Full transcript
0:05[Music]
0:29oh
0:44[Music]
0:51[Applause]
0:56[Music]
1:09[Music]
1:14October
1:151966 a group of mexican-americans
1:17gathered to remind the United States of
1:20a long forgotten
1:21promise calling themselves the alansa
1:24the alliance they met and claimed this
1:27federal land as their own guarant gued
1:30by a treaty signed between the United
1:31States and Mexico they arrested two
1:34United States forest rangers for
1:37trespassing we're taking full
1:39responsibilities the town of San second
1:42just a second yes I know your laws
1:43already we we've been citizen of the
1:45United States for 20 years and we know
1:46the law we're taking this upon our
1:48shoulders in the name of the town of San
1:51R
1:52Chama ultimately it was the leader of
1:55the alians who was arrested Rees Lopez
1:57deina but he planned to use the at trial
2:00to argue that according to a treaty
2:02signed by the United States the people
2:04of Northern New Mexico legitimately own
2:06the
2:08[Music]
2:13land at one time the land in New Mexico
2:16along with California Nevada Arizona
2:19Utah Texas and parts of Colorado and
2:22Wyoming belonged to Mexico
2:32in 1846 the United States declared war
2:35on
2:37Mexico 2 years later the war was over
2:40and Mexico had lost half its
2:45[Music]
2:48territory overnight a 100,000 Mexicans
2:52became foreigners on soil that had
2:54belonged to their families for
2:56Generations
2:58[Music]
3:01the Treaty of guadalupi valgo promised
3:03these new Americans free enjoyment of
3:05their Liberty and property of every
3:10[Music]
3:19kind the land was
3:22sacred because your parents and
3:26Grandparents were buried
3:28there some of your children were buried
3:33there and you would be
3:36buried
3:38there so the sweat Blood and
3:41Tears of
3:43generations have filtered into the
3:47land so it is Holy it is sacred sacral
3:54saint but the original land grants had
3:56been given under Spanish and Mexican law
3:59which US Cor often did not
4:04recognize over the years
4:06mexican-americans lost their land to
4:08speculators lawyers and cattle Barons
4:11some property was taken by
4:15force and The Heirs to those land grants
4:19have resented that ever
4:21since the karia land grant was immen
4:25immense land grant given to a certain
4:28Martinez
4:30from Loos New
4:32Mexico and uh I understand that the land
4:36grant was sold for
4:38$200 a team of horses I don't know how
4:41many pounds of flour or something like
4:43that but only one of the hirs signed the
4:47deed the other hirs
4:50didn't so they the land grant was taken
4:55illegally
4:57[Music]
5:00by 1960 millions of Acres including the
5:03thra Amaria Grant had been taken from
5:06the original land owning
5:08[Music]
5:19families stepping into this long
5:21simmering land dispute was Rees Lopez
5:23deina born in Texas during the 1920s he
5:26was the son of Migrant workers after a
5:29prophetic dream about Injustice in New
5:31Mexico deina decided to learn treaty law
5:35he was convinced that he could reclaim
5:37the the Amaria Grant although we are
5:40fighting for land we are fighting for
5:41the survival and protection of our
5:44culture to the
5:46extent that we
5:48feel that to rape the culture and the
5:52some who disagreed with Thea thought he
5:54was an opportunist looking for personal
5:56power that's just the way we will fight
6:01what you're really saying in effect is
6:03that you own this land you want
6:05everybody else to get off of it or if
6:08they want to stay on it to submit to
6:09your regulation no to the regulations of
6:12the uh town councils which are covered
6:15and protected by the Constitution of New
6:16Mexico Article 2 Section 5 and by Art
6:20the Constitution of the United States
6:21article 12 section 2 where it states
6:23that all the treaties made by the United
6:25States government are the supreme law of
6:27the land
6:31[Music]
6:38the people of Northern New Mexico lived
6:39as tenants on land that once was
6:43[Music]
6:46theirs in 1965 the forest service
6:49revoked half the grazing permits for
6:51small farmers pushing them to the point
6:54of
6:55desperation there was need for someone
6:58who could express their frustration
7:00when the a former fundamentalist
7:02preacher came along he sounded like the
7:05Messiah himself we are now waiting an
7:08answer from the state department to
7:09claim what belongs to us he was speaking
7:15the magic
7:17words the the issue the struggle had
7:22been alive for all these
7:25generations and here was a man a man on
7:29on a white horse a man with tremendous
7:34charishma who plugged in to a deep
7:39felt passion More Than A Feeling of
7:43passion and he turned the spirits
7:47on deh's Mission brought him face to
7:50face with Northern New Mexico's district
7:52attorney Alonso
7:54sanes at that point is where he started
7:58saying that the object of his
8:00Corporation was uh to take over
8:03properties that uh uh the alansa claims
