 15. After the war, however,
defense industries began to slow down and lay off workers and the GIs
were discharged, creating an abundance of labor but not of jobs. Those
who chose to enter the farm labor market encountered direct competition
for jobs with the Braceros and the United States government. The Bracero
program directly affected the organizing activities of Mexican Americans
as we shall see. Obviously, seasonal farm workers disliked the Bracero
program since it competed directly with them in terms of jobs and pay
scale.
Refugees from the dust bowl of the 1930s and 40s as well as Mexican Americans worked as seasonal farm laborers in California before and after World War II. In 1947, some of these people as well as Mexican Braceros were working on the DiGiorgio farms in Kern County. Many of the workers talked about collective bargaining and creating an organization of farm workers. Among the more active was Bob Whatley, who wrote to the President of the National Farm Workers Union, H.L. Mitchell. Mitchell sent Henry Hasiwar and Ernesto Galarza to help organize Local 218, chartered by the National Farm Labor Union.
By September 1947 the Local had 858 signed members who worked for the
DiGiorgio corporation. After many unsuccessful attempts to meet with the
corporation officials for a recognition of the union, the local decided
to strike on October 1, 1947. The strike ended in failure in 1949 and
Local 218 was crushed by a collusion between the DiGiorgio Fruit Corporation
and the members of a House investigating subcommittee led by Representatives
Richard M. Nixon, Tom Steed, Thurston B. Morton, and Thomas H. Werdel.
A "report" under the name of Nixon, Steed, and Morton (but not
necessarily prepared by them nor signed by them) was placed in the Congressional
Record under the Extension of Remarks by the Honorable T.H. Werdel. This
"report" was then resuscitated as evidence of congressional
debate and action. After years of litigation, fading memories, and lost
evidence, the goal of preventing unionization among farm workers was finally
achieved. A detailed account of what transpired can be found in Dr. Ernesto
Galarza' 5 Spiders in the House and Workers in the Field, 1970.
César Chávaz and the Farm Workers
Although the organizing activities among seasonal farm workers (mostly Mexican Americans) in the late 1940s and 50s were crushed, the 1960s produced continuing activity through the efforts of César Chávaz. For the first time, farm labor found a broad base of support and organizing efforts eventually met with considerable success.
César Chávaz was born in 1927, the son of migrant workers.
He followed the occupation of his parents and settled in San Jose, California.
There, in 1952, he met Fred Ross of the Community Service Organization
(CSO). Chávaz went to work for the CSO as a local organizer. But
he was so effective that he was soon named state-wide organizer for the
CSO. He remained with the organization until 1962, when he quit over the
refusal of the CSO to implement a rural-oriented program. César
Chávaz then moved to Delano, California, where he formed the Farm
Workers Association, later the National Farm Workers Association (NFW).
Chávaz elected to move the union along slowly in order to gain
a solid base before taking any action against the growers. But in 1965,
his membership voted to join Larry Itliong's Filipino Agricultural Workers
Organizing Committee (AWOC) grape strike, long before Chávaz felt
the union would be ready for strike activity.
The grape strike proved to be a catalyst. In December 1965, the union
began a boycott of grapes grown by Schenley farms. Anxious to strengthen
their position, Chávaz's NFW and Itliong's AWOC merged to form
the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC). Chávaz became
the director and Itliong the assistant director of the new union.
César Chávaz, a man of vision, realized the union needed
more widespread support than could be offered by its own membership. The
cause of the farm worker needed to be brought to national attention and
public wrath against the growers aroused. He planned and led a march of
farm workers from Delano to the state capitol at Sacramento and in the
process stirred millions of Americans. The grape boycott spread across
the nation and was soon expanded to include all table grapes.
Chávaz abhorred violence and tried to keep his strikes peaceful,
using the tactic of hunger strikes to publicize his peaceful intentions.
He experienced some success. In 1970, two of the largest grape growers
had come to terms with the union. But this proved to be just one battle
in a long war.
In 1974, the union was fighting for its life in an attempt to sign new
contracts with the grape and lettuce growers. It was threatened not only
by the growers but by the more powerful unions. The Teamsters Union had
muscled its way into the fields and began to sign "sweetheart"
contracts with growers who had not signed with the United Farm Workers.
Since the sweetheart contracts were advantageous to the growers, many
of the growers whose contracts terminated with the United Farm Workers
signed up with the Teamsters Union rather than with the Chávaz
organization. The future of the United Farm Workers as a genuinely "grass
roots" organization representing seasonal farm workers was in serious
jeopardy given the great political power and wealth which the growers'
organizations and the Teamsters had arrayed in their efforts to crush
the union. The United Farm Workers survived the threat, however, and are
today continuing the struggle.
