The Brown Berets were a Chicano nationalist activist group of young Mexican Americans during the Chicano Movement. Modeled after the Black Panther Party, the Brown Berets focused on community organizing against police brutality and were in favor of educational equality. While they are considered the "militant wing" of the Chicano Movement because of their firm stance against racism and their "militant" dress, they were not engaged in physical combat except in clashes with police. Chicano nationalism is the ethnic nationalist ideology of Mexican Americans. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... The ethnonym Mexican-American describes United States citizens of Mexican ancestry (14 million in 2003) and Mexican citizens who reside in the US (10 million in 2003). ... WikiProject Tasks This article has been identified by the members of WikiProject Mexican-Americans/Chicanos as the subject of a group collaboration, currently underway, with the goal of elevating it to Featured Article status. ... Logo of the Black Panther Party. ... Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest. ... Police brutality is a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers. ... The word militant has come to refer to any individual or party engaged in aggressive physical or verbal combat, normally for a cause. ... WikiProject Tasks This article has been identified by the members of WikiProject Mexican-Americans/Chicanos as the subject of a group collaboration, currently underway, with the goal of elevating it to Featured Article status. ... A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organisation whilst participating in that organisations activity. ...

Predecessors

In 1966, as part of the Annual Chicano Student Conference in Los Angeles County, a group of high school students discussed different issues affecting Mexican Americans in their barrios and schools. Among the students at the conference were Vickie Castro, Jorge Licón, John Ortiz, David Sanchez, Rachel Ochoa, and Moctesuma Esparza. These high school students formed the Young Citizens for Community Action the same year, and worked together to support Dr.Julian Nava’s campaign as a Los Angeles school board member candidate in 1967. Sanchez and Esparza had trained with Father John B. Luce’s Social Action Training center at the Church of the Epiphany (Episcopal) in Lincoln Heights and with the Community Service Organization. Map of California showing Los Angeles County. ... High school - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district. ... Moctesuma Esparza (1949-present), born in East Los Angeles, California, is a first generation Chicano producer and filmmaker. ... Julian Nava (born June 19, 1927) is an American educator and diplomat. ... Roman Catholic priests in traditional clerical clothing. ... Lincoln Heights is a district on the East Side of Los Angeles, California. ...

The organization’s name was then changed to Young Chicanos For Community Action or "YCCA". In 1967, the YCCA founded the Piranya Coffee House. In September of 1967, Sal Castro, a Korean War veteran and teacher at Lincoln High School, met with the YCCA at the Piranya Coffee House. The group decided to wear brown berets as a symbol of unity and resistance against oppression. As a result, the organization took on the name "Brown Berets". The agenda of the Brown Berets was to fight police harassment, inadequate public schools inadequate heath care, inadequate job opportunities, minority education issues , the lack of political representation and the Vietnam War. It set up branches in Texas, New Mexico, New York, Florida, Chicago, St. Louis and other metropolitian areas with Chicano populations. Salvador B. Castro (born 1946) is an American educator and activist. ... Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea United States United Kingdom Canada Australia The Netherlands France Philippines Turkey Ethiopia Communist states: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee Chung Il Kwon Douglas MacArthur Mark W. Clark Matthew Ridgway Kim Il-sung Choi... Abraham Lincoln High School, usually referred to simply as Lincoln High School is a secondary school located in Los Angeles, California. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

Actions

On March 1, 1968, the Brown Berets planned and participated in the East L.A. walkouts or "blowouts", the largest and lengthiest in the history of California, in which thousands of students left their classrooms to join the protest for quality education. The Brown Berets were able to unite college and high school students and begin the urban stage of the Chicano Movement. Shortly afterwards, other Chicano students led walkouts all over the Southwestern United States, and the Brown Berets became a national organization. March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The East Los Angeles Walkouts or Chicano Blowouts were a series of 1968 protests against unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District high schools. ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ...

The Brown Berets also were involved in community issues such as unemployment, housing, and democracy, which became important elements in their agenda. The publication of La Causa by Eleazar Risco and the Brown Berets helped to bring awareness of the problems faced every day in the barrios of East L.A.

In 1969, Brown Berets Gloria Arellanes and Andrea Sánchez produced and distributed a newspaper called "La Causa." They also started the first free medical clinics and free breakfast programs.

