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Unfortunately, the history of the powerful movement that was comprised of millions of Mexican and Mexican American individuals in the U.S. Southwest that happened concurrently to the African American/Black civil rights movement has been somewhat neglected. These individuals leading this movement eventually claimed the political identity of Chicano. Chicano had previously been a derogatory word used by Mexican and Mexican Americans in the U.S. for individuals who were poor and recent immigrants to the U.S.<ref>Richard Griswold del Castillo and Arnoldo de León, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008W0J13C/ref=as_li_tl?ie=IntroductionUTF8&camp=1789&creative= 9325&creativeASIN=B008W0J13C&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=c9431f9c6cb484902ece972dde717853 North to Aztlan: A History of Mexican Americans in the United States]'', (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996), 126.</ref> In the 1960s and 1970s, Chicanos reclaimed the word in order to signify that their indigenous ancestry and culture were important to them, as well as to the land they had lost from Spanish and American imperialism.

== What was the El Movieminto? ==The 1960s Chicano movement, or El Moviemiento, was complex and 1970s have been well documented and covered historically by scholars interested in the Black Liberation Movement, Martin Luther Kingcame into being after decades of discrimination, Malcolm Xsegregation, and Rosa Parks, amongst other popular African American civil rights activists. What issues arising over decades of war and violence around the region we now know about as the African AmericanU.S./Black civil rights movements are the obvious events leading up to the political revolutions that ensuedMexican border. The East L.A. Segregation, Jim Crow laws, and the scars School Walkouts were an expression of slavery had all had their violent and discriminatory effects on the African American/Black population, especially in frustration over the South. Unfortunately, there has been a silencing treatment of the powerful movement that was comprised larger Chicano community by Anglos both in and out of millions of Mexican and Mexican American individuals in the U.S. Southwest that happened during the same time as the African American/Black civil rights movementclassroom. These individuals eventually came Contemporaneously to claim the political identitywalkouts, Chicanothe United Farm Workers Movement was in full throttle. Chicano had previously been a derogatory word used by Mexican Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta were organizing strikes and convincing Mexican Americans in the U.S. for individuals who were poor and newly immigrated in Filipino laborers to the U.S, but was rarely used at allbecome union members. <ref>Richard Griswold del Castillo Matt Garcia, "A Moveable Feast: The UFW Grape Boycott and Arnoldo de LeónFarm Worker Justice, " ''North to Aztlan: A International Labor and Working Class History of Mexican Americans in the United States'', 83, (New York: Twayne PublishersSpring, 19962013), 126: 146-153.</ref> In The East L.A. School Walkouts walkouts were a critical component of the spark that ignited the 1960s Chicano and 1970s, Chicano’s reclaimed Mexican American community to begin the word in order to signify that fight for equality alongside their indigenous ancestry was important to them and their cultureNative American, Asian, as well as to the land they had lost from Spanish and African American imperialismbrothers and sisters during the Civil Rights Era.

The Chicano movement, or El Moviemiento, is complex and came in to being after decades of discrimination, segregation, and other issues arising over decades of war and violence around the region we now know as the U.S. – Mexico border. This article focuses on one specific event in history that is extremely important to understand the Chicano Movement, == What were the East L.A. Walkouts? ==[[File: Cesar_chavez_visita_a_colegio_cesar_chavez. The jpg|thumbnail|left|350px|Cesar Chavez]]On March 3, 1968, Mexican American students enrolled in Abraham Lincoln High School in East L.A. Walkouts would begin in successfully organized a walkout and most of the late 1960s as youth were beginning students left their classrooms to become frustrated about how Anglos treated the larger Chicano community inside the protest their poor classroom and outside of their communitieseducation. Around the same time as the walkouts, the United Farm Workers Movement was in full throttle and Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta They felt they were receiving a substandard education because they were gaining membership Mexicans and participating in strikes in California for Mexican and Filipino laborersAmericans. <ref>Matt Garcia, "A Moveable Feast: The UFW Grape Boycott and Farm Worker Justice," ''International Labor and Working Class History'', 83, (Spring, 2013): 146-153.</ref> Although the East L.A. School Walkouts do not necessarily provide information about the complexity school had forcibly tracked most of issues surrounding the Chicano Movement, I argue that the walkouts were part of a spark that would ignite the Chicano Mexican and Mexican American community students into trade and vocational careers They did not allow them to begin the fight for equality alongside their Native American, Asian, and African American brothers and sisters during the Civil Rights Eraeven consider pursuing a degree four-year collegiate institution.

