As I have grown up, I’ve only heard bits and pieces about what high schoolers did during the Chicano Movement. Like most people, I’ve always heard about the more well-known parts of the movement such as Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union — but I never heard of the walkouts that took place in Los Angeles, which have been mentioned all of two times in my history textbooks. However, in light of the #ENOUGH walkout that happened last month, I was inspired to look into this event.

Every time I read a new article or watch another video, I become more and more fascinated with this radical event. It is officially known as the East L.A. Walkouts or Chicano Blowouts, where hundreds of students all over Los Angeles protested and demanded a quality education. This past Mar. 5 marked the 50th anniversary of the event.

A particular source I was introduced to was a documentary-like video from the Public Broadcasting Service [PBS]. The video showed actual footage from the event and interviewed people, who were actively involved. As a Latina, it made me very emotional, seeing everything that Latinx high school students before me have gone through. It caused be to reflect on the fact that I didn’t know enough about this. It made me feel uncomfortable, guilty and proud all at the same time. To think that a little over 50 years ago, what I get to do, going to Archer and the opportunity to get the education I am receiving, seemed nearly impossible to students just like myself. 

The video showed me that in the 1960’s, our education institutions systematically would put Latino students at disadvantages and treated them differently than their white counterparts. It was common for Latino students to drop-out, be forced into the lower quality schools and tolerate the poor treatment from their teachers. It was simply “how things were” and were deeply implemented into our society, which is why most people didn’t think twice about it. Many Latino high school students were encouraged into industrial training as opposed to going to college and making a career, enforcing this harmful message even more.

A real life example of this in the video was a white teacher telling his Latino student, whose parents worked in cheap labor and construction, “That’s a very honorable profession, you should follow in your father’s footsteps.” There was even another girl whose teacher told her, “Oh Paula, why are you even bothering. We all know you’re not going to go to college. You’re going to be pregnant by the end of summer like the rest of your girlfriends.” These students were set up for failure even with things that were out of their control.

A figure who worked tirelessly to change these patterns was Sal Castro, a former teacher at Belmont High School and a fundamental leader in the East Los Angeles high school walkouts. Throughout Castro’s career, he constantly wanted to improve the services given to Mexican-American students, starting in the classroom and then making his way towards conferences and activists groups. Around this time, more students than ever had started to actively speak about Mexican-American education and tensions rapidly increased. Their breaking point was near.