In the mid-1990s, against a backdrop of nativist hysteria, two opposing efforts took place in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District: an attempt by principally wealthy white parents to have Aptos “secede” from the district and a fight by the first wave of Mexican American students bussed in from Watsonville for a right of place at Aptos High School. With Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) as their central organizing space, these students marched in the streets, spoke out during public comment at school board meetings, and got the backing of the Brown Berets. They impressively also ran a campaign advocating for Chicano studies and won nearly every seat on their student council. Yet they were defamed by powerful establishment figures and interests in the local area and, in some cases, viciously criminalized. What can we learn from their struggle?
This struggle for Chicano studies was a fight for a “third space” by a status-vulnerable community of color. As sites of belonging for marginalized communities in the areas they inhabit and call home, third spaces provide youth with space to explore and build connection to their communities in sites outside the classroom.
By critically analyzing the media’s portrait of Watsonville, circa the 1990s, as gang-affiliated, this project examines how the congregation of youth of color has been criminalized in Santa Cruz County and spaces where they gather have been racialized. It sheds light on the spatial logic of racism which justifies structural violence towards youth of color in Santa Cruz County.
Key terms
Third space theory
Respectability politics
Assimilation
Discussion Questions
What is the importance of third spaces for communities of color?
How was the 1990s’ struggle for Chicano studies a struggle for a third space for Watsonville youth?
Consider what spaces are available to those who are status vulnerable.
Omar Diéguez: Movement Leader Then, Youth Mentor Now
Omar Diéguez, a youth mentor at Barrios Unidos Santa Cruz, has struggled locally for ethnic studies both in the past and the present, including student-led protests for Chicano studies at Aptos High School in the 1990s and community-organized grassroots freedom schools in Pajaro Valley today.
Coming Soon: An Interview with Omar Diéguez
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The Aptos Secession Plan
Formidable opposition awaited the first wave of Watsonville youth who were bussed into Aptos and effectively desegregated Aptos High School. Within a few years, the number of Latinos increased to almost 45% of the school body. A Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) trustee and wealthy parents from the largely white mid-county area strenuously resisted this demographic transformation. They pushed hard, including by using the media to broadcast their views, for the “secession” of Aptos from the district. The message to the Chicano students from south county was clear: they were not welcome.
Key terms
Secession
Desegregation
“South county”
Racialized space
Discussion Questions
Examine the April 27, 1995 Register-Pajaronian front-page article, “Aptos Parents Defend District Secession Effort: Supporters Deny Move Is Driven by Racism,” below. Both architects and supporters of the secession plan claimed it wasn’t racist. Discuss.
The Fight for Chicano Studies
Key terms
MEChA
Brown Berets
Migrant Parents Club
Pajaro Valley Unified School District
Model Minority
Discussion Questions
How was the 1990s’ struggle for Chicano studies a struggle for a third space for Watsonville youth?
Discuss the role the media played in portraying Watsonville students as gang affiliated and prone to violence. Analyze specific word choices in the above articles.
Students in MEChA who were fighting for Chicano studies and educational equity at Aptos deployed a multiplicity of tactics–speaking out at school board meetings, organizing with the Brown Berets, marching in the streets, writing letters to local newspapers, and creating signs, flyers, and other movement materials. Their protest activities were targeted by school authorities for disciplinary measures. A December 31, 1994 Register-Pajaronian article (see below) described arrests of student protesters as “lessons” they learned out of the classroom. Taking this framing seriously, how might we understand their organizing activities as Chicano studies in action? How did they transform the space of the street, the outdoor rally, and the school board meeting into a space of community education?
Proposition 187
Passed by California voters in 1994 before being overturned in the courts four years later, Proposition 187 denied undocumented immigrants access to state services like public education, non-emergency healthcare, and social services. The law framed the “People of California” as victims of “illegal aliens” and associated the latter with “criminal conduct.” The fight waged by students bussed from Watsonville into Aptos for Chicano studies occurred during a time of anti-immigrant hysteria, racial scapegoating, intensified policing, and draconian sentencing (including the 1994 “Three Strikes” law).
Key terms
Nativism/Anti-immigrant sentiment/xenophobia
Desegregation
Criminalization
Policing
Surveillance
Discussion Questions
Proposition 187 opens with the claim that “the People of California…have suffered and are suffering economic hardship caused by the presence” and “criminal conduct of illegal aliens in this state.” How did the anti-immigrant sentiment of Prop 187 play out in the ways that students from Watsonville were treated at Aptos High School?
How did Pete Wilson’s video campaign–both for office and for Prop 187–portray undocumented people? Discuss the rhetorical and visual aspects of his message.
At an anti-Prop 187 rally in front of Santa Cruz Courthouse in 1994, youth proudly held up both Salvadoran and Mexican flags. Discuss U.S. foreign policy in Central America and its trade policy with Mexico during this time. What was the United States doing and what forces was it backing in El Salvador? What did the North American Free Trade Agreement do to Indigenous peasant farmers in Mexico?