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- Most of the organizations that
appear very prominently during the late 60s and early 70s
come from Texas.
The League of United Latin American Citizens
formed in '29.
The American GI form formed in '47.
And the student organizations.
And then later, MALDEF,
the Mexican-American League of Defense
and Educational Fund and others,
they orginate in Texas.
Most historians like to point
to the farm worker's strikes
of the late 60s and early 70s
as an important energizing element
in this growing movement.
There are many other things that occurred
before that and after that
but that is one very important marker.
The organizing efforts by farm workers
to the strike for improved conditions and boycotts
that allowed people outside the Mexican-American community
to bring pressure on the farmers
to sit down at the bargaining table with the farm workers.
- We helped
in asking particularly near campus,
the liquor stores that were here,
and asked them to take down the Gallo wines.
Those are the wines that the United Farm Workers
were boycotting.
If they would do it voluntarliy.
And if they didn't,
then we told them that we were going to demonstrate
in front of their business.
This was connected with Cesar Chavez's boycott
on grapes.
- The walkouts of the late 60s and early 70s
are also another very important marker.
The anti-war movement as well.
We had a number of demonstrations
that allow us to join with other communities.
- The Economy strike got a lot of people together.
People that never been involved.
I tell a story about my mom.
I never dreamed that my mother,
because she was kind of laid back
that she would ever get involved in anything.
But there's the Economy strike
and I march down Congress avenue.
And there goes my Mom, which you know
I said look at this, man.
Everybody got involved
because the Economy strike
was a big injustice to the Mexican American worker
without a doubt.
- The Economy furniture was North Austin.
I mean back in those days,
it might have well been Waco.
- About 90, 90 something percent were
mexicanos working there, chicanos.
- There were a lot of friends of Buddy's in that place.
Lencho, Leo all of them were working there.
Buddy's brother, Buddy's father.
They were all working in there. Buddy and I,
We were living in his parent's house here
on 3rd and Waller.
And my father in law would tell him,
Fijate que so and so
who has been working here for 25 years or 30 years,
they fired him because they didn't want to pay him
his pension.
I mean, that just was not right.
- But when I heard about their low wages
and discrimination
and the way that the setting
where their work was set up.
- The most important was the disrespect
that the company had for us.
The fact that they would not promote our people.
The wages that they paid us
and the way they treated us on a daily basis.
- Well I think it opened my eyes
to be able to kinda look it
at events and say what's happening here?
What is really going on here?
And it was pretty clear with the Economy Furniture strike
it was about not paying people appropriately
for the work that they do.
And they wanted to also form a union.
There were all these efforts on the part of the owners
to not let that union occur.
And it makes you wonder,
but that's a right that people have.
- Buddy knew that you had to unionize.
You have to all stick together.
If we all stick together,
the power of the people is quite potent.
- And they refused to negotiate so then
we took a vote to strike
because we felt like they were not going to recognize
the union.
So we decided to go ahead and vote for the strike
and it was overwhelmingly in favor
of going out on strike.
And we did.
- It was not even at,
maybe a week or so when they all said
okay, we're gonna walk out.
And my father-in-law, he walked out with them
and his brothers walked out with them
and my father-in-law became totally committed
to the cause.
All of us suddenly said, you know,
you are so right.
We cannot allow them to treat us this way.
I'm sick and tired of it.
So he became a big spokesman.
And they all walked out.
And it was hard.
Because, you know, no income.
And how are they gonna feed their families?
- I would photograph the pickets,
you know, walking up and down the street.
And they had a striker's shack.
You know this galvanized building
that they worked out of.
- We would change pickets
and they were there,
rest while they were waiting for
to relieve other picketers.
We maintained the picket line
for the duration of the strike.
- One Saturday my dad told me we're gonna go,
they're gonna have a protest, a march
against what was happening at the Economy Furniture.
And it's gonna be downtown.
He didn't work at the Economy Furniture
but he had relationships with others.
- They had a march in Austin on Congress Avenue.
And at that time, we had a Mayo chapter
that wore brown berets.
We were a Brown Beret group
but was Mexican-American Youth Organization, MAYO.
And we brought a busload to join them over here
and that's how we met people like Lencho and Leo Hernandez.
- So I participated in the march
and I just, I was really blown by
because I saw so much Raza.
I was going like,wow, OK, Raza is really upset
about what's going on
and they're together
and they're taking a march
and everywhere I look I could just see everybody
who looked like me.
But people who were standing up for their rights, right?
They were taking these actions and so forth.
And so I just felt really proud.
And I was really happy to be there with my dad.
And being there was an inspiration for me
to really continue advocating
against injustices.
- It was a very, very beautiful experience
for me to see because,
Cesar Chavez even came to support them.
I even had the honor of taking a photo with him
and one of the women leaders.
We even went to the Capitol
and took a photo with the men leaders
against a glimpse that talk about civil rights.
- And I remember Cesar Chavez coming
to the Montopolis community.
I thought it was such a big honor
to have Cesar Chavez here.
The relationships were more about
with the relationships he had with the Economy workers
and that group of people.
Even though we were the broader community.
What an honor it was
again to see someone working for the workers' rights
who understood it.
_
- Oh gosh, it was just overwhelming.
And I couldn't believe that he was here.
I couldn't believe that I was seeing the person.
- That strike got settled about 72
but at that time, they were totally unemployed.
But they gave a lot of their time, man.
And they put up all of the signs.
They made them, they put them up.
They kept an eye on them
and they walked.
They were an army.
- The workers voted in
a National Labor Relations Board election
for proper representation by the Upholsterers'
International Union of North America, AFL-CIO.
We voted to have them represent us in collective bargaining.
- There were a lot of marches.
And there were large numbers of people involved.
And there was a lot of energy.
And a lot of fliers were given out door to door
and to stores.
And everybody was doing that.
East Austin, South Austin as well.
But there was a lot of energy.
There was a lot of togetherness
and try to work for that effort.