8:07belongs to them by force if necess blah
8:10blah blah
8:11and and I looked at him straight in the
8:14eye and I said
8:16Rees if you intend to do what you tell
8:19me that this corporation's going to
8:22do it is
8:24illegal and right now I'm telling
8:27you that if you do what you say you're
8:30going to
8:32do I'm the one that's going to stop
8:40you in the spring of 1967 the hadina
8:43faced federal charges for his role in
8:44the occupation of Carson National Forest
8:47tensions in Northern New Mexico were
8:55escalating Forest Service fences were
8:58cut Hy stacks and barns were
9:02torched the alansa was
9:05blamed I think that the uh the action of
9:09tarena is matched by an equally violent
9:12reaction for instance I've had several
9:15ranchers come into my office and swear
9:18that they're going to kill
9:21someone when theen announced plans for a
9:24meeting to plot the aliana's next move
9:26Sanchez was convinced the group was
9:28preparing a Showdown to reclaim the land
9:31the district attorney decided to stop
9:33the
9:35meeting I explained if you
9:38meet and your object is to plan how
9:42you're going to take over property that
9:44doesn't Bel belong to you the alansa or
9:47tiina or anybody other than the rightful
9:49owners then it is an unlawful assembly
9:53and I will prosecute you and file
9:55criminal charge against each one of you
9:58if later on it turns out that that's
10:00what you're going to
10:03do so with excuses that we were
10:06Communists and trying to take over the
10:07land he confiscated uh uh files and
10:11blocked the roads and and threatened the
10:14people anybody going to that convention
10:16would be
10:17arrested this was getting out of hand
10:20what if the herina were just a little
10:21bit successful they were land grants all
10:23over New Mexico and I think it was a
10:26real economic threat
10:30Sanchez called for the arrest of alansa
10:32leaders but the herina got
10:36away those who were arrested would face
10:38charges at a hearing to be held the
10:40following Monday June 5th at the Amaria
10:43it would be a day long remembered by New
10:48Mexicans we don't believe in
10:51violence but we believe in Jesus Christ
10:53who used a whip a whip to drive out the
10:56false preachers out of the temple and I
10:58think that's all we did in the
10:59courthouse of TI Maria we just used a
11:03little the herina and a group of armed
11:05men stormed the
11:07courthouse they were there they said to
11:09make a citizen's arrest of district
11:11attorney Sanchez for violating their
11:14right to
11:18assembly when gunfire began Sheriff
11:20Benny nango was inside the
11:23courthouse my Jailer ran into the
11:26hallway and he says get the hell out of
11:28here Benny get out of here and he jumped
11:30out the window then they shot him
11:32outside the window and I went to the
11:35window and they started shooting at me
11:36and then they started shooting at me
11:37through the door off the hallway so I
11:40laid down on the floor but I heard him
11:43that they kept saying re said not to
11:45hurt
11:46nobody that all we want is Alonso
11:51Sanchez Sanchez was nowhere to be
11:54found had I been there I guess
11:59those 100 bullet holes would I wouldn't
12:02be
12:04here a state patrolman and the Jailer
12:06were shot and seriously
12:09wounded two others a reporter and a
12:11deputy sheriff were held captive all
12:14[Music]
12:15afternoon my understanding is that Rees
12:18had tried to kind of calm down the the
12:21uh what turned to be an assault and he
12:24wasn't able to because what he did he
12:28just uh offered
12:29a vision to some people who were ready
12:33to
12:38fight the governor's office called in
12:41the National
12:42Guard Revolution it seemed had come to
12:45Northern New
12:47Mexico it was like U emilano sapata and
12:52panoa were alive again and they had gone
12:57and had claimed their land again
13:01it was like wildfire in the movement
13:03when we heard about it we heard it like
13:06that among LR people there was kind of a
13:08Victorious sense that finally you know
13:11our cause is out in the open and finally
13:13maybe we can Galvanize the nation such
13:15as the African-American movement has
13:19done some mexican-americans were alarmed
13:22by the violence it had taken place but
13:25the Haden's actions fired the
13:26imagination of movement activists and
13:29inspired a Coro a traditional ballad
13:32commemorating the
13:33[Music]
13:48event June 5th
13:541967 that
13:58[Music]
14:02and after 10 days on the run the hadina
14:05turned himself in he now faced state
14:08criminal
14:10[Music]
14:11[Applause]
14:12[Music]
14:15charges out of this whole movement was
14:17emerging the feeling we had this used to
14:20be Mexico this used to be our
14:23land but it was uh it was a growing
14:27sense of of uh of a people and a
14:30collective history of struggle against
14:33an invasion and occupation and takeover
14:35and everything like that uh and I think
