The production collective: Andres Alegria, Claude Marks, Brenda Montano, Nathaniel Moore and Vera Tykulsker Thanks to our funders and supporters: Fleishhacker Foundation, the Honig Family Fund, the Left Tilt Foundation, the Peace Development Fund, the Puffin Foundation, Rainbow Grocery Cooperative, the Sparkplug Foundation, and numerous individuals. |
Symbols of Resistance - a new documentary about the Chican@ movementSymbols of Resistance looks at the history of the Chican@ Movement as it emerges in the 1970s with a focus on events in Colorado and Northern New Mexico. The documentary explores the struggle for land, the student movement, and community struggles against police repression.
In 2014, activists in Colorado organized a major 40th anniversary program in Denver to honor the martyrs of the 1970s, including six student activists who were killed in two car bombings in Boulder (los seis de Boulder). We were asked to document the 2014 events, and interview participants, and we were encouraged to create a far more in-depth film – Symbols of Resistance. Production of this new documentary is nearing completion—a preview sold-out showing was held, to much acclaim, in the Chican@ community of Denver in November 2016. The framework of the documentary challenges the criminalization of immigration by emphasizing the history of the U.S. expansion and occupation of northern Mexico during the Mexican-American War (1846–48) – when “the border crossed people.” The film explains that, in the same era that saw the growth and development of the civil rights movement for African Americans, reassertion of Native American land rights, and demands for an end to U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico, the Chican@ movement rose up to challenge racial discrimination and exploitation, and to strongly oppose the war in Viet Nam and the disproportionate assignment of people of color to the front lines while not accepting them as full citizens once they returned.The film represents an important component of the Chican@ struggle that is often not well understood—that the movement was not limited to organizing agricultural workers. It shows how conflicts with government included resisting unprovoked police violence in urban areas and many protests against systemic language discrimination, judicial discrimination, disproportionate imprisonment, and the lack of educational and employment opportunities. These rising community and student movements were targeted by the infamous COINTELPRO (Counter intelligence program) of the FBI, working in tandem with other local, state, and federal agencies. Rather than limiting the distribution of Symbols of Resistance to the normal documentary festival circuit we will use it to stimulate learning about the Chican@ movement and its roots in human rights history. It recognizes young people who organized for the first time, and who, in some cases, sacrificed their lives for their commitment to liberation. As an organizing tool, the documentary will deepen people’s understanding of the roots of struggle and highlight how this history can inform and strengthen current organizing efforts and movement building. We will also create a curriculum to accompany and extend the impact of the film. The curriculum will highlight the relevance of the history documented in the film to present-day struggles for justice – for immigrant rights, and against the ongoing repression of ICE raids, detention, and mass deportations. Main Interviewees: Deborah Espinosa was the director of El Pueblo History Museum for 25 years. She’s a champion of Chicano(a) history and was an activist in the Chicano movement. She also produced and wrote the narration for an educational musical production, “Song of Pueblo” which has been performed for many years. Juan Espinosa was a photographer, reporter and editor for The Pueblo Chieftain for 22 years. He joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War which led to his involvement in the Chicano movement. He worked as a stringer for CU’s campus newspaper, and was a photographer for United Mexican Student Association (UMAS) publications. He started El Diario student newspaper in the summer of 1972, and a year later joined the staff of El Malcriado, the United Farm Workers Union newspaper and went to California to cover the grape strike. He also met and interviewed the “jefes” of the Chicano movement, including Cesar Chavez, Rudolfo “Corky” Gonzales, Reies Tijerina, Lalo Delgado and Dolores Huerta. He covered events that included the first national convention of El Partido La Raza Unida in El Paso, Texas.
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