López Tijerina and the Alianza
Another organizing effort emerged in the 1960s. This occurred among Hispanos of northern New Mexico attempting to regain the lands granted to their ancestors by the Spanish kings and, later, the Mexican government. After 1848, much of this land was lost. The idea was not a new one. Earlier organizations (such as Gorras Blancas and Mano Negra) had been formed for the same purpose. But like the early unionization efforts, they had failed.
A charismatic leader, Reies López Tijerina, drew attention to the
land problem. Born in Fall City, Texas, on September 21, 1926, Reies was
the son of seasonal farm workers. Like César Chávaz, he
worked in the fields as a boy. As a young man, he received aid to study
and became an ordained minister. Later, Reies gathered a group of families
together and purchased land in Arizona (called the Valley of Peace) to
begin their own community. They were eventually forced out by hostile
Anglo neighbors and Reies move to New Mexico.
López Tijerina soon became familiar with the land grant problem
and was appalled. He felt compelled to take some action and, in 1963,
founded the Alianza Federal de Mercedes (alliance of land grants). In
October 1966, the Alianza took its first action by occupying Echo Amphitheater,
part of a national forest and a piece of an old land grant. The Alianza
set up a government and declared the area a free and autonomous state.
Two forest rangers were arrested for trespassing on this new state. They
were tried and convicted by the people and given suspended sentences.
Federal attorneys pressed charges against López Tijerina and on
November 6, 1967, he was convicted of two counts of assault stemming from
the Echo Amphitheater incident and was sentenced to two years in prison
and five years probation. He was released on bail, pending appeal. This
was overshadowed, however, by events of the previous summer. After the
Echo Amphitheater clash, the court had ordered the Alianza to produce
a list of its membership. To avoid doing so, the Alianza formally disbanded
and reorganized under the name of La Confederaci6n de Pueblos Libres.
But on June 5, 1967, a raid was carried out on the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse
to free jailed members of the Alianza. Whether Reies López Tijerina
knew of the raid or not is open to speculation. In any event, he was arrested
and tried for crimes committed. He defended himself and won an acquittal.
This and other episodes received national attention because of reaction
on the part of the New Mexico state government. The National Guard was
called out, as well as the forest rangers and the state police. Suspected
members of the Alianza were taken prisoner at a barbecue and held in a
corral for over twenty-four hours. Reies eventually served concurrent
sentences for assault in the Amphitheater incident and destruction of
federal property, and assault on a federal officer during the occupation
of the Kit Carson National Forest at the Coyote Campsite (Acuña,
1972: pp. 237-40). He was released in 1971 with the provision he make
no contacts with the former Alianza. Through legal restrictions, questionable
judicial procedures and threats of terrorism, the established powers have
stalled, at least temporarily, the efforts of Mexican Americans to regain
lands once theirs. The precursors to this movement, like their counterparts
among the Indian Land Claims organizations, began many years ago in northern
New Mexico and the movement will probably survive this setback.
The period from World War II to the present has also produced activity in the urban areas and among professionals. During the war, Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy sought to expand the diplomatic effort to the domestic scene by establishing a Spanish-speaking Peoples' Division under the Office of Inter-American Affairs. The stated purpose of this Division was to "stimulate and organize public and private rehabilitation programs aimed at preparing the Spanish-speaking to participate more actively in American life and to educate the English-speaking to the necessity of eliminating discriminatory practices injurious to the war effort and to our relations with Spanish America" (McWilliams, 1949: p. 276).
While the Good Neighbor policy was primarily aimed at building good relations
with Latin American allies, it also led to some organizing activity in
the Southwest. A large conference was held in Denver, Colorado, in June
and July 1943, followed by similar ones in August 1943 in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, and at Arizona Teachers College. These conferences consisted of
workshops and meetings on the understanding needed between the two cultures.
With funds from the Office of Inter-American Affairs, the National Catholic
Welfare Conference held its first seminar on the Spanish-speaking in San
Antonio, Texas, in July 1943. This was later followed by similar conferences
in Denver, Santa Fe, and Los Angeles. Funds provided by the office also
helped begin the Colorado Inter-American Field Service Commission in the
fall of 1944. The first service club was founded in Rocky Ford, Colorado.
