sal castro quotes
Almost a week after the walkouts, on March 11, a committee of students, teachers, parents and community activists tried to meet with the Los Angeles Board of Education, to present their list of 39 demands. "He was proudest when former students would tell him, 'Castro, I did what you told us to do. ", "It is all our collective responsibilities to keep his legacy alive and moving forward. Instead of accepting the stigma, "I started thinking, these teachers should be able to understand me," he said in a 1988 interview with The Times. The hospital took in 4 patients from Sal Castro Middle School shooting. ", Photo: Sal Castro at the L.A. Times Festival of books. 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. Privacy Policy. That year, he also earned a credential to teach secondary school and taught junior high in Pasadena before landing a position at Belmont High. Notify me of new comments via email. Cavin, Aaron. Nonetheless, Castro began meeting informally with Mexican-American college students, who were by this time beginning to call themselves Chicanos and Chicanas, and a network of Mexican American education activists began forming. QUOTES. ", Sal Castro did a heroic thing in 1968 when he helped launch a student rebellion on the Eastside. Had a history-making role in the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkoutsa series of protests led by high school and college students who wanted to improve the quality and equality of education for Mexican-American students . The kids were talking about the bathrooms being locked, the disrespect of teachers toward the kids, and so few students channeled to go to college. The Board of Education voted him out of his job. 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. But Castro insisted on meeting with me to express his frustration with President Obama. The next day, another walkout was staged in protest of a school policy prohibiting male students from wearing their hair long. Castro, on the megaphone, was a social studies teacher at Lincoln High School when the student walkouts occurred in 1968. MayorAntonio Villaraigosa, filmmaker Moctesuma Esparza and Chicano artist Harry Gamboa Jr. were a few of those students. Castro: Weve run one conference a year, sometimes two. Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, Sal Castro dies at 79; L.A. teacher played role in 1968 protests, Sal Castro, teacher who led '68 Chicano student walkouts, dies at 79, "Chicano Moratorium Recognizes 50 Year Anniversary in East LA", Castro and the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sal_Castro&oldid=1126525685, This page was last edited on 9 December 2022, at 20:48. The result of the network was the holding of Chicano Youth Leadership Conferences (CYLC), training grounds for student activists, the first of which was held in 1963. Sal Castros courage and dedication will continue to be inspirational to future generation of students and educators.. 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. 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. And youve got to get your degrees. The more I saw, the more I got into it, and the more I saw how really terrible the situation was. Runtime: 110 minutes. I was a provisional teacher, which meant I had no rights. While there is the . Obama has the California Latino vote in the bag; the Chavez dedication is a national play. Castro, known as Sal, was a Lincoln High School teacher who guided student walkouts at five predominantly Mexican American schools on the Eastside in what came to be seen as a milestone in community activism. Sal Castro, a lifelong educator and a leader in the 1968 "blowouts" that occurred in Eastside Los Angeles schools, died of cancer on April 15, 2013 at 79 years of age. $1,300,000. Ochoa: So you entered teaching with that perspective, knowing that it was going to be a fight. Fidel Castro. The next semester, I found myself at Lincoln High School, just like that. Students at five high schools Belmont, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt and Garfield abandoned their campuses in a dramatic bid to remedy overcrowded and run-down schools, soaring dropout rates, poorly trained teachers, and counselors who steered Latino students into auto shop instead of college-prep classes. The conditions were so poor, he told The Times 20 years later, it was "like American education forgot the Latino kid.". As a teacher, [Castro] encouraged his students to think critically, to be proud of themselves and, most important, to believe in themselves. To say, Why should we put up with these things?. I was supposed to take the money home, but then Id go to the movies and buy popcorn. Social Studies (1961) . In 1963, he founded the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, a nonprofit organization that trained future leaders at annual workshops held until 2009, when it lost its funding. This report looks at the perceptions and experiences of Latino teenagers in settings as varied as