When educator Mariana Ramírez was a teacher at Roosevelt High School, she regularly included the history of the 1968 walkouts in her lesson plans. As a college student, she was inspired by the student youth movement in which thousands of students walked out of four Eastside schools to protest their educational conditions.
“Several of us [at Roosevelt] touched upon this spirit of youth resistance in the neighborhood and figured out ways to teach those lessons, of engaging and learning their histories while becoming more involved civically,” Ramírez said.
The aim, she said, was for students to “consider themselves scholars and agents of change.”
Now a doctoral student at UCLA’s School of Education, Ramírez is conducting a dissertation project focused on connecting students with these histories in community settings.
Part of this project included hosting an “Intergenerational Plática” at Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School on Tuesday evening, where elders involved in the walkouts engaged in conversation with Eastside educators and residents. Also, there were members of the “Politics and Pedagogy Collective,” a coalition of Roosevelt teachers that have hosted on-campus discussions on environmental justice, immigration, racism, and police brutality.
“There are different ways to think about equity and education and one of those ways is to connect to the elders who envision different futures for us,” Ramírez said, adding, “How do we create opportunities for our students so that they also can envision different futures?”
Ramírez opened the event by expressing gratitude to the elders who organized and participated in the “blowouts,” telling them: “You taught us that not only do we name oppression but we also call out oppression.”
A few organizers who were present included Victoria “Vickie” Castro and Rachel Ochoa-Cervera.
At the event, Rosalio Muñoz, a Chicano activist who helped organize the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, spoke about the importance of the 1963 Chicano Youth Leadership Conference at Camp Hess Kramer in Malibu. The conference gathered Mexican-American high schoolers from Southern California for leadership training.
“This was the basis for [the movement],” Muñoz said.
Attendees split off into three groups. Each group included a couple of elders who shared their experiences working at or attending LAUSD schools during the 1960s.
Charlotte Lerchenmuller, who was a Lincoln High School student teacher, noted that students had legitimate concerns about the education they were receiving.
“Lincoln, Garfield, Roosevelt, Wilson, and Belmont [high schools] all had about a 50% dropout rate. The school facilities were in disrepair. The classrooms were overcrowded. There were few, if any, Mexican teachers. Few counselors and no college counselors,” Lerchenmuller said.
In a different group, Margarita “Mita” Cuaron, who was a student at James A. Garfield High School, recalled her presence at the walkouts.
Cuaron dropped out of Garfield but later obtained her GED. She remembered hearing Lincoln Heights teacher Sal Castro publicly ask the school administration why Mexicans weren’t encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities. “The response was ‘Oh Mr. Sal Castro you’re overly sensitive. Mexicans are a kind, fine, and gentle people and you don’t want to mess with that,’” Cuaron recalled.
Another former Garfield student, Cassandra Zacarias, noted that even though she was a good student, her participation in the walkouts resulted in negative consequences. “A teacher that liked me said, ‘I don’t care how well you do in my class, you’re getting an F,’” Zacarias said.
The elders’ accounts struck an emotional chord with many teachers who participated in the conversation.
Attendee Mary Jane Barajas said it was “reinvigorating” to hear stories of resistance. Rachel Ochoa-Cervera, a former Roosevelt student and retired educator involved in the walkouts, believed there was more work to be done, but remained hopeful for the future.
“We don’t believe we’re where we need to be, but that’s why we need you to keep it going,” Ochoa-Cervera said.