Subsequently, clubs were established throughout Colorado-in Pueblo, Walsenburg,
Trinidad, San Luis, Alamosa, Monte Vista, and Greeley. A club was also
founded in Taos, New Mexico. The individual clubs formed the Community
Service Clubs, Inc., which published the Pan American News with offices
based in Denver, Colorado. The purposes of these clubs were to register
voters, provide scholarships, make health surveys, promote better recreational
facilities, and to end discrimination and secure rights for Spanish-speaking
Americans.
The Mexican-Americans did not need the push from the federal government
to fight for their rights. Toward the end of World War II, the fight against
segregation was carried into the courts by individuals. In 1945, Gonzalo
Mendez of Westminister, California, filed a suit against segregation in
local schools. And on March 21, Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled this segregation
illegal-an early victory for equal rights in education (McWilliams, 1949:
pp.280-82). Another suit concerned the segregation of Mexican-Americans
and blacks in the schools of Bell Town, California, near Riverside. Guidance
was provided by Fred Ross of the Community Service Organization, which
later recruited César Chávaz to its ranks. The defense claimed
integration would depreciate property values, but the plaintiffs finally
won a decision for desegregation. These suits were important factors leading
to the 1954 Supreme Court decision banning school segregation.
The American G.I. Forum, founded in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1948, continued
the fight for equal rights. The immediate cause for establishing the organization
was the refusal in Three Rivers, Texas, to permit the burial of a Mexican-American
veteran in the local cemetery. The G.I. Forum, founded and led by Dr.
Hector Garcia, had for its goals the attainment of first-class citizenship
for Mexican Americans through education and the elimination of discrimination
and has devoted considerable time to raising money for scholarships for
Chicano students. The main emphasis of the organization, however, has
been in the area of fair employment practices and the effort to eliminate
discrimination in public facilities. The Forum has played a major role
in opening public facilities such as schools, swimming pools, theaters,
etc., to the Mexican American. And the Forum has established active chapters
throughout the United States.
Political organizations have become increasingly important to Mexican American survival. The first postwar organization for political purposes was the Unity Leagues founded by Ignacio López. These leagues appealed to veterans and blue-collar workers among others. They organized voter registration drives and supported the campaigns of Mexican Americans running for positions on boards of education and city councils. The Unity Leagues were established primarily in California and they were different from previous organizations in two aspects. First, they were not aimed at the middle class, and second, they were not trade unionist in orientation. Their main objective was to stimulate political action.
Following the Unity Leagues and partially building on the base of the
Leagues were the Community Service Organizations (CSO) founded in 1947.
Technically non-political and non-partisan, these organizations grew out
of a group formed to elect Edward Roybal to the Los Angeles City Council.
A prime mover behind the CSO was Fred Ross, who was influenced by Saul
Alinsky. The CSO urged the Mexican Americans to unite with other concerned
groups to push for social reforms. To this end, they organized voter registration
drives among Mexican Americans so they could vote or social legislation
needed by all minority groups. They began English language and citizenship
classes. They also began new projects in consumer education with money
obtained from the Office of Economic Opportunity.
The decade beginning in 1950 was one in which Mexican-American organizations
suffered several setbacks. The McCarran-Walter Acts of 1950 and 1952 set
up machinery for the deportation and investigation of so-called subversive
groups. These laws were used to drive Mexican-American leaders from the
scene or silence them in their fight for equality. Several prominent leaders
were deported under this act.
Another factor disrupting Mexican-American unity at this time was Operation
Wetback. This was an organized effort by the federal government to locate
and deport all illegal Mexican aliens then in the United States. Little
effort was made to distinguish between American citizens of Mexican descent
and an illegal alien. Thus, as in the 1930s, the Mexican American waged
a fight to defend his right to live in the United States. In 1953, the
year the program was put into action, 865,318 people of Mexican descent
were deported. The next three years also saw large numbers being deported:
1954-1,075,168; 1955-242,608; and 1956- 72,442 (Samora, 1971: p.46).
One organization, however, did manage to begin and function without being
silenced by repressive measures. This was the Council of Mexican American
Affairs (CMAA), founded in 1953 in Los Angeles. The focus of the group
was on social aspects and it stressed cooperation with and coordination
of other groups as well as the development of effective leadership. The
CMAA was mainly a middle-class organization and one of its main concerns
was to change the images members of the larger society held of Mexican
Americans. It defined itself as nonprofit, non-partisan and non-sectarian.
It was organized at first to aid Mexican-American claims to full citizenship
and to influence government. It wanted to show that the Mexican American
exemplified the best of each culture and could enrich the whole community.
