00:00:03.999 --> 00:00:07.975
-For decades, Latinos had
no political power.

00:00:07.999 --> 00:00:10.918
Willie Velasquez
would change that.

00:00:10.999 --> 00:00:14.975
With an army of volunteers
and with a battle cry

00:00:14.999 --> 00:00:17.643
of, "Your vote is your voice,"
they set off

00:00:17.667 --> 00:00:20.476
to register millions
of new Latino voters

00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:23.226
and change the American
political landscape.

00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:26.518
-That party that ignores
that vote

00:00:26.542 --> 00:00:28.560
is gonna be
punished at the polls,

00:00:28.584 --> 00:00:29.975
no question about it.

00:00:29.999 --> 00:00:31.250 line:20%
-Willie Velasquez --
your vote is your voice.

00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:34.959
-For decades, Latinos in America
had no political power.

00:00:39.999 --> 00:00:43.999
In the 1960s, a new generation
of Latinos emerged.

00:00:44.584 --> 00:00:48.435
-It is a time when people
of Hispanic descent

00:00:48.459 --> 00:00:51.018 position:20%
are beginning
to mobilize their strength

00:00:51.042 --> 00:00:53.143 line:20%
and are beginning to have impact

00:00:53.167 --> 00:00:55.476 line:20%
in the American
political process.

00:00:55.500 --> 00:00:57.975 line:20%
-Willie Velasquez
and a grassroots army

00:00:57.999 --> 00:01:00.918 line:20%
of volunteers began
a voting revolution.

00:01:01.083 --> 00:01:05.083 line:20%
Today there are over
55 million Latinos in America.

00:01:06.417 --> 00:01:10.059 line:20%
28 million are
registered to vote.

00:01:10.083 --> 00:01:12.976 line:20%
The Latino voting bloc
has been called

00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:15.975 line:20%
"the sleeping giant."

00:01:15.999 --> 00:01:17.894 line:20%
-That party that ignores
that vote

00:01:17.918 --> 00:01:19.935 line:20%
is gonna be punished
at the polls --

00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:21.143 line:20%
no question about it.

00:01:21.167 --> 00:01:22.894 line:20%
Latina and Latino voters

00:01:22.918 --> 00:01:24.667 line:20%
actually can make
and break those candidates.

00:01:30.584 --> 00:01:34.435 line:20%
-The road towards Latino
political empowerment

00:01:34.459 --> 00:01:37.351 line:20%
has been a difficult one.

00:01:37.375 --> 00:01:39.476 line:20%
William Velasquez,
better known as Willie,

00:01:39.500 --> 00:01:42.268 line:20%
knew this.

00:01:42.292 --> 00:01:43.751 position:20% line:20%
-He was looking for a voice
in government for Latinos,

00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:47.975 line:20%
and I think
Willie was in a hurry

00:01:47.999 --> 00:01:49.727 line:20%
and I don't blame him
for being in a hurry.

00:01:49.751 --> 00:01:51.975 line:20%
I'm glad he was.

00:01:51.999 --> 00:01:53.768 position:20% line:20%
And as life would have it,

00:01:53.792 --> 00:01:55.727 line:20%
his life ended
at a very young age.

00:01:55.751 --> 00:01:57.975 line:20%
Can you imagine
if he hadn't been in a hurry?

00:01:57.999 --> 00:02:00.976 line:20%
-Willie died at age 44,

00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.852 line:20%
but not before he left
an indelible stamp

00:02:03.876 --> 00:02:06.602 line:20%
on the American
political landscape.

00:02:06.626 --> 00:02:09.018 line:20%
-Willie started with
a couple of concepts.

00:02:09.042 --> 00:02:12.042 line:20%
One of them was that Mexican-
Americans were underregistered,

00:02:12.751 --> 00:02:16.727 line:20%
and we wouldn't be a force
until we were reflected

00:02:16.751 --> 00:02:20.059 line:20%
in the vote
as we were in the population.

00:02:20.083 --> 00:02:24.292 line:20%
It was a very patriotic idea --
unassailably patriotic idea.

00:02:25.626 --> 00:02:29.792 line:20%
And Willie then kind of grew
that into a larger philosophy,

00:02:30.417 --> 00:02:34.101 line:20%
which he captured
in the simple phrase

00:02:34.125 --> 00:02:36.334 line:20%
"su voto es su voz --"

00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:39.975 line:20%
Your vote is your voice.

00:02:39.999 --> 00:02:43.667 line:20%
-I think we make a contribution,
and that, I feel,

00:02:44.334 --> 00:02:48.059 line:20%
is what all immigrant
groups have done.

00:02:48.083 --> 00:02:49.894 line:20%
They are new blood --

00:02:49.918 --> 00:02:51.975 line:20%
new blood that revitalizes
the democratic process,

00:02:51.999 --> 00:02:55.852 line:20%
and I think that's what's gonna
happen in the next 30 years,

00:02:55.876 --> 00:02:58.101 line:20%
that the Mexicans,

00:02:58.125 --> 00:02:59.476 line:20%
although they are
cotton-pickers

00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:01.810 line:20%
and they are laborers,

00:03:01.834 --> 00:03:03.143 line:20%
they are making this country
true to its ideals.

00:03:03.167 --> 00:03:06.935 line:20%
And that means that even
the humblest of its citizens

00:03:06.959 --> 00:03:09.999 line:20%
have a right to elect
their representation.

00:03:10.918 --> 00:03:14.435 line:20%
-The thing about Willie is that

00:03:14.459 --> 00:03:16.643 line:20%
if you had a chance to listen
to what he had to say,

00:03:16.667 --> 00:03:20.334 line:20%
you would walk home
feeling empowered.

00:03:21.209 --> 00:03:25.334 position:20% line:20%
-On a shoestring budget and with
big dreams, Willie started

00:03:26.626 --> 00:03:30.667 line:20%
the Southwest Voter Registration
and Education Project

00:03:30.999 --> 00:03:34.792 line:20%
here on the West Side
of San Antonio.

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.975 line:20%
-As I walked in,
there was a folding table

00:03:38.999 --> 00:03:41.727 line:20%
and a phone, and that was it.

00:03:41.751 --> 00:03:43.643 line:20%
And the first thing
that went through my head was,

00:03:43.667 --> 00:03:45.975 line:20%
"What am I getting myself
into here?"

00:03:45.999 --> 00:03:48.018 position:20% line:20%
-I got a call from Willie.

00:03:48.042 --> 00:03:49.975 line:20%
He says, "Hey,
I hear you're back in Texas."

00:03:49.999 --> 00:03:52.059 line:20%
"Yeah, yeah."

00:03:52.083 --> 00:03:53.351 line:20%
And he says, "I'm looking
for a field director.

00:03:53.375 --> 00:03:57.101 line:20%
You think you might
be interested?"

00:03:57.125 --> 00:03:59.018 line:20%
-"Yeah, that's what
we're gonna do, Andy."

00:03:59.042 --> 00:04:00.894 line:20%
He said, "We're gonna build
the biggest voter-registration

00:04:00.918 --> 00:04:02.976 position:20% line:20%
effort Mexicans ever seen."

00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:05.975
He said, "We're gonna be around
at least 10 years,"

00:04:05.999 --> 00:04:08.810
and he said,
"When we're finished,

00:04:08.834 --> 00:04:11.435
every politician will respect
and fear our vote."

00:04:11.459 --> 00:04:15.101 position:20%
-And he has a map of the
United States on his wall,

00:04:15.125 --> 00:04:18.185
and he says, "Look,
here's what we're gonna do.

00:04:18.209 --> 00:04:20.435
We need to build
these little committees

00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:22.975 position:20%
all across the Southwest."

00:04:22.999 --> 00:04:25.101
I'm standing behind him,

00:04:25.125 --> 00:04:27.476
and I'm saying,
"This guy's crazy.

00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:29.975 position:20%
How are we gonna do this?"

00:04:29.999 --> 00:04:31.351
And he says, "And we need
someone to go out on the road

00:04:31.375 --> 00:04:33.975
and organize
all these projects."

00:04:33.999 --> 00:04:37.059
And he's looking at me.

00:04:37.083 --> 00:04:38.999 line:20%
♪♪

00:04:42.083 --> 00:04:45.810
I plotted West Texas for two
or three months, New Mexico,

00:04:45.834 --> 00:04:49.417
Colorado, Arizona,
southern part of California --

00:04:49.792 --> 00:04:52.975
on the road,

00:04:52.999 --> 00:04:53.976
without coming back
to San Antonio.

00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.435
-It was communities
where we knew nobody.

00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:59.560
So what do you do?

00:04:59.584 --> 00:05:01.209
You go and you find the first
Mexican restaurant you can find.

00:05:03.751 --> 00:05:05.959
-One city limit to the next,
I would organize in one town,

00:05:07.999 --> 00:05:11.768
and then I said,
"So, do you guys know

00:05:11.792 --> 00:05:13.975
who the leadership
is over here in Eloy?"

00:05:13.999 --> 00:05:17.894
"Yeah, go talk to so-and-so
and so-and-so."

00:05:17.918 --> 00:05:20.310
Okay.

00:05:20.334 --> 00:05:21.834
-You knew that, one,
you were not paid very well.

00:05:22.584 --> 00:05:26.101
You knew, two, that the mission

00:05:26.125 --> 00:05:28.292
was for people
that were very committed,

00:05:28.459 --> 00:05:32.268
and, three, that your life
was gonna change.

00:05:32.292 --> 00:05:36.018
Willie was on the road
all the time.

00:05:36.042 --> 00:05:38.975
I mean, for Jane and the family,
it was hard.

00:05:38.999 --> 00:05:42.334 line:20%
-People sacrificed --
not just us, not just my family,

00:05:42.792 --> 00:05:46.268 line:20%
but whoever worked for Willie,

00:05:46.292 --> 00:05:49.560 line:20%
they worked just as hard.

00:05:49.584 --> 00:05:51.226 line:20%
-We worked in 132 cities.

00:05:51.250 --> 00:05:53.935 line:20%
-Willie had created
a committee of local leaders.

00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:56.852 position:20% line:20%
He had them on his Rolodex.

00:05:56.876 --> 00:05:59.375 line:20%
Well, multiply that 25 times,
50 times, 100 times,

00:06:02.918 --> 00:06:06.667 position:20% line:20%
and you got
a damn impressive Rolodex.

00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:30.292
-We used to count
Latino voters manually.

00:06:30.626 --> 00:06:34.602
-Literally, we'd get the list
of registered voters

00:06:34.626 --> 00:06:37.975
and just count
every Spanish surname,

00:06:37.999 --> 00:06:39.351
"One, two, three."

00:06:39.375 --> 00:06:40.935
That's how we did it before
the days of computers and stuff.

00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.059
I remember the big leap forward

00:06:44.083 --> 00:06:45.975
was a Texas Instrument
hand calculator.

00:06:45.999 --> 00:06:47.976
Like, we thought, "Whoa!"

00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:49.834 line:20%
-We had the first computer,
a TRS-80.

00:06:50.083 --> 00:06:53.975 line:20%
They called them
Trash-80s after that.

00:06:53.999 --> 00:06:56.518 line:20%
-Big old IBM processing
operations with all,

00:06:56.542 --> 00:06:59.584 line:20%
you know, the cards,
and you'd load the cards,

00:06:59.999 --> 00:07:03.685 line:20%
but back then,
it was state-of-the-art.

00:07:03.709 --> 00:07:05.685
-And the disk --

00:07:05.709 --> 00:07:06.975
these big disks only had 64k,

00:07:06.999 --> 00:07:09.059
but we had one of the first ones
in town,

00:07:09.083 --> 00:07:11.143
and that's what we were using
to crank out these reports.

00:07:11.167 --> 00:07:14.059
-Look, the computer tells us
the registration rate

00:07:14.083 --> 00:07:17.185
and it tells us the turnout rate

00:07:17.209 --> 00:07:18.975
and tells us the rate
for the rest.

00:07:18.999 --> 00:07:20.602
-You have to remember,
this is all, you know,

00:07:20.626 --> 00:07:23.351
at the time, very high-tech.

00:07:23.375 --> 00:07:25.975
-That's an IBM.
It isn't a Mexican computer.

00:07:25.999 --> 00:07:28.975
And we use that information.
We decide where to go.

00:07:28.999 --> 00:07:31.894
-Willie didn't know
how to use any of this.

00:07:31.918 --> 00:07:33.975
You know, we were
the ones using it.

00:07:33.999 --> 00:07:35.975 position:20%
But he would get excited
when we'd press the button

00:07:35.999 --> 00:07:38.976
and this report starts
being printed.

00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.101
You know, he says, "Oh!"

00:07:41.125 --> 00:07:42.584
like it was like magic,
you know?

00:07:42.999 --> 00:07:46.476 position:20%
-San Antonio in the 1950s.

00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:50.310
Willie grew up in
a Mexican-American barrio

00:07:50.334 --> 00:07:52.975
on the West Side.

00:07:52.999 --> 00:07:54.310
He was the oldest
of five children.

00:07:54.334 --> 00:07:57.018 line:20%
-My dad was a butcher,

00:07:57.042 --> 00:07:58.435 line:20%
and he worked at Swift & Company
on San Marcos Street

00:07:58.459 --> 00:08:01.975 line:20%
and my mom worked
in the sweatshop

00:08:01.999 --> 00:08:03.810
over at Fine Silver,

00:08:03.834 --> 00:08:05.018
and my grandmother worked
at the cigar company,

00:08:05.042 --> 00:08:07.976
and that was all
in the same barrio.

00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.560 position:20%
-Weekend family gatherings

00:08:10.584 --> 00:08:12.518
were a tradition
on the West Side.

00:08:12.542 --> 00:08:15.685
Unlike the other kids
that wanted to play,

00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:17.976
Willie would sit with the men

00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.268 position:20%
and listen to their stories

00:08:20.292 --> 00:08:22.999
and got his first taste
of local politics.

00:08:23.999 --> 00:08:27.560
-They would sit around outside

00:08:27.584 --> 00:08:29.560
in the backyard
of my grandmother's house

00:08:29.584 --> 00:08:31.018 line:20%
and talk about what was
happening in the community,

00:08:31.042 --> 00:08:34.226 line:20%
what was happening
in San Antonio.

00:08:34.250 --> 00:08:36.935 line:20%
They're the ones that
got Willie interested in

00:08:36.959 --> 00:08:39.417 line:20%
what's going on
in the community.

00:08:39.834 --> 00:08:41.209 line:20%
-San Antonio
had long been segregated.

00:08:43.542 --> 00:08:47.185 line:20%
The West and South Side of town

00:08:47.209 --> 00:08:49.476 line:20%
were among the poorest
in the country.

00:08:49.500 --> 00:08:52.975 line:20%
-We really saw the Latino vote
suppressed

00:08:52.999 --> 00:08:55.560 line:20%
throughout the early part
of the 20th century.

00:08:55.584 --> 00:08:58.476
Mexicans lived on one
part of town

00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:00.975
and Anglos lived on another,

00:09:00.999 --> 00:09:02.975
and they didn't mix,
politics included.

00:09:02.999 --> 00:09:06.292
-In 1929, the League of United
Latin American Citizens, LULAC,

00:09:07.167 --> 00:09:10.975
was organized to protect
Mexican-Americans

00:09:10.999 --> 00:09:13.975
from rampant discrimination.

00:09:13.999 --> 00:09:16.602
-Latinos were ignored
politically.

00:09:16.626 --> 00:09:19.018
During those times,

00:09:19.042 --> 00:09:20.518
we had this emotional barrier
of "you don't count.

00:09:20.542 --> 00:09:23.560
You don't matter.
You're not American."

00:09:23.584 --> 00:09:25.292
And in addition to that,
in Texas, you had the poll tax.

00:09:29.751 --> 00:09:33.310 position:20% line:20%
-Imagine all the disincentive
to vote that exists today,

00:09:33.334 --> 00:09:36.727 line:20%
like it's too hard
or you can't get there,

00:09:36.751 --> 00:09:39.059 line:20%
but add on top of that
you have to pay.

00:09:39.083 --> 00:09:41.685
It was specifically designed
to make it difficult

00:09:41.709 --> 00:09:44.852
for poor people to vote.

00:09:44.876 --> 00:09:46.476
They just didn't have the money.

00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:49.999
-After the stock market crash
in 1929, work was scarce.

00:09:50.584 --> 00:09:54.518
-The only thing we have
to fear is fear itself.

00:09:54.542 --> 00:09:57.500
-American authorities targeted
Mexicans for deportation.

00:09:57.876 --> 00:10:01.602
Between 500,000
to 2 million Mexicans

00:10:01.626 --> 00:10:04.935
were deported to Mexico.

00:10:04.959 --> 00:10:06.727
The program was
called repatriation.

00:10:06.751 --> 00:10:09.894
-The Latino community
was literally deported

00:10:09.918 --> 00:10:13.143
during the Great Depression.

00:10:13.167 --> 00:10:15.560
Whether you were a citizen
or not,

00:10:15.584 --> 00:10:17.185
they didn't check your papers.

00:10:17.209 --> 00:10:19.125
Raids happened,
and it is devastating.

00:10:24.959 --> 00:10:28.768
-When World War II
broke out in the 1940s,

00:10:28.792 --> 00:10:31.542
William Velasquez Sr.
was ready to fight.

00:10:32.999 --> 00:10:36.975
Although Latinos were
segregated at home,

00:10:36.999 --> 00:10:39.393
they were not segregated
in the war

00:10:39.417 --> 00:10:41.999
and fought side-by-side
with their Anglo countrymen.

00:10:43.999 --> 00:10:45.000
-After World War II,

00:10:47.375 --> 00:10:49.393
we saw Latinos come back
from fighting the war.

00:10:49.417 --> 00:10:53.626
They had this newfound political
awareness, where they go,

00:10:54.167 --> 00:10:57.975
"We are over there
risking our lives,

00:10:57.999 --> 00:11:01.476
fighting against fascism,

00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:03.643
fighting against Nazism,

00:11:03.667 --> 00:11:05.852
and we come back home
to South Texas

00:11:05.876 --> 00:11:08.975
and we have to use
a different water fountain?"

00:11:08.999 --> 00:11:11.894
So there was this awakening.

00:11:11.918 --> 00:11:15.018 line:20%
-You have the returning GIs.

00:11:15.042 --> 00:11:18.310 line:20%
They're getting jobs, you know,
because they're veterans,

00:11:18.334 --> 00:11:22.292 line:20%
and that's the basis
of a rising middle class.

00:11:22.751 --> 00:11:26.185
-We moved to the North Side.

00:11:26.209 --> 00:11:27.999
That's as far north
as Mexicans can move.

00:11:29.999 --> 00:11:34.018
-When we first moved in there,
we didn't have hot water.

00:11:34.042 --> 00:11:37.768
We definitely didn't
have air conditioning.

00:11:37.792 --> 00:11:40.250
When it rained,
it would flood terribly.

00:11:40.999 --> 00:11:44.685
My dad belonged
to the old school.

00:11:44.709 --> 00:11:48.310
He wanted to take us
to be migrant farm workers,

00:11:48.334 --> 00:11:51.602
and my mother put her foot down
and she said,

00:11:51.626 --> 00:11:53.226
"No, these children
are gonna get an education."

00:11:53.250 --> 00:11:56.435
-Willie, along with
his brothers and sister,

00:11:56.459 --> 00:11:58.852
attended Catholic school,

00:11:58.876 --> 00:12:00.876
a financial burden
for the family.

00:12:01.042 --> 00:12:05.167
-When we were able to work,
then we paid the rest of it.

00:12:05.792 --> 00:12:09.643
We paid our own way
from freshman year on up,

00:12:09.667 --> 00:12:12.852
because there was no way
they could pay it.

00:12:12.876 --> 00:12:16.667
-In 1962, Willie enrolled
at at St. Mary's University.

00:12:18.999 --> 00:12:22.476
He still lived at home

00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:24.393
and worked long hours
to put himself through school.

00:12:24.417 --> 00:12:27.709
His free time was devoted
to his fixation with politics.

00:12:29.083 --> 00:12:33.209 position:20% line:20%
-Willie took part in all kinds
of in-the-field exercises,

00:12:33.751 --> 00:12:37.518 line:20%
working with candidates
and the campaigns

00:12:37.542 --> 00:12:39.185 line:20%
and so on when
he was studying here.

00:12:39.209 --> 00:12:41.643
-Willie became a member
of the Young Democrats

00:12:41.667 --> 00:12:43.975
and volunteered on
Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez's

00:12:43.999 --> 00:12:47.226
re-election campaign.

00:12:47.250 --> 00:12:48.810
Congressman Gonzalez saw
potential in Willie.

00:12:48.834 --> 00:12:52.018
In his second year
at St. Mary's,

00:12:52.042 --> 00:12:54.435
he received a telegram
offering him

00:12:54.459 --> 00:12:57.000
a summer internship
in Washington, D.C.

00:12:57.167 --> 00:13:00.667
The year was 1964.

00:13:03.042 --> 00:13:07.185
Mexican-American youth were
entering a cultural renaissance,

00:13:07.209 --> 00:13:10.751
finding their voice
in American society.

00:13:11.375 --> 00:13:15.143
Across America,
the Civil Rights Movement

00:13:15.167 --> 00:13:17.975
was at its pinnacle.

00:13:17.999 --> 00:13:20.459
LBJ would sign the controversial
Civil Rights Bill.

00:13:22.250 --> 00:13:25.975
Events were escalating
in Indochina.

00:13:25.999 --> 00:13:28.918
Soon, Latinos would be drafted
in disproportionate numbers

00:13:29.999 --> 00:13:33.435
to fight the war in Vietnam.

00:13:33.459 --> 00:13:37.143
Willie and a handful
of Latino students

00:13:37.167 --> 00:13:39.976
would spend the summer of 1964

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.975
as government interns
in Washington, D.C.

00:13:42.999 --> 00:13:46.685
Willie got
the coveted opportunity

00:13:46.709 --> 00:13:48.975
thanks to his mentor,
Henry B. Gonzalez,

00:13:48.999 --> 00:13:51.417
the first Latino congressman
from Texas.

