I was always challenging herHow come Im over here?. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.', 'The ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger.', and 'There is often talk of human rights, but it . Branded a dangerous agitator by television news commentators and charged with a series of felonies, Castro was fired by the school district. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past. Any financial support or donations to enhance the mission of the CMSC would be greatly appreciated! Nearly all of Castro's quotes comes from the 2014 book Blowout! "For Latinos in Los Angeles," SupervisorGloria Molinasaid in a statement Monday, "Sal Castro was as influential and inspirational as United Farm Workers co-founder Cesar Chavez was nationally an example of the power of organizing who personified the possibility of overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds.". Thirteen people, later called the East L.A. 13, including Lincoln High teacher Sal Castro, were indicted by the County Grand Jury a few months after the Walkouts. After school administrators ignored the students' demands for change, the students planned walkouts. Ochoa: In addition to the youth conference, what other organizing happened in preparation for the walkouts? I started becoming angry. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The walkouts, or "blowouts" as they came to be known, spread to five Eastside high schools, then throughout the Southwest. This Journey box is for teachers to use in their classrooms. This one is for the students, he said. When he returned to Los Angeles for second grade, his teacher made him sit in a corner because he was the only student who could not speak English. Eager to promote empowerment, Castro taught his students they should first take their grievances to the school board. September 6, 2013. They never once bother to see Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that says the government is there to promote the general welfare. in social science. But fundamentally, I'm not talking about practising Catholics, but rather about something which is inbred; that is, a part of your country, your heritage, your life. "I thought they'd wait until I was dead," joked Castro, 76. : Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice , a semi-autobiography co-written with UC Santa Barbara Chicano . MEMBERS . The Board of Education voted him out of his job. Thousands of Mexican American students participated in the 'Blowout,' the first urban, youth-led protest of the burgeoning Chicano civil rights crusade. I saw that the teachers didn't really care about the regular student, they only cared about the elite intellectuals. Close. Castro, the Mexican kid has a charming passivity, and you tell me you want to take that away? I said, Oh, shit, Ive got problems here., So I started finding kids who were eligible to run for student council. Movies. They founded the Piranya Caf, which became the headquarters for the movement. He measured me because they were going to build a desk formeto go to school, chair and all. He held various positions in the Los Angeles-area schools before being hired at Belmont High School in Downtown Los Angeles as an interpreter and social studies teacher. The walkouts, or "blowouts" as they came to be known, soon spread throughout the city. Ochoa: So the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference had already started, and then in 1968 were the student walkouts. Now, as an artist and teacher, Gamboa said, he hopes to "carry forth some of Sal's influence.". So I backed out. ", Sal Castro did a heroic thing in 1968 when he helped launch a student rebellion on the Eastside. If she had been at work at the laundry, hell, they would have taken her. EVENTS. I still remember those days there. Castro is keenly aware that the school district still struggles to educate kids from Spanish-speaking families. Later on Saturday, they have a college fair. Edward James Olmos directed the film. Rate this quote: (5.00 / 1 vote) 2,587 Views. The youth conference opened my eyes. After graduating from Cathedral High School, a Catholic school, he was drafted into the Army. De color amarillo intenso, se usa como acompaante de salchichas, perros calientes, hamburguesas, sndwiches, etc. Ochoa: Can you tell me about your role in the walkouts and with the students? He also publicly denounced the members of the Minuteman Project as racists. Class size averaged around 40 and the student-to-counselor ratio was 4,000-to-1, according to the United Way of Los Angeles. The climate was ripe because there were attempts to change the path of where the United States was going. I was the only one who could translate. Ochoa: Why do you think you were so strong as a young childable to realize that you were not the problem? After he retired from teaching, he continued to lecture about his experiences and the importance of . Standing in the halls on the first full day of the blowouts, teacher Sal Castro looked on with pride and emotion as his . A lot of the comments when they leave are, We didnt know that there were that many PhDs, and we didnt know that our people have done so much. They walk out of there feeling 10 feet tall, and theyre very emotional. The walkouts, or "blowouts" as they came to be known, spread to five Eastside high schools, then throughout the Southwest. However, the concepts of conscientizao (conscientization or critical consciousness) are undeniably present as you read through the testimony of Sal Castro. I always did the reverse. Ochoa: How has the Chicano Youth Conference tried to address educational disparities? October 2, 1968 Kids were trying to survivethere was a fight between the girls about dying their hair blonde so they could fit in or pass. I thought we were going to bluff having a big strike, not doing it but bluffing it to the point that the school board would meet with the kids. Any change that was going to happen, thats the way it was going to be. Castro, now 78, believes the blowouts should be seen as the equivalent of black civil rights touchstones like the Selma march or the lunch-counter sit-ins. He leaves a wife, two sons and two grandsons. Many of the walkout leaders had participated in the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference (CYLC), a yearly gathering that began in 1963 at a Jewish campground in Malibu, an upscale beach community. Castro had thyroid cancer and died Monday at his home, his . Sal Castro: Chicano! "He made education relevant for us and made school worth going to," said Richard Verches, an international human rights lawyer and lecturer atUCLA. Thirteen walkout organizers are arrested, with twelve released soon after demonstrations outside of the Hall of Justice in Downtown Los Angeles but schoolteacher Sal Castro is kept longer. They made all the kids go back, and then they started drilling the kids. Credit: Joshua Sandoval, By Hector Tobar, L.A. Times, June 4, 2010. In addition to his wife, Castro is survived by two sons, Gilbert and Jimi; and two grandsons. The president doesn't have to come to the dedication himself, but Castro is adamant that it be someone of national stature. Some at the funeral wore shirts or jackets representing the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, a nonprofit organization Castro founded in 1963 that trained future leaders at annual workshops held until it lost its funding in 2009. He was a Catholic educated by the Christian Brothers and the Jesuits. Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice (University of North Carolina Press). Theyre born again, born again Latinos. Ochoa: Youve had a long commitment to teaching. Activist and educator Sal Castro knows how to make an entrance. In 1963 while teaching at Belmont High School Castro got into trouble for supporting Latino students I was there three months when I started figuring out, There aint no Chicano kids in the student council. Around 67 percent of the students were Chicanos, and there were no kids on the student council of Latino descent. Notify me of new comments via email. They went to his place of work at the bakeryOut you go. And he was a legal resident. He went to college, became a teacher and in the early 1960s planted the seeds of a later movement in a county program designed to train young Chicano leaders. As a young teacher, Castro was a key organizer of the 1968 student walkouts (called blowouts by the youth), when as many as 40,000 Chicana/o students marched out of their schools to demand bilingual and bicultural education, more Mexican American teachers and administrators, relevant curriculum, accurate textbooks, and an end to the tracking that steered Mexican American students into vocational classes. Statesman August 13, 1926 - November 25, 2016. By Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times,October 9, 2012. As Castro helped students make demands of the school board, underground newspapers floated the idea of a boycott of East L.A. schools. We dont have to accept [the school conditions]. It was a turning point., WATCH: History Shorts: Dolores Huerta Organizes a Movement. You know what happens to the U.S.-born kid, he puts the onus on himself, rather than the teacher. Anaheim's Savanna High School celebrates Sal Castro Day every March 27. LOS ANGELES Sal Castro, a social studies teacher who played a leading role in 1960s Chicano student walkouts, has died at age 79. The walkout generation produced professors, jurists and politicians. I ran out with my shoeshine box to see what the hell was going on, and I said, Well, the cops will break all this up. The cops stood there and laughed. He died on Monday in Los Angeles at 79 years old. For one, the moneys not there. The charges were dropped in 1972. While there is the . The hospital took in 4 patients from Sal Castro Middle School shooting. What He Did He encouraged East L.A. walkouts of 1986 Looked to improve Chicano education, facilities and opportunities Walked out with his students Practiced Peaceful Protest He was fired from his teaching job for walking out with the students Walkout Organizers About Sal Castro As L.A. Unified commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Walkouts, the district honored 11 educators who are continuing the legacy of Sal Castro, the . Joe Kennedy/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images. Theres no way that you would get positive results [from student walkouts] from what people feel today. the journal uses pathos by showing how far the struggle for chicano's and their education has . The book that is going to be analyzed in the paper at hand is Blowout!Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice.The author of the book, Mario T. Garca (a prominent historian, magazine designer, and senior advisor at Columbia University) offers the reader a breathtaking story of Sal Castro, his unprecedented courage, and striving for justice (Garca & Castro . "I didn't think I was dumb I thought they were dumb.". The president doesn't have to come to the dedication himself, but Castro is adamant that it be someone of national stature. He stood straight up, held up a movie poster of "Walkout" and said that when producers approached him about doing a movie on his life, he said someone good-looking had to play him. ALL EXPECTED TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY. It was a pleasure and a learning experience to have spent so much time with him and listen to his stories. He has never heard from the president. Publish. Around 1956, while still a student at LACC, he got his first job in the educational field, as an assistant playground director in the inner city neighborhood school. 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