"March in the Rain" January 31, 1971

Michael Sedano

Where were you on August 29, 1970, a day living infamously when police attacked an entire community, and got away with it?

KCET broadcast the coroner's inquest into the killing of Ruben Salazar. Killed by police were Lyn Ward, and Angel Diaz but, other than the date, quotidian shootings of Mexicans don't get much attention. The inquest wasn't about regular killings. 

16 days the inquest was on teevee.

Portavozes and regular everyday gente testified openly, victims of LAPD and LASD violence testified to the casual, routine lawlessness of cops who recreationally brutalized and terrorized. Community chiste held then, "If you want someone arrested, call the LAPD, but if you want them killed, call the Sheriff Department." 

"My gosh, that's just terrible," went people on the Westside and out in the Valley, "just awful." 

And nothing happened. (There was even a Federal Grand Jury into the deputy who shot Salazar, no charges. That would be in March.)

In January 1971, movimiento organizers still stung by loss of support from community dismay over the violence, felt compelled not to give up. They called for another public demonstration on the 31st. I've heard Rosalio Muñoz call that "the march in the rain" while others call the January 29, 1971 debacle, the final act of Chicano resistance of the seventies.

La Bloga-Tuesday today revisits that January 31, 1971 march, through the eyes of a key movimiento leader, Esteban Torres. This is a segment of Torres' as-told-to autobiography written by Michael Sedano, recounting events on 1/31/1971.

The Moratorium Committee didn’t give up in the face of shrinking community morale and fear. We called a meeting, in January 1971, in Belvedere Park next to the Sheriff station. 

 

August 1970 didn’t wear off. Jackson State, Kent State didn’t wear off. Official violence established itself as an inevitable consequence of protest.

 

The country was stunned, people in movements were afraid of police violence, of being killed at random like Salazar. Oppression had not won, however. In January 1971, the Moratorium Committee called upon the community to mass in public again, to reaffirm our commitment to mass protest and continue insisting on exercising our rights to be heard. It became known as “the march in the rain.”

 

We did not plan the rally to end in a march. Spontaneously, the crowd turned it into a march and headed from Belvedere Park toward Whittier Boulevard. We weren’t permitted for a march and the crowd was in the lead. As one of their Leaders, all I could do was follow.

 

The unorganized march passed the Belvedere sheriff building. Standing behind the fence was Lee Baca. I appealed to him not to unleash his forces. “Look,” I remember explaining, “the Committee didn’t sanction this, this isn’t a march, people are doing this on their own.”

 

Baca had already witnessed me gesturing at the marchers, “Go back! Don’t go down there!” Baca told me I’d better stop them somehow because if the crowd got down there to Whittier Boulevard, “they’re going to get in trouble.”

 

Trouble turned into death. The Los Angeles Times reported the next day “Chicano Violence Laid to Mob That Ignored Monitors.” The marchers confronted Sheriff Deputies. Some fools threw chunks of cement at the Deputies who fired back with shotguns. One deputy’s shotgun killed an Austrian immigrant named Gustav Montag.

 

That wasn’t the end of the Chicano Movement. The Moratorium wasn’t the movement. In fact, you might be reading my story as part of a newly-required ethnic studies course. Relevant education where we get to “see ourselves” in the curriculum is just one of the changes in United States education that the movimiento continues to deliver for our country.

 

When I hear some people say that the Moratorium’s three marches marked the end of the movement, I want to remind them that the movement was the collective labor of millions of people, raza and allies, pursuing community needs. The Movement is an organic feature of a community that develops and changes through generations. 

 

The police violence associated with the Chicano Moratorium drove the moratorium underground, four killings didn’t extinguish what others were doing elsewhere. Not then, and not to this day. As the old saying goes, “aqui estamos y no nos vamos.”

A Retrograde Cultural Nationalism Weakens Political Action

La Bloga guest post by Jimmy Franco, Sr.

“There is no neutrality. You either have to be a part of the solution, or you’re going to be a part of the problem” - Eldridge Cleaver

Within recent years there has been a growth of cultural awareness among many young Latinos and other minority youth. This is a positive first step toward developing a higher level of cultural pride in one’s ethnicity, history, language, identity and traditions.