00:13:53.167 --> 00:13:56.602
-In the mid-'50s,

00:13:56.626 --> 00:13:58.059 line:20%
he was leading the fight
against segregation.

00:13:58.083 --> 00:14:00.685 position:20% line:20%
You know, San Antonio
desegregated in large part

00:14:00.709 --> 00:14:03.518
because of his actions
on city council.

00:14:03.542 --> 00:14:05.727
And then when he goes
to the state senate,

00:14:05.751 --> 00:14:07.975
he leads a famous filibuster

00:14:07.999 --> 00:14:09.975
where he's able to block
the segregationist

00:14:09.999 --> 00:14:12.435
legislation that
the Texas senate had passed.

00:14:12.459 --> 00:14:14.975
You have to remember,
this is all in reaction

00:14:14.999 --> 00:14:17.518
to Brown v. Board
at the time, 1954.

00:14:17.542 --> 00:14:19.643
So in '56,

00:14:19.667 --> 00:14:21.185
a lot of Southern states,
including Texas,

00:14:21.209 --> 00:14:23.101
are passing laws to say,
"You know what?

00:14:23.125 --> 00:14:25.143
We're gonna even
make it tougher.

00:14:25.167 --> 00:14:26.727
We're gonna pass laws
that reinforce segregation."

00:14:26.751 --> 00:14:29.393
Henry B. made sure that most
of those bills were defeated.

00:14:29.417 --> 00:14:32.959
So that is heroic.

00:14:33.751 --> 00:14:34.999
-Willie was assigned to work
in the U.S. State Department.

00:14:37.918 --> 00:14:41.810
He wasted no time
in taking in the sights

00:14:41.834 --> 00:14:44.935
and sounds of the city.

00:14:44.959 --> 00:14:47.894
Willie would spend
a great deal

00:14:47.918 --> 00:14:49.435
of his free time
with his mentor,

00:14:49.459 --> 00:14:51.560
Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez.

00:14:51.584 --> 00:14:53.999
They would talk about
new ideas and politics.

00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:57.975
-I think any politicized
young Latino coming out

00:14:57.999 --> 00:15:00.643 line:20%
of the West Side
in that generation

00:15:00.667 --> 00:15:03.584 line:20%
came up through Henry B.,
and Henry provided a pathway

00:15:04.209 --> 00:15:07.975
for a lot of Latinos
like Willie.

00:15:07.999 --> 00:15:10.810
-Willie successful
completed his internship,

00:15:10.834 --> 00:15:13.975
packed up his old beater,

00:15:13.999 --> 00:15:15.560
and headed home to finish
the year at St. Mary's.

00:15:15.584 --> 00:15:19.542
In early 1966,
the poll tax was eliminated.

00:15:20.083 --> 00:15:23.643
To spread the good news,

00:15:23.667 --> 00:15:25.852
Willie and other student
volunteers took to the streets,

00:15:25.876 --> 00:15:27.975
knocked on doors,
informing the people

00:15:27.999 --> 00:15:31.226
they did not have
to pay to vote anymore.

00:15:31.250 --> 00:15:33.768 line:20%
-Generally, you know,
we did everything

00:15:33.792 --> 00:15:36.518 line:20%
that folks would do
for campaigns --

00:15:36.542 --> 00:15:39.975
bumper-stickering, door to door,
registering people.

00:15:39.999 --> 00:15:43.059
And you also look at the fact

00:15:43.083 --> 00:15:44.476
that there weren't many
Latinas involved in politics

00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:47.667
because many folks
thought that, you know,

00:15:48.250 --> 00:15:52.268
politics was a man's game
and it was rough and tumble.

00:15:52.292 --> 00:15:55.417
And so it was hard
for Latinas to be involved.

00:15:56.250 --> 00:16:00.375
-Willie began voter drives
using classmates, volunteers,

00:16:02.500 --> 00:16:05.975
and even family members.

00:16:05.999 --> 00:16:07.685 line:20%
-We'd go out, and just
like a bunch of kids,

00:16:07.709 --> 00:16:09.894 line:20%
you know, put up signs,
just knocking on doors --

00:16:09.918 --> 00:16:13.059 line:20%
"Can I put this sign up?"
you know?

00:16:13.083 --> 00:16:15.643
-I think the first
voter-registration drive

00:16:15.667 --> 00:16:19.185
that he had,
he talked to me

00:16:19.209 --> 00:16:21.959
about how important it was
for me to go with him.

00:16:22.459 --> 00:16:25.976
I remember knocking on one door

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:27.643
and talking to a woman,
and I asked her

00:16:27.667 --> 00:16:30.975
if she was registered to vote,

00:16:30.999 --> 00:16:32.810
and she said, "No."

00:16:32.834 --> 00:16:33.975
And I said,
"Would you like to register?"

00:16:33.999 --> 00:16:36.059
And she said, "Well,
you have to ask my husband.

00:16:36.083 --> 00:16:37.976
He's the one that decides that."

00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.810
And I asked him
if we was registered,

00:16:39.834 --> 00:16:41.935
and he said, "No.
Pa' que?

00:16:41.959 --> 00:16:44.518
It doesn't make
any difference."

00:16:44.542 --> 00:16:46.685
And I realized how unconcerned
a lot of the Hispanic people

00:16:46.709 --> 00:16:49.975
were about voting.

00:16:49.999 --> 00:16:51.268
-In May of 1966,

00:16:51.292 --> 00:16:53.959
Willie graduated from St. Mary's
with honors.

00:16:56.125 --> 00:16:57.792
2,000 miles away,
in Delano, California,

00:16:59.999 --> 00:17:03.435
events were unfolding that would
have a profound effect on Willie

00:17:03.459 --> 00:17:06.667
and those of his generation.

00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:12.976
Each year, entire
Latino families travel

00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.185
all across America

00:17:16.209 --> 00:17:17.975
to pick fruits and vegetables.

00:17:17.999 --> 00:17:20.602 line:20%
-What makes it really difficult
living the life of a farm worker

00:17:20.626 --> 00:17:23.976 line:20%
is that, one, it's a hard life.

00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.435 line:20%
It beats you down.

00:17:26.459 --> 00:17:27.852
It's hard working
under the elements,

00:17:27.876 --> 00:17:29.976
and you're mistreated.

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:31.602
I saw my parents being
mistreated in front of me

00:17:31.626 --> 00:17:34.542
because of who they were and
because of the work they did.

00:17:35.667 --> 00:17:39.143
And then it doesn't pay much.

00:17:39.167 --> 00:17:40.999
My parents never experienced
what a sick day was

00:17:41.125 --> 00:17:45.292
or sick leave or health benefits
or vacation days or a 401(k)

00:17:46.709 --> 00:17:50.685
till the day he left,
his last day in the fields.

00:17:50.709 --> 00:17:54.310
-We would take off
in the summer,

00:17:54.334 --> 00:17:56.059
and we would go state-to-state

00:17:56.083 --> 00:17:58.685 line:20%
and clean the sugar beets,
take out all the weeds.

00:17:58.709 --> 00:18:01.935 line:20%
And then we did tomatoes.

00:18:01.959 --> 00:18:04.975
[ Speaks Spanish ]

00:18:04.999 --> 00:18:06.976
He had a big truck,
and every family would get,

00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:09.810
like, a little piece
of the back of the truck,

00:18:09.834 --> 00:18:13.143
and you would take
your blankets

00:18:13.167 --> 00:18:14.685
and some clothes
and things like that.

00:18:14.709 --> 00:18:17.351
When you're a migrant worker,
you live

00:18:17.375 --> 00:18:19.209
wherever they give you to live.

00:18:19.999 --> 00:18:23.602 position:20% line:20%
My dad said that, you know,

00:18:23.626 --> 00:18:25.810 line:20%
there wasn't enough work here
in San Antonio.

00:18:25.834 --> 00:18:28.810
You know, like, he wanted us
to be on the road all the time,

00:18:28.834 --> 00:18:31.351
wherever there was
some kind of crop.

00:18:31.375 --> 00:18:33.975
So we ended up in Kansas.

00:18:33.999 --> 00:18:36.602
We were, like,
the people from Texas

00:18:36.626 --> 00:18:39.143 position:20%
and we still spoke Spanish,

00:18:39.167 --> 00:18:41.310
and none of them spoke Spanish,

00:18:41.334 --> 00:18:43.393
because it was mostly
Anglos that lived there.

00:18:43.417 --> 00:18:47.059
I had a lot of problems
living in Kansas

00:18:47.083 --> 00:18:50.226
because I was ashamed
of being a Mexican.

00:18:50.250 --> 00:18:54.626
I even bleached my hair blonde.
I have pictures of me blonde.

00:18:55.667 --> 00:18:59.435
In Kansas,
I really felt discrimination,

00:18:59.459 --> 00:19:01.709
I really felt
how it was to be non-white.

00:19:02.876 --> 00:19:06.560
And that's why
I wanted to be white,

00:19:06.584 --> 00:19:08.042
because maybe I wouldn't be
discriminated against.

00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:12.375
-In 1964, a temporary
worker bracero program

00:19:15.834 --> 00:19:19.602
created by Congress
during World War II

00:19:19.626 --> 00:19:22.059
comes to an end.

00:19:22.083 --> 00:19:23.727
U.S. farm workers
were now demanding

00:19:23.751 --> 00:19:26.975
the same wage of $1.40 an hour

00:19:26.999 --> 00:19:29.375
that was paid to the
government-sponsored braceros.

00:19:30.334 --> 00:19:33.685
In May 1965,

00:19:33.709 --> 00:19:35.518
80 flower pickers
in McFarland, California,

00:19:35.542 --> 00:19:38.667
went on strike led by
Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

00:19:39.083 --> 00:19:42.975
6 months later,
over 1,000 grape pickers

00:19:42.999 --> 00:19:46.143
would walk off the fields
in Delano.

00:19:46.167 --> 00:19:48.975
A wildcat strike
in Texas followed.

00:19:48.999 --> 00:19:51.810
Willie, returning from
his second summer internship,

00:19:51.834 --> 00:19:54.975
joined the farm-worker cause.

00:19:54.999 --> 00:19:58.143
The farm workers' strike

00:19:58.167 --> 00:19:59.975
inspired alienated
Mexican-American youth

00:19:59.999 --> 00:20:02.852
in their own fight for justice.

00:20:02.876 --> 00:20:05.101 position:20%
-Resistance has many forms,

00:20:05.125 --> 00:20:07.810 line:20%
and the resistance
to our exclusion in society,

00:20:07.834 --> 00:20:10.685 line:20%
the denial of our
just rights included

00:20:10.709 --> 00:20:14.059 line:20%
redefining ourselves
and renaming ourselves.

00:20:14.083 --> 00:20:17.059
-They tell us,
"Oh, you're a Spaniard,"

00:20:17.083 --> 00:20:19.268
you know, because to be
a Spaniard means

00:20:19.292 --> 00:20:21.393
you're closer to be
a white man, you know,

00:20:21.417 --> 00:20:23.393
and we're not white, you know,
and we're not Spaniards,

00:20:23.417 --> 00:20:25.810
because we're mestizos,

00:20:25.834 --> 00:20:27.226
we're Chicanos,
we're mixed people.

