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Board President Mónica García Statement on 1968 Walkouts (3-5-19)
Contact: Monica Carazo (213) 241-6766
Board President Mónica García Statement on 1968 Walkouts
Commemorating the 51st Anniversary
LOS ANGELES (Mar. 4, 2019) — A year has passed since we celebrated the 50-year anniversary of the 1968 Walkouts. Fifty one years ago, Chicano student leaders from the historic Eastside region of Los Angeles demonstrated the power of nonviolent resistance through El Movimiento, part of the Latino civil rights movement for sociopolitical empowerment, and raised consciousness of the Mexican-American experience in the United States.
From March 1 to March 8, 1968, approximately 15,000 students walked out of classes from Woodrow Wilson, James A. Garfield, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Belmont, and other Los Angeles senior high schools, demanding adequacy, equity, and cultural relevancy from the Los Angeles Unified School District. They sought educational justice.
Today and in the month of March, we commemorate the student walkouts, which symbolizes a significant moment in United States, Latino, and educational history. Our youth organized and spoke the truth so that the system would listen. We continue to fulfill the promise made in 1968 to raise the quality of education for all Los Angeles students.
We are celebrating this moment in history in various ways: Van Nuys High School performed an oratorio as a tribute to the 1968 Walkouts. Eleventh grade students all over Los Angeles Unified are learning about the Chicano Movement and the 1968 heroes and activists as a part of their History curriculum. We continue to pay our respect to those who fought before us and encourage others to do the same in small and big ways.
Vision 2068 is alive and well. Our community will forever remember every individual that fought for civil rights and envisions a Los Angeles where every child is prepared for, and has access, to the college and career of their choice, and is a productive and self-fulfilled member of our society.