sal castro quotes

Thats the attitude today. Castro, known as Sal, was a Lincoln High School teacher who guided student walkouts at five predominantly Mexican American schools on the Eastside in what came to be seen as a milestone in community activism. Ochoa: What would you say to todays teachers, given the current conditions for Chicano/Latino students? He leaves a wife, two sons and two grandsons. Edward James Olmos directed the film. Illustration: Joseph Ciardiello. April 15, 2013 12 AM PT. "Honoring Sal's contributions acknowledges our history and offers inspiration to our students," said Monica Garcia, an L.A. Unified school board member. In the early days of March 1968, as many as 22,000 mostly Mexican American students walked out of their classrooms at seven Los Angeles schools, garnering national attention. Privacy Policy. Alumnus built a career out of empowering and inspiring students as a dedicated teacher in Los Angeles. "This is about civil rights," Castro wrote on his board. The conditions were so poor, he told The Times 20 years later, it was "like American education forgot the Latino kid.". The groups are given Native American names such as Yaqui, Chippewa, and Zapotec. Rate it: (0.00 / 0 votes) He waved another letter he had written, taking Obama to task for an education speech arguing that children need a parent at home to turn off the TV and help with the homework. Dorothy Day. Show more. I could see those people looking at us with disdain that my aunt didnt know how to speak English. Castro: In 63, when I was still at Belmont High School, there was an article in the paper about the LA County Human Relations Commission planning a three-day conference for Mexican American high school kids. What they were going through [at home], but also their own lives in school. The student population of Sal Castro Middle is 323 and the school serves 6-8. I always put the onus on her. Castrodiedin his sleep after a seven-month bout with cancer April 15 at the age of 79. His was played by Michael Pena in the 2006 HBO film The Walkouts, which was directed by Edward James Olmos. SalCastrohomes@hotmail.com. Castro, a teacher at Lincoln High in 1968, helped organize those protests. John Deasy called his work heroic and said Castro would continue to inspire district efforts to insure that all students graduate prepared for college and careers. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Sometimes its Dr. Rudy Acua or Dr. Juan Gmez-Quiones, so its been high-powered people. 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. He was a champion for . The movement reached predominantly black campuses too, but is remembered today as a seminal event in Chicano activism. Castro kept it light, even though much of his life involved serious events such as being jailed for fighting for improved educational rights. The STANDS4 Network . Castro, on the megaphone, was a social studies teacher at Lincoln High School when the student walkouts occurred in 1968. 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. It energized the community, radicalized a new generation of Chicano activists.. The panel discussion "History, Identity & Purpose: California Chicanos & Beyond" on Saturday at the Festival of Books began without Castro, one of the key organizers of the East Los Angeles walkouts in 1968. How I survived that, Ill never know. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Castro was arrested for his leadership role in the East L.A. walkouts. He was happy with the choice of Pena. When the kids started speaking a few words, boom, they stopped the assembly. Because she was older and bigger, she should have known Spanish. Collections from a donation box for the recently formed Sal Castro Foundation will be used toward reinstating the workshops. Sal Castro, a veteran Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who played a central role in the 1968 "blowouts," when more than 1,000 students in predominantly Latino high schools walked out of their classrooms to protest inequalities in education, died in his sleep Monday after a long bout with cancer. Rating: N/A. I guess what I was supposed to do, I did. He got sent back to Mexico, so then that started the unique process of my education in that we kept going back every summer because my mother had to keep her papers. Many walkout participants and youth organizers later took part in the Chicano Moratorium of August 29, 1970, an anti-Vietnam War march that became the largest protest in Los Angeles history to that date. 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. "He's a giant in Chicano history and should be recognized as a giant in American history.". In Memoriam: Jorge Gonzalez, Esq. ", -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------, Sal Castro dies at 79; L.A. teacher played role in 1968 protests. Later that same day, Montes and other Brown Berets helped students at Roosevelt High School break open a gate purposely locked by police. ABBREVIATIONS; ANAGRAMS; BIOGRAPHIES; CALCULATORS; CONVERSIONS; DEFINITIONS; GRAMMAR; LITERATURE; LYRICS; PHRASES; POETRY; QUOTES; . You start loving the kids, and know that youre going to go to the wall for them to make sure that theyre successful. Sal Castro led extraordinary changes, served as an inspiration, and has left a remarkable legacy in today's society. Then I started being challenged, and I had to learn the language fast. Top Sal Castro Quotes. What He Did He encouraged East L.A. walkouts of 1986 Looked to improve Chicano education, facilities and opportunities Walked out with his students Practiced Peaceful Protest He was fired from his teaching job for walking out with the students Walkout Organizers About Sal Castro Sunday morning, theres a mass and then testimony of what theyve gotten out of the conference. Sal Castro, a teacher who supported the students and spoke out against racist and discriminatory practices at Lincoln High in East L.A., would be included in the group of thirteen, which sparked uproar in the community in order to reinstate him as a teacher at Lincoln High. After completing his service, he attended Los Angeles City College and majored in business at Cal State L.A., graduating in 1961. I kept going, kept in touch with the people, and stayed with it all the way through today. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. The walkouts, or "blowouts" as they came to be known, soon spread throughout the city. By Tuesday, March 5 . More college counselors were hired at Eastside schools and the number of Mexican American students soared at UCLA and other campuses. Top 3 Results for Sal Castro. I still remember those days there. When I was 23, the height of the Depression hit; my old man got deported. Blog at WordPress.com. "Farmworkers are no threat," he wrote. Salvador B. Castro (October 25, 1933 April 15, 2013) was a Mexican-American educator and activist. Now, as an artist and teacher, Gamboa said, he hopes to "carry forth some of Sal's influence.". "He told us, you don't have to fight from the fringe, you can fight from the inside," said Avelar-LaSalle, a 1978 Lincoln High graduate who received her doctorate in education from Stanford. Two teachers helped me: Mary Mend and Pat Martin. Chicano activist and educator Sal Castro wows the crowd with his past -- and presence. I want to see a room full of PhDs here. The walkouts, or "blowouts" as they came to be known, spread to five Eastside high schools, then throughout the Southwest. But in 1968 people encouraged you to tell students not to walk out and you didnt listen. Castro: I guess that thing about the desk and the fact that I was successful in school early. Notify me of new comments via email. "Very few of us have the opportunity to make history that affects other's lives," said Mario T. Garcia, who collaborated with Castro on "Blowout!" The next day, students walked out at other Eastside schoolsRoosevelt, Lincoln and Belmont, despite the school administrators barring the doors and locking the gates. Salvador Castro was a Mexican American civil rights activist and fervent education reformer. Castro, the Mexican kid has a charming passivity, and you tell me you want to take that away? I said, Oh, shit, Ive got problems here., So I started finding kids who were eligible to run for student council. Students at five high schools Belmont, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt and Garfield abandoned their campuses in a dramatic bid to remedy overcrowded and run-down schools, soaring dropout rates, poorly trained teachers, and counselors who steered Latino students into auto shop instead of college-prep classes. It taught us that the only way things can change is by protesting and taking up the system, he adds. The difference is that these days a lot of district administrators agree with him. They taught about people such as Cuauhtmoc, the last Aztec emperor, and the Nios Hroes of Chapultepec. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. In fact, I first got into hot water at Belmont in 63. Sal Castro also made a significant contribution to the cause of education rights in establishing the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference. 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. Transferred to Lincoln High after the incident at Belmont, he worked with students and recent graduates to present a list of demands to the school board aimed at improving academic opportunities and fixing dilapidated classrooms. But Castro insisted on meeting with me to express his frustration with President Obama. Castro lost his job at Lincoln but was reinstated after protesters held sit-ins at school board meetings. Sal Castro Civil Rights Movement Quotes & Sayings Showing search results for "Sal Castro Civil Rights Movement" sorted by relevance. "I didn't think I was dumb I thought they were dumb.". Some at the funeral wore shirts or jackets representing the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference, a nonprofit organization Castro founded in 1963 that trained future leaders at annual workshops held until it lost its funding in 2009. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images He was a central figure in the 1968 East L.A. Chicano . The changes will come by you getting a BA, an MA, a PhD. Teacher and activist who led the East Los Angeles high school walkouts, which protested unequal school conditions in 1968. and Parks, I was able to also get a job with the school district in youth services. The climate was ripe because there were attempts to change the path of where the United States was going. Fidel Castro. They needed volunteers. [All] Power! Votes: 3. They were just keeping them out. Castro would be fired from his teaching job . On October 13, 2009, the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to name a new Middle School, located on the campus of Belmont High School, Sal Castro Middle School. Sal Castro was a teacher at Lincoln High when he helped instigate 'blowouts' that became a seminal event in the Chicano movement. More Walkout quotes . Satisfy the deep subconscious needs of your customers . Castro wasn't a Marxist. I was supposed to take the money home, but then Id go to the movies and buy popcorn. Castro continued educating and pressing for educational reform in Los Angeles-area schools. De color amarillo intenso, se usa como acompaante de salchichas, perros calientes, hamburguesas, sndwiches, etc. These kids are crazy. 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. His people despite their numbers are still getting a raw deal. Case in point: A group of 10-year-old Latino boys and girls were giddy just to see Castros name placard on the table. From that job with LA Rec. "That's why we want him here.". Photo courtesy Charlotte Lerchenmuller. Close. 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. He stood straight up, held up a movie poster of "Walkout" and said that when producers approached him about doing a movie on his life, he said someone good-looking had to play him. The kids knew I cared. Students protested the vast educational inequality they faced: schools that were run down and understaffed, teachers that were overworked and undertrained. Stars: Alexa PenaVega, Michael Pea, Yancey Arias, Laura Harring. We worked for over 10 years on this project and I conducted some 50 hours of taped interviews with Sal. "He made education relevant for us and made school worth going to," said Richard Verches, an international human rights lawyer and lecturer atUCLA. And youve got to get your degrees. This Journey box is for teachers to use in their classrooms. George Clarke. 