Citizendia

Ricardo Cruz (July 1, 1943 – July 21, 1993), aka Richard V. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) (Vincent) Cruz, was a Los Angeles, California attorney who fought for many Chicano Movement causes. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West An attorney at law (or attorney-at-law) in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute The Chicano Movement of the 1960s also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, also known as El Movimiento, it is an extension of the Mexican He was an early organizer of La Raza Law Students and the short-lived but highly effective Catolicos Por La Raza in the 1960s and 1970s. Católicos por La Raza is a political association organized by Ricardo Cruz in the later 1960s in Los Angeles California.

Contents

Childhood and education

Cruz grew up in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Highland Park is a district of North East Los Angeles. It includes the Garvanza and San Pasqual neighborhoods and some would argue Mt His father was a musician who played in commercially-unsuccessful big bands before dealing in real estate, and his mother was a legal secretary. A big band is a type of Musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late Real estate is a legal term (in some jurisdictions notably in the USA, United Kingdom Cruz received a Catholic education, attending Our Divine Savior Catholic Elementary School and Cathedral High School. Cathedral High School is a private Catholic all boys school in Los Angeles, California. In high school, he was a class officer and enjoyed speech and debate, winning some speech awards. He developed a deep faith early on, and retained an admiration for the morals taught at Catholic schools and the Catholic philosophical tradition, especially that of the Jesuits, even after he stopped identifying as a Catholic. The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order He attended the Oakland campus of Saint Mary's College of California from 1961—1962, where he was one of only two Mexican-American students, and one of the few from a lower-class family. Oakland (ˈoʊklənd founded in 1852 is the eighth-largest city in the U Saint Mary's College of California is a private Coeducational College located in Moraga California, United States. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1962—1965, during which time he worked full-time as a transcriber/typist for the Los Angeles County Probation Department. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy from California State University, Los Angeles in 1966. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language California State University Los Angeles (also known as Cal State L After graduation, he continued to work for the Probation Department, undergoing an on-the-job training program. He dropped out after three months, and began driving a taxi. He then drove to New York and stayed with two cousins in Brooklyn, where he "bummed around" until his money ran low, at which point he got a job as an investigating probation officer with the New York State Supreme Court Probation Department. He was promoted to supervising officer and was assigned the narcotics caseload. In August 1967, he returned to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Law School. Loyola Law School is the Law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit school in Los Angeles California. During his first year, he worked with Pat Nave to organize Law Students Community Service Association (LSCSA) "to recruit and finance the legal education of minorities", but soon realized that he and his colleagues were being used by the administration: "We do the work, etc. They weren't sincere. " As a result he helped to create La Raza Law Students, an organization dedicated to increasing Chicano enrollment in schools of law. Chicano (feminine Chicana) is a politically-loaded word for a Mexican American (in the sense of native-born Americans of Mexican ancestry as opposed to Mexican Loyola law students joined with students from USC and UCLA in demanding financial assistance and realistic admissions criteria. He was elected chapter chairman, and LRLS soon had branches throughout the state. This was the time of the East Los Angeles Blowouts, and Cruz became interested in the Chicano Movement, but decided could do more for the cause if he remained in law school. The East Los Angeles Walkouts or Chicano Blowouts were a series of 1968 protests against unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District The Chicano Movement of the 1960s also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, also known as El Movimiento, it is an extension of the Mexican He earned his J.D. in 1971. Juris Doctor (abbreviated JD or JD, from the Latin, Teacher of Law) is a first professional graduate degree and Professional In 1968, Cruz was fulfilling a legal internship with California Rural Legal Assistance in Salinas when he was invited to a "secret meeting" in Santa Barbara between César Chávez and his lawyers to discuss the lack of Church support for the UFW-backed grape boycott. California Rural Legal Assistance Inc ( CRLA) is a 501(c(3 non-profit legal and political Advocacy group that promotes the interests Salinas is the County seat and largest municipality of Monterey County in the U Santa Barbara is a city in Santa Barbara County California, United States. César Estrada Chávez ( March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) born in Yuma Arizona, was a Mexican-American farm worker Labor Template talkInfobox Union for usage --> Overview The United Farm Workers of America (UFW is a labor A boycott is a form of Consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using buying or dealing with someone or some other organization as an expression of At that meeting, Cruz promised Chávez that he would do whatever he could to bring about Church support.

