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 following analyses, was written by two Chicana activists on the 30th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium.

East Los Angeles, CA – The campaign to defeat Proposition 21, the war on youth ballot initiative, climaxed with a statewide week of rage, and protests led by young people. Thousands of L.A. youth protested by walking out of school, and marching through the middle of East Los Angeles, chanting, “Schools not Jails!”