Unfortunately, the council encountered financial problems, which forced
it to curtail its programs, and thus lost its effectiveness.
It may be obvious to the reader at this point that many of the organizing efforts of Mexican Americans since World War II have stressed education. The Latin American Educational Foundation of Denver, Colorado, is a case in point. It has supplied hundreds of scholarships and loans to college-bound students. In this respect, several organizations have been established by and for students and teachers and administrators. These organizations are found at both the high school and college levels. One of the student groups is the United Mexican-American Students (UMAS). It has stressed that the Mexican American need not be ashamed of his heritage and that he can be a benefit to society and still be proud of being Mexican. Its purpose is to give a voice to the Mexican American at the college level. In May 1969, an attempt was made to unify all the student groups into one; the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MECHA) emerged from this effort. This organization united UMAS, the Mexican American Student Association (MASA), the Mexican-American Student Confederation (MASC), the Mexican-American Youth Organization (MAYO), and the Committee for the Advancement of the Mexican American (CAMA). MECHA still has no central statewide organization to represent it, but the group does mark a change from integrationist methods to ones that stress pride in being Mexican.
Teachers and administrators have also banded together to work for the
benefit of the Mexican American. One such group is the Association of
Mexican-American Educators, founded in 1965. It acts as an advisor to
state and local boards of education, administrators, and faculties in
relation to the educational needs of Mexican-American youth. It also serves
as a pressure group and was organized partially to aid the campaign of
a Mexican American running for the Los Angeles School Board. In addition
to stressing education, especially higher education, it acts as a clearing
house for current research on Mexican-American education.
Another group along this line has been the California Association of Educators
of Mexican Descent. It is open to all teachers, administrators, and superintendents.
This organization has suffered a major difficulty in the differing philosophies
of its members (as we have seen, Mexican Americans form a very heterogeneous
group).
We cannot mention all the organizations which have been founded, but one which has had considerable impact is La Crusada Para la Justicia (Crusade for Justice), founded at Denver, Colorado, by Rodolfo Gonzales in 1965. Gonzales was active in politics and business throughout a good part of his life. He was the first Mexican-American district captain for he Democratic Party in Denver and in p960 was the Colorado coordinator of Viva Kennedy!" clubs. He then became a leader in the poverty programs including he War on Poverty. During this time, Gonzales was also a successful insurance salesman and author, writing a play, A Cross for Jaclovio, and a poem, I Am Joaquin.
Rodolfo Gonzales became disillusioned with the establishment and in particular
with the Democratic Party. In establishing the Crusade for Justice, his
goal is appeal to the cultural nationalism and the establishment of communities
controlled by Chicanos. The Crusade for Justice organization includes
a school teaching "liberation classes," a nursery, gym, Mayan
ballroom, art gallery, shops, library, dining room, community center,
legal aid service, "skill bank," Barrio Police Board, health
and housing social workers, athletic leagues, newspaper (El Gailo), bail
bond service, and "Revolutionary Theater." A "Plan of the
Barrio" has been issued calling for housing, education, economic
opportunities, agricultural reforms including land reform, and the redistribution
of wealth.
On Palm Sunday, 1969, the Crusade convened the Chicano Youth Liberation
Front, a national convention of barrio youth. Here the "Spiritual
Plan of Aztlan" was issued calling for separate Chicano communities
and control of their own political, social, economic, and educational
destinies. The Crusade also helped to organize La Raza Unida Party in
Colorado, led by Gonzales. The Crusade participated in the Poor People's
March of 1968 and the school walkouts at West Denver High School which
attempted to end discrimination against Chicano children.
Some Chicanos have been extremely active politically for many years-in
particular those persons who lived in small towns and villages of southern
Colorado and northern New Mexico. In those instances when they have been
in the majority, they have dominated the politics of the county or community.
In the rural areas and towns of Texas, however, even when Mexican Americans
have been in the majority, they have seldom been able to control local
governments. In the urban areas of the Southwest and Midwest, they have
not been particularly successful in the political arena until recent years.
Political Action of the 60s and 70s
During the decade of the 1960s and the early 1970s, a number of political organizations were formed for the express purposes of seeking recognition, justice, and better opportunities for Chicanos-to endorse candidates; to take stands on issues; to register voters, and to increase political activity among the Chicano population. Other more specific purposes were proposed in certain regions, states or localities. Among the organizations which were formed are The Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) of California, The Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations (PAS SO) of Texas, the American Coordinating Council on Political Education (ACCPE) of Arizona, and El Partido La Raza Unida of Texas, Colorado, and California.
Traditionally, Chicanos have voted in the majority for candidates of the
Democratic Party. The party invariably made promises to Mexican Americans,
but seldom did any noticeable benefits accrue to the Chicano community.
To be sure, some Chicano candidates, particularly at the local levels
of government, have held elective or appointed positions. Some have held
positions in state legislatures and a few have beer in Congress. The perception
of Chicanos that political activity has seldom benefited the community
in large measure is probably correct. Seldom have Chicanos been in decision-making
positions in sufficient numbers to bring about any substantial reforms
even if they attempted to initiate legislation or programs. Chicanos who
have attained such positions have not been inclined to "rock the
system" or go against the status quo.
Having been disillusioned with both the Democratic and Republican Parties,
many Chicanos have flocked to MAPA, PASSO, and La Raza Unida in their
efforts to influence the political process. In areas where Chicanos have
numerical strength and the organizations have worked hard, there have
been phenomenal results in the election of Chicano candidates. In situations
where their proportionate numbers are low (for example a state-wide or
congressional election) the tactics of the organizations have been that
of a third party or a swing vote in the direction which most benefits
the community.
Since Chicanos are not a homogeneous population, there is not universal
agreement on the philosophies and ideologies of political organizations.
Even within the organizations there are obviously varying points of views.
Nevertheless, these political organizations are important. For many, these
groups are seen as the hope for the future in righting the wrongs and
severe injustices thrust upon them by the established parties. They will
no longer tolerate false promises, benign neglect, and chicanery.*
A more militant phase of the Mexican-American movement is provided by
the Brown Berets. The organization began in 1967 as the Young Citizens
for Community Action. It was founded by Ralph Ramirez, Carlos Monten,
and David San-chez. It centered around a coffee house, "La Peranya,"
which served as an office and meeting hall. The group shortly hanged its
name to Young Chicanos for Community Action and finally to the Brown Berets.
Despite the changes in the name and the closing of the coffee house in
March 1968, the principal stress has remained the same-ethnic nationalism.
The Brown Berets played a major role in Lie confrontation of students
and police in the school walkouts in East Los Angeles in 1968.
The Brown Berets, in effect, panicked police officials and exposed their basic undemocratic attic attitudes toward Mexicans or groups attempting to achieve liberation. This is especially true in Los Angeles, where the Berets were founded. The police and sheriff's departments there abandoned reason in harassing, intimidating, and persecuting the Brown Berets in a way that no other Chicano organization has experienced in recent times. Police and sheriff's deputies raided the Berets, infiltrated them, libeled and slandered them, and even encouraged counter groups to attack the members. The objective was to destroy the Berets and to invalidate the membership in the eyes of both the Anglo and the Chicano communities. (Acuitia, 1972: p.231)
The effectiveness of the Brown Berets in La Causa is difficult to assess at this time. Professor Acuña states:
A basic weakness in the Brown Berets is that it does not have the strong family structure that has heretofore marked survival and success for most Chicano organizations. It has not been accepted as the "Army of the Brown People." Most people have been puzzled by the failure of the group to define what it considers to be its role in society.... Nonetheless, despite the failures the Brown Berets are important, because they are one of the few Chicano groups that have not attempted to work entirely within the civil rights framework of the present reform movement. They are the bridge between the groups of the past and those of liberation, which shall become more offensive. (Acuña, 1972: p.233)
In conclusion, several things can be noted about Chicano organizations since World War II. The first is the movement into the barrio: efforts are now being made, and with success, to mobilize the urban Chicano. Secondly, a rather close relationship has developed between the student organizations-both high school and university-and the local community. The relationship between the "Ivory Tower" and the town appears to be a most significant development not found among other groups. Thirdly, the mutual aid, fraternal, and social emphasis of the organizations has given way to a more political, self-determination, and self development focus. The realization is clear that basic changes must occur in the society in the economic, political, educational, and civil rights realms before the general goals of equality and justice can be reached. Finally, the emergence of national leadership potential is quite evident. The next few years should see the crystallization of national organizations, with national goals and programs, and with a constituency served by their leaders.
In Crystal City, Texas, Mexican Americans twice in the past decade revolted against the political domination of Anglos. Located in the heart of the Winter Garden Area of Texas not too far from the Mexican border, Crystal City is made up of 80 percent Mexican Americans, many of them poor migrant laborers. Since the town's inception this majority had been controlled by the Anglo community.
