1971 La Voz de Aztlan

              ERNIE PALOMINO, FSC Chicano art instructor, is currently in the process of creating the first of several barrio murals. Since this December he and Eziquiel "Lee"
Orona and Joaquin Patino have been working steadily on the mural on a cantina wall
at Tulare and F Streets. Completion is expected within a month.
Of the mural Palomino says, "When I hit this town the Fresno Chicano heavies said
I should paint a mural in Chinatown. But the Ruco who owned the building wasn't ready
for it. So I just waited for a while — it was worth it. Now I drink a few beers while I
paint it on the outside of a beer joint. It belongs to an old friend of my Jefito. The
mural   is   getting   far   out,   and   is taking a long time to finish it, and may take much
longer, beoause the winitos keep puking on it, and pissing there. There are old Huel-
gistas around and they dig on it. And some of the Mayates think Lee's image looks
African, but I tell them that Quetzalcoatl is a long way from being a black. The mural
is no big thing actually, they have them everywhere, except in Fresno. Fresno is the
only place where people would rather listen to the news instead of Santana or just look
at free shit.
Art is hard to guarantee outside on Tulare and F, but at least it's better than looking
at Pepsi-Cola signs. And by the time they wipe it out, maybe there'll be a few more.
Gradually they will be harder to wipe out."
FRESNO STATE COLLEGE,    FRESNO CALIFORNIA
D£ AZTLAN
•m
Collegian
LXXVI/85
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1971
NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES?
An open letter to the FSC Student Body
We, the Indian students of
Fresno State College, would like
to know what happened to the
Native American Studies Program? Have we again been sold
down the river by contemporary
treaty breakers wearing Ivy
league suits instead of buckskins?
Have we been conveniently swept
under the carpet into our usual
pile after the white man's house
cleaning?
Since the Chicano and Black
students were the instrumental
force in the creation of an American Indian contingent on campus,
they are already painfully aware
of the mysterious disappearance
of the facilities for Native
Americans; but, perhaps the significant others on campus would
like some information.
During the fall of 1969 the
EOP Director (with net a small
amount of coaxing) petitioned the
administration for 25 positions
for Native American students to
enroll with 250 Blacks and
Browns. A recruitment team visited nearby rancherias or reservations (the Redman's ghetto or
barrio) and convinced 25 Indians
that joining the system was bet-
Farm workers strike at Vie-Del
Farmworkers employed at Vie-
Del vineyards, located at Caruth-
ers on Kamm and Cornelia walked
out on strike on January 11,1971;
They went on strike because the
corporation had them harnessed
to an automated pruning machine
that was impossible to keep pace
with, and the low wages being
paid. Some of the striking farmworkers had worked for Vie-Del
seven years, yet there was little
increase of pay for those with
seniority. Also, fringe benefits
and health plan were practically
non-existent. The majority have
sought to be represented by the
United Farmworkers Organizing
Committee. The farmworkers
want the right to bargain collectively and union recognition.
Vie-Del has responded by declaring they would not recognize
or negotiate with the strikers.
Vie-Del has hired gun-toting contractors   who   bring in winos,
transients and inexperienced
workers to break the strike. They
pay the scabs $2.65 per hour,
compared to the $1.85 they were
paying the farmworkers before.
The multi-million dollar corporation has county deputy sheriffs
and constables escorting the
scabs into the fields. The deputy
sheriffs and constables are quick
to cite the strikers if they violate
the injunction Vie-Del has secured from the courts. However,
when one of Vie-Del's gun-toting
contractors openly threatened to
shoot one of the strikers, the local
officers did nothing to control or
disarm him. The result was one
of the strikers was shotgunned in
the face and hospitalized. The
contractor was arrested and
charged with a misdemeanor, not
a felony. His bail was a meager
$500, not the regular felony bail
of $2500. The sheriff's deputies
finally arrested a scab who was
threatening and harassing pickets at the Vie-Del ranch, Sunday,
February 15, 1971. He was carrying a .38 caliber revolver and
bayonet.
Monday, February 15th, a
march from Caruthers to Fresno,
covering 22 miles, ended with a
rally at the local county courthouse park. The march was organized by MECHA students from
FSC and FCC, farmworkers,
Brown Berets and members of
the Teatro Campesino. Approximately 500 participated, among
them families and community
members. The march took place
to symbolize the farmworkers'
reaffirmation to remain nonviolent, that Vie-Del Corporation was unwilling to negotiate
and to expose the lack of police
protection for the striking farmworkers.
Vie-Del, a multi-million dollar
(Continued on Page 3, Col. 3)
ter than fulfilling the white man's
prophecy with a 47 cent bottle
of Muscatel. Twenty-five bright
and hopefullndians entered Fresno State with the reservation
tribal leaders and traditionalists
laughing at them for buying the
guilt ameliorating promises soft
sold by the new Indian agents. But
we were going to show them.
Because the Chicano and Black
programs were viable at that
time, we Indians grabbed on to the
tails of their programs and received a little of their services.
We were allowed to have an Indian Studies curriculum (one
course in relevant Indian culture
as long as it wasn't too relevant)
with one of our brothers volunteering to instruct the course.
The coordinator of the program
met with Acting Dean Phillip
Walker who assured our program
a place on the 1970-71 budget for
the creation and implementation
of the Native American Studies
Program. This item was approved by AP&P (Academic Program and Planning Committee)
and placed on the budget. There
would be a coordinator, staff and
facilities.
What happened? We do not believe that the program was intentionally sidestepped; we l>elieve
that the white man has again assuaged his collective guilt with
promises and then has conveniently forgotten to carry out those
promises. We are used to the
rhetoric of white men who continue to talk of the need to enroll
more Indian students in college,
yet when we do enroll, the campus situation is so constituted as
to systematically push us toward
failure.
Picture, if you can, a young
Indian coming off the Tule River
Reservation ortheLemooreRan-
cheria into the Fresno State College campus. He looks different
and he is treated with indifference, not because he is an Indian
alone; but, because the institution is so agonizingly impersonal. The effect of this treatment is doubly damaging to the
fragile self esteem of the failure
programmed Indian. It is so much
easier for us to return to the
reservation-rancheria where, at
least,   someone gives  a damn.
We need the facilities (counseling, tutorial, personal understanding of our needs) to help
our people integrate themselves
into a system that we hardly understand. We need a coordinated
program that deals with our problems — we need a Native American Studies program. If you are
interested in understanding your
Red brother - not becoming his
keeper — stop one of us on campus and listen to us. You may
find out that we have quite a lot
to say and in other more profound subjects than basket weaving and ceremonial dancing.
The American Indian
Students of FSC