WEBVTT 00:00:06.118 --> 00:00:08.118 Prior to World war two, Chicanos living in Arizona faced severe employment 00:00:10.198 --> 00:00:15.017 discrimination and also faced segregation in housing and public facilities. 00:00:15.050 --> 00:00:18.896 Chicanos in general held the most menial jobs and had little opportunity 00:00:18.929 --> 00:00:26.929 for promotions 00:00:49.179 --> 00:00:52.546 in the schools. There was a definite objection to hiring Chicano teachers 00:00:52.579 --> 00:00:56.737 even as Spanish teachers. Up to the 19 forties, Chicano teachers 00:00:56.770 --> 00:01:01.146 represented less than 1% of the public school teachers in Arizona. They 00:01:01.179 --> 00:01:06.467 were also greatly underrepresented on policy making school boards. In 1930 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:11.665 of the 1106 elementary school board members in Arizona, only 55 were 00:01:11.698 --> 00:01:13.956 Chicanos. 00:01:13.989 --> 00:01:17.105 Segregation of Chicano students was a widespread practice throughout the 00:01:17.138 --> 00:01:21.576 schools and communities in Arizona. The whole school that I attended the 00:01:21.609 --> 00:01:27.876 whole school system, elementary school was segregated that way. It was 00:01:27.909 --> 00:01:32.897 ironic because each little building had two classrooms. It was a little 00:01:32.930 --> 00:01:37.176 courtyard between the two on one side, they'd have the Mexican Children on 00:01:37.209 --> 00:01:40.266 the other side, they would have the American Children. The principal 00:01:40.299 --> 00:01:44.867 explained to me later that what caused that was the so called need for 00:01:44.900 --> 00:01:50.436 Americanization. Um Of course, it was a philosophy that existed then not 00:01:50.469 --> 00:01:55.397 only in the schools. But in other facets of social life in Miami, for 00:01:55.430 --> 00:02:01.275 example, the Catholic church that we attended was segregated. The Mexicans 00:02:01.308 --> 00:02:06.926 sat on one side while they were required to the so called Americans or 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:12.036 white or whatever sat on the other. When I became an altar boy, I asked 00:02:12.069 --> 00:02:15.475 the priest what goes on and he said, well, that's, it's because we give 00:02:15.508 --> 00:02:18.755 the sermon in Spanish and it's a lot easier to have all the people in one 00:02:18.788 --> 00:02:25.255 area. Uh Of course, anyone could see through that because in Miami, just 00:02:25.288 --> 00:02:28.446 about everybody spoke Spanish, whether they were Spanish speaking origin 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:32.656 or Mexican or Hispanic origin or not. It was a common language for 00:02:32.689 --> 00:02:38.386 business, for social life, etcetera. The extremes of that which existed 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:41.987 right up until the early forties or during the early forties during the 00:02:42.020 --> 00:02:47.327 World War Two period was segregation, not only in churches, uh where in 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:52.376 some cases, by the way, they had a totally American Presbyterian church 00:02:52.409 --> 00:02:55.987 and right across the street from it was this little ramshackle Mexican 00:02:56.020 --> 00:03:01.745 Presbyterian church. The tragedy there was that instead of people really 00:03:01.778 --> 00:03:09.297 believing the message of the church, everyone was kind of cynical. And 00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:12.436 yeah, we went to church, but we kind of felt that, you know, this is a 00:03:12.469 --> 00:03:16.677 game they're playing. And in fact, among the Mexican uh young people, 00:03:16.710 --> 00:03:20.656 young men, we used to laugh and say, uh when you die, what are you going 00:03:20.689 --> 00:03:26.846 to Mexican heaven or uh American heaven, Mexican hell for American hell, 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:33.666 we had that same type of segregation in the community, social activities. 00:03:33.699 --> 00:03:41.106 There was a Y MC A in Miami that catered primarily to the Anglo community. 00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:45.217 A half a block away. Actually one building away because the company store 00:03:45.250 --> 00:03:50.606 separated the two Y MC A s was the uh Mexican Y MC A. It was a little 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:56.217 small building. They had a pool table in there, a piano and uh in the back 00:03:56.250 --> 00:04:03.245 they had a handball court. The um events that went on in the Mexican Y MC 00:04:03.278 --> 00:04:10.156 A were cultural in a sense. Uh The American activities included the 00:04:10.189 --> 00:04:14.797 swimming pool, weightlifting, boxing, all the activities that go with the 00:04:14.830 --> 00:04:19.967 Y MC A function, uh on Fridays and Saturdays, they would begin to drain 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.666 the uh pool to put in fresh water and they would allow the Mexican Y MC A 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:30.916 kids to come in on Saturday morning and it was kind of ridiculous and 00:04:30.949 --> 00:04:36.406 hilarious because as we would swim around, the water level would be going 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:40.245 down. And after a while, we were like tadpoles swimming down in the bottom 00:04:40.278 --> 00:04:48.278 of the pool just playing at swimming. But the twist here or the paradox is 00:04:48.298 --> 00:04:53.776 that we were conditioned to this. We thought this is life and we, I guess 00:04:53.809 --> 00:05:00.856 assumed that from then on, life was going to be that way 00:05:00.889 --> 00:05:04.486 when the United States entered World War I, I in December of 1941 The 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:09.670 Chicanos were once again asked to support their country and the war effort. 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:11.720 At the same time, the Chicano was involved in self preservation against 00:05:12.869 --> 00:05:16.745 discrimination at home. They were also fighting in the war front abroad. 00:05:16.778 --> 00:05:19.515 Their accomplishments and contributions to the war brought them into the 00:05:19.548 --> 00:05:24.086 heroic limelight. They became the most decorated ethnic group of World War 00:05:24.119 --> 00:05:27.305 two and they had the highest proportion of congressional medal of honor 00:05:27.338 --> 00:05:31.926 winners of any minority group in the United States. Discriminatory 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:36.226 practices were built into the Selective Service Act of 1940. Workers in 00:05:36.259 --> 00:05:40.096 the defense industry were granted occupational deferments where as workers 00:05:40.129 --> 00:05:43.346 in the essential agricultural industry with a heavy concentration of 00:05:43.379 --> 00:05:47.226 Chicanos were granted no deferments. Nearly all of the able bodied 00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:51.036 Chicanos were liable for the draft. Even Mexicano nationals living in the 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:54.377 United States were immediately classified one a and drafted into the 00:05:54.410 --> 00:05:59.176 service. Chicanos from the CD Marios joined all the branches of the armed 00:05:59.209 --> 00:06:05.986 services available. Estimates indicate that 375,000 to 500,000 Chicanos 00:06:06.019 --> 00:06:10.055 served in the armed forces during World War Two. These figures reveal that 00:06:10.088 --> 00:06:13.786 Chicanos had a very high enlistment rate in proportion to the overall 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:18.055 population. Sylvester Es Herrera. Arizona's congressional medal of honor 00:06:18.088 --> 00:06:22.895 winner was decorated by President Harry S Truman for his March 15th, 1945 00:06:22.928 --> 00:06:26.467 heroism on a French battlefield. 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:29.567 In the course of assaulting a German machine gun crew. He stepped on a 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:33.717 land mine and lost both legs below the knee. In spite of his injuries, he 00:06:33.750 --> 00:06:38.046 courageously captured eight German enemy soldiers. Arizona. Governor 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:43.305 Osborne declared August 25th, 1945 as Sylvester Herrera Day and extended 00:06:43.338 --> 00:06:46.627 him a hero's welcome, complete with a grand parade through the streets of 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.075 Phoenix. 00:06:49.108 --> 00:06:52.486 Chicanas equally served their country well, during this period, when the 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:56.377 Women's Army Auxiliary Corps wax issued a call for linguists from Arizona 00:06:56.410 --> 00:07:00.736 in February of 1943. The skills and knowledge of those Chicanas who spoke 00:07:00.769 --> 00:07:04.426 and read the Spanish language were in great demand because it was such a 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:08.356 patriotic feeling among the Mexican and Mexican American women who wanted 00:07:08.389 --> 00:07:12.745 to contribute to the war effort. They also were able to do their part by 00:07:12.778 --> 00:07:17.567 joining in and enlisting in the wax or the waves. Once they became part of 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:22.822 that service, they were utilized in many ways. For example, women became 00:07:22.855 --> 00:07:27.661 translators uh in their capacities. They were bilingual, they became 00:07:27.694 --> 00:07:32.741 communication specialists. They also provided uh important uh clerical 00:07:32.774 --> 00:07:36.611 assistance in some areas where they were needed because of their bilingual 00:07:36.644 --> 00:07:42.197 skills. They decoded uh certain kinds of military information perhaps may 00:07:42.230 --> 00:07:45.937 that it may not have been classified, but it was important. They also 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:50.575 provided uh translation services for other personnel within uh their 00:07:50.608 --> 00:07:56.736 divisions. So in actuality, while they didn't contribute uh in a military 00:07:56.769 --> 00:08:01.067 way, as the men were overseas fighting, they did contribute as individuals 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:06.305 , as Mexican American women and as uh women in the service by providing 00:08:06.338 --> 00:08:12.786 much needed military assistance in their own units. La Social Hispano 00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:17.096 Americana de Madres, Es Posas, Hispanic American Mothers and Wives 00:08:17.129 --> 00:08:20.736 Association was another example of the patriotism espoused by the Chicano 00:08:20.769 --> 00:08:25.455 community. The association was organized in 1941 to provide news 00:08:25.488 --> 00:08:29.245 information and social activities for Chicano servicemen in the local area 00:08:29.278 --> 00:08:36.076 of Tucson. The uh Sosa Hisano Americana de Madre is Posas, which is the 00:08:36.109 --> 00:08:40.217 Spanish American Mothers and Wives Association was a very patriotic group 00:08:40.250 --> 00:08:44.366 during the period of the mid forties. And at the height of the war in 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:50.856 Tucson, the uh founders and the organizers were men and one very hard 00:08:50.889 --> 00:08:57.226 working woman. Uh Rosita Rodriguez, she was at that time in 1944 working 00:08:57.259 --> 00:09:02.677 as a secretary assigned to the treasurer's office at City Hall. And she 00:09:02.710 --> 00:09:07.005 had been very concerned about what she could do in the war effort and what 00:09:07.038 --> 00:09:10.106 her friends could do because their husbands and their sons and their 00:09:10.139 --> 00:09:14.076 brothers and their friends were being called uh for military service. The 00:09:14.109 --> 00:09:19.177 uh members of the uh Sosa Hisano Americanas, the Madre Ce Posas were very 00:09:19.210 --> 00:09:24.307 , very active in their community through the sales of war bonds and war 00:09:24.340 --> 00:09:30.927 stamps. In a short period of less than 12 months, they sold over $1 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.206 million in war bonds, which was a feat that I think is of great 00:09:35.239 --> 00:09:38.826 significance because while there were others who were selling war bonds 00:09:38.859 --> 00:09:43.836 and selling war stamps in other areas of, of Arizona. This one particular 00:09:43.869 --> 00:09:49.116 group of individuals sold over a million dollars and that was an 00:09:49.149 --> 00:09:54.856 accomplishment that wasn't equaled at that time anywhere else in terms of 00:09:54.889 --> 00:09:59.196 their activities. The major activity was the publication of their 00:09:59.229 --> 00:10:05.797 newspaper which was called Chatter. The uh secretary of the Eac Mrs, uh 00:10:05.830 --> 00:10:11.066 rather Miss Rodriguez was also the editor of Chatter. She along with 00:10:11.099 --> 00:10:15.996 others uh information from the two Tucson newspapers. At that time, the 00:10:16.029 --> 00:10:21.265 Tucson Citizen and the Arizona Daily star. She uh compared the events and 00:10:21.298 --> 00:10:25.515 the news that was being printed in the Tucson papers took what she needed 00:10:25.548 --> 00:10:30.755 from those two newspapers, printed the information in chatter and 00:10:30.788 --> 00:10:35.706 translated some of that information for the soldiers who uh were bilingual. 00:10:35.739 --> 00:10:40.015 And so therefore their chatter became very important vehicles of 00:10:40.048 --> 00:10:45.217 information for the news for the soldier from Tucson. During the war. Many 00:10:45.250 --> 00:10:48.645 women work in jobs that traditionally were closed to them. Some worked in 00:10:48.678 --> 00:10:51.755 the railroad yards doing the work that traditionally was considered men's 00:10:51.788 --> 00:10:55.375 work. Others also joined the local Red Cross organizations donating 00:10:55.408 --> 00:10:59.967 hundreds of volunteer hours in community work. After world war two, 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.667 employment opportunities had changed little for the Chicano servicemen. 