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{{Chicano and Mexican American topics sidebar|state=collapsed}}The '''Mexican American Youth Organization''' (acronym '''MAYO''', also described as the '''Mexican Youth Organization'''<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070917033004/http://www.uta.edu/public-affairs/official-statements/stories.php?id=2133 |archive-date=17 September 2007 |url=http://www.uta.edu/public-affairs/official-statements/stories.php?id=2133 |website=UTA.edu |first=Kemper |last=Diehl |date=26 April 2006 |title=STATEMENTS BY JOSE ANGEL GUTIERREZ, SAN ANTONIO EVENING NEWS, APRIL 11, 1969 |quote=Statement made by Mexican Youth Organization: (MAYO)}}</ref>) is a [[civil rights]] organization formed in 1967 in [[San Antonio, Texas]], USA to fight for [[Mexican-American]] rights. The creators of MAYO, Los Cinco (meaning "the five"), consisted of [[José Ángel Gutiérrez]], [[Willie Velasquez|Willie Velásquez]], Mario Compean, Ignacio Pérez, and Juan Patlán. MAYO and its political organization, [[Raza Unida Party]], played an important part in [[Texas]] history during the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were a part of the larger [[Chicano]] movement in the United States, and played a role in bringing about civil rights for Mexican-Americans. |
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'''MAYO''', the Mexican American Youth Organization was first formed in 1967 as an organization to fight |
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for the civil rights of Mexican-Americans. The creators of MAYO called Los Cinco, or the five, consisted of |
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[[José Angel Gutiérrez]], Willie C. Velásquez, Mario Compean, Ignacio Pérez, and Juan Patlán. They came |
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together in San Antonio, Texas concerned about the treatment of Mexican Americans. These five young men were |
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concerned with the continuity and advancement of La Raza. In Spanish, La Raza means the Race. MAYO and its |
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political organization, [[Raza Unida Party]], played an important part in Texas history during the late |
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1960’s and into the 1970’s. They were a part of the larger Chicano movement that was sweeping the nation. |
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The Mexican American Youth Organization was begun in South Texas and it did remain rooted here even though |
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its principals did spread. MAYO became a key part of the Chicano movement in the South and played an |
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essential role in bringing about civil rights for Mexican-Americans. |
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MAYO was involved in voter registration South Texas. Willie Velásquez, a founding member of MAYO, was |
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iven a Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his work with voter registration. Research has |
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suggested that MAYO was heavily involved in voter registration and did very well at getting voters registered. However, they were not as successful in getting the Hispanic voters out to the polls to vote, |
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especially in the larger cities and towns. |
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==Formation== |
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School walkouts were a major part of MAYO’s approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans. They |
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"The organization was born in March 1967 in San Antonio, where Méxicanos, who constituted some 40 percent of the population, were powerless and impoverished. It was the brain child of five young Chicano student activists-[[José Ángel Gutiérrez]], Mario Compean, [[Willie Velasquez|William "Willie" Velasquez]], Ignacio Perez, and Juan Patlan. All were graduate or undergraduate students at [[St. Mary's University, Texas|Saint Mary's]], a small liberal arts college in San Antonio (now Saint Mary's University). At the Fountain Room, a barseveral blocks form Saint Mary's, Los Cinco (as they became known), over the course of several weeks, met on a regular basis and held a number of study sessions, which culminated in MAYO."<ref>''La Raza Unida Party: A Chicano Challenge to the U.S. Two-Party Dictatorship'', page 24. {{ISBN|1-56639-771-5}}</ref> |
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staged walkouts at least 18 times, which usually produced the effect they were after. By doing this, MAYO |
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enabled Mexican Americans to gain some power, which in turn was used to take over seats on School Boards that |
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had before been the white man’s territory. The major walkouts were in Crystal City, Kingsville, and Edgewood |
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and Lanier High Schools in San Antonio. These were just a few of the walkouts planned and organized by MAYO |
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and in conjunction with some of the participating students. These displays of power allowed the members of |
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MAYO to get to what they were really after, seats on the school boards. By becoming members of previously |
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all white school boards, MAYO was able to participate in deciding what was best for their own people. |
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== |
==Activism== |
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MAYO was involved in [[voter registration]] in South Texas. Founding member of MAYO Willie Velásquez was posthumously given the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 1995 by President [[Bill Clinton]] for his work with voter registration. MAYO did well at getting voters registered, but they were not successful in getting the [[Hispanic]] voters out to the polls to vote, especially in metropolitan areas. |
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MAYO considered LULAC, or [[League of United Latin American Citizens]], one of the leading Hispanic groups |