Such a nationalistic trend is a normal reaction when an ethnic group experiences discrimination and injustice by those who control a political system that denies equitable political and cultural rights to all. The natural response by national minorities to any repressive situation imposed upon them by a dominant group is a growth of nationalistic feelings and an ideology that asserts a growing pride and dignity in one’s roots. Yet, the ideological trend of cultural nationalism that is a preliminary stage of awareness and activity has its limitations.

One of these can be a sectarian attitude and a form of isolationism from other cultures. However, the major limitation is that a cultural nationalist ideology does not explain nor propose concrete solutions to eliminate the structural cause of a national minority’s subordinate position in society nor the political methods of control and policies used to maintain it. If someone remains at this preliminary cultural stage which entails personal pride and a growing awareness of one’s ethnic background without eventually progressing forward, then this can lead to a stunting of one’s political consciousness and development. This stagnation may also hinder one’s perspective and awareness of broader social issues which often results in a reactive and culturally self-serving individualism that does not assist in pro-actively resolving the social ills faced by the broader community.

A focus solely on cultural nationalism has allowed our social problems to persist

During the Civil Rights period of the 1960’s and 1970’s, many cultural nationalist groups were created as a reaction to the prevailing rampant injustice and discrimination existing at that time. However, the narrow response of those involved in this trend was to primarily focus on cultural issues and feel-good activities related to music, history and wearing ethnic dress. This also included a good deal of time primarily learning languages such as Swahili and Nahuatl with a focus on a return to the past and romanticizing the cultures of Africa, Puerto Rico and Mexico. There were many individuals who were also proud of their culture, but in contrast, also advocated and utilized militant civil rights tactics and even revolutionary nationalism. Their political perspective pointed out the root-cause of the problem of ethnic rights and discrimination and this was accompanied by action to eventually change it.

The extreme cultural nationalist trend during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s practiced a form of what could be characterized as a safe form of escapism in contrast with those engaging in political activism who were more aggressive in civil rights organizing or attempting to effect social change. This is not to say that those groups involved in political struggle were not proud of their cultures and ethnic groups as they were, but they did not limit themselves to cultural activities or dwell solely upon the narrow realm of individualistic personal awareness or a romanticizing of the past.

Cultural nationalists tend to primarily focus on personal identity issues and abstain from the economic and political struggles that affect our society. In contrast to this trend, are activist cultural workers who share and utilize their musical, artistic and writing talents to raise issues, support struggles and politically educate our young people. Cultural activists play a vital role in nurturing a political movement by utilizing their art to raise people’s political consciousness and by further enhancing a culture by integrating new experiences from vibrant social movements into it.

Dwelling on the past and on abstract activities contributes to our social problems 

The progression from cultural nationalism to political activism is vital in order to confront and resolve the many social and economic problems presently facing our community and improve its wellbeing. The issue of voting rights, a lack of equal political representation and civil rights injustices continue to persist and fester within our society.

In addition to these, there are scores of economic issues such as job and gender discrimination, low wages, unjust immigration policies, a high rate of incarceration and an unequal educational system that deprives our youth of enlightening their minds and providing financial security for them and their future families. Lastly, the number of Latinos who are working and visible within the media industry is still insignificant in comparison to the demographic growth of Latinos and this has the effect of censuring and limiting our ability to tell our stories to a broader public as others are allowed to do.

Individualistic and personal cultural pride are good traits, but they are no substitute for the right of a repressed ethnic group to gain equitable entry into the overall culture of the country and contribute to it in a significant way. This presents us with a choice of either actively participating in the struggle to confront and resolve this array of social problems that we face or we can retreat into the isolated shadows and separation of individualistic self-serving pride and abstract feel-good activities of cultural nationalism.

Two directions: a detached cultural nationalism or involvement in a political movement

If a better world existed where conditions within the US were more equitable than what presently exists, then self-cultivating cultural activities and an individualistic detachment from social issues would not pose a problem. However, since we live in an imperfect society which inflicts economic and political harm upon certain sectors of our people and communities, this means that we have a moral and ethnic duty to contribute to the elimination of such social defects. Involvement in a political struggle is not a hobby or merely some type of therapy to fill the time with, rather it is a social responsibility that has been historically thrust upon us by the defective conditions and injustices of the social system under which we live.

