East La Walkouts

As Francis Bacon stated in his famous quote, “Knowledge is Power”. The Latino community was deprived greatly of this power for many years. A change was well in its way mostly due to the fact that the needs of the Chicano community had to be met. The greatest failure in the Latino community was in education. The American school system was providing inferior education to Mexican-American children.In class we reviewed through two sources the events that lead to the East La Walkouts. In the documentary, Taking Back the Schools, the background of these events was discussed with further details. Problems with segregation, discrimination, abuse and low quality of education started with grade school. The level of education was significantly lower than in schools with whitechildren. The discontent of parents led to the Mendez vs. School district bill in which the segregation of Mexican schools unconstitutional, even though this did not improve the conditions of the schools. At this time it was stated that most Mexican-American children had 8 years of education only. This was one of the many steps taken before any action was done to give better education to Chicano’s.“Mexican” schools received less funding and were significantly poorer. In the movie The Walkouts the problem was focused on High School education.
By the time students reached High School they had already been prepared at a much lower level as other students, these students lacked preparation, many did not even speak English. In the Walkout, Paula Crisostomo represents student leadersthat excelled in their community. Her story is meant to represent those who made a difference and were an important part of the Chicano movement even though she did play a crucial role. Paula was one of the few students in her high school that was even given the option for college mostly because with the few resources her school offered she exceeded beyond her peers. Most teachers were racist andenforced corporal punishment. Extremely high drop out rates was the result of the poor job the school system was accomplishing. Students were insulted, diminished and made to feel worthless because they were Mexican- American. The School Board did not believe they were capable of accomplishing work beyond manual labor. In the documentary it portrays a more adequate image, most students wereunsatisfied with the differences made between them. Students were divided in classes between those who received high and low test scores. Those who did not meet the requirements expected were pushed led into vocational classes. Neglect and inferior education led them to jobs in cheap labor. A similarity between both sources was the dissatisfaction and demand for change.
When the changeoccurred was after UMAS was formed. Paula became a part of UMAS after a Youth Leadership conference for Chicano students. The UMAS along with the Brown Berets would get together mostly too discuss subjects that interested them. This group was not started in order to cause political reform but as a socially conscious group, student leaders from all East LA high schools were involved. The LA 13 wereall members of this group. Authorities began investigating them mostly because they knew a change would occur if they were leaders looking for a change. Those in power would do anything to stop the advancement of the Mexican-American community, mostly because they held the belief that they were dangerous and not capable of advancement. If a large “uneducated” minority held a position a power, thewhite community would become less powerful. Those in power only cared about having their needs met. The most controversial characters were those infiltrated in this group. Those that infiltrated took everything conversation held as evidence against them
The first action by the UMAS were surveys answered by students from every school, after they all realized “Mexican” schools had...