Walkout Page #9

meeting our needs,

and-- lookit, we want

to go to college."

It was the political evolution

of a group of young Chicanos

in East L.A. and asserting

their rural identity

and then getting involved

and realizing

that they system wouldn't change

unless you became more direct action.

My decision to walk out was

probably the lightest decision

in terms of what I would've

liked to have done at that point,

with that kind of youth,

energy and anger.

To see outright

hostility, brutality...

it didn't match the thing

that we were doing.

We didn't commit a crime,

we were protesting.

The blowouts

made us all realize

that collectively

we had a strong voice

and it gave us a power that we

didn't realize that we had before.

This was a time in which

enough Chicano students

had gained mastery

of the tools that were necessary

to shake up the system

and had taken the ideals

of the country to heart.

And so, we protested

for our rights.

As the bell rang

for the kids to go to school,

into the classroom, out they went

with their heads held high...

with dignity.

It was beautiful

to be a Chicano that day.

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