Brown Berets (Watsonville)
The Brown Berets are a Chicano/Mexican-American–based community organization in Watsonville, California, modeled after the Brown Berets of the Civil Rights Movement. Watsonville is a town with a population of 53,856 of which 82% are Latino. An excerpt from their website states, "we serve as a community defense force acting for the liberation and amelioration of our barrios". Their beliefs are anti-military, anti-police, and anti-border patrol. Their members are encouraged to study the Black Panthers and American Militant Resistance. Brown Beret member and former Watsonville Mayor Oscar Rios was quoted in an interview as saying "It (California) belonged to us, Mexico, 1848. It was taken away okay, so it's no surprise we're taking it back slowly but surely."Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine Background On April 6, 1994, two Chicano students, Luis Alejo and Felipe Hernandez, inspired by the legacy of the Mexican nationalist-tinged community activism of the original Brown B ...
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Watsonville, California
Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic, Watsonville is a self-designated sanctuary city."Watsonville-Santa Cruz JACL Holds Candlelight Vigil in Observance of Feb. 19," ''Pacific Citizen'', March 10–23, 2017, p. 9. History Watsonville's land was first inhabited by an Ohlone nation of Indigenous Californians. This tribe settled along the Pajaro Dunes since the land was fertile and useful for the cultivation of their plants and animals. Spanish era In 1769, the Portolá expedition - first European explorers of the area - came to the area from the south, where soldiers described a big bird they saw near a large river. The story survived in the river's name, ''Rio del Pajaro'' (River of the Bird). The Portolá exped ...
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