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:06.467 They were back in the pits and the shafts of the mining camps or out 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:10.667 picking lettuce and cotton in the farming areas. Despite the sacrifice and 00:11:10.700 --> 00:11:15.037 the heroism, the Chicano serviceman remained unrecognized, unrewarded and 00:11:15.070 --> 00:11:19.476 unappreciated by the Anglo Americans back home. While the Mexican American 00:11:19.509 --> 00:11:25.255 serviceman was serving his country abroad, his Mexican American friends 00:11:25.288 --> 00:11:30.726 were experiencing a form of racism and repression at home. For example, 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:36.436 the literature will tell you and individuals will tell you themselves that 00:11:36.469 --> 00:11:40.255 while they were at home, these are the men, the Mexican American men, 00:11:40.288 --> 00:11:45.346 while they were at home, they couldn't do some of those things that the 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:49.625 Anglo American soldiers could do. For example, Mexican American men 00:11:49.658 --> 00:11:54.057 throughout Arizona, while they were still in their military uniforms could 00:11:54.090 --> 00:11:57.726 not go to certain restaurants. They could not attend certain dances 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:02.015 because the restaurants and the dances were segregated. There were 00:12:02.048 --> 00:12:06.625 separate uh seating locations for Mexicans in theaters. Uh There were 00:12:06.658 --> 00:12:10.816 separate eating facilities for Mexicans and Mexican Americans and other uh 00:12:10.849 --> 00:12:18.407 um bars, for example, or restaurants as I mentioned. Um So these men um 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:23.696 and the families of these men were very, very confused and uh very 00:12:23.729 --> 00:12:28.557 outraged at this form of racism while they were serving their country at 00:12:28.590 --> 00:12:31.836 home, they could not be provided the same service that others were being 00:12:31.869 --> 00:12:36.417 given. So some individuals and some family members wrote to the governor 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:41.047 of the state, Sidney Osborne and complained about this form of racism that 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:46.755 was occurring in the state. Examples occurred in Clifton and Morei and 00:12:46.788 --> 00:12:53.596 Globe in Miami, Phoenix, Tucson, Avondale, other places, Peoria, um other 00:12:53.629 --> 00:13:00.236 areas that uh uh that are in are in the state. The letters are on file in 00:13:00.269 --> 00:13:05.157 the governor's papers. At the State Capitol Library. And the governor's 00:13:05.190 --> 00:13:09.436 papers show that these individuals and family members wanted the governor 00:13:09.469 --> 00:13:13.616 to do something about racism in the state. And the governor while he was 00:13:13.649 --> 00:13:18.736 very sympathetic, stated that he really had no authority to tell an 00:13:18.769 --> 00:13:25.525 individual businessman how to run his business. 00:13:25.558 --> 00:13:29.037 Racism and discrimination continued to haunt and follow them wherever they 00:13:29.070 --> 00:13:33.037 went. In some cases, they remained constant obstacles in their quest for 00:13:33.070 --> 00:13:37.125 acceptance and recognition as an American equal countless incidents of 00:13:37.158 --> 00:13:41.236 racism and discrimination against Chicano servicemen occurred just a few 00:13:41.269 --> 00:13:44.625 days before the Declaration of Sylvester Verra Phoenix's only 00:13:44.658 --> 00:13:48.275 congressional medal of honor winner, Governor Osborne took action to have 00:13:48.308 --> 00:13:52.717 signs removed from Phoenix business establishments which read no Mexican 00:13:52.750 --> 00:13:55.167 trade wanted 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:58.645 throughout Arizona. Segregation and discrimination practices in public 00:13:58.678 --> 00:14:02.836 facilities, housing, education and employment as well as recreation 00:14:02.869 --> 00:14:06.895 continued through the 19 forties and 19 fifties efforts to break these 00:14:06.928 --> 00:14:12.196 barriers began after the war and continued through the 19 fifties. 00:14:12.229 --> 00:14:15.385 Many of these efforts were directed by returning Chicano war veterans who 00:14:15.418 --> 00:14:19.226 began organizing trade unions, political civil rights and veterans 00:14:19.259 --> 00:14:23.366 organizations dedicated to fighting injustices. 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:26.375 Some of the organizations that were active in the 19 forties and 19 00:14:26.408 --> 00:14:30.885 fifties in Arizona were the CSO community service organization, the G I 00:14:30.918 --> 00:14:35.407 Forum, Lulac, the League of United Latin American citizens, the Alianza, 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.765 Hispano Americana and in the mining communities, the Mine Mill Union, one 00:14:39.798 --> 00:14:42.816 important factor in the successful development of Chicano organizations. 00:14:42.849 --> 00:14:47.116 Following. World war two was the urbanization of the Chicano population. 00:14:47.149 --> 00:14:50.816 The Chicano like other Americans moved from the rural areas to the cities 00:14:50.849 --> 00:14:57.025 seeking jobs and economic security. By the end of 1950 80 to 85% of the 00:14:57.058 --> 00:15:02.775 Chicano population were living in Arizona's major cities. Arizona. Chicano 00:15:02.808 --> 00:15:06.417 servicemen who returned to Phoenix after World war two were subjected to 00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:11.057 discrimination and decided it needed a change. In 1945 they applied for an 00:15:11.090 --> 00:15:14.657 American legion charter. The charter was approved making the Thunderbird 00:15:14.690 --> 00:15:18.736 Post 41 presently known as the Tony Sosa Post. Arizona's first Chicano 00:15:18.769 --> 00:15:23.537 legion post and the second post in Phoenix Post 41 immediately became a 00:15:23.570 --> 00:15:27.375 problem solving agent for the Chicano community. 00:15:27.408 --> 00:15:30.736 The uh purpose of establishing our legion post. Of course, when we uh 00:15:30.769 --> 00:15:36.486 returned, uh we felt that we have done our part for the country, for our 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:43.726 country and we felt that there were a lot of injustices that needed to be 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:48.667 to be overcome. Housing discrimination was one of the first barriers faced 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:53.696 by returning Chicano servicemen. That was our first issue because the city 00:15:53.729 --> 00:16:00.226 of council announced that they would build a Hispanic uh project at an old 00:16:00.259 --> 00:16:04.217 city dump located about fifth street in Henshaw road at the time. It's 00:16:04.250 --> 00:16:10.076 Buckeye road now. And uh they assured us that they would cover the dump 00:16:10.109 --> 00:16:13.885 and landscape and it would look pretty. And so this is where the Hispanics 00:16:13.918 --> 00:16:19.135 are going to be the Anglers would be situated at 16th Street and Roosevelt 00:16:19.168 --> 00:16:24.385 on a separate project. And our first reaction was that we did not accept 00:16:24.418 --> 00:16:29.907 that concept that we wanted the housing and we desperately needed housing. 