Houston’s Brown Berets celebrate 10th anniversary

Houston

The Southeast Tejas Brown Berets celebrated their 10th anniversary on Dec. 8 at the Chicano Boulevard Center on Houston’s East Side with food, music, history and literature. 

The lead chef Moses Maldonado, with tacos de fajitas, nopales, salsa and all the fixings, contributed his scrumptious cooking as he always does for Beret events. His assistant, Sylina Mustang, provided her delicious salsa.

As the crowd was chowing down, Brown Berets co-chair Gina Richards introduced Houston’s unofficial Chicano poet laureate, Johnny Torres, who then introduced several speakers who had contributed to his anthologies, Voices of the Revolution, Volumes 1 and 2. He said, “Reading their poetry and revolutionary stories, these community writers not only carried an inspiring message but gave us a blueprint for the next generation of activists.” 

Torres told Workers World: “It was important that the Brown Berets [a Chicano liberation organization founded in 1967 and modeled on the Black Panther Party] were resurrected, because the police won’t defend the barrios; we the people have had to do that ourselves. The Brown Berets started in the 1970s, did what they had to do to protect our communities. Now it’s our turn to continue the fight!” 

Torres was born into struggle. His uncle, Joe Campos Torres, was brutally murdered by Houston police in 1977 on Cinco de Mayo, a historically huge celebration in Houston, which commemorates Mexico’s victory over the Second French Empire on May 5, 1862.  His murder became one of the most well-known in Houston history. His family fought for justice for decades after the cops who killed Torres were fined $1.

In keeping with the Chicano tradition of honoring elders, Jorge Lopez and Jose Villareal, two original Beret activists since the 1970’s from the Rio Grande Valley spoke. Villareal honored the young children in attendance as well as the ancestors. He called out the names of Reyes Lopez Tijerina, Corky Gonzales, Che Guevara, Emilio Zapata and Pancho Villa. Villareal, a college professor, explained that Trump is planning a youth detention center in the Valley, and plans are in the works to protest that. 

Villareal announced that the 2025 Texas Chicano Moratorium Against War would be held in the Valley this coming summer. In 1970, 20,000 Chicanos marched in East Los Angeles in the Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War. Houston’s first Chicano Moratorium in 1970 had around 1,000 people marching through the barrio from Magnolia Park to Hidalgo Park.

Willie Rodriguez, the other co-chair of the Houston Berets, told Workers World: “Back in 2014 we felt the Brown Beret presence was needed in Houston. A lot was happening, and our people needed a militant voice. Our berets are a symbol of our pride and our militant fight against oppression. We still believe in Chicano nationalism, but we are also internationalists. We stand in solidarity with all oppressed people around the world.”