© Daily Breeze
OUR WALKOUTS HERALD A NEW DAY.
The walkouts of Friday, March 30, 2007 will go down in history as a turning point. The walkouts herald a new day.
The entire length of California, from Los Angeles and Santa Ana to the Bay Area, Sacramento, and Yuba City, our walkouts and marches took the streets.
We marched in the sun and heat. We marched for hours. We marched despite the threats and police. We marched for ourselves. We marched for our families. We marched for each other. We marched together, with and without papers as undividable equals. We marched to put a stop to the raids. We were proud and strong and filled with a sense of sister- and brotherhood. In Oakland, Richmond, and LA, Latina/o and black students marched side by side. In LA, a group of more than 50 bold, determined students walked 16 miles from Audobon Middle School to the city hall.
The leaders who stood up and walked out did something truly great. We continued the movement of last spring's massive outpouring for immigrant rights. We opened up the struggle to get full state and national recognition of the Cesar Chavez holiday. We are going to win the struggle for the Cesar Chavez holiday. We are already beginning to win it; we must develop and deepen that struggle. But what we accomplished with our walkouts goes far beyond all this.
The March 30 walkouts struck a mortal blow at the invisibility that American racism attempts to impose on Latina/o people.
The walkouts of Friday, March 30 put the demand for full equality for Latina/o people on the national agenda and made clear: there is a new civil rights movement struggling, determined to win equality.
On Friday, March 30 we told the world the plain truth: Latina/o people will no longer accept second-class treatment. The disrespect, the racist inequality -- none of that will be accepted any longer without a fight. A spirit of power and pride has grown in the hearts of Latina/o youth across California and across the nation. The walkouts put that power and pride up for the world to see.
Read BAMN's statement on
Where We Go From Here
[Adobe PDF file]
Schools and cities that participated March 30, 2007:
Get your school clubs, local churches, unions, and community groups to endorse and LET US KNOW!
Los Angeles: Roosevelt High School, Garfield High School, Manual Arts High School, Locke High School, Lincoln High School, King/Drew Medical Magnet High School, Crenshaw High School, Hollenbeck Middle School, Fairfax High School, Dorsey High School, Bravo Medical Magnet High School, Verdugo Hills High School, Venice High School, Santee High School, North Hollywood High School, Orthopaedic Hospital Medical Magnet High School, Thomas Jefferson High School, Jordan High School, James A. Foshay Learning Center, Stevenson Middle School / Huntington Park: Huntington Park High School, Columbus High School, Community Day School / Orange County: Santa Ana High School, Saddleback High School (Santa Ana), Century High School (Santa Ana), Lorin Griset Academy (Santa Ana), Valley High School (Santa Ana), Garden Grove High School, Rancho Alamitos High School (Garden Grove), Orange High School, Beckman High School (Irvine), Back Bay High School (Costa Mesa, CA), Estancia High School (Costa Mesa, CA), Mountain View High School (Santa Ana, CA) / The Valley: Reseda High, Grover Cleveland High, Taft High, El Camino Real High / Long Beach: Cabrillo High School, Jordan High School, Milliken High School, Poly High School, Renaissance High School / Pomona: Ganesha High School, Garey High School, Pomona High School / San Diego: Bell Junior High School, Morse High School, Serra High School, Gompers High School, Hoover High School, Scripps Ranch High School, Point Loma High School, Patrick Henry High School, Vista High School (Vista), Preuss School UCSD (La Jolla), Mission Hills High School (San Marcos), Escondido High School (Escondido, CA) / Fresno: Fresno High School, Buchanan High School, Sunnyside High School, Clovis West High School, Citrus Middle School (Orange