00:20:27.250 --> 00:20:29.975
-Because we'd never been
taught our history,

00:20:29.999 --> 00:20:31.975
suddenly we started looking back

00:20:31.999 --> 00:20:33.894
at all the history
of prejudice, discrimination,

00:20:33.918 --> 00:20:36.792
and brutality
against our people.

00:20:43.834 --> 00:20:47.476
-I think there
was two sentiments.

00:20:47.500 --> 00:20:49.018
Anger was certainly one of them.

00:20:49.042 --> 00:20:50.999 line:20%
But the other one was a passion
to lift up our people

00:20:52.542 --> 00:20:56.185 line:20%
based on the belief
that we could.

00:20:56.209 --> 00:20:58.101
What that showed was
you could act and do something

00:20:58.125 --> 00:21:01.810 position:20%
and make something happen.

00:21:01.834 --> 00:21:02.975
Everything from California
to Chicago to Texas --

00:21:02.999 --> 00:21:06.975
influenced by the African-
American Civil Rights Movement,

00:21:06.999 --> 00:21:10.393
influenced by antiwar movement,

00:21:10.417 --> 00:21:13.226
influenced
by the Chicano movement.

00:21:13.250 --> 00:21:15.959
All of that came together
at that moment.

00:21:16.999 --> 00:21:17.999 position:20%
-Our parents,
when they saw us Chicanos,

00:21:20.834 --> 00:21:23.768 line:20%
you know,
out on the street,

00:21:23.792 --> 00:21:24.975 line:20%
the idea of protesting
was sort of like, "What?"

00:21:24.999 --> 00:21:28.351
Men saw that
as an embarrassment,

00:21:28.375 --> 00:21:30.560 position:20%
that we'd go out
on the street and protest.

00:21:30.584 --> 00:21:32.310
"Why are you putting
yourself down

00:21:32.334 --> 00:21:33.975
by calling yourself Chicano?"
You know?

00:21:33.999 --> 00:21:36.476
That was the first time
I had heard "viva la raza."

00:21:36.500 --> 00:21:39.560 position:20%
-Viva la raza!
-And it was all new to me.

00:21:39.584 --> 00:21:41.518
I felt, you know,
like an outsider

00:21:41.542 --> 00:21:43.268
because I hadn't been
exposed to it yet,

00:21:43.292 --> 00:21:46.310
but it was very exciting.

00:21:46.334 --> 00:21:48.975
-There was a gulf,
a generational gulf

00:21:48.999 --> 00:21:51.975
between our parents'
generation and us.

00:21:51.999 --> 00:21:55.602
You know, the idea of become
part of this society,

00:21:55.626 --> 00:21:58.643
assimilate, learn English,
and so forth.

00:21:58.667 --> 00:22:01.018
So here we are, the generation,
and we're saying,

00:22:01.042 --> 00:22:03.018
"Hey, man, we want
to learn Spanish.

00:22:03.042 --> 00:22:05.018
We want to be bilingual.
We want to preserve our culture.

00:22:05.042 --> 00:22:07.935
There's nothing wrong with that.

00:22:07.959 --> 00:22:09.542
We're Americans, but we don't
have to give up Mexican culture.

00:22:09.999 --> 00:22:13.435 position:20%
We don't have to do that."

00:22:13.459 --> 00:22:16.435
-We were
a very unique generation.

00:22:16.459 --> 00:22:18.310 position:20%
We were the first ones
who didn't think we needed

00:22:18.334 --> 00:22:19.975 line:20%
to be assimilated,
unlike everybody else.

00:22:19.999 --> 00:22:22.643 line:20%
And we didn't think we had
to be grateful to Anglos.

00:22:22.667 --> 00:22:24.476 line:20%
We didn't owe them a damn thing.

00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:25.975 line:20%
And so we had
all that resentment.

00:22:25.999 --> 00:22:27.560
Now, mind you, we're also
the first generation

00:22:27.584 --> 00:22:29.542
that is, in large numbers,
graduating from college.

00:22:29.918 --> 00:22:33.727
We'd gather at Woodlawn Lake
and sit there

00:22:33.751 --> 00:22:35.351
on Sunday afternoons
or Saturday afternoons,

00:22:35.375 --> 00:22:37.143
kind of like
a little study circle.

00:22:37.167 --> 00:22:39.393
There were a lot of things
that we were aware of,

00:22:39.417 --> 00:22:42.310
but the most horrible thing
was that we felt

00:22:42.334 --> 00:22:44.975
we couldn't make any change
until we became active.

00:22:44.999 --> 00:22:47.518
"How do we do this?

00:22:47.542 --> 00:22:48.602
How do we become
active and effective?"

00:22:48.626 --> 00:22:51.727
At St. Mary's University,

00:22:51.751 --> 00:22:53.018
they're all getting together
to talk about SNCC,

00:22:53.042 --> 00:22:55.393
the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee.

00:22:55.417 --> 00:22:57.476
They're aware of SNCC.

00:22:57.500 --> 00:22:59.268
At the time, we're all students,

00:22:59.292 --> 00:23:00.975
you know, reading about what

00:23:00.999 --> 00:23:02.768
the African-American
community's doing.

00:23:02.792 --> 00:23:04.999
So the black Civil Rights
Movement is very important.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:08.975
-It wasn't the easiest thing
in the world

00:23:08.999 --> 00:23:10.852
to be politically active.

00:23:10.876 --> 00:23:11.935
You paid a price.

00:23:11.959 --> 00:23:13.167
You paid a price with your job
or beatings and jailing.

00:23:15.375 --> 00:23:19.334
-In 1963, Latino political gains
were put to a test

00:23:19.542 --> 00:23:23.602 position:20%
when five Mexican-Americans
won all city-council seats

00:23:23.626 --> 00:23:27.185
in the small Texas town
of Crystal City,

00:23:27.209 --> 00:23:30.226 position:20%
They soon faced a backlash

00:23:30.250 --> 00:23:32.709
from the Anglo
political establishment.

00:23:33.918 --> 00:23:35.209
-In the smaller towns,
you had the Texas Rangers

00:23:37.834 --> 00:23:40.975
that would come and stand
there for the election.

00:23:40.999 --> 00:23:43.560 line:20%
You had people who couldn't vote

00:23:43.584 --> 00:23:45.518 line:20%
because their chief
source of income,

00:23:45.542 --> 00:23:48.393 line:20%
their employer had already said,

00:23:48.417 --> 00:23:50.310
"You either won't go
to the polls

00:23:50.334 --> 00:23:51.518 position:20%
or you will vote this way,"

00:23:51.542 --> 00:23:53.185
and people didn't have options.

00:23:53.209 --> 00:23:55.768
-Didn't you lose your job

00:23:55.792 --> 00:23:57.685
just after the election results
were announced?

00:23:57.709 --> 00:23:59.560
-Yes, sir, I sure did.

00:23:59.584 --> 00:24:01.643 position:20%
The Texas Rangers refused
to recognize the election.

00:24:01.667 --> 00:24:05.185
Governor John Connally
forced the Rangers

00:24:05.209 --> 00:24:07.560
to hand over the keys
to city hall

00:24:07.584 --> 00:24:09.351
to the newly elected
city council members.

00:24:09.375 --> 00:24:12.476 position:20%
-The Rangers were
especially brutal relative

00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:15.351
to Latinos and Latinas
in South Texas.

00:24:15.375 --> 00:24:18.935 line:20%
My first face-to-face encounter

00:24:18.959 --> 00:24:21.626 line:20%
was when Willie Velasquez
and José ángel Gutiérrez

00:24:22.999 --> 00:24:26.560
went down to Rio Grande City

00:24:26.584 --> 00:24:29.310
to defy the injunction
on the farm workers.

00:24:29.334 --> 00:24:33.101
Before we got there,
one of the organizers,

00:24:33.125 --> 00:24:35.975
Magdaleno Dimas,

00:24:35.999 --> 00:24:37.602
had been beaten
badly by Rangers.

00:24:37.626 --> 00:24:40.975
That was my first encounter,
again, face-to-face

00:24:40.999 --> 00:24:43.810
with something
the Rangers had done.

00:24:43.834 --> 00:24:46.042
-All five council members,
facing constant intimidation,

00:24:46.876 --> 00:24:50.334 position:20%
were eventually forced out.

00:24:50.751 --> 00:24:54.393
After years of
educational neglect,

00:24:54.417 --> 00:24:56.975
Mexican-American youth began
walking out of high schools

00:24:56.999 --> 00:25:00.101
and cities
throughout the Southwest,

00:25:00.125 --> 00:25:02.476
protesting the inferior
education.

00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:05.602 position:20% line:20%
-My dad, when he came home,

00:25:05.626 --> 00:25:07.975 line:20%
and he was watching
the television,

00:25:07.999 --> 00:25:10.310
and they showed the news
and they showed Willie,

00:25:10.334 --> 00:25:13.560
when he got him, he told him,
he says, "Why did you do that?"

00:25:13.584 --> 00:25:15.976 position:20%
He said,
"Just leave things alone."

00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.143
Willie kept explaining to him,

00:25:19.167 --> 00:25:20.852
"No, we have to demand
better rights.

00:25:20.876 --> 00:25:23.476
We have to demand
better education,"

00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:25.975
and it was a big,
big argument at home,

00:25:25.999 --> 00:25:28.685
'cause we had two entirely
different points of view.

00:25:28.709 --> 00:25:31.935 line:20%
-This was a sign of
the times in the moment.

00:25:31.959 --> 00:25:34.268 line:20%
We all felt the same way,
that rage.

00:25:34.292 --> 00:25:37.018 line:20%
We analyzed the world
the same way.

00:25:37.042 --> 00:25:38.727 line:20%
We need to find openings.

00:25:38.751 --> 00:25:40.476
And we couldn't find any,
so we then created our own.

00:25:40.500 --> 00:25:42.999
-José ángel Gutiérrez,
Ignacio "Nacho" Pérez,

00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:46.975 position:20%
Juan Patlán, Mario Compean,

00:25:46.999 --> 00:25:50.476
and Willie Velasquez

00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:51.852
became known
as Los Cinco -- the five.

00:25:51.876 --> 00:25:54.852
Together, they founded
and created MAYO,

00:25:54.876 --> 00:25:57.975
the Mexican American
Youth Organization.

00:25:57.999 --> 00:26:01.560
MAYO would grow to become one
of the most important

00:26:01.584 --> 00:26:04.975
activist student organizations

00:26:04.999 --> 00:26:06.894
throughout Texas
and the Southwest.

00:26:06.918 --> 00:26:09.602
-We're not focused anymore
on farm worker issues.

00:26:09.626 --> 00:26:12.935 line:20%
We're still concerned
about that,

00:26:12.959 --> 00:26:14.852 line:20%
but now we're focused on
a whole range of other things --

00:26:14.876 --> 00:26:18.250 position:20%
political representation,
conditions of the schools.

00:26:20.542 --> 00:26:24.393
-We were a little army.
We were ready to go.

00:26:24.417 --> 00:26:27.351
The minute that the call went
out from the central leadership,

00:26:27.375 --> 00:26:30.975
people would respond.

