Los Angeles, CA – In Boyle Heights, on Monday night, Aug. 29, a 100 people, youth and veterans, gathered at the PUENTE Learning Center to celebrate the 46th Chicano Moratorium. Organized by Centro CSO, the event was energetic and empowering.

On Aug. 29, 1970, in East Los Angeles (ELA) over 30,000 Chicanos demanded equality and an end to the Vietnam War. They marched through the streets chanting, “Raza si, guerra no!” The peaceful rally was brutally attacked by the LA Sheriffs and Los Angeles Police Department. Hundreds were violently beaten and gassed – leading to what is now known as one of the biggest Chicano rebellions. Three were killed: then-Los Angeles Times reporter Ruben Salazar, Angel Diaz, and Lynn Ward. The Chicano Moratorium is presently and commonly referred to as “Chicano Liberation Day” – a day of struggle for the Chicano people.

Vietnam War veteran Ray Andrade, and now a well-known TV producer, was raised in the Ramona Gardens Housing Projects in Boyle Heights and spoke at the commemoration of the Chicano Moratorium. Andrade stated, “When I went to fight in Vietnam I kept thinking, ‘Why am I here? No Vietnamese ever called me a ‘spic’, ‘beaner’, ‘greaser’, ‘wet-back’, like what I was called while in the U.S.' It took me months of recovery, after being shipped out of Vietnam, to realize who the real enemy was and is. The enemy wasn’t the Vietnamese; the enemy are the cops who patrol us in my streets, who kill people like me.” Andrade participated in the 1970 Chicano Moratorium.

“Going against the grain at the time – which was joining the military to fight in Vietnam like my brother did – I took to streets to protest the Vietnamese War. We demanded an end to Chicano drafting resulting in Chicano deaths,” said Victoria Castro. Castro is a former LA School District Board member and principal at Hollenbeck Middle School, and was present at the Chicano Moratorium in 1970.

The commemoration also addressed the oppression of Chicanos today. Speakers talked about the current struggles to stop police killings of young Chicanos in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.. Many families of victims of police violence joined the event.

“Shooting my son 17 times, is something I will never accept as ‘necessary’ by ELA Sheriffs,” said Estela Rodriguez, mother of Edwin Rodriguez, who was killed by ELA Sheriffs on Feb. 14. “I will never let my son’s killing go in vain. As Edwin’s mother I will continue fighting to jail the killer sheriffs responsible for his death.”

Juan Mendez, father of 16-year-old Jose “Peruzzi” Mendez, spoke to the crowd. Jose Mendez was killed by LAPD on Feb. 6. His father said, “Newly released video shows LAPD dragging my son’s lifeless body out of the vehicle he was in. LAPD shot Peruzzi over 13 times – claiming every shot was absolutely necessary. I will never rest until my son’s killing, along with all other killings in Boyle Heights, see justice.”

Present in support was the mother and uncle of Jesse Romero. Romero was the 14-year-old shot and killed by the LAPD in Boyle Heights on Aug. 9.

Also in solidarity was Black Lives Matter activist Angela James. She spoke in solidarity between Blacks and Chicanos and talked on the current fight against police killings.

The event was moderated by long-time Chicano revolutionary and member of Boyle Heights community group Centro CSO, Carlos Montes. He gave a talk on the importance of commemorating August 29th – Chicano Liberation Day as a day of struggle for the Chicano people. He stated, “Today as Chicanos we continue striving for equality. Jail killer cops, and fire LAPD Chief Beck!”

Sol Marquez spoke on behalf of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, “Liberation for Chicanos means no more police brutality, no more killings like the ones we heard of today. We must stand with our Black brothers and sisters in the Black South to combat the oppression by U.S. Imperialism. Together with the multi-national working class we must build long-lasting movements and activity. Only in this manner will we finally be free.”

The event was concluded by chanting, “Chicano! Power!”, “Chicana! Power!” “Worker! Power!” “Black! Power!” Centro CSO is calling for people to join in the fight against police terror. They plan to continue the struggle against the killings of Chicano youth in Boyle Heights.

#LosAngelesCA #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #ChicanoMovement

Los Angeles, CA – In Boyle Heights, on Monday night, Aug. 29, a 100 people, youth and veterans, gathered at the PUENTE Learning Center to celebrate the 46th Chicano Moratorium. Organized by Centro CSO, the event was energetic and empowering.

On Aug. 29, 1970, in East Los Angeles (ELA) over 30,000 Chicanos demanded equality and an end to the Vietnam War. They marched through the streets chanting, “Raza si, guerra no!” The peaceful rally was brutally attacked by the LA Sheriffs and Los Angeles Police Department. Hundreds were violently beaten and gassed – leading to what is now known as one of the biggest Chicano rebellions. Three were killed: then-Los Angeles Times reporter Ruben Salazar, Angel Diaz, and Lynn Ward. The Chicano Moratorium is presently and commonly referred to as “Chicano Liberation Day” – a day of struggle for the Chicano people.