00:16:29.940 --> 00:16:35.057 But we wanted all to be together at 16th Street in Roosevelt. And the 00:16:35.090 --> 00:16:39.816 city council said no. When we were called in by the city council, we 00:16:39.849 --> 00:16:42.836 explained to them, listen, we fought together, we lived together in the 00:16:42.869 --> 00:16:49.057 service. Why can't we live together here? Why must we must we be? Why must 00:16:49.090 --> 00:16:54.297 we be segregated here when we lived together and fought side by side in 00:16:54.330 --> 00:16:59.226 the service? I said it just doesn't make any sense. And the city council, 00:16:59.259 --> 00:17:02.436 the city manager there, Mr Roy Hein at the time explained, well, he says 00:17:02.469 --> 00:17:07.387 it just isn't acceptable out here. I mean, it isn't that the feeling that 00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:12.156 the city council has any feelings like that, but and this is the way we 00:17:12.189 --> 00:17:15.575 think it should be. So we said it is unacceptable to us and we refuse to 00:17:15.608 --> 00:17:18.575 accept the concept. 00:17:18.608 --> 00:17:21.726 The Anglo Veterans formed a group called the Garfield Property Owners 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:25.897 Protective Association. The association stated that if Chicanos would move 00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:29.266 in, it would lower property values, giving the neighborhood an unsightly 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:35.315 appearance and the crime rate would go up. So when we uh when the media 00:17:35.348 --> 00:17:39.607 council first opened and uh this was the first order of business where Mr 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:47.640 Poole got up and spoke and uh Mr Poole was uh he was a good speaker, 00:17:47.858 --> 00:17:54.156 but a very derogatory one and he spoke of Mexicans in the neighborhood and 00:17:54.189 --> 00:17:59.597 crime would go up and, and rape would go up and women, your women are 00:17:59.630 --> 00:18:04.936 going to be molested. Well, the members of the city council were appalled. 00:18:04.969 --> 00:18:09.877 They did not expect this kind of a presentation and they were frankly 00:18:09.910 --> 00:18:16.256 appalled. But uh uh Mr Poole, Mr Poole did make that kind of a 00:18:16.289 --> 00:18:20.867 presentation. Well, I got up speaking along the same lines that we could 00:18:20.900 --> 00:18:25.416 contribute to the community that we were seeking a place for our families 00:18:25.449 --> 00:18:31.097 and our Children. And that we had again fought side by side, lived 00:18:31.130 --> 00:18:36.686 together, we could do the same thing here in the end, the legion post 41 00:18:36.719 --> 00:18:40.526 and Chicano veterans won out the city council prohibited discrimination in 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.456 public housing for veterans. In addition, the housing project was named 00:18:44.489 --> 00:18:49.906 after a well known Chicano veteran who had died in the war. Harry Cordova 00:18:49.939 --> 00:18:53.946 in Tempe. Chicano servicemen organized themselves to fight discrimination 00:18:53.979 --> 00:18:58.446 in public facilities. The first issue that they confronted was segregation 00:18:58.479 --> 00:19:03.585 at the Tempe Beach swimming pool. The first strategy was that they would 00:19:03.618 --> 00:19:09.055 both visit every member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. What had 00:19:09.088 --> 00:19:14.075 happened? The city of Tempe leased Tempe Beach and a swimming pool to the 00:19:14.108 --> 00:19:20.085 Junior Chamber of Commerce to get around the segregation thing because I 00:19:20.118 --> 00:19:24.367 don't believe it as a municipality, they could, they could keep Hispanics 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:27.946 out, but what they did, they leased it. I don't know what the lease 00:19:27.979 --> 00:19:32.315 arrangements were, but it was leased to the Tempe Junior Chamber of 00:19:32.348 --> 00:19:40.026 Commerce. So Danny and Raymond both uh went around to see what the 00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:44.006 sentiment was and they said they felt that some were a little hostile, 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:51.266 some were non committal and some were for integrating the pool and of 00:19:51.299 --> 00:19:58.236 course, the playground all around picnic grounds, et cetera. So now our 00:19:58.269 --> 00:20:06.269 next step was then to ask for a ask if they vote again on the issue. On 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:12.706 May 20th, 1946 the Chamber of Commerce and MP voted to admit Chicanos to 00:20:12.739 --> 00:20:15.835 the city swimming pool in response to pressure from the Chicano veterans 00:20:15.868 --> 00:20:20.335 group in the mining community of Miami. However, Chicago veterans face 00:20:20.368 --> 00:20:22.967 similar barriers. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:29.065 When I came back to Miami in 1946 I found that conditions hadn't changed 00:20:29.098 --> 00:20:33.585 as far as the segregation in the dance hall at the Y MC A and the schools 00:20:33.618 --> 00:20:39.256 et cetera. And some of us formed an all American vets group. The intent 00:20:39.289 --> 00:20:42.736 was that we were going to break these barriers, change these patterns 00:20:42.769 --> 00:20:46.325 because in going out into the rest of the world, we had learned that 00:20:46.358 --> 00:20:52.416 people or humans deal with each other on a human basis. And we met young 00:20:52.449 --> 00:20:57.156 women of other cultural groups where we didn't run into these barriers of 00:20:57.189 --> 00:21:02.256 segregation and discrimination and enjoyed our life and came back to Miami 00:21:02.289 --> 00:21:06.535 and wanted to continue that life pattern and then share it with the others. 00:21:06.568 --> 00:21:14.568 Um In the dance hall situation, American night was on Saturdays Spanish 00:21:15.150 --> 00:21:20.535 night, which was really Mexican night, Spanish night was on Sunday. And 00:21:20.568 --> 00:21:24.236 those of us that had, had the World War I, I experience had acquired 00:21:24.269 --> 00:21:29.156 girlfriends there. Locally, we couldn't go to the dances with him. If they 00:21:29.189 --> 00:21:32.835 were anglo, they couldn't go to the dance on Sunday. We couldn't go on 00:21:32.868 --> 00:21:38.545 Saturday. It came to a boiler head there and we forced the issue. The all 00:21:38.578 --> 00:21:43.936 American vets, we boycotted the dance hall. We formed a chain of the 00:21:43.969 --> 00:21:47.637 tallest and biggest guys that we could find there to stand out in front 00:21:47.670 --> 00:21:52.516 and discourage people from going in. It took the management of the dance 00:21:52.549 --> 00:21:57.666 hall and the chief of police and the mayor about two weeks to discover 00:21:57.699 --> 00:22:01.996 that we weren't going to give in and it was peaceful demonstration. None 00:22:02.029 --> 00:22:06.467 of us ever got arrested. We were threatened but we weren't arrested. An 00:22:06.500 --> 00:22:11.756 interesting development there was that the local newspaper 00:22:11.789 --> 00:22:17.137 uh published an editorial somewhere about the middle of all this activity 00:22:17.170 --> 00:22:22.607 about these returning American Gis who had come back as fascists and 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:28.406 communists. And uh other terms that we weren't even a knowledgeable as to 00:22:28.439 --> 00:22:32.986 what they were calling us. But we had been fighting the so called fascists 00:22:33.019 --> 00:22:36.406 in Europe and 00:22:36.439 --> 00:22:40.446 most of the young men that I had known had gone to the Pacific because 00:22:40.479 --> 00:22:46.555 when the draft called them in, most of them were drafted into the infantry 00:22:46.588 --> 00:22:51.236 and shipped off as infantrymen to the Pacific. A few made it to Europe, 00:22:51.269 --> 00:22:56.545 but we had become cognizant of the fact that in fighting fascists, we 00:22:56.578 --> 00:23:00.305 weren't fascists and we weren't communist because we didn't even know what 00:23:00.338 --> 00:23:04.785 a communist was in those days. But we were labeled all these things, uh 00:23:04.818 --> 00:23:09.867 troublemakers, uh activists, 00:23:09.900 --> 00:23:15.305 all interesting terms. When in fact, all we were trying to do was equalize 00:23:15.338 --> 00:23:20.676 the human element, the the reception so that we would all be considered as 00:23:20.709 --> 00:23:27.045 equal people. By the second week of this boycotting of the uh dance hall, 00:23:27.078 --> 00:23:31.137 the management decided that they were losing money and they had better 00:23:31.170 --> 00:23:39.170 change their way. And that integrated the dance halls in Miami. 00:24:05.390 --> 00:24:08.656 While some Chicanos went to the war front, others became part of the labor 00:24:08.689 --> 00:24:13.035 force so vital to the war efforts. There were approximately 3000 to 10,000 00:24:13.068 --> 00:24:16.706 Chicano miners employed in the copper industries during the war. Their 00:24:16.739 --> 00:24:21.426 employment was usually restricted to common labor and semi skilled jobs. 00:24:21.459 --> 00:24:25.506 Craft unions of the A F of L would not allow Chicanos in their unions. 00:24:25.539 --> 00:24:28.506 The Chicano miners were subject to pervasive social and economic 00:24:28.539 --> 00:24:32.976 discrimination, housing education and recreation activities typically were 00:24:33.009 --> 00:24:36.877 segregated. The Chicano miners face segregated employment in the Mexican 00:24:36.910 --> 00:24:41.467 gangs as well as substandard job classifications and pay scales and a lack 00:24:41.500 --> 00:24:46.206 of standard seniority provisions. The copper companies had two pay scale 00:24:46.239 --> 00:24:50.467 classifications called the Southwest differential. Anglo American males 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:55.486 with no experience were paid $6.36 per shift as a helper. The Chicano who 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:01.156 had experience was classified as a common labor and paid $5.21 per shift 00:25:01.189 --> 00:25:08.857 in 37. Uh I got a job with a company as a labor you might say, and at that 00:25:08.890 --> 00:25:14.156 time was 35 cents an hour. And uh 00:25:14.189 --> 00:25:18.795 they did, well, uh there were certain jobs that uh Mexican American or 00:25:18.828 --> 00:25:21.746 they say Mexicans could not have, have. In other words, they could not be 00:25:21.779 --> 00:25:26.285 operators. They were not allowed to be truck drivers, cat scanners, shl 00:25:26.318 --> 00:25:30.956 operators and things like that. You could be a labor. And then uh on labor 00:25:30.989 --> 00:25:37.696 , they had 444 classes. They had labor, A Labor B. Labor C and Labor D 00:25:37.729 --> 00:25:40.926 which had sometimes you were only meant about a quarter of a cent 00:25:40.959 --> 00:25:45.967 difference in, in the hourly rate. But uh it always happened when a 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:53.926 Mexican was hired, he started as a Labor D Anglo. He started at Labor A or 00:25:53.959 --> 00:26:00.117 maybe Labor B but not, not any lower than that. And uh this went on for, 00:26:00.150 --> 00:26:04.397 well, until about 1943 00:26:04.430 --> 00:26:12.430 and A. So it was that way that uh they were, were discriminated on the job. 00:26:14.479 --> 00:26:17.585 Well, the analysts had, like I said, they had, they had the, they 00:26:17.618 --> 00:26:20.946 operated the shovels and they operated the bulldozers and they operated 00:26:20.979 --> 00:26:28.226 the trucks and uh they did uh the journeyman repairs and uh things like 00:26:28.259 --> 00:26:34.946 that. And, and uh Mexicans were not uh hired or promoted to those jobs, 00:26:34.979 --> 00:26:38.996 even though they were working as a helper in one of the crafts, they were 00:26:39.029 --> 00:26:45.756 not. Uh well, shall I say, accepted in a craft union? They had a, what 00:26:45.789 --> 00:26:51.597 they call it, a Federated labor's union. And all the Mexican uh workers 00:26:51.630 --> 00:26:55.597 were told that it was better for them to be all together in one. So they 00:26:55.630 --> 00:27:01.986 started that they were allowed into the Federated Labors union of the FFL. 00:27:02.019 --> 00:27:07.637 And uh I know I, at that time I was a helper and a bulldozer. But uh I 00:27:07.670 --> 00:27:11.127 could not, I tried to sign up with the upper engineer but they told me 00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:16.456 that I had to go to the labor union of the, the Federated with excuse, say 00:27:16.489 --> 00:27:19.897 , well, I think you Mexican boys and that was the expression used. You 00:27:19.930 --> 00:27:24.535 Mexican boys would be better. I think you'll feel better by being all 00:27:24.568 --> 00:27:29.186 together among yourselves and things like that. So I just signed up, I 00:27:29.219 --> 00:27:33.597 paid my initiation fee and I didn't pay any more dues. I said, what's the 00:27:33.630 --> 00:27:37.686 use of join a union? When they, here, we thought that uh we, we're joined 00:27:37.719 --> 00:27:41.075 the union to end the discrimination on the job. And then we find out that 00:27:41.108 --> 00:27:46.696 this craft unions were discriminating the same as the company 00:27:46.729 --> 00:27:49.936 efforts by Chicanos to eliminate discrimination and inequities in the 00:27:49.969 --> 00:27:54.186 mining communities were successful. The International Union of Mine Mill 00:27:54.219 --> 00:27:58.196 and smelter workers became the champion of Chicano miners rights. The Mine 00:27:58.229 --> 00:28:01.746 Mill truly pioneered the civil rights movement in the mining communities 00:28:01.779 --> 00:28:05.217 and led the fight against racial discrimination and allowed Chicanos to 00:28:05.250 --> 00:28:11.117 work in the leadership positions within the union. My meal uh naturally 00:28:11.150 --> 00:28:17.756 had the reputation of being anti discrimination and the moto was a ninja 00:28:17.789 --> 00:28:24.887 21 is a ninja 12 because they said that if a worker try to keep another 00:28:24.920 --> 00:28:31.565 worker, say we try to keep a, the Mexicans, it might say vulgar keep him 00:28:31.598 --> 00:28:35.545 in the gutter, he had to stay there to hold him down. So therefore, the 00:28:35.578 --> 00:28:39.535 Anglo was in disadvantage and the Mexican worker was a disadvantage for 00:28:39.568 --> 00:28:44.565 the same thing, you know. So the company, uh that way they didn't have to 00:28:44.598 --> 00:28:47.805 raise wages so much because uh the anglers were trying to keep the 00:28:47.838 --> 00:28:50.686 Mexicans down. And at the same time, they didn't know it, but they were 00:28:50.719 --> 00:28:56.325 keeping themselves down too. And mind me also was an end to all of that. 00:28:56.358 --> 00:29:02.416 They did a, they did a good job of organizing and, and uh as soon as the 00:29:02.449 --> 00:29:06.627 year was up when the A FL was certified, they petitioned for an election 00:29:06.660 --> 00:29:11.535 and Manuel won the election and they took all the whole, the whole shebang. 