Friday marks the 55th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium in Los Angeles. The Aug. 29, 1970, protest started peacefully, but ended in violence.
San Diegan Gaspar Luna Oliveira remembers the day vividly; he was there.
“What was supposed to be a day of solidarity with families, having a get together, having some speakers and entertainment — it turned out to be a nightmare," Oliveira said. "It wasn’t a people’s riot, it was a police riot.”
That day, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Chicanos protested in East L.A. against the disproportionate death rate of Mexican Americans in the Vietnam War.
At the time, Oliveira was president of the San Diego State University chapter of M.E.Ch.A.. The group, whose name is an acronym for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, focused on Chicano pride and unity.
“We organized a coalition, if you will, of M.E.Ch.A.s in San Diego County. And probably over a thousand of us went to LA,” he said.
Despite coming from what he calls a traditional Latino family with a strong military history, Oliveira’s whole family was at the protest.
“We formed a human chain to keep the cops from beating up our families. It was intense,” Oliveira said, becoming emotional. “Riot helmets, batons — I got hit in the head. I went down. My friends pulled me out.”
Hundreds of people were arrested and three people were killed, according to the Library of Congress.
Chula Vista resident Sonia Lopez was also there. She said the Chicano Moratorium was a pivotal moment in the history of Latino civil rights in the U.S.
“We didn't expect to be tear gassed or to run for our lives,” she said. “We just ran to people houses and start knocking on the doors because the police were moving in on us, helicopters the whole thing. And people were opening the doors to let you in so you wouldn’t get hurt.”
Lopez and Oliveira agree that similar issues that sparked the moratorium are relevant today.
“We have a right to speak out,” Oliveira said. “Now when I see the ICE officials with their mask and their vest and their guns and all that all over the county, it's an intimidation. It’s instilling fear in Americans and democracy is in peril.”
To honor the moratorium, San Diego's Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center is opening an exhibition Friday called “Fragmentos del Barrio.”
It was created by Los Angeles-based artist Ramsés Noriega, who co-founded the Chicano Moratorium.
“It was not just anti-war. (It was an) anti-police brutality movement, anti-immigration exploitation/persecution movement, anti-redlining movement,” he said.
Noriega said their movement inspired the next generation of Chicanos.
“What happened is all of a sudden little Chicanitos, little kids, they wanted to go to university,” he said.
Noriega said he created the exhibit to educate the community and provide Chicanos a sense of pride and hope.
“Fragmentos del Barrio” is on display at the museum through the end of February.