Vietnam War veteran Ray Andrade, and now a well-known TV producer, was raised in the Ramona Gardens Housing Projects in Boyle Heights and spoke at the commemoration of the Chicano Moratorium. Andrade stated, “When I went to fight in Vietnam I kept thinking, ‘Why am I here? No Vietnamese ever called me a ‘spic’, ‘beaner’, ‘greaser’, ‘wet-back’, like what I was called while in the U.S.' It took me months of recovery, after being shipped out of Vietnam, to realize who the real enemy was and is. The enemy wasn’t the Vietnamese; the enemy are the cops who patrol us in my streets, who kill people like me.” Andrade participated in the 1970 Chicano Moratorium.

“Going against the grain at the time – which was joining the military to fight in Vietnam like my brother did – I took to streets to protest the Vietnamese War. We demanded an end to Chicano drafting resulting in Chicano deaths,” said Victoria Castro. Castro is a former LA School District Board member and principal at Hollenbeck Middle School, and was present at the Chicano Moratorium in 1970.

The commemoration also addressed the oppression of Chicanos today. Speakers talked about the current struggles to stop police killings of young Chicanos in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.. Many families of victims of police violence joined the event.

“Shooting my son 17 times, is something I will never accept as ‘necessary’ by ELA Sheriffs,” said Estela Rodriguez, mother of Edwin Rodriguez, who was killed by ELA Sheriffs on Feb. 14. “I will never let my son’s killing go in vain. As Edwin’s mother I will continue fighting to jail the killer sheriffs responsible for his death.”

Juan Mendez, father of 16-year-old Jose “Peruzzi” Mendez, spoke to the crowd. Jose Mendez was killed by LAPD on Feb. 6. His father said, “Newly released video shows LAPD dragging my son’s lifeless body out of the vehicle he was in. LAPD shot Peruzzi over 13 times – claiming every shot was absolutely necessary. I will never rest until my son’s killing, along with all other killings in Boyle Heights, see justice.”

Present in support was the mother and uncle of Jesse Romero. Romero was the 14-year-old shot and killed by the LAPD in Boyle Heights on Aug. 9.

Also in solidarity was Black Lives Matter activist Angela James. She spoke in solidarity between Blacks and Chicanos and talked on the current fight against police killings.

The event was moderated by long-time Chicano revolutionary and member of Boyle Heights community group Centro CSO, Carlos Montes. He gave a talk on the importance of commemorating August 29th – Chicano Liberation Day as a day of struggle for the Chicano people. He stated, “Today as Chicanos we continue striving for equality. Jail killer cops, and fire LAPD Chief Beck!”

Sol Marquez spoke on behalf of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, “Liberation for Chicanos means no more police brutality, no more killings like the ones we heard of today. We must stand with our Black brothers and sisters in the Black South to combat the oppression by U.S. Imperialism. Together with the multi-national working class we must build long-lasting movements and activity. Only in this manner will we finally be free.”

The event was concluded by chanting, “Chicano! Power!”, “Chicana! Power!” “Worker! Power!” “Black! Power!” Centro CSO is calling for people to join in the fight against police terror. They plan to continue the struggle against the killings of Chicano youth in Boyle Heights.

#LosAngelesCA #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #ChicanoMovement

Los Angeles, CA – The El Sereno community in East Los Angeles came out to protest another police checkpoint May 24. Mexican, Chicano and Central American residents, most of whom are immigrants, challenged the second LAPD checkpoint in the area this month. Residents felt targeted by the LAPD Traffic Division as this checkpoint was on Huntington Drive, located in the heart of the community, near a major market.

On May 2, local residents and the Centro CSO protested a similar checkpoint (at Huntington and Poplar) and were successful in helping many residents avoid getting their car impounded, to the dismay of LAPD and the local Official Police Garage Association tow company. Members of the Official Police Garage Association reap millions in profits from car impounds and often make donations to local politicians.

In January 2015 the Department of Motor Vehicles will make California driver’s license available to the undocumented, and the millions of dollars generated by car impounds will dry up.

For years, the Community Service Organization (CSO) has pointed out that police target Mexican/Chicano communities, where the majority undocumented immigrants with no driver’s licenses as easy prey for car confiscations. Centro CSO, with many other organizations such as Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamerica, fought for California driver’s license for the undocumented for years. Now that licenses are finally coming, the police – especially the LA Sheriff’s Department in league with the Official Police Garage Association – are trying to make as much money as they can.