school, the workplace, the streets, and in their interactions with law enforcement. They saw the love. "They were kicking me as many times as they could," Castro said. Kids were trying to survivethere was a fight between the girls about dying their hair blonde so they could fit in or pass. ", "A lot of people tell me, 'the movement's dead,' " Castro told me. sal castro quotesbmw 328i problems after 100k miles. To him, they jump-started the whole Chicano rights movement. Up . The 15-year-old girl suffered . Throughout his career, Sal Castro inspired countless students to succeed in college and serve their community. sal castro & the chicano struggle for educational justice" from the american ethnic history was a reliable source. Do you?" But then, the next year, I went to Mazatln, Mexico, in the summer, and I contracted the German measles. Word of the action spread quickly, and soon Latino students were leaving classrooms across the district, joined by Castro and others outside the schools, including college students and members of the militant Brown Beret. "I know you didn't mention our community by name but whites thought they knew who you were talking about.". "Here's the protest: any kid with a book," he said, gesturing at the youthful crowd attending a 2008 symposium on Chicano activism at Cal State San Bernardino. The walkouts, or "blowouts" as they came to be known, soon spread throughout the city. He was happy with the choice of Pena. Im the one that you want, not the kids. The next day, I found myself suspended. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past. But then I come back to Los Angeles in the 2nd grade, and the teacher put me in a corner because I wasnt as well versed in English as the rest of the kids. Interacting with college folks and seeing all those PhDs really juices them. We worked for over 10 years on this project and I conducted some 50 hours of taped interviews with Sal. It was the middle of World War II. He soon began pressing for change. They founded the Piranya Caf, which became the headquarters for the movement. I liked the fact that I was able to deal with kids from all around and exchange ideas about what could be done. Retraining so that teachers would have a different approach to teaching, there was even money for that. In the early days of March 1968, as many as 22,000 mostly Mexican American students walked out of their classrooms at seven Los Angeles schools, garnering national attention. Castro: I got a job working playgrounds. He showed me a letter he wrote Obama in 2009 protesting the lack of progress and questioning the administration's educational reforms. I almost dropped out [when] the vice principal called me to the office to sign up for the Selective Service System, when I was 18, he says. The next day, students walked out at other Eastside schoolsRoosevelt, Lincoln and Belmont, despite the school administrators barring the doors and locking the gates. "He told us, you don't have to fight from the fringe, you can fight from the inside," said Avelar-LaSalle, a 1978 Lincoln High graduate who received her doctorate in education from Stanford. "Back then, the school board wanted to march him to the guillotine," said fellow educator Carlos Haro, a longtime friend. 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. Sal Castro was born in California on October 25, 1933. I began revolution with 82 men. Weve had miraculous results from the kids who are doing poorly in school, and the kids who are doing well continue onto the point that 84 to 87 percent of the kids who go through the three-day conference graduate from college. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! It's not as if Sal Castro has no political juice. Expecting to hear that they were fans of the movie "Walkout" directed by Edward James Olmos and starring actors Efren Ramirez and Michael Pena, I was surprised as they started discussing his educational effect on Latinos. Sal Castro, a teacher at Lincoln High, talks to students in 1968. Dubbed the "Chicano Blowouts", the first day of protests were peaceful, but the second day was marred by police violence against students from Roosevelt and Belmont high schools, who, unlike protesters at the other schools, had no protection from college students.[3]. "Very few of us have the opportunity to make history that affects other's lives," said Mario T. Garcia, who collaborated with Castro on "Blowout!" They have also lived in Jackson Heights, NY and Woodside, NY. Seeing, listening and being proud of all of these accomplishments really helped the students think critically about their own family [situations], says Talavera-Bustillos. So most of the things were really not out of this world. Those students who walked outreally gave back, affirms Talaveras-Bustillos. One of the reasons why theres a lot of resistance to allotting more money into education today is because white folks think that money is only going to be spent on minorities in schools, and they dont want to spend their tax money on minorities. Racism in this country has been going on since time immemorial. Today, what these folks are talking about is a strict construction of the Constitution as they see it. Salvador B. Castro (October 25, 1933 - April 15, 2013) was a Mexican-American educator and activist.He was most well known for his role in the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkouts, a series of protests against unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools. We generally have about 150 kids from LA city schools, Valley schools, and parochial schools. He graduated from Cathedral High School in 1952, was drafted into the Army and served in theKorean War. Since 2009, Castro has been trying to get the president, first lady or Vice PresidentJoe Bidento come to Boyle Heights to honor the students of the Eastside walkouts of 1968. Search. Always interested in higher education, he was particularly impressed by the campus of College of William and Mary while stationed in Virginia but he left the Army to marry his high school sweetheart, and attended Los Angeles City College (LACC) before transferring to L.A. State, now known as California State University Los Angeles (Cal State LA) where he obtained his B.A. 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. 100 records for Sal Castro. In the evening the college students become models with a fashion show on how to dress for the world of work. Hours earlier, the "usually glib and gregarious" teacher and activist, as he describes himself, had been released from St. Vincent Medical Center with a serious illness that made it difficult for him to speak. Theyre in groups the whole time theyre there. "That movement redefined who we are," said Haro, then a UCLA student and one of several undergraduates who worked alongside Castro. However, his father was forcibly repatriated during the . She and others were inspired by his story and planned to have another walkout in 1978, but they were met by school administrators and police officers and retreated to class. Sal Castro, a Mexican American social studies teacher at Lincoln High School, saw social and educational inequalities, and he began teaching Mexican and Mexican American history and culture while instilling in his students pride in their heritage. I want to see a room full of PhDs here. Students protested the vast educational inequality they faced: schools that were run down and understaffed, teachers that were overworked and undertrained. Find all the synonyms and alternative words for Sal Castro at Synonyms.com, the largest free online thesaurus, antonyms, definitions and translations resource on the web. We still lead the nation in high school dropouts, college drops, and teen pregnancy. Nothings really changed even though weve got more brown faces, a hell of a lot more brown faces, in positions that should do some good. Sal Castro Middle School was founded in 2009 and originally named Belmont Middle School as we are located in the Belmont High School campus. Meanwhile, Castro continued his education, undertaking a Master's program at Cal State LA. Edward James Olmos directed the film. We asked for people in the community to work in the cafeteria and in the offices so there could be bilingual people. Search. The White Houseimprimatur, he believes, would elevate the walkouts to their proper place in history. Today, we have these reactionary feelings that were dormant in 68. There he attended a private elementary school in Mazatln, Sinaloa. In 2016, we made the . They knew that I was there for them even if they had already graduated. 1551 N. Studebaker Road "It ain't dead. From that job with LA Rec. The school was officially dedicated on Saturday June 5, 2010 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Love Sweet Sister Revolution Dictators Travel Adventure God Humor Happiness Success Age Ideas Politics United States Government Jesus Humanity Funny. Castro had asked him to squeeze in a second ceremony to dedicate a plaque for the Eastside students at Hazard Park near County-USC Medical Center, where they had gathered during the blowouts. I told the kids, Say a few words in Spanishjust a sentence or so for the foreign students. What I didnt know, there was a rule at Belmont that there was not to be foreign language spoken on the stage. the journal uses pathos by showing how far the struggle for chicano's and their education has . Funeral services for Sal Castro: ROSARY: Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. Our Mother of Good Counsel Church, 2060 North Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90027. But just in case, I started going to colleges. When Castro's student Robin Avelar-LaSalle was assigned the subject for a project nearly a decade later, she thought the "walkout" was a dance and didn't know that her instructor was a key figure. More college counselors were hired at Eastside schools and the number of Mexican American students soared at UCLA and other campuses. When I was 23, the height of the Depression hit; my old man got deported. Quotes . To Castro, the remarks ignored the economic reality for Latino parents, many of whom must work long hours away from their kids. He got sent back to Mexico, so then that started the unique process of my education in that we kept going back every summer because my mother had to keep her papers. With what moral authority can they speak of human rights - the rulers of a nation in which . Castro Middle School, she points out, will serve a community where fewer than half the students complete high school. History Shorts: Dolores Huerta Organizes a Movement, Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms, How the Chicano Movement Championed Mexican American Identity. In East L.A., this generation was fortunate to have a role model like Sal Castro, wrote Mario T. Garca, a professor of Chicano/a Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in Blowout, a 2011 memoir co-authored by Castro. This one is for the students, he said. Sal Castro, Brown Berets, college students and others, including students recruited from high schools, holed up at La Piranya and other hangouts over the weekend to prepare. a book about the event. Many of his students became educators, including several who are principals, Lerchenmuller said. : Sal Castro & the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice," was midway through a description of the impact Castro's actions have had on society, when in walked Castro. To that end, he has written inviting the president twice,Michelle Obamatwice, Biden once, Secretary of StateHillary Clintononce and former PresidentClintononce. During a four-decade career as a history teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, Castro mentored thousands of high school students. Collection Edit Buy. Most of them are 11th graders, and some are 12th graders. I could see those people looking at us with disdain that my aunt didnt know how to speak English. The panel discussion "History, Identity & Purpose: California Chicanos & Beyond" on Saturday at the Festival of Books began without Castro, one of the key organizers of the East Los Angeles walkouts in 1968. "Now they're putting up a monument in his honor.". Gloria Estefan. 440 Copy quote. The district attorney slapped a bunch of conspiracy charges on him. EVENTS. Ochoa: So you told them to stay in school. Sal Castro was a teacher at Lincoln High when he helped instigate 'blowouts' that became a seminal event in the Chicano movement. Mario T. Garca, Sal Castro. "I didn't think I was dumb I thought they were dumb.". At Sal Castro . But they did transfer me to Lincoln, and I began all over again. There were at least two police beatings reported on March 6 at Roosevelt. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Several of them are refugees from Latin Am, "Thousands of Europeans in dozens of countries opened their doors to Ukrainians. [All] Power! The only committee recommendation the supervisors acted on, however, was the creation of an "Urban Affairs Liaison", which had little effect on the quality of education in Los Angeles schools. Class size averaged around 40 and the student-to-counselor ratio was 4,000-to-1, according to the United Way of Los Angeles. Former L.A. Times writer Daniel Hernandez talked about growing up in San Diego and Tijuana, the overarching theme in his book "Down and Delirious in Mexico City." Unlike most other testimonios, Garcia peppers Castro's accounts with quotes from different people and news articles. In the 2006 HBO film Walkout, Castro's role was played by Michael Pea. Castro, who was ignorant of the rule, had given the go-ahead to use Spanish, and was immediately transferred to Lincoln High School in Lincoln Heights, in North East Los Angeles. We keep them up until about 12:30-1:00. Cell: (562) 972-0986 Helmeted police who arrived at the schools arrested students or escorted them to the principals office. I had to stay there. Also in 2006, Castro was highly critical of radio DJs who encouraged students to walk out of classes in protest of United States House of Representatives resolution 4437, which, if passed by the United States Senate, will impose stiffer penalties on unauthorized immigrants and their employers. 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Humor Happiness Success Age ideas Politics United States Government Jesus Humanity Funny and Chicano artist Gamboa! About is a struggle to the principals office Latino vote in the evening the college students become models a. And understaffed, teachers that were overworked and undertrained found myself at High... ; my old man got deported trying to survivethere was a teacher at Lincoln High when he launch! Rights movement hospital took in 4 patients from Sal Castro Middle School as we are located in summer! ; the Chicano movement theKorean War you did n't mention our community name! The Depression hit ; my old man got deported slapped a bunch of conspiracy charges him.
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