Thousands of residents participated in a variety of events around East Los Angeles in recognition of the 40th Anniversary of the National Chicano Moratorium that occurred on August 29, 1970.
From a play based on the controversial killing of Mexican American journalist Ruben Salazar to a series of marches and conferences, the local landscape offered different perspectives on the historic events of four decades ago.
The 1970 National Chicano Moratorium was organized at the height of the movement against the Vietnam War. It featured a series of protest marches across the nation, with the largest one held in East Los Angeles. More than 30,000 people joined that protest march — making it the largest demonstration to that time in the region. The march started in Belvedere Park in Unincorporated East Los Angeles and ended at what was then Laguna Park in the Boyle Heights district of the city. The park has since been renamed Ruben Salazar Park — in honor of the news director for KMEX, the largest Spanish-language news channel and a Los Angeles Times columnist — who was killed when Sheriffs fired tear gas containers into a bar several blocks away.
This year's commemoration included Teatro Urbano's presentation of "The Silver Dollar" at Corazon Del Pueblo in Boyle Heights. The play is a fictional account of the events at the Silver Dollar Bar in East Los Angeles leading up to Salazar's death, one of three that day.
The United Committees for the Moratorium also staged a march to commemorate the 40th anniversary. As part of that effort, Carlos Montes said the committee called on Sheriff Lee Baca to release all documents related to Salazar's death, which some people today believe contains evidence that Salazar was the target of the attack and the Sheriff's Department covered up the attack.
"We were concerned when [Baca] first said he wouldn't release anything," Montes said. "Our position is to release any files that are related to August 29, 1970."
Although the march is organized as a salute to the past, Montes said the march is also directed at the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Montes said he views Afghanistan as an unnecessary occupation — much the way he looked at the Vietnam conflict four decades ago. He said he also remains concerned on the level of involvement of minorities in combat today.
"Young people are targets for military recruiting to fight in the fire," Montes said.
Montes, a former Brown Beret member, said he viewed the recent march as a protest against the current wars. He said the event also offered a chance to reflect on the 1970 march he participated in. Montes said he was an "underground" supporter that day because he had fled to Mexico earlier that year after being arrested. His belief that Chicanos were shouldering a disproportionate number of casualties in Vietnam led him to risk apprehension by returning to the U.S. to participate in the march.
For John Sermeno, the August 1970 march was a continuation of the activism he first encountered during the 1968 Walkouts at Lincoln High School.
"It was the start of an understanding of my identity," Sermeno said, adding that the 1970 march was the largest rally of Chicanos he had ever seen.
"It was a beautiful day," he said. "We were meeting people from all over the place, of different cultures, different groups."
Sermeno said it was a very political day, too. He recalled being in a liquor store across the street from the Wells Fargo bank on the corner of Whittier Boulevard and Indiana Street and realizing something had gone wrong.
"I was in the store buying a soda when the police showed up," he said. "Instead of isolating the minor incidents, they attacked everyone."
Sermeno said he also views this weekend's march as a demonstration against current conditions. He is most concerned with the economy that he says has created the highest level of unemployment and financial hardships for families he has ever seen. He is also concerned with the recent events that occurred in Arizona regarding immigration laws.
As some Moratorium veterans participated in the commemoration march, others gathered at Casa Del Mexicano in Boyle Heights for a Chicano studies conference tilted "Conferncia de Historia Mexico and the Southwest." The event featured speakers such as Sal Castro, a lead organizer of the 1968 Lincoln High School Walkouts, and David Sanchez, a former leader of the Brown Beret and a lead organizer of the August 29, 1970 moratorium.
At the East Los Angeles Civic Center, the 40th Anniversary Commemoration Committee of the Chicano Moratorium presented "The Unfinished Concert...Forty Years Later." The concert featured Rudy and Steve Salas and Los Illegals among others. The concert at the civic center coincided with the annual "Taste of East L.A," that featured more than 20 local restaurants.
The weekend concluded with the Chicano Moratorium March and Procession on Sunday. Participants gathered at 10 am at the site of the former Silver Dollar bar located at 4945 Whittier Blvd. in East Los Angeles. Sunday also marked the final day of the exhibit "A People's History: Faces, Struggles and Accounts of the Chicano Moratoriums" at the Mexican Cultural Institute at Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. The muti-media exhibit featured photos, art, video and audio works related to the moratoriums.
Paul Aranda Jr. is a writer for EGP.
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