Reading about Latino unity in Racism on Trial: The Fight for Chicano Justice made me reflect on a separate event in Los Angeles that I felt strongly showed Latino unity in East Los Angeles. While reading the descriptions of the walkouts and watching the clips of the film Walkout, I couldn’t help but think of the event. It isn’t as revolutionary as high school walkouts or definitely not life altering but I still felt that it somehow showed a strong sense of unity within the Latino community.
Every year during high school football season, two long-time rivals, the Roosevelt High School Rough Riders and the Garfield High School Bulldogs- two schools involved in the 1968 walkouts- play against each other in what is known as the “East L.A. Classic.” Both of the school’s populations, along with the alumni, are predominantly Latino. This particular football game brings in alumni from all over Los Angeles and alumni ranging from various years. Usually, the game gets so much attendance by alumni and fans that the game is usually held at a local college instead of at one of the high school’s football fields and for a few years even had to be held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, a stadium used for the 1984 Summer Olympics and is now used for USC football games. The reason it reminds me of Latino unity is because I’ve witnessed this traditional event for many years and seen how united the Latino community of Los Angeles can become.
When I initially started the reading, my mind went to this game because the two schools, who I thought were rivals, had joined together and took part in the 1968 walkouts. It surprised me to realize that at one point in history these two schools were once allies and helped bring the Chicano community together in the fight for Chicano justice. I’d only ever seen them under the conditions of the game- going head to head. I wondered why it was they went back to being rivals if they had already become allies. However, I realized that despite the fact they were now rivals and weren’t walking out together, they both still brought the Chicano community together except under different circumstances.
As a result of having two parents, one from each rival school, our family has taken part in this tradition for years. Every year, our family alternates which school we’re going to sit and root for and every year, on whatever school I sit and root for, I always notice how despite the tense rivalry between the two schools, their fans, and their alumni, the people are always just happy to take part in the tradition. During the game, insults are thrown, the crowd tries to out-cheer each other and emotions run high but it really doesn’t matter which school you support in the end, because the fact that people are actually there cheering on one of the schools on a Friday night is enough to unite the community. It becomes a celebration of loyalty and pride to be part of this long-time tradition and community for fans ranging from senior citizens (one man I recall wore his class of ’39 letterman jacket) to the newest generation of Bulldogs and Rough Riders.
Even during the year, be it summer, spring, winter, if people come across fellow “Rough Riders” or “Bulldogs,” the game comes to mind and immediately turns strangers into friends. Countless times have I heard my dad come across a fellow Garfield High alumnus and ask, “Hey you went to Garfield? Another Bulldog! What year did you graduate?” or sometimes have a run-in with a rival and tease, “You went to Roosevelt? How embarrassing. We’ll see who wins this year at the Classic!” Just the recognition of attending these schools immediately unites people under this one commonality of taking part in the rivalry. It may not be a fight for justice but the result is still the same- a community, even if only on one cold autumn night under stadium lights, unites to support each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment