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Committee on Chicano Rights
E-mail: aztecbaca@aol.com
55 YEARS AGO!
AUGUST 29, 1970
CHICANO MORATORIUM, TRUMP & LA RAZA
By: Herman Baca, President
August 29, 2025
One hundred
& seventy-seven years after the end of the U.S./Mexico War & 55 years ago,
La Raza will pause today to remember the 30,000 to 40,000 heroic Chicana/os that
marched peacefully in the Chicano Moratorium, in Los Angeles, California on August
29, 1970 to demand an end to the War in Vietnam. The march was organized by the
Chicano Movement to protest the disproportioned numbers of Chicanos dying in
Vietnam. At the march, 3 Chicanos on that day lost their lives, Los
Angeles Times Reporter, Ruben Salazar, Angel Diaz and Lynn Ward at
the hands of an organized riot by the Los Angeles Police, Sheriffs’ Department.
Persons attending the peaceful march were tear gassed, beaten, wounded, hundreds
were jailed including national Chicano leader Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales. To the
present date, people raise the question (especially youth) asking, why should
the 1970 moratorium be remembered & commemorated? The answer, are in the
lessons that the 1970 Moratorium left La Raza. Lessons that can be utilized in
2025 on the present-day struggle against the Nazi, fascist, white supremacist
Donald Trump & elks declared war against La Raza. Main difference was, the 1970
Moratorium was organized because La Raza was united, person for the political left,
right, conservatives, liberals’ & others persuasions all placed there
difference aside & supported. Raza at that time, had defined itself politically
as Chicanas/os adhering to the historical principle of self-determination, which
demanded the restoration of our erased or destroyed Mexican history, language
& culture. Chicanas/os understood that as a conquered people the border had
crossed us, that we were left here after the U.S./Mexico War of 1848 & we had
to resolve our own problems. In 1970, Chicanos/Mexicanos/Latinos numbered but
8,920,094 or 4.4% (whites 85%, blacks 10%) of the U.S. population of
203,210,158. At the time, the Moratorium was the largest national march/demonstration
& political gathering in our peoples’ history. Today in 2025, with Trump &
his racist ilk’s declaring war against La Raza humanity, the Chicanos/Mexicanos/Latinos
population according to the U.S. Census Dept is 62,000,000 million, comprising 17%
of the U.S. total population of 331,449,280. In my opinion, the above number is
a gross undercount or lie, since we have never been properly counted. Even
though resistance has been heroic in numerous communities (especially LA) by
individuals & organizations, the issue of little or no organized unity amongst
this nation’s 60-70% of Mexican ancestry out of the 62 million persons persist.
Why, my opinion, numerous persons of Mexican ancestry do not even know who they
are, because they have no knowledge of their history (ex. Trump voters), allowing
themselves to be labeled by others, from Juan to Johnny, Maria to Mary,
Latinos, Mexican-Americans, His-Her Panics, or nonsensical X’s, etc. Making
them victims of the oldest political ploy in politics…divide & conquer. Leading
to issues affecting Raza interests to be defined by others such as Trump, “I’m
going after illegal criminal immigrants” & Raza accepting & agreeing,
“I’m okay with Trump, if is going after law breakers?” So, what
is the real issue? The racist white system has defined immigration, which definitely
it is not.
Historically,
the real issue has & is the profitable labor system that has existed in the
U.S. since the end of the U.S./Mexico War. Raising historical questions, that what
is happening today is not new. The white racist system did the same thing in
the 1930 repartitions, deporting a million Mexicans, 60% who were American citizens of Mexican
ancestry (Time Mag). Fact, so many Mexicans were deported that the U.S. Census
did count Mexican in its 1930 census, until 1940. Again, in 1950 the white racist
system launched the military assault, Operation “Wetback” deporting
1.5 million that included numerous U.S. Citizens, of Mexican ancestry. In 1950 the
Mexican population was 3,231,409. So, if the white systems massive deportation didn’t
work in 1930 or 1950, why should anybody believe Trump’s BS that the issue
today is “illegal immigration?” Historically, it can be guaranteed Trump
& his white supremacist racist ilk’s will not be be getting rid of the
profitable $$$$ “illegal immigrant” labor system any time soon. Raising the
larger issue, why then has Trump & his racist ilk’s declared war against La
Raza, the reason…DEMOGRAPHICS. Whites, know full well that demographics
is destiny & by 2048 they will become the minority population (U.S. census)
in the U.S. Which, is the real historical reasons Donald Trump & his racist
elks have declared war, martial law, 170 billion dollars to fund Trump’s private
army, ICE/Border Patrol Gestapo & the for profit detention (concentration) camps for La Raza. A sinister
attempt to try & stop history, so white people can think they will return
back to the 1950’s that will fail. In essences, those are the historical
lessons the Moratorium has left our people. Fact is, if those historical lessons
are ignored & no struggles or resistances is organized, the progress attained
by the Chicano Movement will cease to exist. Our people, children &
generations to follow will live in either a Nazi dictatorial, Jim Crow or South
Africa Apartheid state. A BRIEF HISTORY OF
THE AUGUST 29, 1970 CHICANO MORTORIUM -Our people in 1970 were labeled
the “sleeping giant” the invisible,
silent & forgotten minority resulting in our people not existing to
the social, economic or political institutions in the U.S. To my generation the
1970’s was a completely different time than what exists for today’s generation.
Things, this generation takes for granted did not exist for my generation. There
were no computers, internet, faxes, cell phones, texting, tweeters, Facebook,
I-Pads, etc. Statically speaking no Chicano/a politicians, lawyers, school principals,
counselors, administrators, physicians, PHD’s, college deans or even college
students, etc. In my political opinion, the political principle of “self-determination” organized the
moratorium. “Self-determination,” guided
Chicano Movement activists & organizations teaching, “if we are the problem, then we
have to be the solution.” At the national level many Chicano
organizations from the political left to the right assisted, but especially the
Moratorium Committee, Crusade for Justice & Brown Berets. Later, numerous
Chicano organizations such as MAPA, G.I. Forum, Mecha, La Raza Unida, CASA,
etc. joined & supported the Moratorium efforts. Credit must be given to those
Chicanos that stood up & refused to be drafted & conceptualized the
idea of a national protest march. At a great cost to themselves they defiantly
declared that, “Our fight is here in
Chicano communities & not in Vietnam,” Rosalio Muñoz (Los Angeles),
Ernesto Vigil (Denver), Salomón Baldenegro (Tucson), Carlos Montes (Los
Angeles), Fred Aviles (Chicago) & many others. The
historical legacy of the August
29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium –Politically, the march changed the
trajectory of the Chicano Movement, which is still being felt to this very day.
The organizing of the moratorium not only demanded an end to the war in
Vietnam, but was also a critique of structural inequities in U.S. society,
inferior schools, low wage jobs, political representation, police brutality
& the then burgeoning immigration issue. In my political opinion, the white
supremacist political system in 1970 viewed the moratorium not as a march to
redress legitimate grievances, but an insurrection, which they then ordered their
law enforcement to disrupt in an attempt to destroy the Chicano Movement. A
colossal failure, since the U.S. Census Dept. states, by 2050 Raza will comprise
1 out of 3 persons of the U.S. population, with a median age of 26 years. Many persons
today & in the future will remember the August 29, 1970 Chicano
Moratorium for the historical lessons it left our people.
-END-
Lest we forget, Remembering History & Commemorating 56th Chicano Moratorium. For your info, 2nd published 2025 commentary, "The more things change, the more they remain the same? Please feel free to share & comment.
Viva La Raza!CCR
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