Think about the fact that Uvalde had a protest in 1970.
iberoaztlan.com/arti cles/remembering-the -uvalde-public-schoo l-walkout-of-19
In Uvalde, the initial issue had to do with the contract non-renewal of a popular Mexican American teacher by the name of Josue "George" Garza. [6] As the walkout became better organized, a list of 14 demands was presented to the school board. These demands included a call for more Mexican American teachers and courses in Chicano history. The all-Anglo school board refused to discuss the demands until all the students returned to school. The students, led by seniors Oscar Castro and Elvia Perez, (The rumor was that Elvia was going to be the valedictorian) held their ground and in a meeting before the school board on April 17th, 1970, told the trustees no - the walkout will continue!
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Note that students who participated in the walkout had their names sent to the draft board/
Together with Bart Flores, I went down to the draft board to question why my name had gone in. The head of the draft board, Ruth Webb, did not have an answer but she did have an attitude. After arguing with her for several minutes that she should not have my name until I am 18, her final words to me were, "You just wait young man. I am going to get you and you can say hello to Viet Nam!" Well, I didn't wait. I was going to turn 18 in a few days on May 15th. It was now May 12th. I decided that I needed to leave town and register for the draft somewhere else. I talked two of friends into going with me to California to register. At the time I felt I didn't have any business killing people I didn't know.
and Seniors who were participating in the walkout would not be graduating. For a number of people, that high school diploma was their ticket out of life of misery and poverty and that people like Pepe, never got to cash it in.
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The school year came to a close on May 21st. The school board had refused to negotiate with the students on the list of 14 demands. As punishment many (approximately 400) were flunked back one year. Many of us were deeply embarrassed by this outcome. Most of the seniors who participated in the walkout left town. Some went back up North to Minnesota and Wisconsin where they had once worked as farm workers. Other students joined the military. Some went to San Antonio and managed to get into college. And others just disappeared into society. George Garza, the schoolteacher we started the walkout for, ended up losing his job and he too left the state. MAPA continued to engage the school district on a variety of issues and there was some talk about resuming the walkout in the fall.