#LosAngelesCA #immigrantRights #driversLicence #LAPD #ChicanoMovement #checkpointProtest

Tampa, FL – It is Cinco de Mayo, or May 5, but before you participate in “Cinco de Drink-o” and yell, “Happy Mexico Independence Day!” read this article.

In the late 1960s the Chicano movement started to commemorate the battle of Puebla and held annual events to mark that history. Over the years the Cinco de Mayo events spread to the point that they reached the ‘mainstream.’ Then U.S. beer companies started to sponsor the Cinco de Mayo events. Eventually Cinco de Mayo increasingly lost its political significance and became a marketing tool for alcohol and other products.

Looking back, it all started around 1862. Mexican President Benito Juárez, of indigenous, Oaxacan descent, declared Mexico would not pay any foreign debts for two years. France reacted by sending in troops to Mexico and demanding payment. What happened on May 5 was the Mexican victory in La Batalla de Puebla, or the Battle of Puebla. The battle was fought in the state of Puebla, Mexico and it was one of the few victories against the French. The poorly-equipped Mexican army defeated the powerful French army.

Just under 15 years earlier, in 1848, Mexico was invaded by another foreign power – the United States. After supporting pro-slavery American settlers who broke Texas away from Mexico, the U.S. took one-third of the land of Mexico, which is now the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and even parts of Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Once-Mexican people would now become trapped in a land that would not acknowledge them as Americans and one that Mexico would shun as non-Mexican. This was in 1848 – the U.S. war and takeover of what is now called the U.S. Southwest would become the homeland of the Chicano nation.

In Mexico, the Battle of Puebla is still remembered and will forever remain a victory for the Mexican people. But Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated in Mexico the way it is commercially celebrated in the U.S. In the U.S., we see major companies and various types of businesses push for parties, drinking, new liquors and ‘Mexican’ memorabilia.

The fact is, Cinco de Mayo is not mentioned in the U.S. as a day when Mexicans fought and won against foreign domination and in particular against France, which is still sending its troops to other countries. Never is the day called “La Batalla de Puebla,” and much less is it ever linked to the Chicano Nation and how it came to exist.

Donning ‘sombreros’ and shaking maracas is just plain incorrect and should not be encouraged. As far as the Independence of Mexico goes, that day is the 16th of September. In 1810 when father Miguel Hidalgo gave the Grito de Dolores, a cry for independence from Spain. And while U.S. beer companies and Dos Equis will keep finding a new beer to market, we remind everyone Cinco de Mayo meant much more to the people than getting drunk. The fifth of May symbolized the day people united to fight back against colonization and against the pillaging of their people by a foreign occupier.

Marisol Marquez is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Marquez organizes in Tampa with a group called Raices En Tampa. If you wish to contact her, you can message her on her twitter account: twitter.com/elmaryelsol

#TampaFL #Mexico #CincoDeMayo #history #antiimperialism #France #ChicanoMovement #MexicoIndependence #LaBatallaDePuebla #Americas

Los Angeles, CA – A mural commemorating the historic 1968 East LA Chicano high school walkouts was dedicated here, at Lincoln High School, March 25. The mural was created by Lincoln High School students who are part of the Behind the Heights Art Team.

“We are raising awareness in our community through the arts. We made a mural about the walkouts. We did it on a wall next to our school so everyone could see it,” said one of the students who helped do the mural.

Among those in attendance was veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes, who helped lead the 1968 walkouts.

#LosAngelesCA #ChicanoLatino #walkout #CarlosMontes #history #Art #ChicanoMovement #LincolnHighSchool

Los Angeles, CA – Carlos Montes, a nationally respected leader in the Chicano, immigrant rights and anti-war movements, donated his archive collection to California State University, Los Angeles, Jan. 16.

The Montes Collection will be added to the East Los Angeles Archive, which is housed in the University’s John F. Kennedy Memorial Library.

“I selected Cal State LA Library’s East Archive to donate my personal political files from the Chicano movement because Cal State LA is a local and respected educational institution that will make them available to the community, students, professors and the general public,” said Montes.

Montes was a co-founder of the Brown Berets, a Chicano working-class youth organization in the U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s. He was also one of the leaders of the Chicano Blowouts, a series of walkouts of East Los Angeles high schools to protest against racism and inequality in Los Angeles-area high schools. He is portrayed by Fidel Gomez in the 2006 HBO movie, Walkout.

His first submissions to the archive included issues of La Causa, the Brown Beret newspaper, flyers of the political trial for the Biltmore case, legal transcripts of the court proceedings from the East LA high school walkouts prosecution, the Los Angeles Magazine with an article featuring Carlos Montes, and the Biltmore case grand jury indictment.