00:26:30.999 --> 00:26:33.435
We were thousands,
so it didn't matter

00:26:33.459 --> 00:26:34.975 position:20%
if the Rangers came
with a company of 8 or 10.

00:26:34.999 --> 00:26:37.476
When you're facing thousands,

00:26:37.500 --> 00:26:38.727
doesn't matter how many
bullets you got.

00:26:38.751 --> 00:26:41.975
That took a lot
of political courage,

00:26:41.999 --> 00:26:43.768
but we did those things.

00:26:43.792 --> 00:26:47.560
It was Willie's final summer
internship in Washington.

00:26:47.584 --> 00:26:51.310
On his last day,
as he said goodbye

00:26:51.334 --> 00:26:53.935
to his mentor,
Congressman Gonzalez,

00:26:53.959 --> 00:26:56.518
he was shocked to learn

00:26:56.542 --> 00:26:57.975
the congressman disapproved
of his activism

00:26:57.999 --> 00:27:01.059
and would not help
the farm workers in any way.

00:27:01.083 --> 00:27:04.143
-The breakup between Henry B.

00:27:04.167 --> 00:27:06.059
and Willie was like a breakup
between father and son.

00:27:06.083 --> 00:27:09.417 position:20%
It was not just
a generational difference.

00:27:09.999 --> 00:27:13.310
You know, Henry B.

00:27:13.334 --> 00:27:15.542
was training Willie
to essentially take his place.

00:27:17.209 --> 00:27:20.810
-From that day forward,

00:27:20.834 --> 00:27:22.334
Willie and Congressman Gonzalez
would never see eye to eye.

00:27:24.542 --> 00:27:28.393
Along with his hectic MAYO
activities and now

00:27:28.417 --> 00:27:30.975
with a full-time job

00:27:30.999 --> 00:27:32.393
running the Mexican
American Unity Council,

00:27:32.417 --> 00:27:35.226
a new self-help organization
he and a MAYO colleague started,

00:27:35.250 --> 00:27:38.393
Willie was quickly becoming
overextended.

00:27:38.417 --> 00:27:41.975
He was alarmed
with the growing nationalistic

00:27:41.999 --> 00:27:44.643
and militant rhetoric
at the MAYO rallies.

00:27:44.667 --> 00:27:47.976
The establishment
political machine

00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:50.167
also took notice,
especially Henry B. Gonzalez,

00:27:50.834 --> 00:27:54.602
who began a steady
attack against Willie

00:27:54.626 --> 00:27:56.975
and his activist colleagues.

00:27:56.999 --> 00:27:58.975 position:20%
-I picture my own role
as having a responsibility

00:27:58.999 --> 00:28:02.602
to smoke out
and to expose these false

00:28:02.626 --> 00:28:06.143
and mistaken voices of hatred.

00:28:06.167 --> 00:28:08.975
-He went after everybody.

00:28:08.999 --> 00:28:10.768
So, Willie wasn't
just his only target.

00:28:10.792 --> 00:28:12.727
The whole movement,
he went after.

00:28:12.751 --> 00:28:14.727
-On their march toward
self-determination, José ángel

00:28:14.751 --> 00:28:17.643
and his MAYO colleagues

00:28:17.667 --> 00:28:19.185
pushed for a third
political party.

00:28:19.209 --> 00:28:21.584
Willie was against the idea.

00:28:22.417 --> 00:28:23.459 line:20%
José ángel and MAYO prevailed.

00:28:25.999 --> 00:28:28.643 line:20%
A third political party,
La Raza Unida --

00:28:28.667 --> 00:28:31.101
the united people --
was finally a reality

00:28:31.125 --> 00:28:33.727
and began running candidates

00:28:33.751 --> 00:28:35.059
throughout Texas
and the Southwest.

00:28:35.083 --> 00:28:38.435
-Willie didn't believe
that a third party

00:28:38.459 --> 00:28:40.685
could make an impact
on the nation or the state,

00:28:40.709 --> 00:28:43.810 position:20%
because he felt
that the United States had

00:28:43.834 --> 00:28:45.643
always been a two-party system

00:28:45.667 --> 00:28:47.518
and that that was not
ever gonna change.

00:28:47.542 --> 00:28:51.602
-When MAYO transforms itself
into a political party,

00:28:51.626 --> 00:28:54.727
that's really when Willie left.

00:28:54.751 --> 00:28:56.143
I mean, he did not believe
in the Raza Unida party.

00:28:56.167 --> 00:28:59.560
-The Raza Unida party

00:28:59.584 --> 00:29:00.975
had an eight-year
run in Texas and California.

00:29:00.999 --> 00:29:04.018
Initially successful
in small communities,

00:29:04.042 --> 00:29:06.935
it did poorly
in statewide elections.

00:29:06.959 --> 00:29:10.518
Facing constant attacks
from Congressman Gonzalez

00:29:10.542 --> 00:29:13.643
and enduring harsh criticism
from his MAYO colleagues,

00:29:13.667 --> 00:29:17.059
Willie had reached
his breaking point

00:29:17.083 --> 00:29:19.310
and submitted his letter
of resignation

00:29:19.334 --> 00:29:21.975
to the Unity Council.

00:29:21.999 --> 00:29:24.000
As 1970 approached, Willie,
beaten down, was without a job.

00:29:25.959 --> 00:29:29.709
Then, Jane Sarabia,
a VISTA volunteer,

00:29:30.209 --> 00:29:33.768
came into Willie's life.

00:29:33.792 --> 00:29:36.810
-We started dating.
Everything that we did --

00:29:36.834 --> 00:29:40.143
we went to meetings,

00:29:40.167 --> 00:29:41.768
and then you always
ended up at a bar,

00:29:41.792 --> 00:29:45.018
you know,
and listened to music,

00:29:45.042 --> 00:29:46.584
and all you ever talked
was what was going on.

00:29:47.042 --> 00:29:50.935
I remember the first time
we danced.

00:29:50.959 --> 00:29:54.101
I was a crazy dancer,

00:29:54.125 --> 00:29:55.976
I loved to dance,

00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:57.975
and he was just really,
like, stiff.

00:29:57.999 --> 00:30:01.435
And so I would just dance
around him while he was,

00:30:01.459 --> 00:30:04.975
you know, just doing his thing.

00:30:04.999 --> 00:30:08.518
-A year later, Willie
and Janie got married,

00:30:08.542 --> 00:30:12.000
and they would eventually
have three children, Carmen,

00:30:12.542 --> 00:30:15.999
Catarina, and Guillermo.

00:30:16.334 --> 00:30:18.250
The next two years
would take a toll on Willie.

00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:22.975
He took a job
at the Southwest Council

00:30:22.999 --> 00:30:24.975
of La Raza in Phoenix
in hopes of building

00:30:24.999 --> 00:30:27.810
a nonprofit voter-registration
program.

00:30:27.834 --> 00:30:31.226
-We were blocked
in the early years,

00:30:31.250 --> 00:30:33.435 line:20%
and there was
a tremendous amount of pressure

00:30:33.459 --> 00:30:36.059 line:20%
against all
the Latino organizations

00:30:36.083 --> 00:30:39.083 line:20%
from Henry B., from the IRS.

00:30:41.626 --> 00:30:45.476
The national institutions
were very concerned

00:30:45.500 --> 00:30:47.685
about the left politics
of the Chicano movement.

00:30:47.709 --> 00:30:50.975
A move to Washington
didn't get Willie

00:30:50.999 --> 00:30:52.975
any closer
in receiving his permit.

00:30:52.999 --> 00:30:55.602
Willie and Jane, with a heavy
heart, returned to San Antonio.

00:30:55.626 --> 00:30:59.393
-The FBI had all
the protest movements

00:30:59.417 --> 00:31:01.894
of the day infiltrated.

00:31:01.918 --> 00:31:03.435 position:20%
They were destabilizing us.

00:31:03.459 --> 00:31:05.685
It's no accident, in my view,

00:31:05.709 --> 00:31:08.125 position:20%
that when Willie Velasquez tries
to create Southwest Voter,

00:31:08.542 --> 00:31:12.018
his organization was delayed.

00:31:12.042 --> 00:31:14.584
No one waits five years
for a 501(c)(3) authorization.

00:31:15.792 --> 00:31:19.876 position:20%
-In 1973, the future looked
bleak for Willie and Jane.

00:31:20.709 --> 00:31:24.393
They moved in
with Willie's parents

00:31:24.417 --> 00:31:26.059
to save the little money
they had.

00:31:26.083 --> 00:31:27.975
On July 24, 1974,
like a miracle,

00:31:27.999 --> 00:31:31.975
The Southwest Voter Registration
and Education Project

00:31:31.999 --> 00:31:35.268
was now a legitimate national
nonprofit organization.

00:31:35.292 --> 00:31:38.894
The battle to empower Latinos
had begun.

00:31:38.918 --> 00:31:41.999 position:20%
-We are going to try to
consciously make an effort

00:31:43.250 --> 00:31:47.417
to really make this country
stay true to its basic ideals.

00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:52.417
-By 1975, Southwest Voter
did what most thought

00:31:52.751 --> 00:31:56.435
was impossible
in such a short time,

00:31:56.459 --> 00:31:58.894
having a presence
in five states.

00:31:58.918 --> 00:32:01.476
But the fruits of their labor
had still not paid off.

00:32:01.500 --> 00:32:05.476 line:20%
-He said, "Look,
I'm doing all this registration.

00:32:05.500 --> 00:32:07.975 line:20%
People are getting registered,
they come out to vote,

00:32:07.999 --> 00:32:09.935 line:20%
but they don't win."

00:32:09.959 --> 00:32:11.185 line:20%
-When LBJ signed into law
the Voting Rights Act in 1965,

00:32:11.209 --> 00:32:15.292 line:20%
Latinos were not explicitly
included until 1975.

00:32:16.584 --> 00:32:20.059 line:20%
So in 1975, we see the inclusion

00:32:20.083 --> 00:32:22.975 line:20%
of Latinos in addition
to African-Americans.

00:32:22.999 --> 00:32:25.310 line:20%
And what this did,
it brought safeguards

00:32:25.334 --> 00:32:27.975 line:20%
against any abnormalities
in voting procedures.

00:32:27.999 --> 00:32:31.727 line:20%
-Even with a new law,
many of the 254 counties

00:32:31.751 --> 00:32:35.876 line:20%
that make up Texas had illegal
gerrymandered voting districts.

00:32:36.250 --> 00:32:40.268 line:20%
-Not only did they have
total disregard for the law,

00:32:40.292 --> 00:32:43.584 position:20% line:20%
but then they had purposely
taken the Latino community

00:32:45.999 --> 00:32:49.476 position:20%
and cut them in four pieces

00:32:49.500 --> 00:32:52.268
and create their own districts.

00:32:52.292 --> 00:32:54.975
You were never going to win.

00:32:54.999 --> 00:32:56.018
It was designed for you to lose.

00:32:56.042 --> 00:32:59.393
-To protect the rights
of Latino voters,

00:32:59.417 --> 00:33:01.975
Willie teamed up with lawyers

00:33:01.999 --> 00:33:03.975
from the nonprofit civil rights
organization MALDEF --

00:33:03.999 --> 00:33:07.999
the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Education Fund.