Cove, CA), Parlier High School (Parlier, California), Sanger High School (Sanger, CA) / Downey: Downey High School, South High School / Lynwood: Lynwood High School, Firebaugh High School / South Gate: South Gate High School, South East High School / Whittier: Whittier High School, California High School, Los Nietos Middle School / Norwalk: Norwalk High School, John Glenn High School / Compton: Dominguez High School, Enterprise Middle School / San Gabriel: San Gabriel High School, San Gabriel SDA Academy / Palm Springs: Palm Springs High, Cathedral City High (Cathedral City, CA) / Miscellaneous SoCal schools and cities: Santa Monica High School, Bell High School, Bell Gardens, Anaheim, Narbonne High School (Harbor City), Montebello High School, Paramount High School, San Gorgonio High School (San Bernardino), Westminster High School, Alhambra High School, Carson High School, Don Antonio Lugo High School (Chino), El Monte, Bassett High School (La Puente), Hawthorne High School (Lennox), Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Corona), Inglewood, San Pedro High School, UC Riverside / Miscellaneous California: Silver Creek High School (San Jose, CA), Berkeley High School (Berkeley), North Monterrey County High School, Hiram W. Johnson High School (Sacramento), Corcoran High School, Fort Bragg, UC Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Channel Islands High School (Oxnard), Sacramento, Paramount, San Jose, San Lorenzo High School / Other States: Forest Park High School (Forest Park, Georgia), South High School (Sheboygan, WI), Thomas Jefferson High School (El Paso, TX), Arlington (Texas), Mansfield (Texas), San Antonio (Texas), Westwood High School (Mesa, AZ), Yuma (Arizona), Clark High School (Las Vegas, NV), Johnson Junior High School (Las Vegas, NV), Bailey Middle School (Las Vegas, NV), Cashman Middle School (Las Vegas, NV), Reno (Nevada), Westview High School (Portland, Oregon), Naples (Florida), St. Augustine (Florida), Chicago (Illinois), Iowa, Frederick Douglass High School (Prince George's County, Maryland), Omaha (Nebraska), Detroit (Michigan)
Schools in Oakland, San Francisco, Hayward (CA), Baldwin Park (CA), among others, already shut down completely in honor of the César Chávez Holiday. Also, the University of California is shut down on the Chávez Holiday.
Priests, Unions, and other Organizations joining the call for César Chávez Holiday to be honored (partial list):
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN); California Federation of Teachers (CFT); Central American Resource Center of LA (CARECEN); Misioneros de Jesucristo The Inner City Missionary LA; First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), San Francisco; ASUC (UC-Berkeley student government), Oakland Education Association (OEA); Father Filberto Barrera, St. Cornelius Church, Richmond; Father Jose Gago, St. Mark Church, Richmond; Father Michael Lacey, Father Javier Aguilar, & Father Manuel Galvez, St. John the Baptist Church, San Lorenzo; Father Oscar Mendez, St. Elizabeth Church, Oakland; Pastor Richard Saenz, Templo Victoria, Los Angeles; Rev. Brenda Vaca, Pastor of Ministerios Nueva Vida/New Life Ministries of the United Methodist Church
NEWS COVERAGE
Appeal-Democrat (Yuba-Sutter-Olivehurst)
"Students rally for Chavez holiday"
abc7.com
"SoCal Students Walk Out of Class, Join Protest" TV CLIP
Link now broken
La Opinion
"Exigen honrar a Cesar Chavez"
LA Times
"Students march for a Chavez Day" Link now broken
Press Telegram (Cabrillo area)
"Cabrillo students walk out"
KGET-17 (Sacramento area)
Hundreds of students demand César Chávez's birthday becomes national holiday - TV CLIP

Telemundo 52
"Abandonan clases por día de César Chávez"
KESQ (ABC 3) (Desert Hot Springs area)
"DHS students walk out of school for Cesar Chavez Day"
WALKOUT IN OAKLAND Mar. 29!
Following the lead of San Marcos March 23, Oakland students walked out March 29 to support the Mar. 30 Day of Action!!
Telemundo news footage
© Telemundo
Oakland Walkout Mar. 29! - camera footage