This developing trend of cultural nationalism that a growing number of young people are receding into involves a romanticized attachment to the past and even an assortment of mystical practices. Such a one-sided perspective and mental detachment can become a form of therapeutic escapism that is split from objective reality. Another aspect of this cultural nationalist obsession involves a type of dogmatic book worship and personal self-cultivation which borders on selfishness by divorcing book knowledge from its application to the practical experience and vibrant knowledge of solving real social problems. In opposition to such a passive worship of the past, an ideology is presently required that reads and analyzes information from a scientific perspective and creatively applies it to address people’s needs within our communities.

A method of persuasion needs to be used to link cultural awareness to political activism

We need to respect the choice of those who are entwined within this revived trend with its cultural pleasantries and a mystical longing for the past. A dialogue needs to be created that utilizes discussion, persuasion and an exchange of views on this issue. It needs to be explained to cultural nationalists in a respectful manner that their decision to abstain from the political struggle and recede into a pleasurable self-cultivation on the sidelines creates a strategic problem by objectively assisting those who wish to harm our community.

Many college students in ethnic studies programs around the country are being introduced to cultural nationalism by their instructors, and this ideological trend can be a beginning phase if they then use this knowledge to proceed forward and integrate it with political activism in the real world. If both professors and students remain bogged down in abstract academic speak, intellectualizing and culture for culture’s sake which is often disconnected from the real needs of students and the community, then this type of cultural nationalism becomes a retrograde and toxic trend that does not contribute to our future wellbeing.

What is presently needed are more individuals of all ages who are pro-active and involved in constructively changing our communities and improving the lives of its people. A person can be proud of their ethnic identity, culture and history, yet this knowledge needs to be linked and enhanced through practical action and experience which involves cultivating our community’s educational needs, organizational level and political consciousness.

This article originally posted by Jimmy Franco Sr. on LatinoP.O.V., on Nov 12, 2015.  Copyright, November 12, 2015: Jimmy Franco Sr.

Facebook: Jimmy Latinopov   Twitter @xicanomc

Jimmy Franco Sr. is a long-time educator and community activist who was born in Texas and grew up in the Lincoln Heights area of Northeast Los Angeles. He attended Cal-State L.A. where he was an active member of M.E.Ch.A. and did graduate work in history and education, including his thesis entitled Chicano Trade Union History of the Southwest: 1919 to 1929. He has taught elementary through twelfth grade, adult school, at the university level, classes at Chino Prison in California.

     Jimmy began writing in 1967 for the community newspaper “Inside EastSide”which at that time was geared toward high school students and assisted in preparing the groundwork for the 1968 East L.A. high school walkouts or “Blow Outs”. During this time, Jimmy was active in the Chicano Moratoriums of 1970-1971 against the Vietnam War. He has also been involved in various community organizations and written for other community-based newspapers such as El Machete and El Pueblo Obrero.

     Jimmy became a member of the Retail Clerks Union at the age of sixteen and has been a member of three locals of the United Steel Workers of America Union. He was also a member of the United Teachers, Los Angeles and received a N.E.A. award for his civil rights contributions. Previously, Jimmy was the California State Civil Rights Chairperson for the League of United Latin-American Citizens (LULAC), and the past president of its NorthEast L.A. Council.

     He has been involved in bilingual education, drop-out prevention, affirmative action, educational reform, labor and anti-war work, and educational outreach to promote systematic reform of the educational system.

Latino Sci-Fi Society? Keystone XL Pipeline.

Latino Sci-Fi Society? Charla 1

The La Bloga list of book authors in speculative lit is in the process of updating. Here's the latest, with more to come. We've gotten suggestions from many people and groups, including members of the Carl Brandon Society, a group of black spec authors. Eventually, the influx of more published books in these genres will bring up a question, even possibly this year at latino lit conferences:

Should latinos form their own Spec lit group, like black authors have with the Carl Brandon Society or The Black Science Fiction Society?

Should latino authors follow the pattern from the 60s, when Black Student Alliances and UMAS and MECHA student groups multiplied on campuses to join forces and advance and advocate their "special" interests? 

My initial reaction is, "Maybe not." Por qué no? What's the matter con me, some might ask.

Latino spec authors as young as Amy Tintera and Matt de la Peña may not know, but viejos like Rudy Anaya and Armando Rendón haven't forgotten how the Chicano Movimiento developed. I won't go into it much, but it's worth studying. To remember the past so we're not condemned to repeat it, as Spanish-American George Santayana advised.

