Mission High School Student Organizing 1969 - Revision history

Ccarlsson: swapped original version of video

2019-04-05T02:35:32Z

swapped original version of video

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:35, 4 April 2019
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	''By Francisco FloresLanda''		''By Francisco FloresLanda''

	<iframe ~~width="560" height="315"~~ src="https://~~www~~.~~youtube.com~~/embed/~~_jnuIhy-u9E?rel~~=0" frameborder="0" ~~allow~~="~~autoplay; encrypted-media~~" allowfullscreen></iframe>		<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/cbpf_000093" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

	'''High School Rising: Mission High School students 1969'''		'''High School Rising: Mission High School students 1969'''

	''Video: ~~Secabol, youtube~~''		''Video: © California Newsreel''

	<font size=4>No Smoking in the Principal’s Office!</font size>		<font size=4>No Smoking in the Principal’s Office!</font size>

Ccarlsson: added footage of 1969 Mission High

2018-03-29T20:33:19Z

added footage of 1969 Mission High

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:33, 29 March 2018
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	''By Francisco FloresLanda''		''By Francisco FloresLanda''

			<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_jnuIhy-u9E?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

			'''High School Rising: Mission High School students 1969'''

			''Video: Secabol, youtube''

	<font size=4>No Smoking in the Principal’s Office!</font size>		<font size=4>No Smoking in the Principal’s Office!</font size>

Ccarlsson: moved Student Organizing: Mission High 1969 to Mission High School Student Organizing 1969

2012-07-29T03:44:52Z

moved Student Organizing: Mission High 1969 to Mission High School Student Organizing 1969

← Older revision	Revision as of 20:44, 28 July 2012
(No difference)

Ccarlsson at 20:35, 28 July 2012

2012-07-28T20:35:16Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:35, 28 July 2012
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	<font size=4>The Spark on Thursday and Friday Jan 23-24, 1969</font size>		<font size=4>The Spark on Thursday and Friday Jan 23-24, 1969</font size>

	When we began our organizing at Mission we came up with four demands. We wanted Latino teachers, relevant education, Latino history, and last but not least, Latino food in the cafeteria. After the presentation to the Latino club, events rapidly and unexpectedly exploded beyond our control. Elements that pushed their own agenda surfaced. The spark that forced our hand was a fight with some African American students when they came to attack my friend Edy Morales. Edy had had a confrontation with one of them during the lunch period in the cafeteria. As we sat at our usual lunch spot at a stairway—Edgar Morales, Enrique Menjivar (RIP), and other friends from Folsom Playground and La Veinte, fifteen black guys came from the cafeteria to “kick his ass.” ([[Mission High School Riot 1969\|\|A detailed explanation of the events of the fight and subsequent race riot turned political struggle.]]) [[Image:Mission-High-black-youth-on-steps.jpg\|right\|240px]] Three of the blacks were brothers; the middle brother chose to fight Edy instead of the younger one who had the encounter with him in the cafe. Edgar, Edy’s older brother, seeing an unfair match-up, jumped in saying, “No, I’ll fight you.” Then the oldest of the three declared, “I’ll fight you” to Edgar. At this point Henry Menjivar yelled out in Spanish to us, ''“Que es esta mierda a darles en la madre”'' -- “What is this shit lets beat their ass.” We jumped out at them since we were holed up in the stairs, to me it was the best tactic, all the blacks tried to get at us, but since only one or two could come up the doorway and stairs, we beat them back. Immediately a whole lot of Latinos came over to help us, astutely the blacks ran to safety among their own by the girl’s gym on 18th street. The other black students out at lunch began lining up with them on the sidewalk. The Latinos lined up across the street facing the blacks; before the punches could begin the police interceded. At one point, the ‘white shoes’ came to offer and swear allegiance to us and to help us. The white shoes were white boys and ''gringo''-ized Latinos. The term ''white-shoes'' originally referred to boys going to catholic school wearing a certain type of two tone shoes as part of their uniform—hence white shoe. Oral history holds that when bards, urban-like Latinos and whiteshoes ran into each other they would fight each other.		When we began our organizing at Mission we came up with four demands. We wanted Latino teachers, relevant education, Latino history, and last but not least, Latino food in the cafeteria. After the presentation to the Latino club, events rapidly and unexpectedly exploded beyond our control. Elements that pushed their own agenda surfaced. The spark that forced our hand was a fight with some African American students when they came to attack my friend Edy Morales. Edy had had a confrontation with one of them during the lunch period in the cafeteria. As we sat at our usual lunch spot at a stairway—Edgar Morales, Enrique Menjivar (RIP), and other friends from Folsom Playground and La Veinte, fifteen black guys came from the cafeteria to “kick his ass.” ([[Mission High School Riot 1969\|A detailed explanation of the events of the fight and subsequent race riot turned political struggle.]]) [[Image:Mission-High-black-youth-on-steps.jpg\|right\|240px]] Three of the blacks were brothers; the middle brother chose to fight Edy instead of the younger one who had the encounter with him in the cafe. Edgar, Edy’s older brother, seeing an unfair match-up, jumped in saying, “No, I’ll fight you.” Then the oldest of the three declared, “I’ll fight you” to Edgar. At this point Henry Menjivar yelled out in Spanish to us, ''“Que es esta mierda a darles en la madre”'' -- “What is this shit lets beat their ass.” We jumped out at them since we were holed up in the stairs, to me it was the best tactic, all the blacks tried to get at us, but since only one or two could come up the doorway and stairs, we beat them back. Immediately a whole lot of Latinos came over to help us, astutely the blacks ran to safety among their own by the girl’s gym on 18th street. The other black students out at lunch began lining up with them on the sidewalk. The Latinos lined up across the street facing the blacks; before the punches could begin the police interceded. At one point, the ‘white shoes’ came to offer and swear allegiance to us and to help us. The white shoes were white boys and ''gringo''-ized Latinos. The term ''white-shoes'' originally referred to boys going to catholic school wearing a certain type of two tone shoes as part of their uniform—hence white shoe. Oral history holds that when bards, urban-like Latinos and whiteshoes ran into each other they would fight each other.