“Both of the cases addressed political repression against the Chicano movement, specifically the Brown Berets and myself,” Montes explained.

The East LA Archive at Cal State – Los Angeles documents the lives and events of an historical community central to the social, political and cultural history of the Chicano and Latino community in the U.S. It collects, preserves, displays and disseminates documents, artifacts and other materials related to the social and political life of the East Los Angeles region.

“The Montes Collection is an important addition to our East LA Archive, which supports the University’s commitment to civic and community engagement and learning,” said University Librarian Alice Kawakami. “Azalea Camacho, archivist, and Romelia Salinas, librarian liaison to the University’s Department of Chicano Studies, were actively involved in helping to bring this collection to our campus.”

The archive currently consists of The Gloria Arellanes Papers, The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) collection, the “Mexican-American Baseball in Los Angeles” Exhibit Collection, the Jose R. Figueroa Collection and the Claudia Baltazar Poster Collection.

#LosAngelesCA #ChicanoLatino #CarlosMontes #BrownBerets #history #ChicanoMovement #CaliforniaStateUniversityLosAngeles

Fight Back News Service is circulating an important commentary written by veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes in 2010. Montes is a regular contributor to Fight Back!

40th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War

A Long History of Struggle against War and Racism

August 29, 2010, marks the 40th anniversary of the historic Chicano Moratorium protest against the Vietnam War. On Aug. 29, 1970 over 30,000 Chicanos marched down Whittier Boulevard in the heart of East Los Angeles protesting the Vietnam War, the high casualty rate of Chicano soldiers and racist conditions in the barrios. The participants included youth and families of a mainly working class community with delegations from throughout the Southwest. The marchers chanted “¡Raza Si, Guerra No!” inspired by the call for Chicano self-determination and opposition to the imperialist U.S. war in Vietnam. Many Chicano youth had been drafted into the military after being pushed out of high school. The Chicano Movement was on the rise after several years of mass actions like the East Los Angeles high-school walkouts of 1968, land struggles in New Mexico, strikes by the United Farm Workers union, and the growth of new Chicano groups like the Brown Berets and MEChA (Movemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Atzlan, a Chicano Student Movement of the Southwest).

The mass rally held at Laguna Park by the Chicano Moratorium was brutally attacked by the combined forces of the Los Angeles city police and the Los Angeles county sheriffs. Whole families were beaten and tear gassed. Youth responded by defending the rally with their bare hands against the police. A rebellion followed for the entire day, where later Ruben Salazar, a Los Angeles Times journalist and Spanish TV news director, was killed by a sheriff at the Silver Dollar. He was shot in the head with a tear gas missile projectile normally used for barricaded situations.

It is important to commemorate the Chicano Moratorium because it is part of our history of resistance that is not always taught in history classes. This event is also part of the long struggle of Chicanos for self-determination and liberation. Today it is important to continue the fight against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to protest the military recruitment targeting Chicanos and especially immigrant youth.

Jose Gutierrez was the first U.S. Marine killed in Iraq. He came from Guatemala to Los Angeles and then joined the Marines at age 17 even though he had no papers. Gutierrez is an example of how U.S. intervention and support for Central American militaries trained at the School of the Americas that massacred over 200,000 Guatemalans has driven people to the United States. U.S.-sponsored counter-insurgency and counter-revolutions in El Salvador and Nicaragua are other examples. The U.S. supports U.S. business interests and brutal military regimes that attack popular movements and democratic or socialist governments. This causes war, poverty, displacement and mass migration to the United States.

NAFTA is an example of how U.S. policy has caused mass unemployment and poverty in Mexico, forcing millions to come to work in the U.S. and live in horrible conditions. Today these immigrants are facing growing numbers of deportations, expanded use of local police to track down the undocumented and racist laws such as Arizona’s SB1070. The mass migration of Mexicans and Central Americans to the U.S. has led to the strengthening of the Chicano/Mexican communities and to the growth of a strong mass movement for immigrant rights. Our fight for legalization and is part of our historical struggle for equality and self-determination and liberation of Chicanos/Mexicans.

This is why we continue our struggle today against U.S. wars and interventions like in Colombia, and Plan Merida in Mexico. Also we must support movements and governments that are independent and oppose U.S. power, like those in Bolivia and Venezuela.

We make a call for principled unity to the community and all the organizations organizing for the Chicano Moratorium, to continue the struggle for Chicano self-determination. In addition to the the 1970 slogan of “¡Raza si, guerra no!” we now add “¡Raza si, Migra no!” and “¡Aquí estamos, y no nos vamos!”

#LostAngeles #LostAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #CarlosMontes #ChicanoMoratorium #ChicanoLiberation #ChicanoMovement