==East LThe students felt that the school system disregarded their culture and history and they called for more ethnic studies and more ethnically diverse faculty.A<ref>Michael Soldatenko, “Mexican Student Movements in Los Angeles and Mexico City,” ''Latino Studies'', 1 (2003): 290-295.</ref> Much like the non-violent Black student sit-ins in Greensboro N.C. that had happened eight years prior, “the Los Angeles strike signaled the beginnings of a powerful Chicano student movement throughout the Southwestern United States.” <ref>Carlos Muñoz, “The Last Word: Making the Chicano Movement Revisited,” ''Black Issues in Higher Education'', 13, no. 3 (Apr. 4, 1996): 72.</ref> Before the strikes ended, more than 10,000 students would join in on the strike in states all over the Southwest all the way to South Texas. Walkouts==

On March 3, 1968, Mexican American students enrolled in Abraham Lincoln High School in The importance of the East L.A. had successfully organized a walkout walkouts lies in the growing dissatisfaction of the second and most third generations of Mexican American and Chicano students in the high schools and colleges around the Southwest. For these students left and young people, they saw their classrooms to protest families struggling and being discriminated against just as the poor education they felt they were receiving as African American community had in the Deep South but with different historical contexts. Mexicans and Mexican Native Americans. The school had tracked most of always lived in the Mexican Southwest and only through Western Expansionism and Mexican multiple advances towards ridding the West of Native American students in ‘problems’ were Anglos able to trade successfully move their border across the communities that had been their for centuries. Because of this insertion of a new race and vocational careersclass based hierarchical power, not allowing them Mexicans and Mexican Americans were considered second class citizens and the youth of the 1960s had seen what the history of the past couple of decades had done to even consider a four-year institutiontheir chances of gaining an equal education. AdditionallyUsing the Chicano idea of Aztlan and claiming basic human rights, the students felt that of L.A. and the school system had disregarded their culture and history Southwest began to march and organization around those ideas. What they did not expect was the amount of force they called for more ethnic studies and more ethnically diverse facultywould encounter.<ref>Michael Soldatenko, “Mexican Student Movements in Los Angeles and Mexico City,” ''Latino Studies'', 1 (2003): 290294-295.</ref> Much like the non-violent Black student sit <dh-ins in Greensboro N.C. that had happened eight years prior, “the Los Angeles strike signaled the beginnings of a powerful Chicano student movement throughout the Southwestern United States.” <ref>Carlos Muñoz, “The Last Word: Making the Chicano Movement Revisited,” ''Black Issues in Higher Education'', 13, no. 3 (Apr. 4, 1996): 72.<ad/ref> By the end of this historical day in Chicano and U.S. history, more than 10,000 students would join in on the strike in states all over the Southwest all the way to South Texas.

The importance of == Why did the East L.A. walkouts lies in the growing dissatisfaction of the second and third generations of Mexican American and Chicano FBI try Infiltrate El Moviemento? ==What these students in the high schools and colleges around organizers did not anticipate was the Southwest. For these students and young people, amount of push back they saw their families struggling would receive from the federal government and being discriminated against just as the African American community had new COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) that Herbert Hoover initiated in response to the Deep South but with different historical contexts. Mexicans Black Panthers and Native Americans had always lived the Black Liberation movements in the Southwest and only through Western Expansionism and multiple advances towards ridding the West of Native American ‘problems’ were Anglos able order to successfully move their border across the communities that had been their for centuries. Because of this insertion of a new race stop and class based hierarchical power, Mexicans dismantle and Mexican Americans were considered second class citizens civil rights movement. The protesters and the youth organizers of the 1960s had seen what the history of the past couple of decades had done to walkouts thought that they were exercising their chances of gaining an equal education. Using the Chicano idea of Aztlan and claiming basic human constitutional rights, the students of L.A. and the Southwest began to march and organization around those ideas. What they did not expect was the amount freedom of force they would encounter.<ref>Michael Soldatenko, “Mexican Student Movements in Los Angeles speech and Mexico City,” ''Latino Studies'', 1 (2003): 294-295protest.</ref>