	Trouble occurred in other areas of the school grounds; Martha Estrella explained that she and a friend, Iris, chose to go up on the hill behind the tennis courts in Dolores Park to see the action. As they stood up there watching the two sides some African American students came up on their flanks cursing at them with one throwing a bottle at them. They became “very scared.” She remembers a lot of cursing along with the aggression.		Trouble occurred in other areas of the school grounds; Martha Estrella explained that she and a friend, Iris, chose to go up on the hill behind the tennis courts in Dolores Park to see the action. As they stood up there watching the two sides some African American students came up on their flanks cursing at them with one throwing a bottle at them. They became “very scared.” She remembers a lot of cursing along with the aggression.
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	This episode in school and community organizing was an important point in my life. I cannot say that it is an event remembered by many others, this is why I’m writing this history to preserve it for posterity. It is part of the Latino resistance of the sixties and seventies and this history needs to be preserved. Mission was only one of many high schools and colleges where Latinos fought for their fair reivindications. Several lessons can be drawn from it. The friction between blacks and Latinos is a counterproductive political diversion for Latinos as well as for African Americans. Of course the status quo prefers us to fight each other rather than unite. Another useful lesson is that in front of adversity the situation can be turned around but only if conscious leadership steps up or the leadership steps back to analyze the situation in order to change course. Another important lesson is that the status quo will rally against those who struggle for change with a multitude of weapons and from a multitude of fronts. The use of sexuality by the enemies of change shows how low they are willing to go to maintain the exploitative and oppressive system. The police community relations officers came to misdirect us away from our path of change. The media came in also with its yellow journalism, sensationalism, and with its disinformation. In our shortsightedness we didn’t know how to analyze the alignment of forces for change and the forces of the opposition so we could trace a path for our reforms. Latino political organizations as well as other progressive groupings in struggle should sponsor youth leadership forums, seminars, and things of this nature with a focus to train future leaders. The main thrust of our vision was a desire for relevant education. Our school was an alienating place, high absenteeism, and high dropout rates were rampant. We wanted a school that serves the needs of the students and the community not merely a place that trained obedient workers who can read, write and do arithmetic for the local businesses and fill the labor needs of the corporations, a place students learn, enjoy learning and are happy to be there. The institutions in the nation should to serve the needs of the community not the 1%.		This episode in school and community organizing was an important point in my life. I cannot say that it is an event remembered by many others, this is why I’m writing this history to preserve it for posterity. It is part of the Latino resistance of the sixties and seventies and this history needs to be preserved. Mission was only one of many high schools and colleges where Latinos fought for their fair reivindications. Several lessons can be drawn from it. The friction between blacks and Latinos is a counterproductive political diversion for Latinos as well as for African Americans. Of course the status quo prefers us to fight each other rather than unite. Another useful lesson is that in front of adversity the situation can be turned around but only if conscious leadership steps up or the leadership steps back to analyze the situation in order to change course. Another important lesson is that the status quo will rally against those who struggle for change with a multitude of weapons and from a multitude of fronts. The use of sexuality by the enemies of change shows how low they are willing to go to maintain the exploitative and oppressive system. The police community relations officers came to misdirect us away from our path of change. The media came in also with its yellow journalism, sensationalism, and with its disinformation. In our shortsightedness we didn’t know how to analyze the alignment of forces for change and the forces of the opposition so we could trace a path for our reforms. Latino political organizations as well as other progressive groupings in struggle should sponsor youth leadership forums, seminars, and things of this nature with a focus to train future leaders. The main thrust of our vision was a desire for relevant education. Our school was an alienating place, high absenteeism, and high dropout rates were rampant. We wanted a school that serves the needs of the students and the community not merely a place that trained obedient workers who can read, write and do arithmetic for the local businesses and fill the labor needs of the corporations, a place students learn, enjoy learning and are happy to be there. The institutions in the nation should to serve the needs of the community not the 1%.