Católicos por la Raza

When he returned to Los Angeles, he teamed up with Los Angeles City College's MEChA, who had independently begun work on Church issues. Los Angeles City College, known as LACC is a public Community college in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles California. Word origin and usage The term "mecha" is derived from the Japanese abbreviation for the English word " mechanical " A coalition of students, welfare mothers, Brown Berets, and Immaculate Heart nuns joined to become Católicos por la Raza. The Brown Berets were a Chicano nationalist Activist group of young Mexican Americans during the Chicano Movement in the late sixties and throughout Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM is a Roman Catholic Teaching order for women A Nun is a Woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life On October 11, 1969, a group of Chicano students tried to see the Cardinal, but only Cruz and Joe Aragon were admitted. Events 1138 - A massive earthquake struck Aleppo, Syria. 1531 - Huldrych Zwingli is killed Despite showing the utmost deference, the Cardinal treated them "like trash". After their dismissal, 15 to 20 CPLR members pushed their way into the chancery (Church headquarters and the Cardinal's residence) and the Cardinal threatened to have them arrested. On October 18, 1969, the CPLR passed a resolution to pressure the church. Events 1009 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid On December 4, 1969, they held a press conference to make demands of the Church and to announce the first public demonstration to be held at St. "December 4th" redirects here For the song by Jay-Z, see December 4th (song. Basil's. It was attended by only one reporter—the Los Angeles Times's Ruben Salazar. The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily Newspaper published in Los Angeles California and distributed Rubén Salazar ( March 3, 1928 - August 29, 1970) was a Mexican-American News reporter killed by the Sheriffs On December 7, 1969, about 500 people picketed St. Basil's without incident. They began planning for a demonstration to be held on Christmas Eve. They returned to St. Basil's on Christmas Day to continue the protest. On December 29, sympathizer Bishop Parilla from Puerto Rico celebrated mass in a dirt lot across the street from the church. Events 1170 - Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II From January 1—4, the Católicos engaged in a hunger strike on the lawn of St. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Events 46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina. Basil's. On January 22, 1970, Cardinal McIntyre resigned and the Católicos met with the new Cardinal Manning to discuss their demands. Events 565 - Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus. Exactly one month after the Christmas Eve protest, 3,000 people, many of them high school students, conducted a midnight march from the downtown chancery to St. Events 41 - Gaius Caesar (Caligula, known for his eccentricity and cruel Despotism, is Assassinated by his disgruntled Basil's, where they celebrated the 7:00 am mass. On September 13, 1970, the Católicos conducted their final action: a "Baptism by Fire", during which Cruz, his brother, and some 20 others burned their baptism certificates. Events 509 BC - The Temple of Jupiter on Rome 's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September In Christianity, baptism ( Greek, "immersing" "performing Ablutions " is the ritual act with the use of water by which one is admitted

Criticisms of the Church

The Church's refusal to support the UFW grape boycott was all the more blatant when the Episcopalians and several Jewish organizations joined it. The Episcopal Church is the official name of the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Cruz saw hypocrisy in the Church's silence and inaction, as it used few of its vast resources to better the worldly condition of its members. This condition was exacerbated in Los Angeles, whose Archdiocese was one of the wealthiest in the nation and served some of its poorest members, and where white domination of the Church's interior structures places Latinos at a disadvantage. This realization led him to further criticisms. The Second Vatican Council, though reform-minded, was reluctant to embrace Liberation theology, and as a result did not embrace social and economic struggles. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twentieth century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Liberation theology is a school of Theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic The Católicos pressured the Church to pay heed to it members' material needs, as well as their spiritual needs. They also fought Anglo-American domination of the diocese, and pressured the Church to provide more scholarchips. Because of their criticisms of the Church, they were regarded as a radical organization.

Conflict at St. Basil's

Having failed to encourage reform within the archdiocese through peaceful means, the Católicos targeted the recently-constructed (to the tune of $4 million) St. Basil's Catholic Church on Wilshire Boulevard. On Christmas Eve 1969, Cruz led a march of several hundred demonstrators to protest before the church's first Christmas Eve mass. Christmas Eve, December 24, is the day before Christmas Day, the celebrated birthday of Jesus. A demonstration is an historically and geographically common form of Nonviolent action by groups of people The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. When they attempted to enter the church for mass, Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies disguised as ushers brutalized them. The LAPD arrived "for mopping-up operations" and beat and maced fifteen and arrested seven. Meanwhile, the parishioners inside continued singing and listening to Cardinal McIntyre decry the demonstrators as "rabble". At 5:00 am on January 20, 1970, LAPD officers arrested Cruz and twenty others, including Alicia Escalante, chair of the East Los Angeles Welfare Rights Organization, in connection with the Christmas Eve demonstration.

Aftermath

Shortly after the incident, the Church announced its support for the boycott. Los Angeles Archbishop James Cardinal McIntyre, accused by the Católicos of paternalistic attitudes towards Mexicans and Chicanos in the administration of the bishopric, stepped down in 1970. James Francis Aloysius Cardinal McIntyre ( June 25, 1886 &mdash July 16, 1979) was an American Prelate of the The Church began funding the Campaign for Human Development, which provided social services for the poor. Pressure from the Católicos also brought about the appointment of two Latinos within the church hierarchy, Bishop Juan Arzube, a South American, and Bishop Flores. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a And, following the events, the leaders of the archdiocese were less hostile to the incorporation of Mexican cultural elements into worship. Despite the success of the Católicos, Cruz faced trouble as a result of his involvement in the protest. In 1972 he served three months in jail as a result of the St. Basil's incident. In 1971, despite passing his exam, the California Bar denied him certification due to his "moral turpitude for disrupting a religious service". He was subjected to 23 hearings, during which the American Civil Liberties Union and new Los Angeles Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Manning lobbied on his behalf, before finally being admitted to the bar in 1973. The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU) consists of two separate Non-profit organizations the ACLU Foundation a 501(c(3 organization which focuses Timothy Cardinal Manning (born Ballingeary, Ireland on November 15, 1909 - died in Los Angeles California on June 23,