Backed by the Teamsters Union and the Political Association of Spanish-speaking
Organizations, poor, undereducated Chicanos won all five city council
seats in the election of 1963. However, political inexperience, Anglo
resistance to reform, and internal dissension led to their downfall two
years later. Anglos working with middle-class Mexican Americans regained
control of the town, leaving the poorer Chicanos leaderless and demoralized.
In 1969 a second revolt hit Crystal City, more racial and more successful
than the first. The school board had always remained in control of the
Anglos. But Mexican Americans were dissatisfied with conditions in the
schools-they resented teachers who were bigoted against them; they desired
a democratic election of cheerleaders, the homecoming football queen,
and other recipients of honors; they wanted more Mexican-American teachers
in the schools and a bilingual education program.
The immediate occasion of the second revolt was the selection of two Anglo
cheerleaders by faculty judges to replace vacancies, when Chicano students
felt one of their group was as good as any of the Anglos. The students
protested to school officials, and found their demands finally rebuffed
by the school board.
At this point Jose Angel Gutierrez came on the scene. He was a native
of Crystal City who had been educated in San Antonio and been active in
a Mexican-American youth organization.
Gutierrez found some outside, foundation support as a means to fund a
small organization, and he immediately went to work to direct the students
in their campaign against the school board in the fall of 1969. A school
boycott by Mexican Americans was called, and was successfully carried
out. Gutierrez reached the adult Mexican Americans through their children.
The next step was the formation of the La Raza Unida party, whose candidates
won both the school board and city council elections in the spring of
1970. Gutierrez was elected to the school board, and at the reorganization
meeting of the board was elected its president.
The schools then underwent a minor revolution. A great number of Mexican
Americans were hired in administrative, teaching, and staff p0sitions
in the school system. Bilingual education was begun in the early grades,
and courses in Mexican-American history and culture were started. Also
topics of concern to Chicanos were introduced in history, literature,
and other subject areas, while Chicano literature was purchased for the
library.
In less than a decade an apathetic, powerless Mexican-American community
had been mobilized into a majority fully in control of the political institutions
of the town. La Raza Unida candidates also won elections in two nearby
towns.
As a result of these victories, La Raza Unida has organized branches in
many other Texas counties with large Chicano populations and in Colorado,
New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The political apathy that formerly
marked the Southwest is disappearing as Mexican Americans have challenged
the system to achieve representative government.
The National Chicano Moratorium
On August 29, 1970, Rosalio Muñoz and other Chicano leaders organized a demonstration in East Los Angeles against the Vietnam War, citing moral grounds and the casualty rate for Mexican Americans in the War (19% for Mexican-Americans compared to 12% for all Americans). Among the speakers scheduled for the anti-war rally were Cesar Chavez, Corky Gonzales, Mario Compean (national chairman of the Mexican American Youth Organization), and David Sanchez (prime minister of the Brown Berets).
The demonstrators paraded peacefully to Laguna Park where the speakers
and entertainment were scheduled. A crowd of 15-20,000, including many
families, gathered at the park, peacefully waiting for the proceedings
to begin.
Early in the afternoon, before the speeches began, a fight broke out at
a nearby liquor store between some of the demonstrators and deputy sheriffs.
Tear gas was used to quell the disturbance. The deputies then called for
reinforcements, lined up, and advanced toward the park. When they began
firing tear gas into the crowd, rioting erupted. In the melee people were
injured, stores were damaged and looted, and a number of Chicanos were
arrested, including Corky Gonzales. Ruben Salazar, prominent newspaper
and television reporter, died after being struck in the head by a tear
gas capsule. Two other Mexican Americans lost their lives as a result
of the riot.
Organizers of the moratorium blamed the violence on overreaction by law
enforcement officials, while Mayor Yorty and the sheriff's department
contended that militant radicals had infiltrated the assembly.
REFERENCES
Acuña, Rodolfo. Occupied America: The Chicano's Struggle Toward
Liberation. San
Francisco: Canfield Press, 1972.
Galaraza, Ernesto. Spiders in the House and Workers in the Field. Notre
Dame,
Ind,: University of Notre Dame Press, 1970.
McWilliams, Carey. North from Mexico. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1949.
Samora, Julian. Los Mojados: The Wetback Story. Notre Dame, Ind.: University
of Notre
Dame Press, 1971.
Santillan, Richard. La Raza Unida. Los Angeles: Tlaquilo Publications, 1973.
Shockley, John S. Chicano Revolt in a Texas Town. Notre Dame, Ind.: University
of Notre
Dame
Press, 1974.
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