MALDEF STATEMENT ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHICANO MORATORIUM

LOS ANGELES – Fifty years ago, thousands of peaceful protesters took to the streets of East Los Angeles to draw attention to the disproportionately high number of Mexican Americans drafted and killed in the Vietnam War and the fight for Latino civil rights. The rally turned violent after police arrived. Those killed included journalist Ruben Salazar, who was covering the struggles facing the Latino community across the Southwest.

MALDEF STATEMENT ON WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY AND 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE 19th AMENDMENT

LOS ANGELES, CA – On Women’s Equality Day, the nation commemorates the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. However, when the amendment was ratified 100 years ago, the same barriers – Jim Crow laws, English-only ballots, poll taxes, voter ID laws — that kept men of color from voting also applied to Latinas and Black women. It wasn’t until 1965 with the signing of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits voting discrimination based on race, color and national origin that Latinas and Black women began to experience real access to the ballot. In 1975, the VRA was extended to include protections for language-minorities, further protecting the right to vote for Latinas.

MALDEF STATEMENT ON THE PASSING OF GRACE MONTAÑEZ DAVIS

LOS ANGELES, CA – MALDEF mourns the passing of former board member Grace Montañez Davis, who died at age 93 earlier this week.  In 1975, Davis became the first Mexican American woman to serve as deputy mayor of Los Angeles. An activist for Latino civil rights, Davis was a loyal supporter of MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) and served on its Board of Directors in the late 1970s and early 1980s.