The 1968 student walkout that galvanized a national movement for Chicano rights
At 12 noon on March 5, 1968, two thousand students from Garfield High School in East Los Angeles marched out of school, chanting “Walk out” and “Viva la revolución.” The students, most of whom were Chicano, were protesting poor conditions in their run-down and overcrowded schools. At the time, Mexican Americans in Los Angeles had the highest dropout rate and the lowest college attendance of any ethnic group. Members of a new community group who called themselves the Brown Berets assisted the students.
For over 20 years, the Mexican American has suffered at the hands of the Anglo establishment. He is discriminated against in schooling, housing, in employment and in every other phase of life. Because of this situation, the Mexican American has become the lowest achiever of any minority group in the entire Southwest.
— Brown Berets manifesto
The walkout spread to other East L.A. schools, with over 22,000 students participating. Local law enforcement conducted undercover operations and and arrested 13 activists, who were dubbed the Eastside 13. Charges were eventually dropped, and the student-led protests effected real change. In 1969, one year after the walkouts, the number of Mexican Americans enrolled at UCLA rose from 100 to 1,900. Fifty years later, the dropout rate in East L.A. high schools has fallen by more than half.
