Page 1 The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo Discussion Guide The Rise and Fall of the Discussion Brown Buffalo GUIDE Volume 1., No. 1, February 2018 TaBlE oF CoNtEnTs: About The Film 2 Using This Guide 2 EDUCATION: Chicano Students Are Leading a Movement! 3 SOCIETY & CULTURE: La Lucha Continua! Amplifying Chicana Feminist Voices 5 OP-ED: A Letter from Dorinda Moreno to Oscar Acosta 9 PHOTO JOURNALISM: Oscar Acosta Riles Court Room with Flowers and Flamboyance! 12 HoW tO AcCeSs tHiS FiLm The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo airs nationally on PBS on FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 AT 9:00 pm Eastern time. Check local listings. After that date, the film will be available for streaming for a limited time on PBS.org Public libraries and educational institutions can use their Kanopy accounts to stream the film at Kanopy.com. BrOwNbUfFaLoFiLm.CoM Page 2 The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo Discussion Guide ABOUT the FILM Using this Guide: La Raza was a Los Angeles-based bilingual newspaper turned magazine that amplified the voices of The Chicano Rights Movement between 1967 and 1977. With a strong do-it- yourself spirit, the publication began as a tool for organizing, centering social justice, and featuring the work of, often self-made, photographers, journalists, artists and activists. In the filmThe Rise and JESSE CELEDON AS OSCAR ZETA ACOSTA, PHOTO: RAFAEL GARDENAS Fall of the Brown Buffalo, The Rise and Fall of the Brown Channeling the spirit of the Acosta recounts his first visit Buffalo is a fresh and genre-defying psychedelic 60s and the joyful to La Raza’s underground film about the life of radical Chicano irreverence of “Gonzo” journalism, headquarters — an operation lawyer, author and countercultural The Rise and Fall of the Brown kept quiet due to its radical icon, Oscar Zeta Acosta — the basis Buffalo shows Acosta’s personal exposure of racism and for the character Dr. Gonzo in Fear and creative evolution playing out inequality. At first, the group and Loathing in Las Vegas, written by against the backdrop of a society in expressed concern that Acosta his friend and legendary journalist- turmoil. Beginning with his origins might be a government plant provocateur, Hunter S. Thompson. in segregated rural California, then sent to spy on their activities. to his stint as a Baptist missionary When he explained that he was The author of two groundbreaking in the jungles of Panama, to his writer and trained attorney, autobiographical novels, radicalization in the Chicano they identified Acosta as an Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo movement of the late 60s, and finally ally positioned to support their and The Revolt of the Cockroach his mysterious disappearance off the People, Acosta’s powerful literary coast of Mexico in 1974, Director cause, and welcomed him into voice, brash courtroom style, and Phillip Rodriguez offers a vision of a the fold. This guide’s format and notorious revolutionary antics complex figure at once wholly unique design has been inspired by La made him a revered figure within and emblematic of a generation. Raza’s aesthetics. Each section the Chicano movement of the 1960s offers information, followed by and 70s, and offered one of the most Relevant now more than ever, The methods for group engagement brazen assaults on the status quo and Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo including questions for deeper white supremacy seen at the time. explores issues of racial identity, thinking, activity suggestions, Yet, Acosta is more known for his turn criminal justice, politics, and media and suggested resources for as Thompson’s bumbling sidekick in representation, while revealing the deeper study. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas than personal story of a troubled but for his own work exposing racial bias, brilliant man coming to terms with hypocrisy, and repression within the his identity and finding meaning in California justice system. the struggles of his people. Page 3 The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo Discussion Guide EDUCATION Chicano Students Are Leading a Movement! The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo introduces Oscar Zeta Acosta’s involvement with the Chicano student movement. When 15,000 kids walked out of school, challenging the discriminatory educational practices is East Los “CHICANO POWER (ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL WALKOUTS),” 1970 Angeles schools, the organizers were PHOTO: OSCAR CASTILLO charged with felony conspiracy for of the civil rights movement, for fair compensation and working “disturbing the peace.” Acosta, a new pushing forward ideals of self conditions for farm workers, igniting lawyer without much experience, determination, equal access, and a national boycott on grapes that took the case on, defending the distribution of political power. The began in 1965. Through worker strikes activists against threats of life in experience of Mexican-American and hunger strikes, the workers made prison. students was in particularly dire