14:37that had uh that had a lot to do with
14:45[Music]
14:49it the struggle for land inspired Urban
14:52Chan who believe the United States
14:54conquest of the Southwest had turned
14:56them into second class citizens
14:59certain things you knew stores you
15:01shouldn't shop in movie theaters you
15:04probably best not go to and still the
15:07synonymous sense that the word Mexican
15:10went with the word dirty I remember as a
15:13child people feeling that the best thing
15:15they could say to me was well you're a
15:17Spanish girl aren't you and I'd say no
15:19I'm
15:23Mexican I hated being Mexican there was
15:26no respect there was no no status there
15:30was no participation in the society my
15:33father not speaking good English was an
15:35embarrassment when I would go to school
15:37as a child now these were things that I
15:40wasn't able to intellectualize these
15:43were things that I
15:45felt we were walking around with a
15:48tremendous burden of being Mexican in a
15:51country that didn't want us except as
15:55labor this is something that I'll never
15:57forget and I'll never get it because
15:59this was the evening that I asked my
16:01wife to marry Edward dral one of the
16:03first mexican-americans elected to
16:05congress experienced discrimination
16:07firsthand and the policeman lined us all
16:10up about 14
16:12couples made us put our hands up over
16:15our heads and they went through our
16:17pockets then they asked each one of us
16:20to show credentials I gave them my
16:23wallet and after they looked at it this
16:26policeman started to take my cards out
16:28of my wallet and Dr drop him to the
16:30sidewalk and then after he did that he
16:32said now you pick him up I remember
16:35getting on my knees and picking him up
16:38this is something of course that uh a
16:39man that just asked uh his best girl to
16:42marry him will not
16:46[Music]
16:48forget our parents consciously chose not
16:53to share their experiences with us their
16:55bitter discriminatory experiences
16:58[Music]
17:02they thought that it would embitter us
17:03that it would create um uh sort of a
17:06hatred within us that they wanted to
17:08prevent and protect us
17:12[Music]
17:15from many of the issues of civil rights
17:18are very
17:19complex and most difficult president
17:22Lyndon Johnson a Texan elected with
17:25broad Mexican-American support in 1964
17:28was already under pressure from the
17:29Mexican Aman
17:31Community the courthouse raid dramatized
17:34the growing unrest among Mexican
17:38[Music]
17:42amans the legacy of poverty and
17:44discrimination was abundantly
17:47[Music]
17:50clear half of all mexican-americans had
17:53less than 8 years of
17:56education and a third lived in
17:59poverty politically they were
18:02underrepresented in 1967 only four
18:05mexican-americans served in
18:07Congress Spanish speaking people I think
18:11need to get closer to their government
18:14and to get action from their government
18:16and get Johnson responded by creating a
18:19cabinet committee on Mexican-American
18:21Affairs for help in solving their very
18:25special unique problems I named this
18:28sent to Himes to the chairmanship of the
18:33committee and that message came to me
18:35too that hey you've got to do something
18:38because here's this young radical group
18:40out there they've got something on their
18:42minds and I happen to believe that
18:44they're
18:46right establishment you got to do
18:49something and say to them look when you
18:52come to that particular area you must
18:53remember that here is a we walk this
18:55path to get to where we want to go
18:59some of the others wanted to walk
19:00another path to get to where they wanted
19:03to go but the way we wanted to go was
19:04the same place we wanted equality we
19:07wanted first class citizenship we wanted
19:09to be respected we wanted our children
19:11to have better
19:13schools all that everybody else wants
19:16you know we're telling them that we
19:18discover this country on this side but
19:20the cabinet committee was not enough
19:22we're telling them already new voices
19:24were demanding to be
19:27heard in 196 7 corki Gonzalez expressed
19:30the feelings and desires of young chos
19:33in an epic poem I am
19:37waim I am hakin lost in a world of
19:41confusion caught up in the world of a
19:44gringo Society I am the masses of my
19:46people and I refuse to be absorbed I am
19:50hin hin is a
19:55life of all of our people
19:59H is one of us and is all of
20:02us the odds are great but my spirit is
20:06strong my faith unbreakable my blood is
20:10pure I am Aztec Prince and Christian
20:14Christ I shall endure I will
20:19endure and now the trumpet sounds the
20:23music of the people stirs for Cho's I am
20:26W was a spiritual and cultural
20:30Revelation it was the history they had
20:33never learned in school it was a
20:35celebration of their Indian and Spanish
20:37ancestry of their Mexican Heroes and
20:40American
20:41[Music]
20:43lives it's the experience that was so
20:47moving because it was such a strong poem
20:50you know and yet it called you to action
20:53you know and I identified greatly with
20:55it cor gave Soul and Spirit gave it the
20:59the real Spirit of what is was Cho
21:02nationalism which was very positive if
21:06there was an ideology out there coru was
21:08very much the driving
21:14force well I once you teach a man who he
21:18is and you give him pride in himself you
21:20give him the spirit to stand up there's
21:23no Society can existing econom growing
21:26up in the baros of Denver
21:29corki Gonzalez boxed his way out of
21:31poverty at one time he was the third
21:34ranked World featherweight
21:37Contender later he went into business
21:39selling bonds and
21:41insurance he also turned to Democratic
21:44Party
21:46politics in 1960 he registered
21:49unprecedented numbers of
21:50mexican-americans to vote for John F
21:54Kennedy corki's motive for becoming
21:57involved in the Democratic party was to
21:59bring about the changes that he wanted
22:01to see within the chico within the
22:04Mexican community at
22:07large as director of Denver's war on
22:09poverty program he encountered a
22:11patronage system that offered little
22:13more than token jobs to
22:19mexican-americans after a public Feud
22:21with the Denver mayor Gonzalez broke
22:23with the Democratic party in 1966 and
22:26began a civil rights organization called
22:28The Crusade for justice he envisioned a
22:31Cho Enterprise independent of government
22:34involvement as long as we're not
22:36antagonized nor are the young people
22:38antagonized by people who do show no
22:41respect for them we as an organization
22:43were a nationalist organization which
22:46means we put our priority on our
22:48community we felt if Mexicans didn't
22:50stick up for Mexicans no one else was
22:52going
22:54to our kids are just as smart as anybody
22:57else's kids given the
22:59opportunities and we wouldn't be
23:01fighting so hard if our parents before
23:03us would have done what we're doing for
23:05our children and they say well this is
23:07the way it is you have to accept it we
23:09found out we don't have to accept it and
23:12our kids are not going to we're not
23:14going to settle for this for our kids
23:16we're going to work with them and teach
23:17them our new way of life which is our
23:20right corki was a hel an organizer you
23:23know I mean this this is a guy who who
23:25was really making things happen in
23:26Denver I mean there was a full Ed
23:28Community organization that was very
23:31sophisticated for its time operating out
23:33of Denver Colorado and it was all
23:35centered around this guy called corki
23:37Gonzalez you know who was one of us
23:39corki Gonzalez would soon gain national
23:42attention for
23:46chos we spend in the so-called warm
23:49poverty in America only about
23:53$53 for each person classified as poor
23:59Dr Martin Luther King had made great
24:00strides obtaining civil rights for black
24:03people now he wanted to address poverty
24:06with a multi-racial
24:08coalition King was planning a Poor
24:11People's campaign in Washington DC
24:13during the Spring of 1968 he hoped to
24:16unite Americans of all colors under one
24:18Banner to join in a common fight against
24:21poverty Dr King invited corki Gonzalez
24:24and Reina to be part of that coalition
24:30only a few weeks before the campaign
24:32took place King was
24:39assassinated where are we going we're
24:42going to try to fulfill Dr Martin Luther
24:44King's dream and if we Mexican amans
24:48march to Washington it is to tell this
24:51country that poverty is not a negro
24:53problem hary is a Mexican Aman
25:01poverty is an American Indian poverty is
25:04a Puerto Rican poverty is an Appalachian
25:07[Applause]
25:10problem there were several busloads of
25:12people from Northern New Mexico Villages
25:15um and small towns that we're going to
25:18go some people who had never been out of
25:20the state before was really something
25:29seizing the opportunity Some chos Gave
25:31voice to the frustrations of their
25:34people everybody seemed to be taking
25:36advantage of us you know our our our our
25:39Mexican-American uh brothers and and
25:41fathers are the ones that go fight in
25:42Vietnam and then when they come back
25:44they have no jobs they have nothing here
25:45to come back
25:48to Reina and corki Gonzalez were leaders
25:51for the Southwest contingent of the Poor
25:53People's
25:55campaign the newspapers is speaking
25:57nothing but jobs jobs jobs he doesn't
26:01mention land he doesn't mention treaties
26:03he had interviewed the campaign as a
26:05means of bringing the Treaty of wupo and
26:08his land struggle to Washington's
26:10attention I would like to state that uh
26:13the mexan Americans from the southwest
26:15have come here in support of the Poor