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in Texas, too soft in its approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans. Because of MAYO’s tactics, |
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Make no mistake; it was not as hard core as the Black Panthers, but it did not work behind the scenes as most |
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Chicano groups had before. They were fighting for equal civil rights for all Chicanos. Although they |
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existed at the same time as other Civil Rights groups, since they were not involved in the Black Civil Rights |
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movement, less attention was paid to them. This militancy is increasingly reminiscent of groups like the Ku |
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Klux Klan or the Black Panthers. Each of them tried to perpetuate the purity of their race. MAYO followed |
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suit, as they also wanted to maintain the purity of the race, the Mexican race. One of the founders even |
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said once that they would go as far as they needed to in order to keep that purity, if that meant killing the |
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white man then so be it. "We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes |
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to the worst, we have got to kill him." This was a comment made by Gutiérrez during a speech in San Antonio |
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in 1969. This is alarming to some, that race was still such an issue then. Members of MAYO did not think |
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the civil rights movement included the Mexican race therefore; they had to continue their fight. However, |
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Gutierrez has stated that he did not have a problem accepting help from whites, but he did not want them to |
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join MAYO. Therefore, while the KKK and the Black Panthers frequently broke the law and sometimes murdered |
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for their cause, MAYO never went that far. |
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==Political Activism== |
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School walkouts were a major part of MAYO’s approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans. They staged walkouts at least 18 times, which helped enable Mexican Americans to take over seats on Texas [[school boards]]. The major walkouts were in Crystal City, Kingsville, Edgewood and Lanier High Schools in San Antonio. By becoming members of previously all-white school boards, MAYO was able to participate in deciding what was best for their own people. |
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The creation of MAYO later led to the creation of [[Raza Unida Party]], the Race United, a third party |
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political group that found many of their first members in the ranks of MAYO. They played the central role in |
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the creation of La Raza Unida Party, or RUP, which quickly spread to other states. MAYO was later integrated |
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into RUP and became the youth arm of RUP. As stated before, there were many people who did not agree with |
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the methods of MAYO, many of whom where Hispanics themselves. [[Henry B. Gonzalez]] had created a name for |
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himself, becoming a well-known political activist. His ideas with respect to civil rights for Mexican- |
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Americans were important to many people. However, many of the average Mexican-American people MAYO said it |
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was fighting for did not agree with MAYO’s tactics either. They agreed with Gonzalez’s thinking about civil |
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rights and how the fight should be fought. MAYO adopted a logo, appropriated from Aeronaves de México, an |
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Aztec warrior inside a circle. This was later used in the Raza Unida Party logo as well. MAYO was important |
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enough to have had its own political party, with their candidates even winning elections in the 70’s. |
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Electing third party candidates to office proves that at one time MAYO had enough political power to affect |
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the local political scene. There was even an interesting article in the Dallas Morning News in 1980 that |
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showed members of the Raza Unida Party had become important enough in world politics to rate a face-to-face |
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meeting with the head of the PLO, [[Yasser Arafat]]. That right there shows how militant members of MAYO had |
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become. This could have been a publicity stunt but regardless, it showed that RUP and MAYO had the political |
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influence to meet with a world leader without support from anyone political in the United States. |
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MAYO led to the creation of Raza Unida Party (The Race United), a third party that found many of their first members in the ranks of MAYO, who played the central role in the creation of La Raza Unida Party, or RUP, which quickly spread to other states. |
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==Further Research== |
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MAYO was later integrated into RUP and became the youth arm of the party. MAYO adopted a logo, appropriated from [[Aeronaves de México]], an [[Aztec]] warrior inside a circle. It was later used in the Raza Unida Party logo as well. RUP candidates won elections in the 1970s. |
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[http://www.utexas.edu] contain papers donated by José Angel Guitiérrez, some of which contain information |
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about MAYO. There is also background information about MAYO on various sites on the Internet as well as |
