EGP photos by Gloria Angelina Castillo
While the “March in the Rain” film and panel discussion on the Chicano anti-war efforts highlighted grassroots activism four decades ago, the Feb. 28 event at Salazar Park in East LA was also a reunion for many of the march participants, as well as a discussion about Chicanos 40 years later.
“Exactly 40 years ago today—Feb. 28, 1970—5,000 Chicanos and Chicanas walked for peace. They were the first large moratorium we had in Los Angeles and here we are 40 years later, still working…” said Maria Elena Yepes, Master of Ceremonies. It was young people who led the marches 40 years ago, and by commemorating those historic events they hope to inspire a new generation of activists, Yepes said just before the film was projected onto the same wall as a “Mural of Honor” that pays homage to local Chicanos who have served in the armed forces.
The 30-minute black-and-white film, with sometimes-harsh audio, shows young people marching through torrential rain, stomping away impotence, creating a snowball of momentum.
According to the Commemoration Committee, the march was the most critical of 20 similar marches leading up to the Aug 29, 1970 national moratorium. Activists used the film, produced by TV news program “Ahora Chicano” on LA’s public broadcasting channel KCET, to spread their message to neighborhoods and campuses across the country.
Among the faces seen Saturday on the screen and in the flesh, was Rosalio Muñoz—former UCLA Student Body President—who refused military induction on Sept 16, 1969. Muñoz moderated Saturday’s event and is one of the Commemoration Committee’s principal organizers.
Panel L-R: Rosalio Muñoz, Rick Reyes, David Sanchez, Jesus Trevino, Mayor of Maywood Ana Rosa Rizo, and Gloria Arellanes. EGP photo by Gloria Angelina Castillo
Leading the hundreds of Brown Berets captured in the film, David Sanchez, founder and 1970 Prime Minister of the Brown Berets, was one of the panelists.
“It rained very, very hard that day,” Sanchez recalled, noting they almost cancelled the march. Sanchez said he asked all the Brown Berets to step-out of the parked cars to get an idea of how many of them were present, and once out in the open they decided to continue with the demonstration.
“[The march] was very successful,” he said. “Unfortunately, later on some people did get shot, because of the police reaction and the opposition.”
At the event, as during committee meetings, participants pointed out that Chicano history isn’t taught to young people today.
Maywood mayor, Ana Rosa Rizo, said she did not learn about the 1970’s Chicano anti-war movement until she took Chicano Studies in college. “It should start in elementary school,” she said.
Jesus Treviño, the award winning filmmaker and Vietnam War conscientious objector who helped produce the “March in the Rain” film, said several issues contributed to the Chicano uprising against the Vietnam War, including a lack of political representation and the rise of LA Raza Unidad Party, poor health care, and the high school walk-outs. “We were all very concerned, but the most outrageous, clear in our face discrimination [was that] we could see our men were being used as cannon fodder in what was a very unpopular war,” he said.
Rick Reyes, anti-war activist and veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan War, was also a panelist. He said he joined the military to serve his country, but his experience made him feel like a terrorist. Reyes testified last year before a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, opposing the war in Afghanistan.
“I just think its so important to continue to remind people that the Chicano anti-war movement is not dead and those of us who are in this room, who are carrying on this legacy, have a great responsibility because we stand on the shoulders of our elders and they’ve provided so many opportunities to us that we just wouldn’t have had,” Rizo said.
Participants engaged in a question-and-answer session that both explored the impact the movement had on Chicanos today—educationally, politically, etc.—and the poor state of education on the Eastside and low level of civic participation by young Latinos today.
“We caused awareness in many fields: education, health, housing, war… and we still have a war now, and it’s taking a lot of money away from schools, health…” said Gloria Arellanes, 1970 Chicano Moratorium and Brown Beret leader. “We’re hurting, things are really, really bad in this country. And we need your passion to help with all those areas. Inspiration. Put your passion in what you believe in and work hard for the community,” she said.
The 40th Anniversary Commemoration Committee of the Chicano Moratoriums will meet March 14 at the Church of the Epiphany: 2808 Altura Street, Los Angeles 90031. For more information or to get involved visit http://chicanomoratorium.org
–Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGP Staff Writer
