I guess thats what made my education unique. Top Sal Castro Quotes. castro-urdiales,spain - sal castro stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images A teacher at Lincoln High talks to students in 1968. "That's why we want him here.". 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. I guess they fell in love, got married, and I was born. Ochoa: How do you see the struggles we have faced since the walkouts? The school was officially dedicated on Saturday June 5, 2010 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. He still believes many L.A. schools are failing working families. Sal Castro: Chicano! "I know you didn't mention our community by name but whites thought they knew who you were talking about.". Login . TOPIC. In March 1968, Castro was a social studies teacher at Lincoln High School near downtown when he helped instigate the protests that became a seminal event in the development of the Chicano movement. Once, Castro's message seemed radical, that the public schools were set up for Mexican Americans and other minority students to fail. "Sal Castro held a mirror up to our district that showed the need for a youths' rights agenda more than 45 years ago," district Superintendent John Deasy said in a statement. $1,300,000. Sal Castro Middle School is a Public school that serves grade levels 6-8. A teacher becomes a mentor to Chicano high-school students protesting injustices in schools in 1968. I constantly tour, even when I don't have a record out. : Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice , a semi-autobiography co-written with UC Santa Barbara Chicano . "It ain't dead. I said, "Oh, shit, I've got problems here. Aware of these and other parallel social movements taking place in the country and around the world, Chicanos demanded that their language, history and culture be reflected in their schools curriculum. I started teaching in 62 in Pasadena and then continued at Belmont High in LA. Aside from Castro's larger-than-life appearance, other authors added to the discussion on Chicano history and identity. Early 1968 was a time of deep civil unrest in the U.S., rife with antiwar and civil rights protests. Following the small walkouts, students from the five public schools in East Los Angeles and North East Los Angeles (Roosevelt, Wilson, Lincoln, Garfield, and Belmont), with the aid of local Chicano college students (like David Sanchez and Vickie Castro), coordinated unified protests. The kids go to a Mexican hoedown, and a conjunto from Santa Paula plays for them. Castro Middle School, she points out, will serve a community where fewer than half the students complete high school. He held various positions in the Los Angeles-area schools before being hired at Belmont High School in Downtown Los Angeles as an interpreter and social studies teacher. 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. Tensions came to a head on March 5, 1968, after administrators at Wilson High abruptly canceled a student production of "Barefoot in the Park" that they said was too risque. These Chicano high school and junior high school students walked out of the East Los Angeles public schools and demanded better education after years of unequal and inferior schooling in segregated so-called Mexican schools. I could see those people looking at us with disdain that my aunt didnt know how to speak English. Castro: As the kids get off the buses in Malibu, high school mariachis are playing. 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. On Monday, Obama's two-day swing through Southern California took him to Keene in Kern County, where he dedicated the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, the first such site to honor a contemporary Mexican American. 11, No. I still remember those days there. LOS ANGELES Sal Castro, a social studies teacher who played a leading role in 1960s Chicano student walkouts, has died at age 79. 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. To that end, he has written inviting the president twice,Michelle Obamatwice, Biden once, Secretary of StateHillary Clintononce and former PresidentClintononce. MarlaTellez (@MarlaTellez) February 1, 2018. Theyre born again, born again Latinos. Close. What we don't know is how to be alone. The Eastside social studies teacher was branded a dangerous agitator in the press held responsible for inciting thousands of teenagers to march out of school. He will be remembered as a teacher, counselor, leader and courageous adult who stood with students in the 1968 walkouts and ever since dedicated his life to learning and leadership, board President Monica Garcia said in a statement. Helmeted police who arrived at the schools arrested students or escorted them to the principals office. He showed me a letter he wrote Obama in 2009 protesting the lack of progress and questioning the administration's educational