Who is corky gonzales

In , Gonzales ran unsuccessfully for Colorado State Senator. His final political effort was in when he ran for Denver mayor against Thomas Currigan. Again defeated, Gonzales sued Currigan for violating an old Denver campaign law. He lost this case, too. Gonzales worked at creative writing throughout his life. The poem was published widely and became the clarion call for the Chicano Movement throughout the United States and internationally.

It was quoted in protest literature, published as plays and reprinted in several editions. The poem has been dramatically performed in a diverse array of artistic mediums to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales was published in , a collection of speeches, plays, essays and other poetry written by Gonzales.

Besides his writings, Gonzales was perhaps best known for his leadership and involvement in the Chicano Movement.

In , Gonzales founded the Crusade for Justice as a social movement to aid the Chicano population. The Crusade for Justice building was at Downing Street. He organized and led protests as well as spoke at rallies and university campuses throughout the country. In , Gonzales helped organize the student walkout at West High School in Denver after racist remarks by a teacher. The Chicano Youth Conference of led to the writing of El Plan de Aztlan: a document that articulated Chicano political, social, economic, and educational issues and demands.

In , Gonzales opened a summer Liberation School, and in the Escuela Tlatelolco was born as a school for Chicano children. Violence was at times associated with Crusade activities. In , a shootout between Denver Police and Crusade members led to a bombing of an apartment building owned by the Crusade for Justice and adjacent to the Crusade building.

In , La Raza Park otherwise known as Columbus Park was cleared of people by Denver police during summer festivity event. In , Gonzales was arrested at an anti-war rally in Los Angeles. He was convicted of allegedly carrying a loaded weapon and served four months in jail. Gonzales maintained a public presence in his later years, though the lasting effects of a car accident and a heart attack slowed his activities.

He attended the annual celebrations commemorating the creation of Chicano Park in San Diego, California, toured in support of Message to Aztlan , and maintained close ties with Escuela Tlatelolco and its Family Resource Center. They had eight children, six daughters and two sons.

Gonzales died on April 12, of congestive heart failure. He was 76 years old. His efforts to fight police violence, to end poverty, and to stop educational discrimination were the precursors to contemporary struggles in the same arenas. He believed the key to liberation for the Chicano community is to develop a strong power base with heavy reliance on nationalism among Chicanos.

His contributions as a community organizer, youth leader, political activist, and civil rights advocate have helped to create a new spirit of Chicano unity. Gonzales dijo, "Soy agitador y creador de problemas. No me compraron cuando me dieron este trabajo. En , motivado por los comentarios racistas de un profesor, los estudiantes de West High School se comunicaron con Gonzales para pedir que los ayudaran a organizar reuniones con los adultos, los padres y los estudiantes.

Increasingly frustrated by partisan wrangling, Gonzales publicly resigned from the Democratic Party in He had begun to shift his focus to the Crusade for Justice, which he and other community activists founded in A grassroots, human-rights cultural center located in Denver, the Crusade for Justice became an important site for Chicano activism.

Gonzales represented the organization throughout the nation, as he gave speeches, conducted forums, and otherwise inspired and organized Chicanos to action. More than 1, Chicano youths attended the first conference in Gonzales purposely focused on the younger generation of Mexican Americans, finding them receptive to his major themes of Chicano nationalism, self-determination, and cultural and historical pride.

In Gonzales formed the Colorado La Raza Unida Party, a third-party political organization dedicated to the goals of the Chicano movement. While becoming a significant public leader of the Chicano movement, Gonzales remained dedicated to his family in Colorado. In he celebrated more than fifty years of marriage to his wife, Geri Romero de Gonzales, with his eight children, eighteen grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren.

Although slowed by a serious automobile accident in and heart surgery in , Gonzales remains active and is working on his autobiography. Gonzales, Rodolfo "Corky.

Vigil, Ernesto V. Gonzales became a central figure in that movement, organizing student walkouts in schools to protest the low expectations set for Chicano students and the lack of cultural appreciation reflected in the curriculum. The Crusade also took to the streets to protest a wide range of injustices, including police brutality and the Vietnam War, and convened national youth conferences to promote a stronger Chicano cultural identity.

In , as a result of the second such conference, the Colorado Raza Unida Party was born. But he continued to work for justice on the local level as well, and, with his family, founded an independent Chicano school in Denver — Escuela Tlatelolco — that is still in operation today. His legacy lives on through his children, who currently serve as directors and teachers in the school, as well as through several generations of educators, students, artists, writers, and community organizers who are inspired by his life and work.

Founded by Corky Gonzales and the Crusade for Justice, the independent K school seeks to liberate the mind, heart, and spirit of students, through the knowledge of their cultural expression, moral courage, and honorable behavior.