The Making of a Chicano Militant by Jose Angel Gutierrez

Author:Jose Angel Gutierrez [Angel Gutiérrez, José]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

December 12, 1969

The TEA investigators wanted the students to tell them under what conditions negotiations could begin. The students told them the unexcused absences and two points off per day policy of the Board had to be repealed for them to even think about conditions for negotiations. The TEA investigators went back to Austin.

On this day two additional major issues have developed. First, this afternoon a downtown march was held. When the demonstrators passed Speer’s Mini-Max food store, the owner, J. L. Speer, ran out of his store toward the marchers. He grabbed two young men and pulled them out of the ranks. From his grocer’s apron, he drew some dollar bills and threw them in their direction. He could barely be heard amidst the “Viva’s” and other yells, but, the two students heard him clearly. He was firing them from their after school job at his store. He didn’t like this Chicano power business.

Not many people noticed it happening, but, when the march reached its destination, Severita told everyone the details. Adding fuel to the fire was a rumor that Cleofas Tamez had been arrested by the Sheriff’s police. Cleo was a freshman and alternate for Diana as a freshman student leader. Cleo arrived in time and told his story of harassment and fear to the group. The leaders decided to have Cleo and the other two boys relate their experiences to all the people that night at the meeting. I asked Richey to get Cleo to give us an affidavit of the harassment. Severita and the others found me this afternoon planning their Washington trip on the telephone. They told me of the incidents with the police and J. L. Speer. Then they showed me a statement from the Board President and Superintendent. It read:

The administration and School Board’s main concern is that all students be in class. The School Board would like to meet in a unofficial meeting with from ten to fifteen parents to discuss the grievances as presented by the students being in school. It is parents that we want to talk with. These parents should be selected in any way the parents desire. However, let us stress that this is an unofficial meeting and cannot be conducted with large crowds of people and we want to discuss this situation with a representative group of parents. We will request a moderator from the Texas Education Agency. This meeting would be at 8:00 P.M. Wednesday, December 17, in the Administration Building. This meeting will only be held if students are back in normal classes on Monday, December 15. Please advise the Administration Office Monday if the parents will meet with us.

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