[Mi aviso: these thoughts are mine alone, though I've learned from other authors. They are not set in stone; I could be turned other directions. Nor are they THE best ideas. Those can only come out of a charla, a straightforward, modest conversation. Something that Chicano history teaches us is not necessarily fácil to achieve. And the collective dynamic of latino authorship, however well guided, can't be controlled. A hundred flowers might blossom, with some wilting into weeds.]

First questions first. Should Latinos join SFWA?

There are natural societal pressures on latin spec authors. Those wanting to become successful in U.S. markets could join the very influential Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). SFWA, largely white-male dominated from its inception, repeatedly goes through convulsions of privilege, attempting to recruit, absorb and appeal to women and non-Anglos into a more equitable, multicultural organization. That continues today. I can't speak to how well they appeal or respond to latinos. Based on Internet chatter and info, I await the time when they have a better understanding of themselves. At the bottom are some links describing recent turmoil in SFWA.

Should Latinos join CBS? - Latino spec authors have joined the Carl Brandon Society. Its mission is "to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction." From what I could discern, their awards and recommendations for published books do not seem to include any latinos; their Hispanic Heritage reading list might only list one U.S. latino. All of which may reflect low latino membership, or that few latinos have been nominated. Despite this, latinos could/might still join CBS. As an author, I'm in contact with them. There may other groups worth investigating.

Raza Movement lessons not worth repeating

The Chicano student and community organizations springing up in the 60s & 70s spread across the Southwest like prairie wildfires ignited by a lightning storm of nationalist self-identity and pure piss-offedness. Ya basta! Somos Chicanos! Viva Che y Zapata! It was exhilarating, dismal, chingón, scary and incredibly successful. La Revolución didn't arrive, but not all embers were tempered. What I describe happened with others, the mexicanos, the puertoriqueños, and similar lessons may apply from there. I use the Chicano Movement in this article, since I know most about it. Those movements had weaknesses, some cultural, some fatal.

Caudillismo is a dish best served green

An English alternative to caudillismo would be bossism, where one or a handful of leaders made decisions for their followers, with democratic input and voting, at times, severely absent. Our version had/has its cultural roots in feudal Spain, with an added indigenous spice of picante. Leaders competed for press, followers, money and reputation. Bodyguards, "muscle," beatings, shootings and other macho misbehavior sometimes followed. May our respect for revered latino authors never fall into that. Those aspiring to caudillo roles in latino lit are easily recognizable. Qué no? So, maybe this lesson has been learned.

Equal rights and leadership of latinAs

If you don't know the stories, read Chicano History, assuming your state hasn't outlawed it and banned the texts. Few Chicano Movement groups genuinely allowed women's democratic participation and fewer deliberately developed women as leaders. I'm proud that the UMAS I belonged to trained and elected two female to be presidents of the group. This lesson seems to have been better learned, though more is needed.

What is undetermined is the portrayal of women in latino spec. From Reyes Cardenas's book cover to Junot Díaz's macho characters, I guess this will long remain the most contentious and possibly divisive questions. On one side is verisimilitude, free speech and poetic license and men's genetic flaw of being attracted by--well, you know. On the other, is the desexualizing, demystifying and respecting women as people first; plus there's more. As you can read below, the decades-old SFWA hasn't solved this among its membership. For a latino sci-fi society to not die at its inception, un chigón/chingona of a path about equality would need to be laid.

Nationalism may not be far-reaching and long lasting

Chicanismo, latinismo as an identity is correct within its own definition. What you describe yourselves, you are. Cultural nationalism when practiced by a group can also be great, however short and limited its lifespan. If a Chicano sci-fi society begins tomorrow, bet that its name alone will not appeal to the puertoriqueños. And what about the mexicanos, U.S. citizens and residents though they may be? Latino may not be the ultimate term, but one in that vein would work better if the group aimed beyond national identities.

Empowering younger writers and the children

The fact that Amy Tintera and Matt de la Peña have an agent and grossly better sales than some old latinos, doesn't mean los ancianos have no obligation to those younger. Envidia has no place in a flowering of literature, anymore than it did in the Chicano Movimiento's political wildfires, and leads to stagnation that serves no writer.

