From Draft NOtices, April-June 2020
The Resistance Continues: Building on the Legacy of the 1970 Chicano Anti-war Moratorium
— Isidro D. Ortiz, Ph.D.
On August 29, 1970, the sounds of “¡Raza Sí, Guerra No!,” and “Chale, No we Won’t Go!” thundered across East Los Angeles as an estimated 30,000 Chicana/os marched to protest the war in Vietnam. The march was one of the events of the Chicano Moratorium (CM). Organized and spearheaded by the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, the CM was the capstone in the Chicano anti-war movement that surged in 1969 and 1970 throughout Aztlán, the mythical Chicano homeland.
Today the Moratorium still stands as the largest protest against the war in Vietnam by Chicanos. In some circles, it has achieved “iconic” status. A catalyst to the emergence of the movement were the findings of a study by political scientist Ralph Guzman. His research revealed that Chicanos were experiencing disproportionate casualties in the war in Vietnam, suffering twenty percent of the casualties at a time when they comprised only ten percent of the population of the Southwestern United States and when oppression and inequality were parts of the everyday experience of Chicanos, especially Chicano youth. In the public schools, for example, Chicano students were marginalized via segregation in the schools and tracking into vocational courses and away from curricula that would prepare them for college, feeding a school-to-military pipeline. They were also subjected to punishment for speaking Spanish and denied proper counseling services. Consequently, by 1970 the dropout rate, or as Chicano activists called it “the pushout rate,” hovered around fifty-five percent in East Los Angeles and elsewhere. And, like other draft-eligible youth, many were ensnared in the web of the draft and faced the prospect of death in Vietnam.
From 1968 onward, armed with the knowledge produced by Guzman, young Chicanos mobilized against oppressive practices and policies. In March 1968, for example, over 10,000 high-school students walked out of the schools in East Los Angeles. The walkout became the largest student protest in the history of public education. As the war intensified, Chicano youth increasingly opposed the war individually and collectively. Some, like UCLA student body President Rosalío Muñoz, refused induction, called for an end to the war, declaring “la guerra está aquí,” the war is here at home. Some, like this writer, declared themselves conscientious objectors. Still others picketed Selective Service draft boards. During the summer of 1970, youth joined elders to march and rally in opposition to the war in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, raising unprecedented consciousness in their communities. In late August many gravitated to East Los Angeles to join in the planned Chicano Moratorium, a national protest against the war.
The two main events of the Moratorium were a march and a concluding rally. Both had been planned as nonviolent events. However, as has been documented by scholars and film makers, the participants became the targets of violence at the hands of the Los Angeles Police and deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office. In the words of Chicano activist Herman Baca, the 29th became “the day the police rioted.” East Los Angeles became a “war zone.”
A community-wide event encompassing Chicana/os of all ages from throughout the United States, the Moratorium’s transformation from a non-violent community mobilization to another chapter in the history of violent repression remained painfully present with Baca even now, 40 years later: “I witnessed hundreds of our people (children, women, young and old) being beaten, tear-gassed, maimed and arrested. At that moment I learned a political lesson that I’ve never forgotten.”
By the end of that day in 1970, two hundred protesters had been arrested, sixty persons were wounded and four had been killed. Rubén Salazar, a Los Angeles Times journalist emerged as a martyr when a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office deputy fired a projectile into the Silver Dollar Café where Salazar was sitting after the march. Salazar had become prominent in Los Angeles through his extensive coverage of the plight and agency of Chicanos and the policies and practices of law enforcement authorities.
The repression of August 29 became a turning point in the trajectories of the CM and the Chicano anti-war movement. As Baca later observed: “Many individuals, fearful of police violence and government surveillance, left the movement and never returned.” Still, “others who witnessed the events of the day became angrier. They lost their fear, strengthened their political resolve and continued with the struggle.”