			[[Quonset hut \|Prev. Document]] [[Mission High School Riot 1969\|Next Document]]

	[[category:Mission]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:Latino]] [[category:schools]] [[category:racism]]		[[category:Mission]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:Latino]] [[category:schools]] [[category:racism]]

Ccarlsson at 20:31, 28 July 2012

2012-07-28T20:31:17Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:31, 28 July 2012
Line 55:		Line 55:
	<font size=4>The Spark on Thursday and Friday Jan 23-24, 1969</font size>		<font size=4>The Spark on Thursday and Friday Jan 23-24, 1969</font size>

	When we began our organizing at Mission we came up with four demands. We wanted Latino teachers, relevant education, Latino history, and last but not least, Latino food in the cafeteria. After the presentation to the Latino club, events rapidly and unexpectedly exploded beyond our control. Elements that pushed their own agenda surfaced. The spark that forced our hand was a fight with some African American students when they came to attack my friend Edy Morales. Edy had had a confrontation with one of them during the lunch period in the cafeteria. As we sat at our usual lunch spot at a stairway—Edgar Morales, Enrique Menjivar (RIP), and other friends from Folsom Playground and La Veinte, fifteen black guys came from the cafeteria to “kick his ass.” ([[[[Mission High School Riot 1969\|\|A detailed explanation of the events of the fight and subsequent race riot turned political struggle.]]) [[Image:Mission-High-black-youth-on-steps.jpg\|right\|240px]] Three of the blacks were brothers; the middle brother chose to fight Edy instead of the younger one who had the encounter with him in the cafe. Edgar, Edy’s older brother, seeing an unfair match-up, jumped in saying, “No, I’ll fight you.” Then the oldest of the three declared, “I’ll fight you” to Edgar. At this point Henry Menjivar yelled out in Spanish to us, ''“Que es esta mierda a darles en la madre”'' -- “What is this shit lets beat their ass.” We jumped out at them since we were holed up in the stairs, to me it was the best tactic, all the blacks tried to get at us, but since only one or two could come up the doorway and stairs, we beat them back. Immediately a whole lot of Latinos came over to help us, astutely the blacks ran to safety among their own by the girl’s gym on 18th street. The other black students out at lunch began lining up with them on the sidewalk. The Latinos lined up across the street facing the blacks; before the punches could begin the police interceded. At one point, the ‘white shoes’ came to offer and swear allegiance to us and to help us. The white shoes were white boys and ''gringo''-ized Latinos. The term ''white-shoes'' originally referred to boys going to catholic school wearing a certain type of two tone shoes as part of their uniform—hence white shoe. Oral history holds that when bards, urban-like Latinos and whiteshoes ran into each other they would fight each other.		When we began our organizing at Mission we came up with four demands. We wanted Latino teachers, relevant education, Latino history, and last but not least, Latino food in the cafeteria. After the presentation to the Latino club, events rapidly and unexpectedly exploded beyond our control. Elements that pushed their own agenda surfaced. The spark that forced our hand was a fight with some African American students when they came to attack my friend Edy Morales. Edy had had a confrontation with one of them during the lunch period in the cafeteria. As we sat at our usual lunch spot at a stairway—Edgar Morales, Enrique Menjivar (RIP), and other friends from Folsom Playground and La Veinte, fifteen black guys came from the cafeteria to “kick his ass.” ([[Mission High School Riot 1969\|\|A detailed explanation of the events of the fight and subsequent race riot turned political struggle.]]) [[Image:Mission-High-black-youth-on-steps.jpg\|right\|240px]] Three of the blacks were brothers; the middle brother chose to fight Edy instead of the younger one who had the encounter with him in the cafe. Edgar, Edy’s older brother, seeing an unfair match-up, jumped in saying, “No, I’ll fight you.” Then the oldest of the three declared, “I’ll fight you” to Edgar. At this point Henry Menjivar yelled out in Spanish to us, ''“Que es esta mierda a darles en la madre”'' -- “What is this shit lets beat their ass.” We jumped out at them since we were holed up in the stairs, to me it was the best tactic, all the blacks tried to get at us, but since only one or two could come up the doorway and stairs, we beat them back. Immediately a whole lot of Latinos came over to help us, astutely the blacks ran to safety among their own by the girl’s gym on 18th street. The other black students out at lunch began lining up with them on the sidewalk. The Latinos lined up across the street facing the blacks; before the punches could begin the police interceded. At one point, the ‘white shoes’ came to offer and swear allegiance to us and to help us. The white shoes were white boys and ''gringo''-ized Latinos. The term ''white-shoes'' originally referred to boys going to catholic school wearing a certain type of two tone shoes as part of their uniform—hence white shoe. Oral history holds that when bards, urban-like Latinos and whiteshoes ran into each other they would fight each other.