To some extent, the Chicano youth and college movements were suffocated by the older generations. The young rivaled the power of the caudillos. Threats, shootings, beatings, political maneuverings--these and more secured the old-people status quo. Bits of that dynamic may be what periodically erupts in SFWA.

In a sense, some of the raza youth were forced out, driven to seek guidance elsewhere--in the writings of Mao and Che, for instance. Eventually the young latinos mellowed, partly from the frustration of fewer successes and declining memberships.

Many established latino writers mentor younger writers, individually or through various writers' workshops. A latino spec society would need to expand on that work.

Expand it also into the public schools where our future Mario Acevedos and are dying to be discovered, guided, nurtured and applauded. Teachers go it alone every day in public schools, and any new lit society should buttress that work with its expertise. You would not believe how many teachers--latinos and otherwise--are crying to know how to teach fiction to little brown kids.

How far should a latino literary spec society reach?

Such a group has no limits. It is a new mutant species that has never existed before. Assuming we avoid the major weakness of the Chicano, Puerto Rican, mexicanos, dominicano movements of the 60s-70s, we can make as many mistakes as needed. As alien as the gaseous creatures of Cortez on Jupiter, as innocent as freshman Chicano, latinos entering college in the late 60s.

Obviously, latinos of any label should be encouraged to join or participate in any manner they want and can. (Latinos who don't "advertise" their ethnicity nor write latino characters might prefer "observer" status.) Just as obviously, non-latino authors who support the aims and "atmosphere" of the group should be recruited, not simply allowed to participate. How else to build a strong base, if not with the participation of people-of-letters like Ilan Stavans?

Bottom line, this suggests a latino-initiated organization that from the onset actively intends to eventually fill a vacancy. That of a multinational, necessarily progressively oriented (anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-bullying of any nature) group. Why not? We are not required to go back to 1968-Go and only create a nationalist-rooted group.

Sherman Alexie

Could latino authors benefit from working non-latinos who have experience, agents, connections and anthologies they're producing? Could non-latinos' art benefit from professional contact with latinos and become more inclusive to reflect U.S. society's peoples, increasing their audience? Could I learn anything from Sherman Alexie? Would you enjoying mentorship from a progressive Hugo, Nebula or Bram Stoker award winner? Even if they weren't latino.

If not now, when?

These are a few questions relating to the eventual establishment of some type of latino spec group. Mine are not the only possible answers, however much thought I've given to this and related matters.

Author Guadalupe Garcia-McCall

Nor are they a proposal to be presented at a conference. As the title states, they may be useful in helping to begin a discussion, in many places. Una charla.

Do leave comments here, but more, take the topics and begin the discussion with others.

[Samplings of the SFWA "debates" are here and here and here. And here's Silvia Moreno-Garcia's excellent take on criticisms one woman received about her attire, if you can believe!]

Your/our last chance to tell Obama NO on Keystone XL Pipeline

From 350.og comes this; This pipeline can be stopped. One of the very last steps before President Obama makes his decision on the pipeline, and the final opportunity to give your input (in an official way). Numbers really count, and a flood of comments would show the President that there’s a huge risk, politically and scientifically, to approving the pipeline.

The last time the State Department was accepting comments, we submitted over 1 million as a movement. To top that, click here to submit your comment against the pipeline.

Building an 830,000 barrel-per-day pipeline of the world’s dirtiest oil will have an impact on the climate. The President said he would reject the pipeline if it has a significant impact on the climate, and the evidence is in: it does.

Any effort to build the pipeline would be deeply compromised by big oil’s corruption of the process.

We can either have Keystone XL, or a safe and livable climate -- ‘all of the above’ is not an option. We are past the point of building fossil fuel infrastructure and hoping for the best -- Keystone XL isn’t compatible with even the President’s weak climate goals. After 6 years of supporting more fossil fuel projects while saying he’s committed to climate science, President Obama needs to decide if he wants to be a climate champion, or be remembered as the pipeline president.

Sending a strong message in this forum is critical to showing the President that the science is serious.

Here’s where to go to submit.

Es suficiente, hoy,

RudyG

1st Novel - http://www.discarded-dreams.com/

Author FB - rudy.ch.garcia

Twitter - DiscardedDreams