26:17People's campaign to be part of the Poor
26:19People's campaign Gonzalez saw a larger
26:22objective he and his followers wanted to
26:24create alliances and draw national
26:26attention to Cho issu
26:30but the Poor People's campaign revealed
26:31differences between the participating
26:33groups without Dr King's leadership the
26:36campaign was soon floundering chanos
26:39became increasingly impatient with the
26:41campaign's lack of
26:43progress our rights as Spanish Americans
26:46and the Indian rights and the poor
26:47people poor whites are not being
26:50represented
26:52rightfully I would like to say
26:55that there there is no uh
27:00division in our ranks whatsoever
27:03Reverend Ralph abery director of the
27:05Poor People's campaign tried to resolve
27:08the conflict without success Cho leaders
27:11began setting their own agenda
27:15together it's the Mana versus the
27:18Supreme Court of the United States it's
27:20the Indian people and 16,000 at the
27:23Supreme Court tadina called for the
27:25recognition of Indian rights so we are
27:29happy that we made history
27:31today ladies and gentlemen of
27:33Resurrection City for 9 years Mr
27:36attorney general under the we have three
27:39more things and then I'll be with at the
27:41justice department corki Gonzalez grew
27:43impatient with Administration
27:46rhetoric Gonzalez challenged attorney
27:49general Ramsey
27:51Clark when you say there might be
27:54discrimination in housing then that
27:56means that you are either naive or
28:01blind I didn't hear you say anything
28:04about the juvenile court kangaroo court
28:06that subjects our children to controls
28:09by people who don't care any more about
28:11them that except to advise them to go
28:13into the US Army or the Navy or Marines
28:16corki Gonzalez was emerging as the
28:18leading Cho
28:20voice personality wise corki understood
28:24the the the workings of the politics he
28:27was
28:28skilled in
28:31that Reyes was so single-minded around
28:35his issues that I think it was difficult
28:38for him to swim in that atmosphere Rees
28:41was not an organizer he was a leader
28:43corki was a person who could both
28:44organize and
28:50Lead 6 weeks after it began the Poor
28:53People's campaign came to an
28:56end it fell Vic to its own internal
28:59troubles and to a Johnson Administration
29:01that had become preoccupied with the war
29:03in Vietnam to the detriment of domestic
29:06poverty
29:08[Music]
29:12issues still many chos viewed their
29:15participation as a
29:18success when issues of civil rights were
29:21discussed you started seeing that the
29:23Mexican-American Community was mentioned
29:25if not included and we felt that we did
29:31attain that one goal that we gained
29:34National visibility for a group that
29:37previously had been considered an
29:38invisible
29:41minority soon after returning to New
29:43Mexico Reina began a 2-year prison
29:46sentence for his role in the Takeover of
29:48the Carson National
29:51Forest because there is nothing but
29:53races let's face it you have to
29:56understand that they thought that we
29:58couldn't March in Denver corki Gonzalez
30:00and other leaders announced it was time
30:03for chos to meet independently and on
30:05their own we came here to build the new
30:08Cho movement that's what we came here
30:11[Music]
30:13for the first Cho youth conference was
30:16to take place at Denver in March of 1969
30:19[Music]
30:31chos everywhere were invited students
30:34teachers laborers bario
30:36youth the coming event attracted
30:39considerable attention not all of it
30:43desired and FBI files on the Crusade for
30:47justice showed that that very proposal
30:50to convene a national gathering of
30:52Latino activists immediately drew the
30:54concern of J Edgar Hoover and the FBI
30:58at that particular point in time we
31:01assumed that we were under surveillance
31:03but we had not yet become
31:06paranoid all the arrest and the
31:08persecution and the attempt to destroy
31:10the movement through legal means had not
31:13yet Taken full
31:15hold the FBI predicted a poor showing
31:18but the Los Angeles Times expected
31:20otherwise and sent veteran reporter
31:22Ruben Salazar to cover the event
31:27[Applause]
31:32more than a thousand came to the meeting
31:34three times the Crusades initial
31:37[Applause]
31:39estimate that was my first encounter
31:41with Texans in coloradans and New
31:44Mexicans and
31:46arizonians and they were all Mexicans
31:49and then they were Mexicans from Chicago
31:52New York Kansas I didn't know there were
31:56Mexicans in Kansas
31:58so uh this was one of the main purposes
32:02to relate the farm worker struggle the
32:04land struggle the urban struggle and in
32:06doing that we forgot a lot about the
32:07urban problems and corki Gonzalez hoped
32:10to adopt the plan of action it would be
32:12a nationalist blueprint for
32:15self-determination emphasizing separate
32:17Cho
32:20institutions Community controlled