The Brown Berets also came to be known in the barrio for their direct action against police brutality. They protested the killings and abuses perpetrated by the Los Angeles Sheriffs at the station in the barrio. They supported the United Farm Workers movement and the Land Grant Movement in New Mexico. In the summer of 1968, they participated in the first Rainbow Coalition in the Poor Peoples Campaign. In 1969, they were invited to be part of the first Chicano Youth Liberation Movement organized by Corky Gonzales in Denver, Colorado. Direct action is a form of political activism which seeks immediate remedy for perceived ills, as opposed to indirect actions such as electing representatives who promise to provide remedy at some later date. ... The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) is a labor union that evolved from unions founded in 1962 by César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, Larry Itliong, and Philip Veracruz. ... Reies López Tijerina (born September 21, 1926) has been a radical leader of the Chicano movement which fought for greater rights for Mexican-Americans. ... The Rainbow Coalition refers to at least three groups. ... A silkscreen poster with an image of Rodolfo Corky Gonzales by Rodolfo Rudy Cuellar of the Royal Chicano Air Force announcing a lecture at UC Davis, ca. ...

The Brown Berets organized the first Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War in 1970, and a few months later the National Chicano Moratorium in which close to 20,000 Chicanos marched and protested the high casuality rate of Chicanos in Vietnam and the draft. This peaceful protest became chaotic when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department decided to end the event by attacking attendees. Three Chicano activists were killed (two of them Brown Berets), including journalist Ruben Salazar. The Chicano Moratorium, formally known as the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, was a movement of Chicano anti-war activists that built a broad-based but fragile coalition of Mexican-American groups to organize opposition to the Vietnam War. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... The Chicano Moratorium, formally known as the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, was a movement of Chicano anti-war activists that built a broad-based but fragile coalition of Mexican-American groups to organize opposition to the Vietnam War. ... Ruben Salazar or Rubén Salazar (March 3, 1928 - August 29, 1970) was a Mexican-American news reporter killed by the police during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970 in Los Angeles, California. ...

In 1972, twenty-six Brown Berets occupied the Santa Catalina Island and claimed it for Mexico. However, by this time, the organization had been weakened by internal conflicts and police (and possibly CIA) infiltration. There were approximately thirty chapters throughout the Southwest when the Los Angeles chapter dissolved, but not all the members abandoned the organization. Avalon Bay is a beautiful bay on Catalina Island. ... COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) is a program of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. ...

The Brown Berets set up Benito Juarez Health Clinic ("BJHC") in Chicago in 1972. This was a free health clinic that provided free medical care to all people located throughout the Chicago area. Working in conjunction with Cook County Hospital and other major hospitals in the Chicago area, BJHC served the needs of the uninsured and those with no ability to pay for health care services. It was located at 1818 S. Racine in Aztlán, the community building located on the west side of Chicago just outside of downtown Chicago. It was open to the public four days a week from noon until after 11:00 PM. It provided all types of medical help from colds, major cuts, x-rays, blood test, health screening, shots, medical tests, and full pharmacy services all at no cost. The community knew of its existence through word of mouth. Each day it would handle up to a hundred medical cases. The only question asked from anyone seeking medical help was their name. It served a great need to many who had nowhere to turn for health care. It worked on its own and no political or institutional hospitals throughout the Chicago area had control of it. The main people who helped organize and were the forefront for the clinic in other community maters were Maurice "Mori" Mendoza, Rudy and Gogi Cabello.

In San Antonio, Texas SNCC and Brown Berets often supported each other in marches against the Vietnam War and jail conditions at the Bexar County Jail. SNCC ran African American candidates for State offices under the La Raza Unida Party and often supported Mexican American activists.

See also

• Ethnic nationalism
• Ethnocentrism
• Identity politics
• Black Power Movement
• Red Power
• Civil Rights Movement
• Hispanic nationalism
• Chicano nationalism

Ethnic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives political legitimacy from historical cultural or hereditary groupings (ethnicities); the underlying assumption is that ethnicities should be politically distinct. ... Ethnocentricity is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of ones own culture. ... Identity politics is the political activity of various social movements for self-determination. ... Black Power is a slogan which describes the aspiration of many Africans (whether they be in Africa or abroad) to national self-determination. ... The phrase Red Power, attributed to Vine Deloria Jr. ... Historically, the civil rights movement was a concentrated period of time around the world of approximately one generation (1954-1980) wherein there was much worldwide civil unrest and popular rebellion. ... Flag of Hispanic Heritage. ... Chicano nationalism is the ethnic nationalist ideology of Mexican Americans. ...

External links

• Interview with original Brown Berets co-founder Carlos Montes
• Watsonville Brown Berets website
• Brown Berets of Salt Lake website
• Brown Berets shoot down a police helicopter