San José, CA – On August 31, Silicon Valley Immigration Committee held San José’s 54th Chicano Moratorium commemoration at the San José Peace and Justice Center.

Around 50 people heard speakers on the August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium and other issues related to the Chicano liberation and anti-war movements. The keynote speaker was Carlos Montes, co-founder of the Brown Berets, Freedom Road Socialist Organization Central Committee member, and co-chair of the FRSO Chicano, Latino and Other Oppressed Nationalities Commission.

Uriel Magdaleno, a member of Silicon Valley Immigration Committee, stated, “On this 54th Chicano Moratorium, we're all here to center the anti-war principles that the Chicano movement united on and demand a free Palestine and an end to the genocide.” The Chicano community, while facing disproportionate deaths in the Vietnam war, also faced police brutality in their communities. The Chicano Moratorium protest led to the deaths at the hands of law enforcement of three Chicanos – a journalist and two Brown Berets, Ruben Salazar, Lyn Ward and Angel Diaz.

Magdaleno ended the program's introduction with a chant, “Presente Ruben Salazar, Presente Shireen Abu Akleh! Viva la moratoria, Viva Palestina!” calling back to Shireen Abu Akleh, who was a Palestinian-American journalist murdered by Israeli forces in the West bank.

The program began with Drusie Kazanova, a member of the San José district of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “The basis for the Chicano Moratorium was national oppression on two fronts – national oppression against Chicanos in the U.S., and national oppression of Vietnam by U.S. imperialism.” The United States witnessed a wave of anti-war protests during the Vietnam War, many connected to national liberation movements.

Kazanova continued, “Today we are witnessing another heroic struggle for national liberation against U.S. imperialism: the liberation of Palestine.” She ended her speech by spotlighting San José Against War’s local divestment campaign, demanding that the San José City Council divest from Israel.

Nadine Mansour, a leading member of San José’s Palestinian community, then gave a presentation on her recent humanitarian visit to the West Bank. Mansour had traveled to Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian village located south of the West Bank that has been facing, the words of Mansour, “the largest forced expulsions since 1967 and a serious spike in settler violence and harassment in recent months.”

Within the presentation, Mansour played videos that she had recorded of multiple instances of Israeli violence and harassment. As Mansour stated, the main purpose of the humanitarian visit was to “minimize Israeli settler violence by having international foreign presence.” The main ask of the village had been for an international foreign presence at night, when Israeli violence would often occur. Mansour stated that they “mostly slept at night with the Palestinian families” in order to deter Israelis from harassing the families while they were asleep.

After Mansour, Teresa Alcaraz from the Brown Berets spoke about Lyn Ward and Angel Diaz, the two former Brown Berets who were killed at the Chicano Moratorium due to the Los Angeles Police Department’s brutality, and offered a moment of silence for the two. Teresa stated that the Brown Beret's mission statement is to “observe the conditions in our barrios and to organize for appropriate actions to address such conditions, to protect the rights of our people against any intrusions upon their rights.”

The final speaker was Carlos Montes, who introduced himself as “a kid from Juarez who got thrown into LA and the nightmare of U.S. racism.” Montes continued by thanking Nadine Mansour for her presentation and emphasized the importance of “organizing within our communities for working class power, for Chicano power and to be in solidarity with the struggle in Palestine.”

Montes mentioned growing up in East LA and how army recruitment would target young Chicanos into the Green Berets, which would be the basis for the disproportionate deaths of Chicanos in the Vietnam War. “Vietnam radicalized us Chicanos as Brown Berets,” Montes recalled. “We started learning about Ho Chi Minh and we said, ‘all they want is to free their own country.’” Montes emphasized that the Chicano Moratorium movement would turn into a movement opposing U.S. imperialism due to the Vietnam War.

Afterwards, Montes also spoke about the FBI raids that targeted him in 2011. He recounted how the FBI’s attempt to politically repress Montes by accusing him of domestic terrorism fell short within the community due to his reputation as a community organizer, as community members stated, “Carlos isn't a terrorist, he's an activist.”

Relating the topic of Palestine to the oppression of Chicanos and Latinos, Montes described Eagle Pass, Texas as “a community under military occupation by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.” The Texas governor has placed the Texas National Guard on the border and razor buoys along the Rio Grande as a part of Operation Lone Star, leading to at least 853 immigrant deaths.

“I went there to denounce the human rights violations of the governor of Texas,” stated Montes. “Can you imagine living under military occupation?” Montes asked, shortly before going over the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ceded the Southwest to the U.S. and guaranteed citizenship, land, equality of language and education to Mexicans citizens.

Despite these guarantees, Montes emphasized that the U.S. did not uphold them and continued to nationally oppress Chicanos, citing as an example the corporal punishment of Spanish speakers in school.

Later in the event, Montes went over his experience at the August March on DNC and proclaimed the “main point of struggle is to free Palestine and to support Palestine.” He pointed out the large Palestinian community in Chicago and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network's role at the forefront of the March on DNC protests, highlighting the issue of the current Biden-Harris administration’s financial and military support of the Israeli regime.

Montes, going back to the FBI trial, stated, “I beat the charges and all I was doing was solidarity with Palestine; there's nothing wrong with solidarity.” After his speech, Montes held a Q&A, engaging participation from young Chicanes present.

The program ended with a chant, “¡Ruben Salazar, presente!” memorializing the late Los Angeles Times journalist and the Chicano liberation movement.

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