headway in 1970, when grape growers shape. A ban on speaking Spanish in signed agreements acknowledging The Precursor schools contributed to the pushing United Farm Workers of America Before the Chicano Movement of the of Mexican-American students into (UFW) as a union. Art that celebrated 1960s burst into action, the 1940s vocational training programs and Chicano culture and history began and 50s saw significant strides in the special needs classrooms, regardless to cover community walls. A shifting quest for Latino-American justice. of the individual’s actual interests consciousness was revealed as the In 1947, Mendez v. Westminster or needs. Students began to call into Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — the Supreme Court was a case that question eurocentric curriculums 1848 agreement that ended the barred the segregation of Latino that ignored their history, culture, Mexican-American War, resulting children from white children in and lived experiences. The high in Mexican territory becoming the schools — predating Brown v. Board dropout rates proved that these Southwestern U.S. — was thrown into of Education’s striking down of discriminatory practices were question. Believing it to be Aztlán, “separate but equal” as a violation working to discourage Mexican- their ancestral homeland, Chicano of the United States Constitution. In American students from pursuing radicals demanded the land be 1954, Hernandez v. Texas ensured higher education. returned to its people. the 14th amendment rights to all racial groups, not just black and The Inspiration The Action white people. These landmark cases Energy was bubbling as the Civil This growing energy erupted the snowballed into a growing call for Rights Movement was fightingweek of March 1 to March 8, 1968, change. for African-Americans’ rights. For when approximately 15,000 students young Chicanos, role models like walked out of classes from local High The Student Struggle Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta Schools with demands for an equal, Young people stood on the forefront were gaining traction in their fight high quality, and culturally-relevant Page 4 The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo Discussion Guide Questions For Deeper Thinking: How was the Chicano struggle a mirror of, or connected to, the other movements of the 1960s? How is this struggle still relevant today? Can comparisons be drawn between the Chicano student movement walkouts with the self-organizing of the Dreamers? Can comparisons be drawn between other LA MARCHA POR LA JUSTICIA, BELVEDERE PARK, JAN. 31, 1971 COURTESY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER communities under threat? AND THE UCLA CHICANO STUDIES RESEARCH CENTER © LUIS C. GARZA education. The police were on site student body, and improvement of After reviewing the East L.A. with hard helmets, arresting students, school facilities. students’ demands for change, or leading them back to the school what still resonates today? Are administration. Like other civil rights However, the momentum diverted some of these demands still relevant? Which ones? Why? protests, students were villainized, to an urgent civil rights legal battle and even beaten by authorities. This when 13 of the walkout organizers week of action became known as The were arrested on felony conspiracy East L.A. Student Walkouts. charges for “disturbing the peace.” Activity: Demand The L.A. 13 became a high profile The Outcome case, represented by Oscar Zeta Change! In the wake of the student walkouts, Acosta and drawing media attention to the spectacle of the courtroom. The Inspired by the Chicano student the Educational Issues Coordinating movement, identify what fires you up educational demands were largely Committee (EICC) was formed in relation to civil rights that are at risk, forgotten. to continue the fight for equal or under attack. Who is the authority student rights. The group was figure or organization in charge of comprised of community members But, eventually, the students’ efforts decision-making? What would your list and representatives from other ushered in some change. The of demands call for? Become agents of significant Chicano rights groups: Department of Health, Education change by researching or creating your the Brown Berets, United Mexican- and Welfare, and the U.S. Supreme own petitions online with the help of an American Students, and The Young Court supported the student’s claim online platform such as change.org, and Citizens for Community Action, that barring non-English speaking invite your friends, family and networks to spread the word. along with local newspapers La Raza students from getting an education and Inside Eastside. In a meeting was unlawful. In 1974, Congress Take the action further by organizing a held on March 11, 1968, the students passed the Equal Opportunity Act, equipping public schools with an day of engagement in your community presented a list of 39 demands to through civil rights activist tools and increased number of bilingual the Los Angeles Board of Education. tactics. This might be a skillshare education programs.