00:29:11.568 --> 00:29:15.426 You might say all the officer or at least most of the officers were 00:29:15.459 --> 00:29:20.666 Mexican Americans and, uh, naturally the meetings, uh, most of the 00:29:20.699 --> 00:29:26.107 meetings that were held by, I mean, attended by Mexican American. And so, 00:29:26.140 --> 00:29:30.516 uh, they start calling it the Mexican Union. And, uh, when we came to 00:29:30.549 --> 00:29:33.736 negotiations, they always started saying, well, I wonder what the Mexican 00:29:33.769 --> 00:29:36.706 Union is gonna get this time. I wonder what they're gonna do this time. 00:29:36.739 --> 00:29:40.426 But after we settled our agreement and made us some wages, they go over 00:29:40.459 --> 00:29:46.325 there and we used to call them the me too because we, uh, we negotiate for 00:29:46.358 --> 00:29:52.575 two or three months and, uh, the craft, you just stay back back. Of course 00:29:52.608 --> 00:29:56.186 , I'm not blaming the local guys, you know, but it was the way that the, 00:29:56.219 --> 00:30:00.986 the business agents in Phoenix and Tucson handle it. And then, uh, after 00:30:01.019 --> 00:30:05.545 we settled with the company, they go down there in a couple of days, they 00:30:05.578 --> 00:30:09.387 come back with a, with a signed agreement, which was almost identical to 00:30:09.420 --> 00:30:13.835 what we, the same wage scale that we had agreed to. The same vacation 00:30:13.868 --> 00:30:18.217 benefit, the same pension benefits when we got it, the same, uh, uh, paid 00:30:18.250 --> 00:30:23.976 holidays, things like that in 55. Prior to prior to how we start 00:30:24.009 --> 00:30:28.726 negotiation. We also organized a woman's auxiliary and, uh, naturally they 00:30:28.759 --> 00:30:33.266 were the wives of some of the officers, plus a lot of the other women. 00:30:33.299 --> 00:30:38.726 They were, see, they, they had been, uh, want to, to, to, to know what was 00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:44.756 going on. And, uh, some women I like, like the, the wife of Henry and my 00:30:44.789 --> 00:30:50.196 wife, they approach us and says, uh look, uh uh you guys are doing all 00:30:50.229 --> 00:30:53.545 this and, and sometimes we don't even know what you're doing or what 00:30:53.578 --> 00:30:57.107 you're asking for and things like that. So it's all right. So we organized 00:30:57.140 --> 00:31:02.236 ac uh slaves auxiliary and, and they became proactive. 00:31:02.269 --> 00:31:05.847 The mine mill union had positioned itself as a major collective bargaining 00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:09.035 agent by the end of world war two for the production workers in the copper 00:31:09.068 --> 00:31:13.426 industry. Unlike other unions, the mine mill did not turn a deaf ear to 00:31:13.459 --> 00:31:17.476 the complaints of discrimination by the Chicano membership. Mine Mill 00:31:17.509 --> 00:31:20.847 officials consistently sought contract agreements prohibiting 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:25.785 discrimination in both pay and employment practices. The mine mill union 00:31:25.818 --> 00:31:28.906 brought three copper companies before the National Labor Relations Board 00:31:28.939 --> 00:31:33.016 for its employment practices against Chicano miners. 00:31:33.049 --> 00:31:38.426 So we filed a charge with the Nonfish 00:31:38.459 --> 00:31:46.206 Commission uh on discrimination against the Mexican worker 00:31:46.239 --> 00:31:53.367 and after long and extended hearings and a lot of testimony, 00:31:53.400 --> 00:31:55.446 no fair 00:31:55.479 --> 00:32:03.479 commission ruled in our favor. I order the companies to stop uh the no, we 00:32:04.709 --> 00:32:11.486 spell and the the companies accepted it. They, they didn't like it but uh 00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:16.597 they knew we'd strike it. They didn't accept it. The National Labor 00:32:16.630 --> 00:32:19.825 Relations Board ordered the Miami the consolidated and the interest 00:32:19.858 --> 00:32:23.266 smelting refining companies to halt their discriminatory employment 00:32:23.299 --> 00:32:27.107 practices towards Chicano miners. The mine mill was so popular with the 00:32:27.140 --> 00:32:30.726 miners that by the end of world war two, they represented three quarters 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:35.085 of the copper producing workers of the Southwest 00:32:35.118 --> 00:32:38.996 in the 19 fifties. The local mine Mill Union 616 of Clifton Morei 00:32:39.029 --> 00:32:42.717 organized voter registration drives that led to the election of Chicano 00:32:42.750 --> 00:32:47.156 representatives on the school board and town council. 00:32:47.189 --> 00:32:50.075 The post war period in Arizona was another important period in which 00:32:50.108 --> 00:32:54.545 Mexicano and Chicano labor aided the United States economy. Agricultural 00:32:54.578 --> 00:32:57.226 workers were again in great demand to raise and harvest the lettuce, 00:32:57.259 --> 00:33:01.206 citrus and cotton fields in Arizona under agreements made both by the 00:33:01.239 --> 00:33:06.006 United States and Mexico. In 1942 50,000 workers were imported to Arizona 00:33:06.039 --> 00:33:09.347 and other Southwester States. Under a program known as the Bracero program 00:33:09.380 --> 00:33:13.325 , the Mexicano workers under this agreement were to work only in 00:33:13.358 --> 00:33:17.367 agricultural areas were not to displace domestic workers and were exempt 00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:20.936 from military service. Although the agreement contained provisions for the 00:33:20.969 --> 00:33:25.666 protection of workers. Many abuses were common 00:33:25.699 --> 00:33:29.186 after world war two, the growers throughout the Southwest became 00:33:29.219 --> 00:33:32.666 accustomed to efficient and cheap labor. They used their influence to 00:33:32.699 --> 00:33:38.565 extend the Bracero program in 1951 and again in 1955 00:33:38.598 --> 00:33:42.956 agriculture in 1950 was Arizona's largest basic industry employing a labor 00:33:42.989 --> 00:33:47.565 force of over 50,000 to supplement the Bracero workers. Labor contractors 00:33:47.598 --> 00:33:51.426 were hired to recruit more Chicano labor. 00:33:51.459 --> 00:33:54.867 Thousands of migrant workers came from Texas to work the cotton harvest. 