Identifier:

Archival Resource Key

Dates:

1963 -1979

Scope and content:

The third series is further divided into seven sub-series: Chicano Movement, Education and Chicano Student Activism, Immigration Reform, Los Tres del Barrio Narcotics Case, Protest and Political Movements (United States), Protest and Political Movements (International), and Socialist Political Theory. It seems likely that at least some of these files were maintained by the Sin Fronteras staff as reference files to be used by the newspaper's writers. Representative topics within the Chicano Movement sub-series include the August 29th Movement, a rival Marxist-Leninist organization with which CASA was at ideological odds; La Raza Unida Party; and such issues as the Coors Beer Boycott and the police slaying of Los Angeles Times reporter Rubén Salazar, killed while covering the Chicano Moratorium Day riots in East Los Angeles in August, 1970.

The major issues in the second sub-series, Education and Chicano Student Activism, include the Alan Bakke reverse discrimination decision for admission to the University of California and the events andconditions which led to the Chicano student walk-outs ("blowouts") at Los Angeles high schools in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This sub-series also contains the papers of Jorge Rodriguez, Antonio Rodriguez's younger brother, who led several student strikes and attempted to coordinate other protest activities at high schools and East Los Angeles Community College.

The Immigration Reform Sub-series contains both CASA-generated records and records from organizations in which CASA participated, as well as reference files and information on the deportation case of Mexican lawyer José Jacques Medina. Although by 1975 CASA was spending less time helping individuals with their immigration problems, it had formed coalitions with other organizations, notably the National Coalition for Fair Laws and Practices, to keep immigration reform in the public eye. CASA organized and took part in rallies, marches, press conferences and campaigns designed to convince its members and others that the United States and its Latin American neighbors should enact legislation making them `sin fronteras' (without borders). Another major effort was support for the political asylum request of Medina, who was fighting deportation to Mexico for fear of reprisals for his participation in demonstrations at the Universidad Nacional Autónomo de México in 1973.

Another case in which CASA was actively involved was that of Los Tres del Barrio. The papers concerning Los Tres form the next sub-series. The three men --Juan Ramón Fernandez, Alberto Ortiz Sanchez and Rodolfo Peña Sanchez --were convicted of narcotics charges while serving as drug counselors in East Los Angeles. Antonio Rodriguez served as legal counsel, and Sin Fronteras waged a campaign to have their sentences overturned.

The next two sub-series deal with a wide range of domestic and international protest and political movements. These include anti-Vietnam War activities, Native American activism, industrial and farm labor union strikes in the United States, as well as socialist movements in Cuba, Mexico, and particularly Puerto Rico.

The Socialist Political Theory Sub-series consists entirely of reprints of articles used by CASA members in their study groups and by Sin Fronteras writers as background for political articles.

Contents

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