This event has past, but you can view a recording here.

Join the Conservancy and the 50th Chicano Moratorium Organizing Committee for this special Live Stream panel discussion reflecting on one of L.A.’s seminal events in the fight for civil rights.

On August 29, 1970, 30,000 protesters marched and held a mass rally in East L.A.  The organizers of the event, which they named the National Chicano Moratorium, aimed to address the disproportionate casualties and traumas experienced by Chicanx soldiers, who, by the early '70s, were dying at twice the rate of others serving in Vietnam.  

The circumstances and incidents of the Chicano Moratorium are considered a major turning point in the Chicano Movement, its direction, and its politics.  

This live stream panel will convene organizers and activists of the Chicano Moratorium and Chicano Movement to talk about the impact of the Moratorium and the lessons it has to teach, today. Learn about the Conservancy’s work to nominate sites associated with the march to the National Register of Historic Places, and the significance that historic designation would bring in recognizing and preserving this moment in L.A., and the United States’ history. 

Panelists 

Gloria Arellanes 

In the mid 1960s, Gloria Arellanes worked in the Neighborhood Adult Participation Project in South Los Angeles and later became Minister of Finance and Correspondence of the Chicano Brown Beret organization’s founding East Los Angeles Chapter. She also served as administrator of El Barrio Free Clinic and was a member of the National Chicano Moratorium Committee (1969-1970). After leaving the Brown Beret organization in early 1970, she organized the women’s group, Las Adelitas de Aztlán. Since the movement years, Arellanes has reconnected with her Native American heritage and is now an elder of the Tongva tribe. She served as a secretary on the Tribal Council and is part of an Indigenous Grandmothers group.  

Rosalio Muñoz

Rosalio Muñoz is a Chicano journalist and activist who has been a longtime member of the Communist Party. As a student activist, Muñoz served as Student Class President of Franklin High School and later as UCLA’s first Chicano Student Body President. He spearheaded the 1970 Chicano Moratorium Committee as Co-Chair.  

Jorge Rodriguez  

Jorge Rodriguez is an activist, civil rights leader, and co-chair of the 50th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium Planning Committee. 

Panel Moderator 

Belinda Faustinos

Ms. Faustinos is the Executive Director of Nature for All, a coalition of 12 organizations that work to build a diverse base of support for ensuring that everyone in the Los Angeles area – no matter where they live – has equitable access to the wide range of benefits that nature can provide.  Prior to this position she served as the Executive Officer of the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC) for 10 years and as Deputy Director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for over 17 years.  She retired in May of 2011 after 40 years as a California State employee. 
 
In September of 2016 Assembly Speaker Rendon appointed her to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and she is an alternate California Coastal Commissioner appointed by Pro Tem Steinberg.  Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar appointed her to the National Park System Advisory Board in 2010 and she was re-appointed in 2014 by Secretary Jewell.  As a member of the NPS Advisory Board she Co-Chaired the American Latino Heritage Experts Panel and the Urban Committee. In late 2018 she joined the inaugural launch of the Parks California Board of Directors.  She also serves on two local advisory committees as a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors appointee and on the board of Latinos Lead and Friends of Robert Redford Conservancy.

Get Involved

The 50th Chicano Moratorium Committee is hosting a car caravan on August 29, 2020. Click here for more information on how you can participate.