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articles from the Mexican American Studies and Research Center at the University of Arizona. The Handbook of |
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Texas Online also has wonderful background information on the life of MAYO. |
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The [[League of United Latin American Citizens]] (LULAC), one of the leading Hispanic groups in Texas, was considered by MAYO to be too soft in its approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans. |
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Many articles found deal with specific instances with which MAYO was associated. This puts MAYO in |
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context as a part of history in South Texas. Unfortunately, there has been little written on the subject |
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otherwise. There is one book that covers the history of MAYO, but even the author admits there is still much |
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research to be done regarding MAYO. He thinks that this research is needed in order to fit MAYO properly in |
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the historical narrative of South Texas, Mexican-American, and political history. This research will help |
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put MAYO in its proper place within the historiography. |
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==Notes== |
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Navarro, Armando, "Mexican American youth organization : avant-garde of the Chicano movement in Texas" Austin: University of Texas Press, c1995 ISBN 0292755570 |
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Additional information on MAYO can be located at: |
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*The Handbook of Texas Online. |
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{{Reflist}}{{Chicano/Mexican-American}} |
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[[Category:Chicano]] |
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[[Category:Mexican-American culture in San Antonio]] |
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[[Category:Mexican-American organizations]] |
[[Category:Mexican-American organizations]] |
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[[Category:Youth organizations based in the United States]] |
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[[Category:Raza Unida Party]] |
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Latest revision as of 02:08, 21 November 2023
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The Mexican American Youth Organization (acronym MAYO, also described as the Mexican Youth Organization[1]) is a civil rights organization formed in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, USA to fight for Mexican-American rights. The creators of MAYO, Los Cinco (meaning "the five"), consisted of José Ángel Gutiérrez, Willie Velásquez, Mario Compean, Ignacio Pérez, and Juan Patlán. MAYO and its political organization, Raza Unida Party, played an important part in Texas history during the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were a part of the larger Chicano movement in the United States, and played a role in bringing about civil rights for Mexican-Americans.
Formation
[edit]"The organization was born in March 1967 in San Antonio, where Méxicanos, who constituted some 40 percent of the population, were powerless and impoverished. It was the brain child of five young Chicano student activists-José Ángel Gutiérrez, Mario Compean, William "Willie" Velasquez, Ignacio Perez, and Juan Patlan. All were graduate or undergraduate students at Saint Mary's, a small liberal arts college in San Antonio (now Saint Mary's University). At the Fountain Room, a barseveral blocks form Saint Mary's, Los Cinco (as they became known), over the course of several weeks, met on a regular basis and held a number of study sessions, which culminated in MAYO."[2]
Activism
[edit]MAYO was involved in voter registration in South Texas. Founding member of MAYO Willie Velásquez was posthumously given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton for his work with voter registration. MAYO did well at getting voters registered, but they were not successful in getting the Hispanic voters out to the polls to vote, especially in metropolitan areas.
School walkouts were a major part of MAYO’s approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans. They staged walkouts at least 18 times, which helped enable Mexican Americans to take over seats on Texas school boards. The major walkouts were in Crystal City, Kingsville, Edgewood and Lanier High Schools in San Antonio. By becoming members of previously all-white school boards, MAYO was able to participate in deciding what was best for their own people.
MAYO led to the creation of Raza Unida Party (The Race United), a third party that found many of their first members in the ranks of MAYO, who played the central role in the creation of La Raza Unida Party, or RUP, which quickly spread to other states.
MAYO was later integrated into RUP and became the youth arm of the party. MAYO adopted a logo, appropriated from Aeronaves de México, an Aztec warrior inside a circle. It was later used in the Raza Unida Party logo as well. RUP candidates won elections in the 1970s.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), one of the leading Hispanic groups in Texas, was considered by MAYO to be too soft in its approach to achieving equality for Mexican Americans.
Because of MAYO's tactics, which were diametrically opposed to LULAC's, it became known as the militant arm of the Chicano movement.
Notes
[edit]Additional information on MAYO can be located at:
- The archives of the San Antonio Light and the Express News.
- The newspapers at Trinity University [1] and at UTSA [2].
- The Institute of Texan Cultures and the Library at the University of Texas at Austin [3] contain papers donated by José Angel Guitiérrez.
- The Handbook of Texas Online.
References
[edit]- ^ Diehl, Kemper (26 April 2006). "STATEMENTS BY JOSE ANGEL GUTIERREZ, SAN ANTONIO EVENING NEWS, APRIL 11, 1969". UTA.edu. Archived from the original on 17 September 2007.
Statement made by Mexican Youth Organization: (MAYO)
- ^ La Raza Unida Party: A Chicano Challenge to the U.S. Two-Party Dictatorship, page 24. ISBN 1-56639-771-5