32:24schools an independent political party
32:28and cultural
32:32[Music]
32:40affirmation every single session would
32:42be open with a poem over the song There
32:45were dance there was theater it was rich
32:48it was stimulating it was alive and
32:51vibrant the building was just pulsating
32:54with energy and music and chants and
32:57excitement of all these young people
32:58together it was very positive the thing
33:00I remember most however is this Workshop
33:04uh a women's Workshop um where oh I
33:08guess maybe the 50 70 women together CH
33:13[Music]
33:14of the women began questioning their
33:17roles in the Cho
33:18[Music]
33:20movement there was a sort of some
33:24thinking among some of the leadership
33:26that women belonged behind the men
33:29walking behind the men and their total
33:31role was to do nothing but support the
33:33men and there were others who said hell
33:36no you know we're the ones who keep it
33:38together we keep it together in our
33:40community we keep it together in our
33:42homes and uh we're not walking behind
33:45nobody on the one hand women were doing
33:48the work they were often in
33:52leadership they had a lot of the
33:55ideas and at the same time they were
33:57often consistently expected to make the
34:00food and and to do typing clerical kinds
34:04of
34:06work this debate took the male
34:08organizers of the conference by
34:11surprise we didn't know what they were
34:13talking about or why they felt that way
34:16so due to the pressure of the women the
34:19agendas were changed meeting places were
34:22set panels were set up and women had
34:25their voice whether or not the men liked
34:27it
34:30the women's caucus agreed to press for
34:32equality within all aspects of the
34:35movement but rejected a separate
34:37Organization for Chana
34:39feminist most of us I'll say the
34:42majority were not at the point of
34:45um defining ourselves separately in the
34:48Cho
34:50movement there was not a formal position
34:53taken just that it should be understood
34:57that when women and men would be
34:59equal especially since we were fighting
35:02for equality and for the anend to
35:06[Music]
35:08racism that was as much a rejection of
35:13the women's Liberation movement of those
35:15years which was seen as and in many ways
35:17was overwhelmingly middle class and and
35:20Anglo women white women who did not
35:23understand racist oppression did not
35:26understand the oppression of whole
35:27people half of whom are
35:29male in other discussions some of them
35:31very heated activists debated Marxism
35:34and nationalism but reaffirmed a Cho
35:38identity rooted in ancient Aztec
35:42myths we didn't want it assimilated into
35:46some Melting Pot notion in which we had
35:48to sacrifice everything and the dominant
35:50Society just uh swallowed us up into
35:53some um sense of a new American and we
35:57had to give up who we were and we wanted
35:59to Define ourselves on our
36:03[Music]
36:07terms at night alurista a young poet was
36:12hard at work drawing upon Aztec folklore
36:15he drafted a new mythology for chos
36:18describing a symbolic Cho Homeland
36:21within the borders of the United
36:25States I presented it the next day as a
36:28poem as a poem that I thought
36:30encapsulated the spirit of the
36:33moment I never plann anything else I
36:36said may I read you a poem before the
36:40world before all of North America before
36:43all of our brothers in the bronze
36:45continent we are a nation we are a union
36:49of free
36:50bublo we are
36:54atlan according to Legend the Aztec
36:57people had migrated from a place called
36:59asan to Central Mexico for chos Aslan
37:04came to mean the southwestern United
37:06States their
37:10Homeland it was a calling it was almost
37:13like a declaration for us and a calling
37:16to say you know we are a stallan we are
37:17a Browns people we're we're a a
37:23nation I think of uslan still to this
37:25day as
37:28perhaps the most important premise of
37:30the entire movement it was about a state
37:32of being and a
37:34place every people have a place and so
37:38to save you were Cho without a place is
37:41impossible so the place was Aslam
37:47[Music]
37:59asan became a call for political power a
38:03call heard when over a thousand chos
38:05marched out of conference headquarters
38:07to the state
38:11capital there they lowered the Colorado
38:14State banner and raised the Mexican
38:18flag with our hearts in our hands and
38:21our hands in the
38:22soil we declare the
38:24independence of our meso Nation
38:30to Outsiders it looked like chos were
38:32turning their back on America to chos it
38:35meant they were here to
38:37[Music]
38:39stay it meant we were home it meant this
38:43was our historic land it meant this is
38:47where we were from it meant we weren't
38:50foreigners it meant we weren't
38:52wetbacks it meant we weren't illegal
38:56aliens it meant we were in our ancestral