00:33:08.709 --> 00:33:12.143 position:20%
-When the Voting Rights Act

00:33:12.167 --> 00:33:13.476
is extended
to language minorities,

00:33:13.500 --> 00:33:15.976
that's when, essentially,

00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:18.250
the lion's share
of voting-rights lawsuits occur.

00:33:19.417 --> 00:33:23.125 line:20%
That creates a new wave
of activity.

00:33:23.792 --> 00:33:27.518 line:20%
-The first county
that I went to speak to,

00:33:27.542 --> 00:33:30.667 line:20%
they had not redistricted
since 1898.

00:33:31.999 --> 00:33:35.476 position:20% line:20%
-They don't want you there.

00:33:35.500 --> 00:33:37.143 line:20%
They don't want
to draw the district.

00:33:37.167 --> 00:33:38.975 line:20%
The law's very clear.

00:33:38.999 --> 00:33:40.975 line:20%
Then you tell them,
"Then I'm gonna sue you."

00:33:40.999 --> 00:33:44.876 line:20%
-Threats were always lurking
for this risky work.

00:33:52.459 --> 00:33:56.185
-"If you know what's good
for you, boy,

00:33:56.209 --> 00:33:57.852
you'd be out of town
by sundown."

00:33:57.876 --> 00:34:00.685
-I was coming down the stairs.

00:34:00.709 --> 00:34:02.059
I saw these two men
in a pickup truck,

00:34:02.083 --> 00:34:05.975
and one of them was running
his hand through a rifle.

00:34:05.999 --> 00:34:09.792
So when I got right next
to his door, I told him,

00:34:09.999 --> 00:34:13.518
"That sure is a pretty rifle.

00:34:13.542 --> 00:34:15.209
I think my daddy would love
to have one of those.

00:34:15.417 --> 00:34:18.768
Excuse me."

00:34:18.792 --> 00:34:20.125
And I got in my car
and I backed off very calmly,

00:34:20.709 --> 00:34:24.018
I turned very calmly,

00:34:24.042 --> 00:34:25.476
and I'm telling you,
when I hit the next street,

00:34:25.500 --> 00:34:28.709
I stepped on that pedal so fast.

00:34:28.959 --> 00:34:32.602
-We went from
zero representation

00:34:32.626 --> 00:34:34.975
to three, four, five,
to six elected local officials

00:34:34.999 --> 00:34:38.685
immediately after the lawsuits
were settled.

00:34:38.709 --> 00:34:41.975 line:20%
-It was the first time
we had ever elected anybody

00:34:41.999 --> 00:34:43.852 line:20%
to anything,
not even dog catcher --

00:34:43.876 --> 00:34:45.976 line:20%
you know, anything.

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:47.435 line:20%
So there was a lot of firsts --
first city councilperson,

00:34:47.459 --> 00:34:49.727 line:20%
first person on the school
board, first mayor.

00:34:49.751 --> 00:34:52.975 position:20% line:20%
Yeah, over and over again.

00:34:52.999 --> 00:34:55.435 line:20%
-Willie looked
at those small places

00:34:55.459 --> 00:34:58.018 line:20%
where there was an overwhelming
majority of Latinos,

00:34:58.042 --> 00:35:01.435 line:20%
but they had
no representation whatsoever.

00:35:01.459 --> 00:35:04.894 line:20%
-One of those communities
was Rosenberg, Texas,

00:35:04.918 --> 00:35:07.894 line:20%
in Fort Bend County,

00:35:07.918 --> 00:35:09.792 line:20%
known as the home to
the Ku Klux Klan in the 1930s,

00:35:10.709 --> 00:35:14.560 position:20% line:20%
and discrimination
against Latinos was common

00:35:14.584 --> 00:35:17.975 line:20%
by both businesses
and Anglo residents.

00:35:17.999 --> 00:35:20.976 line:20%
-We could buy our medications,
we could buy our snacks,

00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:23.976 line:20%
but we couldn't sit
at the counter.

00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:26.768 line:20%
It was just understood --
We could not sit there.

00:35:26.792 --> 00:35:29.351 line:20%
-We thought, "Okay,
that's how it is."

00:35:29.375 --> 00:35:32.101 line:20%
You know, they tell us
not to stay in here,

00:35:32.125 --> 00:35:34.834 line:20%
we won't,
and we accepted it

00:35:34.999 --> 00:35:38.810
because I don't think
we knew better.

00:35:38.834 --> 00:35:41.975
It didn't feel right,
but we didn't know what to do.

00:35:41.999 --> 00:35:44.975
-Through the years,
Mexican-Americans

00:35:44.999 --> 00:35:47.393
running for office
had failed miserably.

00:35:47.417 --> 00:35:50.185
Southwest Voter answered
their call for help.

00:35:50.209 --> 00:35:53.518
-I remember Willie went in
and just started asking around,

00:35:53.542 --> 00:35:55.975
"Who's doing something?"

00:35:55.999 --> 00:35:57.935
and Dora Olivo's name came up
and literally went to her house,

00:35:57.959 --> 00:36:00.268
knocked on her door.

00:36:00.292 --> 00:36:01.602
-People come into your life,

00:36:01.626 --> 00:36:02.975 line:20%
and Willie was one of them,
clearly one of the ones

00:36:02.999 --> 00:36:05.975 line:20%
that came in
through this community,

00:36:05.999 --> 00:36:07.435
like a lot of other communities
that he went to, to teach us

00:36:07.459 --> 00:36:10.975
about being effective
in the political process.

00:36:10.999 --> 00:36:14.876
-We were looking for people like
her that we could build off of

00:36:15.209 --> 00:36:18.975
and that was part
of our strategy

00:36:18.999 --> 00:36:20.268
and that was part of offering
the best our people

00:36:20.292 --> 00:36:22.226
could provide and offering
the best the voters could get.

00:36:22.250 --> 00:36:25.792 position:20%
-Right here, this was our first
voter-registration office.

00:36:25.999 --> 00:36:29.852
We actually had a base
to work from.

00:36:29.876 --> 00:36:32.226
-There were so many
who had never registered.

00:36:32.250 --> 00:36:34.685 position:20%
They just never thought
that it made a difference.

00:36:34.709 --> 00:36:37.226
They thought that their
votes didn't count.

00:36:37.250 --> 00:36:40.685
They just thought that,
"Why bother?"

00:36:40.709 --> 00:36:43.560
-Like an old-fashioned hoedown,

00:36:43.584 --> 00:36:45.602
the Fort Bend County
Coalition was born.

00:36:45.626 --> 00:36:48.268
Folklore dancing, plays,

00:36:48.292 --> 00:36:50.975
and popular bands

00:36:50.999 --> 00:36:52.268
were used to entice
residents to register and vote.

00:36:52.292 --> 00:36:55.975
-At one point,
we were all so energized,

00:36:55.999 --> 00:36:58.685
I don't think
we could've been stopped.

00:36:58.709 --> 00:37:02.101
-A lot of the people
that came together,

00:37:02.125 --> 00:37:03.685
the ones that made the tamales,

00:37:03.709 --> 00:37:04.975
that helped us
with the fund raisers

00:37:04.999 --> 00:37:06.975
just to bring people together.

00:37:06.999 --> 00:37:08.999
-I mean, it was just
a tremendous registration drive.

00:37:09.042 --> 00:37:12.975
-Women worked very hard
in those drives.

00:37:12.999 --> 00:37:16.560
The role that women
played was instrumental

00:37:16.584 --> 00:37:19.976
in making this thing happen.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:22.643
-Once you create a system
where the minority community

00:37:22.667 --> 00:37:25.975
can realize their vote,

00:37:25.999 --> 00:37:28.975
they get excited,
and they come out and vote.

00:37:28.999 --> 00:37:32.310
-And their efforts
finally paid off.

00:37:32.334 --> 00:37:35.143
The first Mexican-American
in Rosenberg's history

00:37:35.167 --> 00:37:38.810
was elected to city council.

00:37:38.834 --> 00:37:40.768 line:20%
-That's what Willie did in a lot
of these little communities.

00:37:40.792 --> 00:37:42.918 line:20%
He started that snowball that
then gathers its own momentum.

00:37:43.999 --> 00:37:47.975 line:20%
-We've gotten Hispanics
elected to the city council,

00:37:47.999 --> 00:37:51.226 line:20%
to the county court,

00:37:51.250 --> 00:37:53.393 line:20%
we've got judges
now that are Hispanic.

00:37:53.417 --> 00:37:56.810
It's all better now.

00:37:56.834 --> 00:37:59.059
-Eventually, Dora threw her
hat in the ring

00:37:59.083 --> 00:38:01.999
and ran for state representative
and won.

00:38:02.125 --> 00:38:05.975
From teacher
to state representative,

00:38:05.999 --> 00:38:08.810
Dora spent 14 years

00:38:08.834 --> 00:38:10.476
in the Texas House
of Representatives.

00:38:10.500 --> 00:38:13.602
What comes to me is, "Okay,
what was it all these years?"

00:38:13.626 --> 00:38:16.542 position:20%
And for me, it changed me.

00:38:18.751 --> 00:38:21.975
It changed me.

00:38:21.999 --> 00:38:23.935
That's what Willie did for us.

00:38:23.959 --> 00:38:25.101
He gave us hope.

00:38:25.125 --> 00:38:26.999
If you have hope,
everything else comes.

00:38:27.125 --> 00:38:29.751
-Presidential campaigns
had ignored

00:38:30.999 --> 00:38:33.018
the Latino vote in the past.

00:38:33.042 --> 00:38:35.059
By the 1960s,
with the numbers growing,

00:38:35.083 --> 00:38:37.975
they started to take notice.

00:38:37.999 --> 00:38:39.935
[ Speaking Spanish ]

00:38:39.959 --> 00:38:41.542 position:20%
...Senator John F. Kennedy.

00:38:43.209 --> 00:38:45.584
-The Kennedy campaign
was the first generalized

00:38:45.751 --> 00:38:48.975
national effort

00:38:48.999 --> 00:38:50.351
of reaching Latinos
in presidential politics.

00:38:50.375 --> 00:38:53.375
In 1956, we saw
the same thing --

00:38:53.626 --> 00:38:57.059 position:20%
Eisenhower-Nixon mobilizing

00:38:57.083 --> 00:38:58.976
middle-class Latinos
in California,

00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:00.768
but it never went
beyond California.

00:39:00.792 --> 00:39:03.667
In looking at
the Nixon campaign in 1960,

00:39:03.999 --> 00:39:07.852
he had to come to a fork
in the road,

00:39:07.876 --> 00:39:10.768
and he had to decide,

00:39:10.792 --> 00:39:12.542
"Am I going to keep cultivating
this Latino relationship

00:39:12.959 --> 00:39:16.268
I've had for decades,

00:39:16.292 --> 00:39:18.768
or am I gonna
break away from it?"

00:39:18.792 --> 00:39:20.727
So he seriously considered that,

00:39:20.751 --> 00:39:22.935
but ultimately he said,

00:39:22.959 --> 00:39:24.459
"I can't go with this
ethnic angle in the campaign."

00:39:25.500 --> 00:39:29.417
-Texas Senator John Tower
was the first Republican

00:39:29.584 --> 00:39:33.143
to actively court
the Latino vote.