	Trouble occurred in other areas of the school grounds; Martha Estrella explained that she and a friend, Iris, chose to go up on the hill behind the tennis courts in Dolores Park to see the action. As they stood up there watching the two sides some African American students came up on their flanks cursing at them with one throwing a bottle at them. They became “very scared.” She remembers a lot of cursing along with the aggression.		Trouble occurred in other areas of the school grounds; Martha Estrella explained that she and a friend, Iris, chose to go up on the hill behind the tennis courts in Dolores Park to see the action. As they stood up there watching the two sides some African American students came up on their flanks cursing at them with one throwing a bottle at them. They became “very scared.” She remembers a lot of cursing along with the aggression.

Ccarlsson at 20:29, 28 July 2012

2012-07-28T20:29:58Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:29, 28 July 2012
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	<font size=4>Stirrings</font size>		<font size=4>Stirrings</font size>

	A good friend, Domingo Prado Leon, may he rest in peace, and I at one point discussed organizing. Our plan was for him to organize at Gompers High School at 22nd & Bartlett; we thought that we would organize all high schools. Him at Gompers, me at Mission, and expand to the rest. His political awareness came from the fact that as a Nicaraguense, his country had been invaded by the US multiple times, his nationalism was ardent. That, as well as that his brother was in the FSLN in Nicaragua, a clandestine movement working for the overthrow of US supported and puppet the Somoza Dictatorship. Observe how the world is linked, one thing in one place may affect something else far away.		[[Image:Oscar-Coronado-Tina-and-unknown-nameat-Dolores-and-18th-1969.jpg\|Oscar Coronado, Tina, and another friend at Dolores and 18th in 1969\|340px\|left]] A good friend, Domingo Prado Leon, may he rest in peace, and I at one point discussed organizing. Our plan was for him to organize at Gompers High School at 22nd & Bartlett; we thought that we would organize all high schools. Him at Gompers, me at Mission, and expand to the rest. His political awareness came from the fact that as a Nicaraguense, his country had been invaded by the US multiple times, his nationalism was ardent. That, as well as that his brother was in the FSLN in Nicaragua, a clandestine movement working for the overthrow of US supported and puppet the Somoza Dictatorship. Observe how the world is linked, one thing in one place may affect something else far away.

	Domingo and I were the first ones to organize publicly in support of the [[FSLN in the Mission Late 1970s\|FSLN in SF]] albeit only once. In 1970, we organized a film showing to raise money to conduct a “revolutionary” activity. We planned to carry out the kidnapping of the Nicaraguan Council in San Francisco. Besides the action being a blow to the Somoza dictatorship we were going to call for his brother’s release from Somoza’s prisons. This didn’t happen, my girlfriend Nilda thought it a crazy scheme, and she didn’t support me on this one. Domingo lacked the discipline and the ability to work in a collective fashion. He was very rough around the edges. Good thing . . .. With the money we raised he bought a Jeep and a shotgun, Army style clothing and proceeded to ride around the Mission District with the Jeep full of Latino kids pretending to be and looking like they were ''guerrilleros''—Fidel Castro style, cap and all and smoking a cigar.		Domingo and I were the first ones to organize publicly in support of the [[FSLN in the Mission Late 1970s\|FSLN in SF]] albeit only once. In 1970, we organized a film showing to raise money to conduct a “revolutionary” activity. We planned to carry out the kidnapping of the Nicaraguan Council in San Francisco. Besides the action being a blow to the Somoza dictatorship we were going to call for his brother’s release from Somoza’s prisons. This didn’t happen, my girlfriend Nilda thought it a crazy scheme, and she didn’t support me on this one. Domingo lacked the discipline and the ability to work in a collective fashion. He was very rough around the edges. Good thing . . .. With the money we raised he bought a Jeep and a shotgun, Army style clothing and proceeded to ride around the Mission District with the Jeep full of Latino kids pretending to be and looking like they were ''guerrilleros''—Fidel Castro style, cap and all and smoking a cigar.
Line 111:		Line 111:
	This episode in school and community organizing was an important point in my life. I cannot say that it is an event remembered by many others, this is why I’m writing this history to preserve it for posterity. It is part of the Latino resistance of the sixties and seventies and this history needs to be preserved. Mission was only one of many high schools and colleges where Latinos fought for their fair reivindications. Several lessons can be drawn from it. The friction between blacks and Latinos is a counterproductive political diversion for Latinos as well as for African Americans. Of course the status quo prefers us to fight each other rather than unite. Another useful lesson is that in front of adversity the situation can be turned around but only if conscious leadership steps up or the leadership steps back to analyze the situation in order to change course. Another important lesson is that the status quo will rally against those who struggle for change with a multitude of weapons and from a multitude of fronts. The use of sexuality by the enemies of change shows how low they are willing to go to maintain the exploitative and oppressive system. The police community relations officers came to misdirect us away from our path of change. The media came in also with its yellow journalism, sensationalism, and with its disinformation. In our shortsightedness we didn’t know how to analyze the alignment of forces for change and the forces of the opposition so we could trace a path for our reforms. Latino political organizations as well as other progressive groupings in struggle should sponsor youth leadership forums, seminars, and things of this nature with a focus to train future leaders. The main thrust of our vision was a desire for relevant education. Our school was an alienating place, high absenteeism, and high dropout rates were rampant. We wanted a school that serves the needs of the students and the community not merely a place that trained obedient workers who can read, write and do arithmetic for the local businesses and fill the labor needs of the corporations, a place students learn, enjoy learning and are happy to be there. The institutions in the nation should to serve the needs of the community not the 1%.		This episode in school and community organizing was an important point in my life. I cannot say that it is an event remembered by many others, this is why I’m writing this history to preserve it for posterity. It is part of the Latino resistance of the sixties and seventies and this history needs to be preserved. Mission was only one of many high schools and colleges where Latinos fought for their fair reivindications. Several lessons can be drawn from it. The friction between blacks and Latinos is a counterproductive political diversion for Latinos as well as for African Americans. Of course the status quo prefers us to fight each other rather than unite. Another useful lesson is that in front of adversity the situation can be turned around but only if conscious leadership steps up or the leadership steps back to analyze the situation in order to change course. Another important lesson is that the status quo will rally against those who struggle for change with a multitude of weapons and from a multitude of fronts. The use of sexuality by the enemies of change shows how low they are willing to go to maintain the exploitative and oppressive system. The police community relations officers came to misdirect us away from our path of change. The media came in also with its yellow journalism, sensationalism, and with its disinformation. In our shortsightedness we didn’t know how to analyze the alignment of forces for change and the forces of the opposition so we could trace a path for our reforms. Latino political organizations as well as other progressive groupings in struggle should sponsor youth leadership forums, seminars, and things of this nature with a focus to train future leaders. The main thrust of our vision was a desire for relevant education. Our school was an alienating place, high absenteeism, and high dropout rates were rampant. We wanted a school that serves the needs of the students and the community not merely a place that trained obedient workers who can read, write and do arithmetic for the local businesses and fill the labor needs of the corporations, a place students learn, enjoy learning and are happy to be there. The institutions in the nation should to serve the needs of the community not the 1%.

	[[category:Mission]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:Latino]]		[[category:Mission]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:Latino]] [[category:schools]] [[category:racism]]

Ccarlsson: Created page with '''' "I was there..." ''' ''By Francisco FloresLanda'' No Smoking in the Principal’...'

2012-07-28T20:26:19Z

Created page with '''' "I was there..." ''' ''By Francisco FloresLanda'' No Smoking in the Principal’...'

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