00:33:54.900 --> 00:33:58.946 Campesinos who were dependent on farm labor settled near farms on small 00:33:58.979 --> 00:34:03.446 Campos in communities such as Guadalupe. So Norita Sali Puede and San 00:34:03.479 --> 00:34:07.565 Francisco. Others settled on the fringes of rural towns such as Chandler, 00:34:07.598 --> 00:34:13.247 Glendale, Casa, Grande, Eloy Yuma and Somerton. During the 19 forties, 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.747 organizing efforts by Chicano workers to improve working conditions were 00:34:16.780 --> 00:34:22.026 often met with resistance by law enforcement officials. In 1947 Governor 00:34:22.059 --> 00:34:25.796 Osborne called the National Guard when a strike was organized by the Cio 00:34:25.829 --> 00:34:29.186 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Workers Union in the Alhambra and Tollison 00:34:29.219 --> 00:34:34.195 districts in Arizona's educational institutions, the discrimination and 00:34:34.228 --> 00:34:37.905 segregation patterns towards Chicano students in the 19 twenties and 19 00:34:37.938 --> 00:34:43.057 thirties remained after world war two. In 1949 a civil rights report on 00:34:43.090 --> 00:34:47.467 education in Arizona reported that the towns of Au Saint John's Douglas 00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:50.956 Safford and Duncan had Chicano and other minority students segregated in 00:34:50.989 --> 00:34:54.416 their schools. Other schools that practice segregation were Miami Glendale 00:34:54.449 --> 00:35:00.445 , Tollison, Tempe Flagstaff Superior and Clifton. The language barrier 00:35:00.478 --> 00:35:03.425 became the most popular reason given by school administrators for 00:35:03.458 --> 00:35:07.316 segregating Chicano students. Most schools felt that placing Chicano 00:35:07.349 --> 00:35:10.287 students with a limited command of the English language with Anglo 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:14.756 students would impede the educational progress of the Anglo students. The 00:35:14.789 --> 00:35:18.267 disadvantages of this system were summarized by a school principal where 00:35:18.300 --> 00:35:21.356 segregation was practiced. 00:35:21.389 --> 00:35:25.997 We have two separate school districts for grammar schools in our town. 00:35:26.030 --> 00:35:29.166 Originally, the intention was to separate the Mexican Children from the 00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:32.925 Anglo Children, graduates from the Spanish school speak very little 00:35:32.958 --> 00:35:37.017 English which is reflected in their performance in high school. An average 00:35:37.050 --> 00:35:40.807 of about 15 or 20 Mexican students in high school each year. And there's 00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:46.356 not been a Mexican graduate from high school in the last three years 00:35:46.389 --> 00:35:49.445 in the town of Tesson. The Chicano community along with returning 00:35:49.478 --> 00:35:52.497 servicemen decided to fight discrimination and segregation in their 00:35:52.530 --> 00:35:56.247 schools. With the assistance of Frank Robles, the Chicano legislator and 00:35:56.280 --> 00:36:00.626 Ralph Estrada, a legal attorney for the Allianz Hisano Americana. The 00:36:00.659 --> 00:36:04.497 Chicanos filed in the federal courts against the Tollison School district 00:36:04.530 --> 00:36:09.767 State Senator Manuel Lito Pena remembers the case when we were growing up 00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:16.655 um in Thomas and the school elementary school who was on the north side of 00:36:16.688 --> 00:36:21.467 Van Buren and that's the way it was during the war. And when I, when I 00:36:21.500 --> 00:36:28.586 left uh to the army, when I came back and I was just charged in 1946 in 00:36:28.619 --> 00:36:36.619 late 46 um they had built, uh they had built a school on the uh on the uh 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:46.006 uh north side of that urine and it was uh designed strictly for the 00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:54.039 Chicano kid and the Mexican kid. What happened there is that um um it was 00:36:54.429 --> 00:37:00.566 a young fellow by the name of uh John Camacho. Hi and Thomason who was 00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:06.586 studying for the ministry of some religious order. And he put together a 00:37:06.619 --> 00:37:09.057 group 00:37:09.090 --> 00:37:16.876 of, of uh of families in Thomas and to um try to correct the 00:37:16.909 --> 00:37:21.956 discrimination that was going on there. Um 00:37:21.989 --> 00:37:24.615 And he did put a group together. There was a fellow by the name of 00:37:24.648 --> 00:37:30.307 Faustino Curiel who became the uh the chairman of uh of that group. And I 00:37:30.340 --> 00:37:36.217 was uh elected the uh the vice chairman of the group and it was called uh 00:37:36.250 --> 00:37:40.865 Muo Uno Mexicano Mmum. 00:37:40.898 --> 00:37:46.126 Um It was, it was a, it was a fairly long struggle because I believe it 00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:49.077 started about 1947. 00:37:49.110 --> 00:37:55.467 Uh and contacts were made with the uh with the superintendent of the 00:37:55.500 --> 00:38:01.977 schools who who refused to uh integrate the students. And contacts were 00:38:02.010 --> 00:38:06.217 made with the, with the school board. Uh and particularly the, the 00:38:06.250 --> 00:38:10.477 chairman of the school board fill up the name of Shey who was a farmer in 00:38:10.510 --> 00:38:17.727 , in the Thomson area. Uh and they refused to uh integrate schools. And, 00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:22.747 and so we wrote letters to just about everybody that we could and uh 00:38:22.780 --> 00:38:27.956 that's throughout the country. We wrote letters to people all over the 00:38:27.989 --> 00:38:32.526 country. Um We wrote letters to our, our congressional delegation in 00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:40.559 Washington. We had one response from uh from the senator and my father who 00:38:40.918 --> 00:38:44.736 send me a copy of the state constitution where he outlined that it was a 00:38:44.769 --> 00:38:48.885 state problem and they, we ought to take care of it. Here. There was 00:38:48.918 --> 00:38:52.945 another fellow by the name of Frank Robles, who was a um member of the 00:38:52.978 --> 00:38:58.756 House of Representatives from, from uh Tucson. Uh He didn't write, he came 00:38:58.789 --> 00:39:05.626 to Thomson and, and uh sat down with us and, uh in essence, that's really 00:39:05.659 --> 00:39:10.776 when the, when the, uh uh when they struggle to correct that situation and 00:39:10.809 --> 00:39:18.809 Thomas and began to take form because he, with his leadership and his, and 00:39:19.438 --> 00:39:25.807 this credibility that he had, uh we formed a uh a more cohesive group in 00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:31.287 Thomson. As a matter of fact, the, the entire, the entire uh uh the 00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:36.506 northern part of Tollison was involved in the discrimination case. It was 00:39:36.539 --> 00:39:42.827 , um it was the first case in, in the, in the country there was, there was 00:39:42.860 --> 00:39:50.860 a f uh on, on discrimination. The Texas case was filed after our case. It 00:39:51.820 --> 00:39:54.566 was litigated before ours. So that's the one that's, that's uh 00:39:54.599 --> 00:39:59.486 acknowledged as the first case. But Toli and Gonzalez versus Sheeley was 