00:39:33.167 --> 00:39:35.643 line:20%
-I was in the advertising
business,

00:39:35.667 --> 00:39:37.852 line:20%
and John Tower's staff calls.

00:39:37.876 --> 00:39:40.975
He wants to reach out
to the Latino.

00:39:40.999 --> 00:39:44.334
92% of all Latinos voted
as Democrats,

00:39:46.417 --> 00:39:49.975
and John Tower thought

00:39:49.999 --> 00:39:51.143
that it was gonna be a real,
real close election,

00:39:51.167 --> 00:39:54.459
and he said, "The Latino vote
may make the difference."

00:39:54.999 --> 00:39:58.435 position:20%
I didn't know where to go.

00:39:58.459 --> 00:40:00.542
Somebody said, "You got
to visit Willie Velasquez."

00:40:01.125 --> 00:40:04.975
-All kinds of people
came into that office --

00:40:04.999 --> 00:40:07.852
Democrats, Republicans --

00:40:07.876 --> 00:40:10.101 position:20%
and we welcomed everybody,

00:40:10.125 --> 00:40:11.626
because we wanted everybody
to know what we were doing.

00:40:12.167 --> 00:40:15.685
-I called on Willie,

00:40:15.709 --> 00:40:17.518
and he received me
with open arms.

00:40:17.542 --> 00:40:19.727
And we would go
to the Esquire bar,

00:40:19.751 --> 00:40:22.018
and he spent
countless hours with me.

00:40:22.042 --> 00:40:24.975
I said, "I don't know
anything about politics,

00:40:24.999 --> 00:40:27.792
but I did know
how to make a good message."

00:40:28.584 --> 00:40:31.999 line:20%
-[ Singing in Spanish ]

00:40:36.042 --> 00:40:39.975 line:20%
We came up with
"El Corrido de John Tower."

00:40:39.999 --> 00:40:42.560 line:20%
and we filmed him

00:40:42.584 --> 00:40:44.268 line:20%
in the Latino communities
all over Texas.

00:40:44.292 --> 00:40:47.393
In the end, it paid off.

00:40:47.417 --> 00:40:49.810
He got 37% of the Latino vote,

00:40:49.834 --> 00:40:53.018
which was
an amazing breakthrough.

00:40:53.042 --> 00:40:56.167
-John Tower.
[ Speaks Spanish ]

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:03.935 line:20%
-San Antonio had not had
a Latino mayor

00:41:03.959 --> 00:41:06.542
since Juan Seguín in 1841,
who was forced out at gunpoint.

00:41:10.292 --> 00:41:11.876
In 1977, the Justice Department
forced San Antonio

00:41:14.292 --> 00:41:18.500
to create more equitable
single-member voting districts.

00:41:19.250 --> 00:41:22.810
Many political observers

00:41:22.834 --> 00:41:24.894
had their eye
on a young mayoral candidate,

00:41:24.918 --> 00:41:27.626
a Harvard-educated
West Side son, Henry Cisneros.

00:41:28.250 --> 00:41:32.143
-The moment we all thought
that Henry Cisneros

00:41:32.167 --> 00:41:35.351
could be mayor of San Antonio,

00:41:35.375 --> 00:41:37.727
Willie put together some of
the biggest voter-registration

00:41:37.751 --> 00:41:41.101
drives in San Antonio.

00:41:41.125 --> 00:41:43.584
He knew the kind of turnout
that we needed to have

00:41:44.542 --> 00:41:48.018
and the percentage of support

00:41:48.042 --> 00:41:50.185 position:20%
that Henry needed
from the Latino community.

00:41:50.209 --> 00:41:53.250
He went to work knowing that
that little organization

00:41:54.083 --> 00:41:58.185
could have an impact on who
would be the first Latino of

00:41:58.209 --> 00:42:02.083
a major metropolitan city
in the country.

00:42:02.459 --> 00:42:05.975
-It was a perfect storm.

00:42:05.999 --> 00:42:07.667
It was just right
for the perfect candidate

00:42:09.542 --> 00:42:12.975
to come out to bring out

00:42:12.999 --> 00:42:14.667
the largest percentage
of Latino vote ever.

00:42:14.999 --> 00:42:18.560
-Because of that turnout,

00:42:18.584 --> 00:42:19.999 position:20% line:20%
he was able to win that race
with over 60% of the vote.

00:42:21.417 --> 00:42:24.975 line:20%
That was quite a feat,

00:42:24.999 --> 00:42:27.000 line:20%
and we can see
from Henry's example

00:42:28.250 --> 00:42:31.810
that Latinos do care,

00:42:31.834 --> 00:42:33.975
that they do
what to participate.

00:42:33.999 --> 00:42:36.351
Willie was a big part of that.

00:42:36.375 --> 00:42:38.000
They worked together hand
in glove and created history.

00:42:38.334 --> 00:42:42.059
-I owe a lot to Willie,
Southwest Voter,

00:42:42.083 --> 00:42:44.935
and all of the activists
of that era.

00:42:44.959 --> 00:42:46.935
I owe a lot.

00:42:46.959 --> 00:42:47.975
You know, you work
the way Willie did,

00:42:47.999 --> 00:42:49.976
and then someone else
gets the spotlight.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:51.975
But I tried my best
never to forget

00:42:51.999 --> 00:42:54.975
and always to remind
everyone in my circle

00:42:54.999 --> 00:42:58.975
where we came from, who we had
to be accountable to --

00:42:58.999 --> 00:43:01.894
the community --

00:43:01.918 --> 00:43:03.417
and people like Willie,
who make it possible.

00:43:04.042 --> 00:43:07.560
-The following year,

00:43:07.584 --> 00:43:08.975
Willie accepted
a semester fellowship

00:43:08.999 --> 00:43:11.101
to teach at the Institute
of Politics at Harvard.

00:43:11.125 --> 00:43:14.500 position:20%
While there, he met the former
governor of Massachusetts,

00:43:14.999 --> 00:43:18.560
Michael Dukakis, not knowing

00:43:18.584 --> 00:43:20.999 position:20%
that their paths
would one day cross again.

00:43:21.999 --> 00:43:25.975 line:20%
-I think that it was
a wonderful opportunity for him,

00:43:25.999 --> 00:43:29.999 line:20%
and being in the place
where everybody wants to be

00:43:31.459 --> 00:43:34.975 line:20%
was something that,

00:43:34.999 --> 00:43:36.459 line:20%
I think, got him going again.

00:43:37.417 --> 00:43:41.476 line:20%
-A rejuvenated Willie Velasquez
returned to San Antonio,

00:43:41.500 --> 00:43:44.975 line:20%
ready for the Southwest Voter's
national debut.

00:43:44.999 --> 00:43:48.143 line:20%
He would bring in
an unprecedented

00:43:48.167 --> 00:43:50.476 line:20%
gathering of national Latino
political leaders

00:43:50.500 --> 00:43:53.226 line:20%
and kick off a major
voter-registration drive.

00:43:53.250 --> 00:43:56.810 line:20%
The nonpartisan historic event

00:43:56.834 --> 00:43:59.185 line:20%
attracts both Democrats
and Republicans.

00:43:59.209 --> 00:44:03.018
-We felt that we were ready
to do something significant,

00:44:03.042 --> 00:44:06.975
and a lot of people
were of the opinion

00:44:06.999 --> 00:44:08.975
that it was time
that we organized

00:44:08.999 --> 00:44:11.226 position:20%
one big push to demonstrate

00:44:11.250 --> 00:44:13.101
our capability
in voter registration.

00:44:13.125 --> 00:44:15.185
We're talking about
going forward.

00:44:15.209 --> 00:44:17.018
We're talking about
registering one million people.

00:44:17.042 --> 00:44:19.476
We're talking about
getting something done

00:44:19.500 --> 00:44:21.476
that had never been done before

00:44:21.500 --> 00:44:23.435
and also bringing this
to the attention of the country,

00:44:23.459 --> 00:44:25.834
and I think, to a great degree,
it was successful.

00:44:26.375 --> 00:44:29.975 position:20%
-It was a beautiful event.

00:44:29.999 --> 00:44:31.476
The Republicans were so excited

00:44:31.500 --> 00:44:33.976
about the turnout,
about Bush coming,

00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.018
and then you had the Democratic
event in the evening

00:44:37.042 --> 00:44:40.685
when Ted Kennedy came.

00:44:40.709 --> 00:44:42.518
There were so many people

00:44:42.542 --> 00:44:45.101
that they had to keep
on opening rooms.

00:44:45.125 --> 00:44:48.268 line:20%
-The main person that was
running the event was talking

00:44:48.292 --> 00:44:51.810 line:20%
with the advance person
from the White House.

00:44:51.834 --> 00:44:53.975
Not thinking, she says,

00:44:53.999 --> 00:44:55.268
"Oh, we'll make sure
we get him a flight.

00:44:55.292 --> 00:44:56.975
He'll make it, you know, at this
time and be able to come in."

00:44:56.999 --> 00:44:59.226
And they said, "Ma'am,
we have Air Force One.

00:44:59.250 --> 00:45:02.393
We'll be okay."

00:45:02.417 --> 00:45:04.476
-With the success
of the John Tower campaign,

00:45:04.500 --> 00:45:07.393
Lionel Sosa was attracting more

00:45:07.417 --> 00:45:09.685
and more Latinos
to the Republican party.

00:45:09.709 --> 00:45:12.602
-When Ronald Reagan hired us,
we, again,

00:45:12.626 --> 00:45:14.999
did 35%-plus
on a national basis.

00:45:15.999 --> 00:45:19.935 line:20%
-But this year,
that isn't saying much.

00:45:19.959 --> 00:45:22.101 line:20%
-We didn't want to turn them
into Republicans.

00:45:22.125 --> 00:45:24.393 line:20%
Our strategy was
let them stay Democrats,

00:45:24.417 --> 00:45:27.417 line:20%
but let them vote
for this man just this once.

00:45:28.834 --> 00:45:32.185 line:20%
-Vote my conscience, huh?

00:45:32.209 --> 00:45:33.935 line:20%
Okay.
President Reagan.

00:45:33.959 --> 00:45:36.059 line:20%
-Every year that
the Republicans reached out,

00:45:36.083 --> 00:45:39.768 line:20%
that percentage went higher
and higher

00:45:39.792 --> 00:45:42.101 line:20%
until it got to 44%
with George W. Bush.

00:45:42.125 --> 00:45:45.894 line:20%
-I've learned about the culture,
a bit about the language,

00:45:45.918 --> 00:45:49.560 line:20%
and a lot about
the Latino character.

00:45:49.584 --> 00:45:51.975 line:20%
-There was an effort
to connect with Latinos

00:45:51.999 --> 00:45:54.768 line:20%
on the fiscal responsibility
point of saying,

00:45:54.792 --> 00:45:58.768 line:20%
"Less government means
more money in your pockets.

00:45:58.792 --> 00:46:01.975 line:20%
Mexican-Americans, you guys
are hardworking folks.

00:46:01.999 --> 00:46:04.685 line:20%
Maybe we can find
common ground here."

00:46:04.709 --> 00:46:07.999 line:20%
-We are now emerging into
the arena of national politics.