Legal career

As an attorney, Cruz helped organize "Abogados de Aztlan", ("Attorneys of Aztlan") a consortium of Chicano attorneys based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area dedicated to addressing the issues of socio-economic discrimination against Mexican-Americans. Aztlán ( from Nahuatl Aztlān) is the Legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica The Abogados, along with La Raza Law Students, published Justicia O. , a bilingual paper dealing with legal and criminal justice issues. He was active with Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), and opened his own law practice in East Los Angeles in 1974. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund ( MALDEF) is a national non-profit Civil rights organization formed in 1968 to protect Cruz helped form a Southern California branch of the Raza Unida Party, most notably organizing a voter registration drive in the city of Hawaiian Gardens that sought the election of Chicano City council members. Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U The Raza Unida Party (RUP (Partido de la Raza Unida is a United States third Political party. Hawaiian Gardens is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. He was an organizer of the East Los Angeles Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War and racist police brutality. East Los Angeles can refer to East Los Angeles California (unincorporated community East Los Angeles (region The Chicano Moratorium, formally known as the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, was a movement of Chicano Anti-war activists that built a broad-based The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that Police brutality is the world wide use of excessive force usually physical but potentially also in the form verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by

During the 1970s, Cruz fought against the Los Angeles County policy of forcibly sterilizing indigent and undocumented patients at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, many of whom were sterilized without sufficient awareness that they had consented to being the procedure. Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center (also known as County General) is an 800-bed Teaching hospital located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Although he was not a litigant in the case (Madrigal v. Quilligan), he was an early organizer of advocates for the women who felt they had been coerced. The case was dismissed, but the media attention he and other activists brought to the plight of the victims brought about a change in the policy.

In 1982, Cruz fought for and won the dismissal of a murder charges against a young Chicano prisoner Gordon Castillo Hall. Hall had been convicted of murdering a Duarte postal worker, but received inadequate representation. Duarte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. There is also evidence to suggest that the actual murderer had been identified but never prosecuted by the District Attorney. The Los Angeles County District Attorney prosecutes felony crimes in the County of Los Angeles, and misdemeanor crimes in selected cities that do not have an Cruz cited these two miscarriages of justice, as well as the court's non-admission of exculpatory evidence, in his argument for dismissal of the sentence. Hall was released after serving three years in prison.

Honors

For his work on behalf of the Chicano community, Cruz earned the following recognition:

Religious views

In response to a 1973 survey, Cruz wrote:

"Well, once I got rid of religion, then my spiritual self, my identity, my fears, my strengths, my confidence, everything, everything, became much more realistic. Benito Pablo Juárez García (benit̪o paβ̞lo xwaɾes gaɾsia ( March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872) was a Zapotec Amerindian No longer was I relating to heavens and hells, goods and evils and spooky stories and mortal and venial [sic] sins. I became what I am - an animal, a human animal. My choices became my own two feet in other words. I had to stand up like a man instead of like I did for many years - praying for somebody to do this or that, usually with respect to me. Now I make them do it or not, if it's good. It's been a great benefit for me to get rid of religion. "

Illness and death

Cruz, a 33-year smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Lung cancer is a Disease of uncontrolled Cell growth in tissues of the Lung. Always a healthy man, he had neglected to obtain medical insurance. In addition, both the sterilization case and the Hall case were long, drawn-out affairs with little compensation. In order to help defray the cost of his treatment, he decided to take advantage of his reputation for throwing some of the best parties of the Chicano Movement to turn his 50th birthday celebration into a fundraiser. In a letter expressing regret that she could not attend, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina commended Cruz as “a legal advocate who, instead of racking in the bucks, racked up a stellar reputation for his compassion, justness and commitment to those in need. Gloria Molina is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the current chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority ” The treatment was unsuccessful and Cruz died on July 21, 1993.

Literature

The events at St. Basil's were memorialized in Oscar Zeta Acosta's Revolt of the Cockroach People and recorded as a major event of the Chicano Movement in Rodolfo Acuña's Occupied America. Oscar Zeta Acosta ( April 8, 1935 &ndash 1974? was a Mexican American ( Chicano) Attorney, Author, Politician Rodolfo Francisco Acuña, PhD, (born May 18, 1932) is an Historian, Professor, and perhaps the foremost scholar of Chicano

References

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives ( CEMA) is an archival institution that houses collections of Primary source documents from the History of minority
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic