This month (as of March 2018) is the 50th anniversary of the East L.A. high school walkouts where Mexican American students fought the racist injustice towards them in the American education system. March 5, 1968 was the beginning of the walkouts led and organized by Chicanx students from Garfield High School. Soon, many other high schools in East L.A contributed to the walkouts. Mexican American high school students were beaten mercilessly by the police, were spat racist comments by their own teachers, and told that they should just shut up because they will never have a voice in our school system. In many schools throughout East L.A, students were punished for speaking Spanish and were even encouraged to drop out of school by their own teachers. Chicanxs were taught to hate their culture, they were taught by the American school system to despise being Mexican. Consequently, many Mexican American students that participated were threatened to lose precious things such as their acceptance to a university or being expelled from school. Although countless threats were thrown at Chicanxs, they fought for what they believed in. Being able to stand up to the people in power takes great courage. Let’s not forget the justice they fought for.
