Walkout Essay

475 Words2 Pages
The strength of the movie, Walkout, is the clear portrayal of youth and others who courageously took direct action, massive walkouts from LA high schools, at great risk, in order to fight oppressive and racist school conditions. Their walkouts, according to the film, mixed leadership with spontaneity, planning with critical analyses of conditions--and risky action-and swept across five LA high schools. Many of the “Chicano” students have faced an enormous amount of discrimination, which triggered the attention of the whole student body. The youth made demands ranging from bi-lingual education and a halt to bans on speaking Spanish in schools, to involuntary transfers of racist teachers, to an end of paddling, unlocked rest rooms, and a halt to custodial work as a form of punishment. Initially, they made their demands to principals, who rejected them out of hand, urging caution on the part of youth who would "ruin your career," if they persisted. The kids pressed on, taking their demands to the school board which maneuvered for time, perhaps expecting the issues would die out as students graduated. At Lincoln High School in East Los Angeles, “Chicano” students became increasingly aware of educational funding, high dropout rates, a curriculum with no recognition of Chicano history, institutional racism, and the small number of Mexican American teachers. They shared their concerns with students in surrounding schools and organized the walkout or blowout. One day in early March of 1968, hundreds and thousands of high school students decided to walk out of their classes to demand an end to the second-class citizenship they and their parents suffered all these years. A famous Spanish-American man named, Cesar Chavez, was a leader and overcame adversity and courage. Chavez fought for the legal rights of farm workers, and for clean drinking water in the fields, as well
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