reforms. Ochoa: What would you say to todays teachers, given the current conditions for Chicano/Latino students? That year, he also earned a credential to teach secondary school and taught junior high in Pasadena before landing a position at Belmont High. "Farmworkers are no threat," he wrote. But when I realized I would have to go out and beg for money I said, Nah, Ill beg for money for the kids, which I do for the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, but not for myself. I liked the fact that I was able to deal with kids from all around and exchange ideas about what could be done. But Castro insisted on meeting with me to express his frustration with President Obama. the journal uses pathos by showing how far the struggle for chicano's and their education has . Castro's influence was so deep and profound that many of his students became teachers, and one Carlos Moreno went on to become a state Supreme Court justice. Im the one that you want, not the kids. The next day, I found myself suspended. We lead the nation in college dropouts, and we also lead the nation in the dubious distinction of teen pregnancies. I could get invited to the White House again today and tell President Obama: President Obama, you know what I told President Clinton 13 years ago? They wanted me to stay in Pasadena, but I said, My fight is down there in LA. I was already thinking fight rather than my teaching. More than 1000 people gathered to eulogize him. 49 quotes from Fidel Castro: 'A revolution is not a bed of roses. De color amarillo intenso, se usa como acompaante de salchichas, perros calientes, hamburguesas, sndwiches, etc. But in 1968 people encouraged you to tell students not to walk out and you didnt listen. He was 79. The district attorney slapped a bunch of conspiracy charges on him. Close. They never once bother to see Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that says the government is there to promote the general welfare. The hospital took in 4 patients from Sal Castro Middle School shooting. "Before that, we would talk about doing a walkout, but really it was just a bluff," Castro said. I didnt want anybody hurt. Boys and girls cry when they leave. "We continue to give back to the community because of him.". The community surged to his defense; eventually the charges were dropped and he was rehired. Contact York State Farm Agent Sal Castro at (717) 741-2200 for life, home, car insurance and more. He was arrested that day and charged with 30 counts of disturbing the peace and conspiracy to disturb the peace after the walkouts, which involved students from Lincoln, Garfield, Belmont, Wilson and Roosevelt high schools. The board held a meeting to discuss the demands on March 28 but concluded it didnt have the funds to implement any changes. The STANDS4 Network. and Parks, I was able to also get a job with the school district in youth services. Happy to read and share the best inspirational Sal Castro quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes. Salvador Castro was a Mexican American civil rights activist and fervent education reformer. 28 reviews of Sal Castro - Keller Williams Pacific Estates "WOW where do I begin!!! Love Sweet Sister Revolution Dictators Travel Adventure God Humor Happiness Success Age Ideas Politics United States Government Jesus Humanity Funny. Nearly all of Castro's quotes comes from the 2014 book Blowout! Castro left his classroom and joined the students, who were later pummeled by riot police. Stars: Alexa PenaVega, Michael Pea, Yancey Arias, Laura Harring. Kids are not going to go to school.. I went to college and became a teacher.' So, here we are saying, Stay in school blah, blah, blah, and they were mad. I was there three months when I started figuring out, There aint no Chicano kids in the student council. Around 67 percent of the students were Chicanos, and there were no kids on the student council of Latino descent. Working with the kids, I started thinking: Man, this is cool. Anaheim's Savanna High School celebrates Sal Castro Day every March 27. The papers made it seem like these were radical ideas. Castro was a Park and Recreation Commissioner for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. Castro, now 78, believes the blowouts should be seen as the equivalent of black civil rights touchstones like the Selma march or the lunch-counter sit-ins. READ MORE: Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano: The History Behind the Terms. 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. 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. I said, Oh, shit! and walked home. The charges were dropped in 1972. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Blowout! Castro wasn't a Marxist. To that end, he has written inviting the president twice,Michelle Obamatwice, Biden once, Secretary of StateHillary Clintononce and former PresidentClintononce. Analyzes how the journal focuses on a specific day in history that helped the chicanos, the walkouts. In June 2010, Sal Castro sat down with Gilda L. Ochoa to talk about his passion for educational justice. Castro worked to encourage students at Eastside high schools to protest crowded classrooms and the tracking that funneled many bright minds away from college-prep courses. [All] Power! a book about the event. Castro was arrested for his leadership role in the East L.A. walkouts. Sal Castro Middle is a public school located in Los Angeles, CA, which is in a large city setting. I went to the principal and I told her, You know, Mrs. Lord, more than half the kids are Latino, Mexican kids, and weve got no kids in any of the leadership positions or even this program. She said, Mr. Twelve others, many of whom were Brown Berets members, were also arrested and charged. Sometimes its Dr. Rudy Acua or Dr. Juan Gmez-Quiones, so its been high-powered people. However, his father was forcibly repatriated during the . "As President Obama said when told that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I too am surprised and honored that a school is being named after me," said Castro, visibly moved by the honor. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.', 'The ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger.', and 'There is often talk of human rights, but it . He urged Mexican American students to run for student government offices, causing a ruckus when he encouraged them to give campaign speeches in Spanish. "Back then, the school board wanted to march him to the guillotine," said fellow educator Carlos Haro, a longtime friend. Sal Castro was a distinguished teacher, mentor, advocate, and community organizer, remembered for his role in the 1968 East Los Angeles Blowouts - a series of historic protests led by Mexican American high school and college students to demand an equitable education. Although the walkouts had no immediate effect in changing conditions for Chicanos in Los Angeles schools, historians and activists consider them a catalyst for the then-burgeoning Chicano civil rights movement. 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. The son of Mexican immigrants, Castro was born in Boyle Heights on Oct. 25, 1933, and spent some of his early childhood in Mexico, where he learned to read in Spanish. Sal Castro Realtor BRE 01839759. Rate this quote: (5.00 / 1 vote) 2,587 Views. I was a provisional teacher, which meant I had no rights. He was happy with the choice of Pena. Ochoa: Youve had a long commitment to teaching. In the wake of the demonstrations, Castro was arrested and charged with 15 counts of conspiracy to disrupt public schools and 15 counts of conspiracy to disturb the peace. At Sal Castro . The Board of Education voted him out of his job. At the height of the civil rights movement, Castro, then a young teacher at Lincoln High, walked out with his students to protest schools that set up Mexican Americans to fail. Ochoa: So you entered teaching with that perspective, knowing that it was going to be a fight. Broad public recognition of his contributions to the struggle for education equality came decades after the protests, when his story was told in films, including "Walkout," the 2006 HBO movie directed by Edward James Olmos. I said, Well all get together and create a constitutional convention towork out whos going to run for what. It was raining cats and dogs, but this school auditorium was filled, kids wanting to get involved. I thought that she was the dumb one. The first annual Sal Castro Memorial Lecture will take place at noon on Friday, Feb. 20, in the McCune Conference Room, 6020 Humanities and Social Sciences Building. - Attorney who filed Writ of Mandamus to reinstate DACA in 2021 -, Click on the link to read about the unequal standards applied to Ukrainian refugees and Central American refugees., An overwhelming majority of my students in my classes at UCR are Latino. Notify me of new comments via email. SalCastrohomes@hotmail.com. Castro: The last straw was in April 1967. Sal Castro was born in California on October 25, 1933. Then, you better reek of ethnic studies. The demands were real revolutionary ideas like smaller classes and more counselors. "Now they're putting up a monument in his honor.". : Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice at Amazon.com. He was 79. About 15 years ago, I invited Sal Castro to speak to my Chicano history class at UC Santa Barbara. "I helped Tony when he was 15 get intoUCLA," Castro said. Unlike most other testimonios, Garcia peppers Castro's accounts with quotes from different people and news articles. "We had rights to be educated. Thousands of Mexican American students participated in the 'Blowout,' the first urban, youth-led protest of the burgeoning Chicano civil rights crusade. It's not as if Sal Castro has no political juice. Sal Castro led extraordinary changes, served as an inspiration, and has left a remarkable legacy in today's society. When I was 23, the height of the Depression hit; my old man got deported. Standing in the halls on the first full day of the blowouts, teacher Sal Castro looked on with pride and emotion as his . The 15-year-old girl suffered . He died in Los Angeles on April 15, 2013.