Remembering the Pioneers of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement

Why their contribution is as important as ever

Since the Rodney King beating almost 20 years ago, police brutality and aggression against those in the black community have dominated the conversation. It reached a fever pitch after the murder of George Floyd by former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin. It sparked worldwide protests and a demand for police reform. But left out of the conversation has been the treatment our brown brothers and sisters have also suffered. The discrimination, brutality, and marginalization that they also experience. And have for many, many decades.

When most think about the Civil Rights movement, we immediately think about Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, The Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and Jim Crow. We think about the march on Selma, sit-ins, strikes, and walkouts in demand of equal treatment and the right to be safe from discrimination and brutality in black communities around the country, but mostly in the south. But 2000 miles from Selma, Alabama another movement was forming and gaining ground. The fight for equality and civil rights for the Latino community. Their fight against discrimination, and police brutality.

César Chavez –

Mexican-American civil rights activist César Chaves is probably the most recognizable name in the movement for equal and civil rights for those in the Latino community. Most famously known for the Delano Grape Strike, Chavez was on the front line of the fight for better wages, and safe and humane treatment of farm workers. Particularly in the state of California where he lived, and one that relied heavily on migrant labor to work their farms. Co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association (Which later became the United Farm Workers, Chavez was well aware of the poor working conditions being a former farm worker himself. After joining the Navy and being stationed overseas, Chavez returned home from serving his country to continue the fight for his community.

When Filipino grape workers went on strike against the Delano company, Chavez was front and center. Joining the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to stage strikes that lasted a year. Despite threats and intimidation from Delano, as well as arrests of many of the strikers, the movement persisted. Chavez continued to shine a light on the movement and soon gained the attention of the United Auto Workers Union, whose president donated $5000 a month to help Chavez. Chavez engaged in a 38-day fast, and when he made the announcement, none other than Robert F. Kennedy attended.

He eventually ended his strike, but not his fight. When he was imprisoned he was visited by the widows of MLK and RFK, Coretta Scott King and Ethel Kennedy. When the protests died down, Chavez would retreat to a compound he created and live a life in seclusion until his death. But what he stood for will never be forgotten.

Ruben Salazar –

Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and raised in neighboring El Paso, TX, Ruben Salazar was a journalist and civil rights activist and an integral part of the Chicano rights movement. Though not as widely known as Chavez, Salazar made no less an impact on inspiring his community and demanding justice and change. After graduating from El Paso High School, and later getting a degree in Journalism from Texas Western (now the University of TX at El Paso), Salazar worked at a local paper advocating his gente and sought to expose the treatment of prisoners in jail by posing as a homeless person to infiltrate. It wouldn’t be long before he took his advocacy to California where the Chicano civil rights movement was rising. And in 1959 Salazar became the first Mexican-American journalist for the Los Angeles Times. As the first Chicano foreign correspondent, he would report from all over the world for the paper. He left the paper not long after shifting his focus to the Chicano movement and became widely known as an advocate for injustice and police brutality aimed at those in the Latino community. He frequently clashed with police when covering, and participating, in peaceful protests and walk-outs. He also wanted to use his position and influence to help bridge the gap between the White and Chicano communities. Frequently addressing the impossible position many faced wanting to hang on to and balance being both Mexican and American.

When Salazar began to cover the shooting of two unarmed Mexican Nationals, he became a target of the LAPD. Warning him that what he was doing was ‘dangerous’. Though he was concerned he was becoming a target, he continued to fight for the people.

More and more people in the Latino community became outspoken against the Vietnam War, and what they saw was a disproportionate number of those in their communities being sent off to fight and die. All for a country that treated them with disregard and disrespect on their soil. A National Chicano Memorial March was organized and scheduled by the Brown Berets, for August 29, 1970. Over 30,000 would show up to the march. Many college students decry unscrupulous recruiting methods in the community. Being told me that they did not qualify for deferment and that they couldn’t enroll in school.

Salazar covered the march and resulting rally that was met with police resistance. And eventually Salazar’s death. That evening, in front of the Silver Dollar Café, Salazar was struck in the head by a tear gas projectile similar to a bullet and killed. The sheriff who shot the projectile was never held accountable. The city of LA determined that there was no conspiracy or foul play but those who knew Salazar, including friends, family, and other protesters feel differently. Salazar spoke frequently about his belief that he was being followed and targeted by the FBI and LEO.

While Salazar’s death is controversial, he is a hero and icon of the civil rights movement. Latino journalists, educators, and historians continue to keep his memory and his work alive. His fight against police brutality, uncountable killings of brown people, and equal rights. After his death, Ruben Salazar was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, in Pico Rivera, California a High School was named for him, and in his hometown of El Paso, there is a lobby to rename the Robert E. Lee Elementary school located in the Northeast part of town, to Ruben Salazar Elementary. In 2008 he received his postage stamp.

Raul Ruiz –

Also from El Paso, journalist and civil rights activist Raul Ruiz moved to California and went to Cal State. He used his voice to speak out against discrimination at public schools against Latinos, decry the police brutality that was prevalent in his community, and fight against stereotypes the Mexican-American community encountered. At Cal State, Ruiz started two underground papers that he would use as a platform to detail incidents of discrimination and injustice in the Latino community. As an activist, he would participate in sit-ins. Many of these were done at the Los Angeles School Board, and some of his most famous was at Los Angeles Catholic Churches he felt neglected the needs of poor Latino Catholics.

Ruiz covered the murder of Ruben Salazar and was very vocal in criticizing the investigation and its results. Though Salazar’s family did receive what was at the time the largest settlement for police misconduct, $700K, justice and accountability for Salazar are still being demanded.

Before his death in 2019, Raul Ruiz was openly critical of then-President Donald Trump. Ruiz died advocating for civil rights, not just for his people but for all people.

The Brown Berets –

Founded in the ‘60s to combat police brutality, and protect their communities and modeled after the Black Panthers, the Brown Berets rose to prominence during the peak of the Chicano civil rights movement.

They began as a youth group, the Young Chicanos for Community Action, and were made up mostly of students at schools around the Los Angeles area. They earned the name Brown Berets for the berets they wore. The Brown Berets were extremely concerned with being forced to deny their culture and identity in public schools and assimilate into white American culture. One of their most recognized demonstrations was the Blow Outs, or walkouts, at multiple schools in and around East Los Angeles that drew over 10,000 demonstrators. It was their efforts, as students at the top of the list for being drafted, that spurred them to found the Chicano Moratorium Committee that organized the Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War. The mostly peaceful protest ended with 3 dead, including Ruben Salazar after police interference and aggression.

While not as strong as they once were in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the Brown Berets still exist. More as local chapters, yet still advocating the original principles of the group and movement.

Civil rights don’t belong to one person or group. The sacrifices made by those on the front lines of both the Chicano and Black civil rights movement were for all of us. The Chicano Moratorium, The Blow Out, belong side by side with the march on Selma, and Stonewall. Chavez, Salazar, Ruiz, and the Brown Berets are an important part of American history and it’s time for all of us to acknowledge, recognize and remember that.