For decades the memory of the Moratorium has been kept alive through annual commemorations. This year is no different, except that it is the 50th anniversary. Thus, major planning is underway to honor and celebrate the Moratorium. The commemoration is being organized by the 50th Chicano Moratorium Committee (CMC), a cross-generational coalition of workers, students, trade unionists and other activists. Some such as Rosalío Muñoz, a co-founder of the original Moratorium, are among the participants. Muñoz serves as honorary chair of the committee. Others do not possess his long history of anti-war activism but bring firm commitment to the committee’s work and knowledge of the accomplishments of the mobilization of 1970. These include, according to the honorary chair, increased opposition to the Vietnam war, more support for better education for Chicano students and increased participation in the struggle for civil rights and social justice.
The CMC coalition’s work is rooted in four principles, or “points of unity.” These are: “respect for one another, historical accuracy, women are leading, and transparency.” Collectively drafted, the principles “must be accepted and embodied while organizing and leading the commemoration.”
The committee is breaking new ground in several ways. Unlike 1970 when women in movement organizations were often conspicuous by their absence in leadership roles, women hold such roles in the committee. According to Moratorium planning committee co-chair Lupe Carrasco Cardona, the committee has been “very deliberate in giving women the space to lead,” breaking with the patriarchal practices of the past.
In addition, although the committee utilizes the name of the original committee, which might suggest the effort is a Chicano-only campaign, it is striving to promote and build solidarity across communities. As the committee declares: “Learning from the past we resolve to unite with women, African Americans, indigenous/Natives, Asians, LGBTQ, the youth, our elders, veterans, labor unions, refugees, immigrants, migrants, the disabled, and all other oppressed peoples.”
Breaking new ground in terms of leadership and the quest for solidarity across communities, the committee is building on some of the demands articulated in 1970 with additional ones. The persistence of some earlier demands reflects the reality, as Cardona observed, that “everything we are fighting against has gotten worse.” The committee’s current articulation of demands includes calls for self-determination, the liberation of women, and ending the drafting of Chicanos into wars by way of the poverty draft. The committee also calls for halting military intervention, reducing the military budget, and ending racism and police killings of people of color. In the area of education, the committee demands proper access to bilingual and quality public education. These are complemented with demands for “good jobs, equality for all, access to health care, [and] benefits for veterans and the elderly.” Moreover, the committee also demands housing; political representation, legalization for all; fair and humane immigration; environmental justice and support for the New Green Deal; solidarity with all oppressed nations; and stopping Trump administration policies. Lastly, the committee calls for “ending white supremacy and the privatization of public, and social services.”
So far the committee’s outreach has evoked strong support from community and labor organizations. Several union locals have endorsed the commemoration, including United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), which has a membership of 33,000. Since its formation, the committee coalition has supplemented its deliberations and planning with actions. On January 25, it sponsored a protest at the U.S. Marine Recruitment Center in downtown Los Angeles. Rejecting Trump and his military initiatives towards Iran, coalition members demanded “no war with Iran.” And following in the steps of their 1970 predecessors, who declared “¡Raza Sí Guerra No!,” they declared “¡Raza Sí Trump NO!”
As of this writing, the nation is gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Moratorium Committee recognizes that new policies such as “shelter in place” may preclude a physical gathering but it is developing contingencies. The committee, which opposes the continuing blockade of Cuba, has observed that if the United States had a medical system like Cuba’s, it would be more effectively addressing the crisis.
The late labor organizer and leader Cesar Chavez declared, “You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.” According to committee co-chair Cardona, the committee hopes that the violence of 1970 will not occur again. But the possibility of such violence will not deter the committee from its work. As the coalition declares on its web site: “We push forward with the same determination as our brothers and sisters did 50 years ago.”
The coalition welcomes support and participation in its committees. Additional information about the CMNC’s work and accomplishments can be found at: http://chicano-moratorium.com, Facebook.com/50thChicanoMoratorium and Twitter.com/50thMoratorium. For a list of additional Chicano Moratorium-related reading and viewing resources, write to COMD at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (http://www.comdsd.org/index.php/draft-notices).
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