Women of Chicano Movement Continue to Fight for Justice

While the combat for societal justness has been successful the headlines successful caller years, it's been going connected for decades.

In the South Bay, it was a radical of women during what was called the Chicano Movement that created a template for governmental and societal activism. Some of those women are inactive warring for justness today.

Rachel Silva and Shirley Trevino are immoderate of the fiercest women 1 volition meet.

"They are the powerhouses of the Chicano Movement successful San Jose," prof and historiographer Nannette Regua said.

The Chicano Movement – a combat for societal justness successful the 1960s and 70s – began amid reports of constabulary harassing and wrongly arresting Chicanos who visited Hellyer Park successful San Jose. They called it La Raza Park.

"We patrolled the constabulary connected the Fridays and Saturdays," Trevino said.

The Chicanas marched to metropolis hallway successful protest.

Day successful and time out, the combat for justness and equality drove them to protestation astatine schoolhouse committee meetings oregon astatine market stores, anyplace they felt societal injustice was taking place.

"I sacrificed my family," Silva said. "Two of my sons died. I lone had 3 sons. Two of them died. I neglected them a batch due to the fact that you person to beryllium acceptable to spell 24 hours."

The combat for justness besides faced different hurdle. The Chicanas were warring an interior battle.

"The Chicanas experienced sexism wrong the Chicano organizations present successful San Jose," Regua said. "Even though they were arsenic committed to the movement, they experienced degradation."

They did what they had ever done. They recovered a mode to overcome, forming their ain radical called the Mujeres of Aztlan, oregon women of Aztlan.

They advocated for amended streets and sidewalks, for adjacent attraction successful schools, for territory elections, and for amended wellness attraction each portion warring to extremity oppression and brutality successful the community.

"So that we could fto the assemblage know, particularly the antheral Latinos know, that we wanted a dependable astatine the table," Trevino said.

For the iconic civilian rights leaders, the Chicano Movement whitethorn person ended, but the combat has not. They inactive beryllium connected assemblage boards, continuing the ngo they pioneered decades ago: to guarantee justness for all.