00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:05.477 filed was filed first by, um, by her attorney Ralph Estrada from Tucson 00:40:05.510 --> 00:40:10.646 and it lasted a couple of years. Uh We, we went through uh the federal 00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:18.679 courts and the federal judge uh uh issued a temporary injunction uh to the 00:40:20.059 --> 00:40:25.486 school board and Thomas and uh telling them to stop discrimination. And I 00:40:25.519 --> 00:40:30.865 believe he did that uh to allow the school board to um, do it on their own 00:40:30.898 --> 00:40:38.898 voluntarily. They didn't, uh they didn't. Uh and um I called Frank Roz and 00:40:39.260 --> 00:40:46.327 uh af after about three months after the uh temporary injunction, then, uh 00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:51.236 Frank came down and we uh uh visited the schools. I visited the 00:40:51.269 --> 00:40:56.557 superintendent of the schools and reminding him what the judge has said 00:40:56.590 --> 00:41:04.416 and uh but nothing came of it. So, so Ralph Estrada, our attorney went 00:41:04.449 --> 00:41:12.449 back to court and this time the judge issued a permanent injunction for 00:41:12.918 --> 00:41:17.467 that school board and any future school boards in Thomson to uh to stop 00:41:17.500 --> 00:41:22.747 discrimination and, and ordered the school board to begin integration 00:41:22.780 --> 00:41:27.566 within 15 days. And, and I remember 00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:33.626 that when we went to court, um, the second time, the final time that the 00:41:33.659 --> 00:41:39.296 United States Marshal had gone out to bring in the superintendent of 00:41:39.329 --> 00:41:45.345 schools fellow, the name of Kenneth Dyer. And uh, and the, and the, and 00:41:45.378 --> 00:41:50.635 the school board trustees into court where they, where they had to face 00:41:50.668 --> 00:41:54.747 the judge. And I remember the judge was very angry, very angry with them 00:41:54.780 --> 00:41:58.206 because they, they had not done what he wanted them, what he asked them to 00:41:58.239 --> 00:42:01.736 do. He didn't tell them to do it the first time, but the second time he 00:42:01.769 --> 00:42:06.595 told him to do it and if they didn't start integrating within 15 days, he 00:42:06.628 --> 00:42:10.945 would find him in contempt and, and drag him back in and, and treat with 00:42:10.978 --> 00:42:14.497 them. At that time. The end result is that that was the end of 00:42:14.530 --> 00:42:17.856 discrimination. And Thomson, 00:42:17.889 --> 00:42:21.577 the case known as Gonzalez versus Shey was the first such case filed in 00:42:21.610 --> 00:42:25.526 the Southwest. The federal courts ruled in favor of the Gonzalez family 00:42:25.559 --> 00:42:29.006 and found that schools assigned to Chicano students were inferior to those 00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:32.327 provided for other Children. In terms of facilities, equipment and 00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:36.695 personnel, segregation practices continued in the schools of Glendale, 00:42:36.728 --> 00:42:41.046 Douglas Miami and Winslow when the Allianz chose the Glendale district as 00:42:41.079 --> 00:42:44.865 their next target. Glendale, fearful of losing the case, refused to fight 00:42:44.898 --> 00:42:50.287 and agreed to close down the Mexican school. In 1954 the town of Winslow 00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:54.175 limited the use of the swimming pool to Chicanos to once a week. That day 00:42:54.208 --> 00:42:57.626 was Wednesday, the day before the pool was emptied and cleaned. The 00:42:57.659 --> 00:43:00.566 Alianza legal staff brought suit on behalf of four Chicano residents of 00:43:00.599 --> 00:43:04.195 Winslow. Winslow officials knowing they would lose. The suit agreed to 00:43:04.228 --> 00:43:07.236 allow the Chicano community use of the pool whenever it was open to the 00:43:07.269 --> 00:43:11.816 public. Now, here in Phoenix, we had, we had no swimming pool so the 00:43:11.849 --> 00:43:17.376 Mexican could, could swim in. Um We had cities pools, university, uh 00:43:17.409 --> 00:43:22.026 swimming pool and uh the old swimming hole up here on 35th Avenue in Van 00:43:22.059 --> 00:43:27.445 Buren. Uh None of these riverside, uh None of these were allowed the 00:43:27.478 --> 00:43:32.997 Chicanos and, and that was throughout the state that came down uh theaters 00:43:33.030 --> 00:43:38.537 , we were allowed. Uh We had one theater by the name of Rex Theater, 00:43:38.570 --> 00:43:43.655 Little Dinky three theater theater in downtown Phoenix. And, and the 00:43:43.688 --> 00:43:48.227 strand I believe we were allowed one particular day during the week to, to 00:43:48.260 --> 00:43:53.416 go to the theater that began to disappear. Uh Also discrimination and of 00:43:53.449 --> 00:44:00.467 the restaurants there there used to be signs of, in restaurants, uh, 00:44:00.500 --> 00:44:07.776 that said, um, um, no dogs or Mexicans allow them. And, uh, you know, that 00:44:07.809 --> 00:44:11.486 kind of stuff makes me angry still and really, but that kind of stuff 00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:17.017 existed. Yeah. But I'm convinced that the Thomson case had a lot to do 00:44:17.050 --> 00:44:21.646 with ending discrimination. Um, I know, I know I did in Phoenix and I 00:44:21.679 --> 00:44:25.477 don't, it throughout Arizona and I'm convinced that it had an impact 00:44:25.510 --> 00:44:30.816 throughout the uh the Southwest, wherever the Chicago community is. 00:44:30.849 --> 00:44:33.977 Chicanos also started political organizations and statewide voter 00:44:34.010 --> 00:44:37.626 registration drives. The community service organization was established by 00:44:37.659 --> 00:44:40.967 Chicanos in Arizona for the sole purpose of encouraging Chicanos to 00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:48.247 register and vote. We are creating um a, a power base by registering 00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:53.405 people to vote and we let everybody know that here was a group of people 00:44:53.438 --> 00:44:59.456 that are ready to vote for whoever and depending upon how they performed 00:44:59.489 --> 00:45:07.376 uh with the problems that faced the, the Chicano community. Um The CSO I 00:45:07.409 --> 00:45:13.126 believe ran uh through 1955 00:45:13.159 --> 00:45:19.247 56 in that in room. We must have registered. I know we did, we wrote to 00:45:19.280 --> 00:45:24.916 thousands and thousands of people. Uh not only here in Phoenix, but 00:45:24.949 --> 00:45:28.155 throughout Maricopa County, 00:45:28.188 --> 00:45:31.635 the Chicano community had served notice to Arizona's public officials 00:45:31.668 --> 00:45:35.405 through grass root organizational activities and legal court action that 00:45:35.438 --> 00:45:39.236 segregation and discrimination in public facilities and educational 00:45:39.269 --> 00:45:43.595 institutions would no longer be tolerated. These efforts served as a 00:45:43.628 --> 00:45:47.776 catalyst and laid the foundation for the role that Chicanos would play in 00:45:47.809 --> 00:45:55.809 the civil rights movement of the sixties. 00:46:42.418 --> 00:46:44.418 Hm.