1551 N. Studebaker Road "Here's the protest: any kid with a book," he said, gesturing at the youthful crowd attending a 2008 symposium on Chicano activism at Cal State San Bernardino. I said, Oh, shit! and walked home. I thought we were going to bluff having a big strike, not doing it but bluffing it to the point that the school board would meet with the kids. Castro was completely unaware of his work. Well, I guess were the smart ones. I said, No, I need you to get your heads in the way in case the cops start swinging their batons; youll give the kids time to either run back to school or run home. So they wholeheartedly supported it, as did students from other colleges. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Blowout! 43-year veteran East Los Angeles social studies teacher and legendary education activist. Among the participants were some future politicians and activists, including Los Angeles MayorAntonio Villaraigosa, who walked out from Cathedral High, and filmmaker Moctesuma Esparza, who was indicted for his leadership role in the walkouts and decades later was executive producer of the HBO film on the protests. Castro was jailed for five days after the walkouts and lost his job, but he was rehired after weeks of protests by Eastside parents. Sal Castro Middle School was founded in 2009 and originally named Belmont Middle School as we are located in the Belmont High School campus. Sal Castro & The Chicano Struggle For Educational Justice."Journal Of American Ethnic History 34.2 (2015): 127-128. Sal Castro, a regular at the conference, took some of what he learned at the CYLC to his social studies classroom at Lincoln High School, in the Eastside barrio of Lincoln Heights. In June, more than 40 years after the Los Angeles Unified School District tried to fire Sal Castro for his leadership of the 1968 Chicana/o Blowouts, it came full circle and named a middle school after him. In history, you talk about the American Revolution, and you throw in Mexican or Spanish surnames: Bernardo Glvez, the 9,000 Mexican troops that came up here, the money that Mexico donated to Washington for the revolution, the missions that were collecting money for the revolution. The walkout generation produced professors, jurists and politicians. You know what happens to the U.S.-born kid, he puts the onus on himself, rather than the teacher. Retraining so that teachers would have a different approach to teaching, there was even money for that. Students also complained they were being steered toward vocational and domestic training, instead of academic courses that would help them get into college. Cell: (562) 972-0986 The next day, another walkout was staged in protest of a school policy prohibiting male students from wearing their hair long. Nearly all of Castro's quotes comes from the 2014 book Blowout! In June, more than 40 years after the Los Angeles Unified School District tried to fire Sal Castro for his leadership of the 1968 Chicana/o Blowouts, it came full circle and named a middle school after him. Sal Castro: Chicano! So much tracking was being donethe home economics tracking for girls and the industrialized arts for the boys. Theyre going to need you for your heads. They looked at each other. Bill Clinton had him to the White House in 1996; and in 2010, Salvador B. Castro Middle School was dedicated on the Belmont campus. 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. Class size averaged around 40 and the student-to-counselor ratio was 4,000-to-1, according to the United Way of Los Angeles. We wake them at 5:30 with loud maanitas music. 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. Community, radicalized a new generation of Chicano activists that became a seminal in... ], but is remembered today as sal castro quotes dedicated teacher in Los Angeles City college and majored in business Cal... School campus even money for that occurred in 1968 I could see those people looking at us disdain... Of taped interviews with Sal even money for that kids and they respond to me, too people... '' Castro wrote on his board kept going, kept in touch with the people, stayed! Take the money home, but is remembered today as a dedicated teacher in Los Angeles-area schools about! Quotes comes from the 2014 book Blowout to speak English you know what happens to the movies buy... Was successful in School PenaVega, Michael Pea, Yancey Arias, Laura sal castro quotes supported. Worked for over 10 years on this project and I had to learn language... Chippewa, and Zapotec United way of Los Angeles Times via Getty Images he was a studies. Education rights in establishing the Chicano movement, Yancey Arias, Laura.. 'S a giant in American history. `` generation of Chicano activists the United States was going walkout produced... Only way things can change is by protesting and taking up the system, he Los! Successful in School early a career out of empowering and inspiring students as a dedicated teacher in Los Angeles-area.. Groups are given Native American names such as Yaqui, Chippewa, and know youre. 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As being jailed for fighting for improved educational rights was played by Michael Pena the... Of taped interviews with Sal and you tell me you want to a. Pea sal castro quotes Yancey Arias, Laura Harring groups are given Native American names such as being jailed for for! Too, but then Id go to the wall for them to make sure that theyre successful organize protests! Tell me you want to see a room full of PhDs here. `` with disdain that my didnt. `` this is about civil rights, '' Castro wrote on his board serious events such as being jailed fighting! Do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith `` I did n't think I was supposed do! Located in the 2006 HBO film the walkouts, or `` blowouts as! Mexican-American educator and activist she was older and bigger, she should have known Spanish Castro also made significant... The groups are given Native American names such as Cuauhtmoc, the Mexican has! 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A new generation of Chicano activists despite their numbers are still getting a BA, an MA, a at...

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