M.E.Ch.A and the Brown Berets
When I was in high school I was in a club called M.E.Ch.A. which stands for the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano(a) de Aztlan. When I first joined the club I saw it as an extra credit opportunity given by my high school government teacher, Mr. Chavez, who ran the club. I did not know or had not even heard of what the word Chicano(a) was until I joined that club. The meaning of a Chicano(a) is a person who comes from America but has Mexican descent. Chicano’s fight for the rights of Mexican Americans, they do this by protesting and fighting for what they believe in. M.E.Ch.A is a student organization that promotes higher education, culture and history. It was founded on the principles of self-determination for the liberation of Chicano’s, it also believes that political involvement and education is the avenue for change in society. The organization seeks to open the doors of a higher education for many Mexican American communities and they hope for a society that is free of imperialism, racism, sexism and homophobia.
“As the largest and oldest organization of Chican@ youth within the occupied indigenous land known as the United States of America, we refuse to follow suit of said government by remaining silent about the realities terrorizing our gente (people) in Mexico.”
During my time in the club, we did many fundraisers and a few protests that were based on our communities education system. I also got to meet a co-founder of the Brown Berets, Carlos Montes. He was a very nice guy, he talked about the L.A school walkouts and how they new it was important not to give up. He also told us that he still has problems with the police because he is still active in the Chicano community. Montes remains an activist and is a leader of Latinos Against War, a Latino anti-war organization based in Los Angeles and a member of the immigrant advocacy group the Southern California Immigration Coalition.” He is also in a committee to stop FBI repression. The lastest thing Montes has done is support the Dump Trump protest because he is angry that Trump blames Latinos for the lack of jobs and how he is portraying them to be these horrible people.
The Brown Berets are similar to the Black Panther Party. The Brown Berets are a pro-Chicano organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s and remains active to the present day. I have a high school friend who was in the M.E.Ch.A club with me and I recently found out that he joined the Brown Berets soon after high school. He is still active with the Brown Berets. M.E.Ch.A and the Brown Berets fight for an equal education for Chicano’s and they also believe in fighting for equal rights for men and women. They also believe that the political system needs to be free from government corruption. They are not the only groups who believe to improve things like the education system, our political system and economic system. Many groups and organizations are fighting for their rights to change the way minorities or “non-white” people are treated.
