The emergence of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán at the Denver Youth Conference in 1969 marked the beginning of the Chicano Movement; but overall the United States - and the world - was already in the midst of an era defined by movements for radical social upheaval that included Black Power, women's rights, the hippies, and anti-Vietnam War activism.
The Chicano Moratorium was a collective effort to raise awareness of the Vietnam War as a civil rights issue, one among many affecting the Chicano community. It was an open secret that Mexican-American casualties in Vietnam were coming in disproportionate number to their population -- 20%of the casualties when they comprised 10% of the American population. A series of marches and rallies were held in East Los Angeles beginning in 1969, families with children joining students and activists in the fight for civil rights and to end the war.
Rosalio Muñoz, then the UCLA student body president, joined the cause by burning his draft card on September 16, 1969, coinciding with Mexican Independence Day. At the second Denver Youth Conference in 1970, Munoz, now co-chair of the Chicano Moratorium in Los Angeles, proposed a National Chicano Moratorium on August 29th, 1970. That day would live in infamy as the peaceful, non-violent march and rally culminated in police violence that caused the untimely death of L.A. Times journalist Ruben Salazar, due to the actions of a Los Angeles County Sheriff. The death of Salazar, who had provided a voice for the Chicano Movement with his often controversial reports on civil rights and police brutality, created a martyr, but it also worsened the already strained relationship between Moratorium activists and the police.
Subsequent Moratorium protests all ended in violence, and the LAPD raided the offices of the Moratorium Committee on numerous occasions. When the LAPD fired at a crowd at a Chicano protest on January 31, 1971, killing one and wounding many more, many who had previously been supporters, including Muñoz, called for an end to Moratorium activities. By then other Chicano organizations such as the Brown Berets had disbanded, but this would in part pave the way for a new wave of Chicano activism for the rest of the 1970s.
Above, Sybil Venegas describes the relationship between art and activism; artist Richard Duardo on the growing number of political establishments; artist John Valadez uses art to claim "Chicanismo." Below, a slideshow of images of Chicano Moratorium protests in 1970.