[2]. View the profiles of professionals named "Sal Castro" on LinkedIn. Considered pivotal moments in the Chicano movement, the walkouts and the Moratorium inspired a generation of artists, writers, activists and educators, many of whom are active today. 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. The next day, another walkout was staged in protest of a school policy prohibiting male students from wearing their hair long. The youth conference opened my eyes. Sal Castro Quotes & Sayings. "That movement redefined who we are," said Haro, then a UCLA student and one of several undergraduates who worked alongside Castro. The next semester, I found myself at Lincoln High School, just like that. Chicano and Chicana studies, Latinx studies They became professors, they became activists in their own communities.. They really loaded you up. Fired after the walkouts, he fought successfully to be reinstated to his teaching position but was transferred several times to schools that had largely non-Latino enrollments. They started writing the initials TM on the chalkboard of every classroom. The winners were selected from the Walkouts' five. Often, Castro runs into students who tell him it's time for another round of walkouts. Castro: I guess that thing about the desk and the fact that I was successful in school early. The president can't be everywhere, especially during a tough reelection campaign. Salvador Castro, a social studies teacher who played a leading role in the historic 1968 Chicano student walkouts protesting rampant bias and . Close. This time, it was the youth who said, unh-uh, says Valerie Talavera-Bustillos, professor of Chicano studies at Cal State Los Angeles. Castro: They did tell us not to walk out. That really made people stop and think, Oh yeah, these kids are right. I started feeling a weight on my shoulders, like it was a barbell, and it kept getting heavier and heavier. While not opposed to the demonstrations themselves, Castro was concerned that those encouraging the protests did not accompany the students to protect them as he and the other organizers of the 1968 walkouts had. My students and I were enthralled with the power of his voice, the humanity that he projected . That was what we wanted in 68, but what do these Mexicans know? ", from "Teaching Is a Fight An Interview with Sal Castro" (2010).[4]. He has never heard from the president. I truly appreciate his attention to detail and hard work in securing us our dream home and selling our first home. Ochoa: What happens during those three days? As L.A. Unified commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Walkouts, the district honored 11 educators who are continuing the legacy of Sal Castro, the . To say that Donald Trump has said something outrageous - and laughable - is de rigeur at this point. Sal Castro : . Any financial support or donations to enhance the mission of the CMSC would be greatly appreciated! TM stood for the Tortilla Movement! As a young teacher, Castro was a key organizer of the 1968 student . On March 31, police arrested Castro and 12 other walkout leaders and charged them with disturbing the peace and other crimes. Sal Castro Quotes & Sayings. Castro, who was born Salvador but went by Sal, was a social studies teacher in different schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He was 79. Rating: N/A. If racism were eradicated then we really would have liberty and justice. And youve got to get your degrees. They knew that I was there for them even if they had already graduated. "That's the only way we can move forward, through education.". Showing search results for "Sal Castro Civil Rights" sorted by relevance. To say, Why should we put up with these things?. I like kids and they respond to me, too. At the time, I was a junior at Cal State Los Angeles, and I changed my major to social studies. 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. By Teresa Watanabe. Eastside parents staged weeks of protests, pressuring the school board to rehire him after the criminal charges were dropped. I was able to learn to read, and everything around me looked like family. They taught about people such as Cuauhtmoc, the last Aztec emperor, and the Nios Hroes of Chapultepec. I was scared because you always think as a little kid, The police are going to protect me. But when they were part of it, I said, Oh God!. Starting in 1963, the aim was to train a new generation of . 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