==Unfortunately, thirteen members that were involved with the planning and organization of the East L.A. walkouts would be targeted and arrested for treason by COINTELPRO and Infiltration==the federal government. Sal Castro, a teacher who supported the students and spoke out against racist and discriminatory practices at Lincoln High in East L.A., would be included in the group of thirteen, which sparked uproar in the community in order to reinstate him as a teacher at Lincoln High. Eventually, the federal government would release Sal Castro and the other twelve individuals because of the unconstitutional nature of the arrests. As the American public became even more aware of Chicanos, the school walkouts, and their ability to form their own unique movements amongst the larger political atmosphere of the decade.<ref>Michael Soldatenko, “Mexican Student Movements in Los Angeles and Mexico City,” ''Latino Studies'', 1 (2003): 291.</ref>

==How did Latino activists react to the FBI's hostility? ==What these students and organizers did not anticipate was the amount of push back they would receive from infiltration by the federal government and the new COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) that Herbert Hoover initiated in response to the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation movements in order to successfully stop and dismantle and civil rights movement. The protesters and organizers of the walkouts thought that they were exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and protest. Unfortunately, thirteen members that were involved with the planning and organization of the East L.A. walkouts would be targeted and arrested for treason by COINTELPRO the various groups that had begun to emerge like MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan) and MAYO (Mexican American Youth Organization) told the federal government. Sal Castro, a teacher who supported the students Mexican American and spoke out against racist Chicano community was that they were considered dangerous and discriminatory practices at Lincoln High in East Lhostile.A., This would be included in only fuel the group of thirteen, which sparked uproar in fire that was the community in order movement and begin to reinstate him as a teacher at Lincoln High. Eventually, confirm that the federal government would release Sal Castro and the other twelve individuals because of the unconstitutional nature Anglo community had no intentions of the arrests and the U.S. public became listening or even more aware of considering what Chicano’s, the school walkouts, and their ability allies had to form their own unique movements amongst the larger political atmosphere of the decade.<ref>Michael Soldatenko, “Mexican Student Movements in Los Angeles and Mexico City,” ''Latino Studies'', 1 (2003): 291say.</ref>

What the infiltration by the federal government of the East L.A. walkouts and the various groups that had begun to emerge like MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan) and MAYO (Mexican American Youth Organization) told the Mexican American and Chicano community was that they were considered dangerous and hostile. This would only fuel the fire that was the movement and begin to confirm that the Anglo community had no intentions of listening or even considering what Chicano’s and their allies had to say. The COINTELPROs existence was enough proof to argue that the federal government supported racial discrimination towards people of color, and in the case of the Chicano movement, the infiltration and the resulting protests and creation of community organizations would only be the beginning of a long fight for social, economic, and political justice for their people. <div class="portal" style='float:right; width:35%'>====Related DailyHistory.org Articles====*[[What was the Second Wave Feminist Movement?]]*[[Interview:Re-evaluating the Albany Civil Rights Movement: Interview with Lee Formwalt]]*[[Why was France defeated in 1940?]]*[[What Was the Importance of Bill Mauldin to WWII Infantrymen?]]</div>

The East L.A. walkouts is only one of the important markers signifying the beginnings of a political revolution that would span the entire Southwest of the U.S. Non-profit organizations and other community organization rose out of the Chicano movement in order to better serve the local Chicano communities through the arts and of course representation legally and in protest. Another subject that will need it’s own historical article is women within the Chicano movement. Chicanas would come out of this important era with an understanding of how both racism and sexism played a role in their own unique oppression that barred them from a lot of the leadership positions during the 1960s through the 1980s. With influence from both the Chicano movement and the Feminist movement, Chicanas would begin to write their own literature and create their own art that was expressive of their identities. These pieces of literature and art inform today’s Chicano scholars and only improve the understanding of the Mexican American and Chicano culture. The Chicano movement would last up until about the early 1980s and fizzles out as the media focuses its’ attention elsewhere. What is important to understand about the ‘ending’ of this movement is that the people who took part in all of the marches and protests for equality never stopped working with their ''communidad'' in order to fight for social, economic, and political justice for the ''gente.''.

===References===