US Latinx Activism and Protests: From the Farm to the (Legislative) Table

Steve's Page-- East LA Blowouts of 1968

The 19th century was filled with a lot of racism and discrimination to anyone who was not of White skin. Throughout the 19th century, Latinos have been put down due to the color of their skin and the language they spoke which was Spanish. In Oxnard, many Mexican American children were prohibited from attending school with White children and this was an early form of discrimination in educational spaces. Eventually, integration would happen but with the cost of increased racism not only from students but also from teachers and administrators. In schools, Chicano/a students were punished if they were caught speaking Spanish, usually resulting in being humiliated in class in front of other students.

Because of these cruel punishments and unfair treatment, Chicano/a students determined it was best to get together and start an organized protest to demonstrate their frustration with LAUSD board members. While they were peacefully voicing their opinions, many board members and media classified these students as "radical" and "unfit" to be in society due to the attention they were making. Maybe they were classified as radical because of the demonstrations they were doing such as sleeping inside the board meeting room and also due to them organizing with the Brown Berets a Chicano group that many media members compared them to the Black Panther Movement Party. 

Although Chicano/a students were protesting, they were not protesting for the fun of it but rather to create changes to the educational system. Some goals that these students had were to include Chicano/a Studies courses in the K-12 curriculum, to hire more Chicano/a teachers, and to stop the discrimination and racism they were receiving from their teachers. As students, they had rights to voice their displeasure with the school system because it was not right for them to be the target of hate when their only desire was to complete school and become successful but unfortunately not having a support system can severely impact their potential to become scholars. Eventually the East LA blowouts would influence different movements around college campuses which was a sign of progress.

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