39:01land we had been educated under
39:04mythologies and myths that basically
39:07emanated and came out of the American
39:09Experience you know whatever you had you
39:12know what is Manifest Destiny or the
39:14cherry tree or whatever whatever myths
39:16you know energize your culture uh we now
39:20had something the meth ofan it connected
39:23us all
39:27[Music]
39:30the conference adopted alura's poem as
39:33the preamble to its 15-point plan the
39:36next step was to make aanaa
39:38[Music]
39:40reality within a year the movement was
39:43Poise to launch an independent political
39:45party the kickoff would coincide with
39:48the demonstration against chano
39:49casualties in
39:53[Music]
39:56Vietnam and war demonstrators protest us
39:59involvement in the Vietnam War in Mass
40:01marches rallies and demonstrations
40:04Central Park is the starting point for
40:06the parade to the UN
40:07building president Richard Nixon came to
40:09office in 1968 promising to reduce
40:12American troops in
40:14[Applause]
40:17Vietnam instead he widened the
40:26war oppos position to Vietnam was taking
40:29hold in the Cho
40:31Community we had reached the point where
40:33we were going to say that hey we don't
40:36have to prove ourselves uh feel a
40:39inferiority complex and and go out and
40:42serve in that war we're protesting
40:45against the discriminatory draft laws
40:48that giv conferance to all the Anglo
40:51people of this country and make the
40:53heaviest bur of the war fall on the for
40:58the people were becoming expert at
41:00getting out of the war you know and and
41:03so as more and more more middle class
41:05people people that could afford lawyers
41:07began U to get
41:10deferments uh the draft boards filled up
41:13their quotas with more of the poor and
41:16particularly
41:19Mexican-American Mexican-American
41:21casualties were disproportionate to
41:23their
41:24numbers in the Southwest
41:26mexican-americans made up 12% of the
41:28population but accounted for almost 20%
41:31of the Region's deaths in Vietnam
41:33according to many
41:36sources there was some dissent in our
41:39community about whether or not we should
41:40be protesting against the war but it was
41:42generally a generational
41:45division young people were pretty much
41:47against
41:48it students were almost completely all
41:51against
41:52it at the same time I have to say that
41:55there was a very strong military
41:57tradition in our
42:01community mexican-americans had served
42:04with distinction in the US military
42:06since the Civil War and during World
42:08Wars 1 and two received the highest
42:10military
42:13honors so there was and is a deep
42:16respect for the military in our
42:18community because it was one of the
42:21gateways one of the paths that people
42:23took to gain an education to gain
42:27some sort of
42:29self-respect the problem was that the
42:32only places where we could go forth and
42:34claim a part of being American in this
42:37country was by spilling our
42:41blood and the fatality rate is not
42:44consistent with the fact that we have so
42:46many inconsistencies as far as social
42:48problems here in our in in Los Angeles
42:51and our own Nation our own country if
42:53you were asked to risk to die for
42:55something what is it you believe in and
42:57what do you owe to that country you know
42:59why should we fight over there when our
43:01main battle is over here right now this
43:04is Our
43:06Land This Is Our
43:08Land it's easy for the establishment to
43:11say aren't we all the same aren't we all
43:13Americans well obviously we're not other
43:16otherwise we won't be in the
43:18Revolutionary process that we are in now
43:20what in your estimation is the most
43:22serious problem Los Angeles Times
43:23columnist Ruben Salasar had been
43:26following the Cho movement ever since
43:28the Denver youth conference chanos in
43:31turn were coming to respect his Frank
43:35commentary and when he goes in the Army
43:37he goes to Salasar now joined Chu in
43:41vocal opposition to the war many of us
43:44are quite grateful that I for one
43:46probably would never have gone to
43:47college if I had not been in the Army
43:49thanks to the GI bill but uh the fact
43:53remains that uh we seem to uh to lose
43:57more of our people uh in Vietnam in
44:01proportion to the rest of the
44:05population a Cho moratorium committee
44:08was formed to build momentum against the
44:11war the idea came up why don't we have a
44:14national meeting and start developing
44:16how we nationally do something against
44:18the war so let's have our own Cho
44:25moror they held anti-war rallies in
44:28Chicago San Francisco Austin and Houston
44:31with a major demonstration slated for
44:33Los Angeles in August
44:361970 a moratorium
44:41March afterwards corki Gonzalez and
44:44others H to convene the first meeting of
44:47an all Cho political
44:50party in many ways the moratorium March
44:53was the apex of the chico movement
44:55[Music]
44:59and it was a moment in which we all felt
45:02that we had to
45:04speak and that the war was the single
45:07most important issue that was
45:08confronting the country at the
45:10[Music]
45:15time on August 29th 25 to 30,000 chos
45:20gathered in Los Angeles to protest the
45:22war in Vietnam
45:26[Music]
45:31there was a couple getting married at
45:33the St alonsus Church they timed their
45:35wedding so they could come right out of
45:37the right out of the church into the
45:41March Reuben Salazar was there and he
45:44came up right in the middle of right of
45:46Wither in Atlantic the middle of the
45:47street gave me a big thing well you did
45:48it
45:50[Applause]
45:51[Music]
45:54[Applause]
45:56[Music]
45:58[Applause]
46:10after a 4 and a half mile March the
46:13demonstrators gathered at Laguna
46:20[Music]
46:22Park everybody was there greeting their
46:24friends greeting their families people
46:26that they met relative they may not have
46:28seen in a long time that they happened
46:29to see August
46:3129th during the afternoon rally a
46:34disturbance erupted at a local liquor
46:41store according to the police story uh
46:44some people went into a liquor store and
46:46walked out with some six-packs and went
46:49towards the park and the the supposedly
46:52the shop called into the police the
46:54police came and started chasing the
46:56people that supposedly took the beer and
46:59the people ran into the park and then
47:02the police wanted to go get them but the
47:04people in the park wouldn't move out of
47:05the way so they had to call more police
47:08and declared an illegal assembly
47:15[Music]
47:22[Applause]
47:25[Music]
47:26[Applause]
47:35[Applause]
47:38that was their pretext that they used
47:41you know uh to break up a demonstration
47:43of 25 30,000 people against the war in
47:47Vietnam and in East LA so you had a
47:50panic you know you had a stampede a
47:52human stampede
47:57[Music]
48:03[Music]
48:04[Applause]
48:09uh a lot of Destruction took place on
48:12both
48:15sides the police called it a Cho
48:18Riot the people called it a police riot
48:27demonstrators found refuge in nearby
48:29homes or in local businesses as police
48:32forced people out of the park and into
48:34the streets I was in the uh the restroom
48:38with with little children that were
48:40there they were very scared they were
48:41crying the mother was was had never seen
48:44such a
48:47[Music]
48:50thing deputy sheriff Thomas Wilson
48:52responded to a report that an armed
48:54person was in the Silver Dollar Bar on
48:56woodier bullet
49:01when I approached the doorway I knew I
49:03had a tear gas projectile and the weapon
49:06I wanted to get something
49:08inside and I wanted to get it inside
49:11quick I attempted to aim up towards the
49:14ceiling to bounce the projectile to the
49:17rear of the
49:19bar some people inside never heard the
49:22orders to come out among them Ruben
49:25Salasar
49:29sometime later after the gas cleared uh
49:33information was received that the uh
49:35victim Mr Salazar was inside the
49:38location had been injured the officers
49:40investigated and they found that he uh
49:43was dead and uh was lying approximately
49:4720 to 25 ft in inside the front
49:51door and it is your opinion the deputy
49:53sheriff's tear gas canister hit Salasar
49:55in the head
49:57killing
49:59Pro if it was an
50:01accident it happened because the lives
50:04of Mexican people were considered
50:07worthless so that you could fire a huge
50:10tear gas projectile into a
50:13bar as a public place and not worry
50:16about it it happened that took off you
50:19salisa's
50:22head chos mourned the loss of a friend
50:26and their own only Ally in the
50:27mainstream
50:28[Music]
50:31media the death of Ruben Salasar had a
50:34profound impact on the Cho
50:37[Music]
50:40movement I think that the sheriff's you
50:42know Pro the point that for the chu the
50:45war is more here in the struggle for
50:48justice than over in
50:55Vietnam we had considered the
50:57possibility of violence being that there
50:58were so many
51:00people um but not certainly not
51:06deaths 200 people were arrested 60 were
51:10wounded three died and plans to create
51:14an all Cho political party were
51:19[Music]
51:22postponed we've lost a certain heart
51:27we lost a certain innocence of our
51:30ideals that we could engage the country
51:35through the country's own
51:37ideals of the Bill of Rights the ideals
51:41that the country was supposedly founded
51:44on and that we could be
51:46killed people all people who are
51:49struggling for more social justice uh
51:52it's it's a long struggle but there are
51:54Traditions that gets set their concept
51:56that get established there's visions
51:58that get put out there's dreams that get
52:01dreamed and just having those in our in
52:06our in our lives and in our minds is is
52:08a victory in itself