00:46:08.209 --> 00:46:12.292 line:20%
I can tell you that if one were
to put it on the scale

00:46:12.876 --> 00:46:16.185
of who did a better job,

00:46:16.209 --> 00:46:18.435
the Republicans did
an extraordinary job

00:46:18.459 --> 00:46:20.852
targeting
the Hispanic community,

00:46:20.876 --> 00:46:22.268
designing an approach
towards getting it,

00:46:22.292 --> 00:46:24.852
and going after it,
and then doing it well.

00:46:24.876 --> 00:46:27.351
-California and Texas
alone have 28%

00:46:27.375 --> 00:46:29.310 position:20%
of all the electoral votes

00:46:29.334 --> 00:46:30.518
you need to be president
of the United States.

00:46:30.542 --> 00:46:31.975
Add on Illinois,
add on New York,

00:46:31.999 --> 00:46:35.518
and you've got a situation
where Mexican-Americans,

00:46:35.542 --> 00:46:38.393
Hispanics, Puerto Ricans,
Cubans, and all of us have,

00:46:38.417 --> 00:46:40.975
an extraordinary opportunity
to have impact.

00:46:40.999 --> 00:46:43.143
That party that ignores

00:46:43.167 --> 00:46:44.975
that vote is gonna be
punished at the polls --

00:46:44.999 --> 00:46:46.810
no question about it.

00:46:46.834 --> 00:46:47.975 position:20%
-He really believed that
at this moment in history,

00:46:47.999 --> 00:46:50.018 line:20%
it was called upon us
to do these things,

00:46:50.042 --> 00:46:53.518 line:20%
which, in his mind,
was not radical at all.

00:46:53.542 --> 00:46:56.976 line:20%
In his mind, this is
the way immigrant groups

00:46:57.000 --> 00:46:58.894
had always succeeded
in this country.

00:46:58.918 --> 00:47:01.643 position:20%
And that's the way
they lifted themselves up.

00:47:01.667 --> 00:47:04.727
-If you want to know if
we're going to be successful,

00:47:04.751 --> 00:47:07.975
then simply look
at your own ancestors.

00:47:07.999 --> 00:47:11.518
Did they do it?
Did they do it?

00:47:11.542 --> 00:47:14.768
And were they successful?

00:47:14.792 --> 00:47:15.975
Well, my God,
if they did it,

00:47:15.999 --> 00:47:17.975
and if they were successful,
we're gonna do it,

00:47:17.999 --> 00:47:20.268
and we're gonna be successful.

00:47:20.292 --> 00:47:21.959
Thank you.

00:47:22.709 --> 00:47:26.059
-For the next four years,

00:47:26.083 --> 00:47:27.894 position:20%
Southwest Voter
would be in full throttle,

00:47:27.918 --> 00:47:30.292
registering thousands upon
thousands of new Latino voters.

00:47:37.876 --> 00:47:41.560
In 1987,
Velasquez was being considered

00:47:41.584 --> 00:47:44.727
as Deputy Manager
for the Dukakis campaign.

00:47:44.751 --> 00:47:47.999
It would have been his first job
out of the nonprofit world.

00:47:50.375 --> 00:47:54.435
On his way home, a stop
was scheduled in New York City

00:47:54.459 --> 00:47:58.417
for Willie to receive an award
at a foundation conference.

00:47:59.999 --> 00:48:03.810
-The dinner was that night,
and he said,

00:48:03.834 --> 00:48:06.976
"Andy, tell these people
I can't make it.

00:48:07.000 --> 00:48:09.226 position:20%
I'm just not feeling good."

00:48:09.250 --> 00:48:10.768
And I thought,
"We're here in New York City.

00:48:10.792 --> 00:48:13.226
You just have to go
get the award."

00:48:13.250 --> 00:48:16.560
I thought, "Something's up."

00:48:16.584 --> 00:48:18.226 line:20%
-He looked bad, you know?

00:48:18.250 --> 00:48:19.685 line:20%
He said, "Man, my ulcers."
He said, "No."

00:48:19.709 --> 00:48:22.643 line:20%
Man, you know,
he looked jaundiced, you know?

00:48:22.667 --> 00:48:26.768 line:20%
-I had been waiting while the
doctor was talking to Willie,

00:48:26.792 --> 00:48:29.143 line:20%
and so then they brought me in,

00:48:29.167 --> 00:48:31.667 line:20%
and he said,
"Willie has terminal cancer."

00:48:33.500 --> 00:48:37.143
And I wanted to be brave
for Willie,

00:48:37.167 --> 00:48:39.018
so I didn't want to cry
in front of him.

00:48:39.042 --> 00:48:42.834
-Willie was diagnosed
with advanced kidney cancer

00:48:42.999 --> 00:48:46.476
and given four months to live.

00:48:46.500 --> 00:48:48.727
He lasted four weeks.

00:48:48.751 --> 00:48:50.999
He took this family picture
four days before he died.

00:48:51.959 --> 00:48:55.999
-We were at his bedside
a long time until he passed.

00:48:57.375 --> 00:49:00.975
Yeah, he died in my arms.

00:49:00.999 --> 00:49:02.209
So...

00:49:04.959 --> 00:49:08.185
-Along with family
and friends,

00:49:08.209 --> 00:49:10.975
over 2,000 mourners attended
Willie's funeral,

00:49:10.999 --> 00:49:14.185
many of them political leaders
from around the country.

00:49:14.209 --> 00:49:17.975
President Ronald Reagan
sent condolences.

00:49:17.999 --> 00:49:21.975
Democratic Presidential
Candidate Michael Dukakis

00:49:21.999 --> 00:49:25.602 position:20%
delivered Willie's eulogy.

00:49:25.626 --> 00:49:27.542 line:20%
-Willie died with
no health insurance,

00:49:28.542 --> 00:49:32.268 line:20%
because he believed
in Southwest Voter

00:49:32.292 --> 00:49:33.876 line:20%
so much that when it got into
hard times economically,

00:49:34.209 --> 00:49:37.810
he sacrificed his salary,

00:49:37.834 --> 00:49:40.143
and he sacrificed his benefits,

00:49:40.167 --> 00:49:42.560
and when he got cancer,
he had no health insurance,

00:49:42.584 --> 00:49:45.810
'cause he had put it back
into Southwest Voter.

00:49:45.834 --> 00:49:48.417 position:20%
That's how much he believed
and paid a personal price.

00:49:49.959 --> 00:49:53.602 line:20%
-It is so important
for people today

00:49:53.626 --> 00:49:56.000 line:20%
to understand the impact
that Willie's work had.

00:49:57.042 --> 00:50:00.999 position:20%
He was a visionary
who could see 40 years ago

00:50:02.167 --> 00:50:05.975
what we're still
talking about today,

00:50:05.999 --> 00:50:08.059
that you need to get out there
and register Latinos

00:50:08.083 --> 00:50:11.268
to actually vote

00:50:11.292 --> 00:50:12.975
if they're gonna have any impact
in the political process.

00:50:12.999 --> 00:50:16.975
-Willie Velasquez coined
the term "su voto es su voz."

00:50:16.999 --> 00:50:20.894
Back then, they were
working with clipboards

00:50:20.918 --> 00:50:22.768
and going door to door.

00:50:22.792 --> 00:50:24.018
We still use that method,

00:50:24.042 --> 00:50:25.476 line:20%
but we're also using
the new methods --

00:50:25.500 --> 00:50:27.185 line:20%
through cellphones,

00:50:27.209 --> 00:50:28.268 line:20%
through computers,
talking to voters,

00:50:28.292 --> 00:50:30.602 line:20%
and educating Latinos
about the issues.

00:50:30.626 --> 00:50:33.101
So while the methods
have changed,

00:50:33.125 --> 00:50:36.351
the heart
of community organizing

00:50:36.375 --> 00:50:38.768
with Latinos has not changed.

00:50:38.792 --> 00:50:40.810
-The city of Mission
in South Texas

00:50:40.834 --> 00:50:43.852
is the nerve center
for the Libre Initiative,

00:50:43.876 --> 00:50:47.518
a conservative
voter-registration organization.

00:50:47.542 --> 00:50:50.643
Their purpose --
to introduce Latinos

00:50:50.667 --> 00:50:53.185
to the Republican party.

00:50:53.209 --> 00:50:56.143 line:20%
-There are millions and millions
of conservative Latinos

00:50:56.167 --> 00:50:59.727 line:20%
who need to rise up and drive
a different conversation

00:50:59.751 --> 00:51:02.768 line:20%
and drive a different
set of ideas.

00:51:02.792 --> 00:51:05.059
We're gonna connect
with over five millions Latinos

00:51:05.083 --> 00:51:07.643
in this election cycle alone.

00:51:07.667 --> 00:51:09.393
The folks who align with us,
we want to make sure

00:51:09.417 --> 00:51:11.059 position:20%
that they're out there
getting mobilized, voting.

00:51:11.083 --> 00:51:14.310
You know, if Willie
was around today,

00:51:14.334 --> 00:51:17.894
I'm more than certain

00:51:17.918 --> 00:51:19.685
that I would have
accepted the call

00:51:19.709 --> 00:51:22.667
to collaborate
and build bridges together.

00:51:23.167 --> 00:51:26.810 position:20%
-10 years after his death,

00:51:26.834 --> 00:51:28.643
Willie is posthumously given
the Presidential Medal

00:51:28.667 --> 00:51:31.975
of Freedom by President
Bill Clinton.

00:51:31.999 --> 00:51:34.500 line:20%
-No person in modern America
who has run for public office

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:38.975 line:20%
wherever Hispanic-Americans live
has failed

00:51:38.999 --> 00:51:41.999 line:20%
to feel the hand
of Willie Velasquez.

00:51:42.334 --> 00:51:46.018 line:20%
His appeal to
the Hispanic community

00:51:46.042 --> 00:51:47.894 line:20%
was simple, passionate,
and direct.

00:51:47.918 --> 00:51:51.000 line:20%
Su voto es su voz --
Your vote is your voice.

00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:56.999 line:20%
-It's the highest honor
a civilian can receive.

00:51:58.500 --> 00:52:02.310
After three decades,
as ideological enemies

00:52:02.334 --> 00:52:05.975
Henry B. Gonzalez finally
spoke of Willie.

00:52:05.999 --> 00:52:09.143
"He was an enormous
contribution,"

00:52:09.167 --> 00:52:10.975
said the congressman,

00:52:10.999 --> 00:52:12.500
"This presidential
recognition is well-deserved."

00:52:12.751 --> 00:52:16.626
-I have no doubt that
in the years to come,

00:52:16.918 --> 00:52:20.643
and I believe sooner
rather than later,

00:52:20.667 --> 00:52:22.667
that one day we're gonna watch
a Latino or Latina with his

00:52:23.167 --> 00:52:26.768
or her hand on the Bible,

00:52:26.792 --> 00:52:28.393
getting sworn in on
the 20th of January

00:52:28.417 --> 00:52:30.976
as president
of the United States.

00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:32.975
And when he or she does,

00:52:32.999 --> 00:52:34.626
I hope that they'll
be thinking about Willie

00:52:34.959 --> 00:52:38.125
and his work.