La Raza (newspaper)
The paper played a seminal role in the Chicano Movement, providing activists a platform to document the abuses and inequalities faced by Mexican-Americans in Southern California.
Taking a photojournalistic approach, the editors and contributors at La Raza were able to capture images of police brutality, segregation, and protests that rallied support to the Chicano cause.
La Raza was founded in the basement of an East L.A. church with the objective of driving community organization for the Chicano movement, which was still on the rise, and improving awareness of the Mexican-American experience in Los Angeles, which the editors felt was neglected by the large media outlets.
The paper quickly grew in popularity, though, as the growth of the Chicano movement prompted the dispersal of copies of La Raza across the United States.
[1] As the newspaper's popularity grew, so did the scope of its coverage, and it began to go beyond Los Angeles to discuss national and international issues from a Chicano perspective.
It was at this meeting where the title "La Raza" was chosen for the paper, as the group felt that this phrase appealed to the highly diverse Mexican-American population in Los Angeles.
BUSCA put an emphasis on self-expression and self-identity, teaching children to read and write in both English and Spanish and providing education in culture, history, and the arts.
[4] On May 31, 1968, District Attorney Evelle Younger gained indictments from a grand jury against 13 of the walkout organizers for conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, a felony carrying a maximum prison sentence of six years.
[3] La Raza, meanwhile, lambasted the arrests as a violation of its First Amendment rights, claiming that pictures and articles prepared for future publication, telephone lists, and thousands of anti-LAPD leaflets were confiscated during the raid.
[3][1] The newspaper stayed on the offensive, publishing "The Yearbook" in September 1968, an issue containing an article listing the students extensive demands for educational reform.
[1] Despite its short lifespan, the saga permanently strained relations between La Raza and law enforcement, planting the seeds for the increasingly political stance the paper would take in the following years.
On May 11, 1968, La Raza released one of the most prominent issues in the publication's history, a special edition devoted to documenting the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C.
This editorial change was a landmark moment in the publication's history; Ruíz remained editor until publishing ceased in 1977, exerting great influence on the objectives and activities of La Raza.
These criticisms were aired in the December, 1969 issue of the newspaper, which lampooned Los Angeles's Cardinal James Francis McIntyre as "His Eminence the Wall Street Broker."
Later that month, Ruíz, Razo, and La Raza staff members Luis Garza, Fred Lopez, Roberto Gandara, and Richard Martinez were among those arrested at the violent protests at the Christmas Midnight Mass at St.
The march, which stands as the largest demonstration ever conducted by people of Mexican descent in the U.S., was carried out by 20,000-30,000 individuals in protest of Mexican-American casualties in the Vietnam War.
He was killed after being struck by a tear gas projectile fired by LA County deputy sheriff Thomas Wilson into the Silver Dollar Cafe, where Salazar sat drinking a beer.
After struggling to find a mainstream media outlet to increase circulation of the images, Ruíz was eventually able to convince the Times to not only run them but also attribute them to La Raza.
They vehemently condemned the treatment received by Ruíz in particular when he took the stand, arguing that he was unnecessarily interrogated and attacked by hearing officers because he was a Chicano activist.
[1] La Raza Unida launched one last-ditch effort to gain political influence in L.A. in 1974 when it fought for Proposition X, a measure to incorporate East Los Angeles as its own city.
