Martín Porferio "Marty" Serna (1944 - 1978) was an early organizer of the Chicano Movement, who was one of the founders of the

Brown Berets The Brown Berets (Spanish: ''Los Boinas Cafés'') is a pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the United States during the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled af ...

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

. He was part of the La Raza Unida political party, and developed several community organizations in Pueblo including the Black/Brown Berets, United Farmworkers Organization, Escuela Huitzhualopán, Southern Colorado Chicano Planning Council, and El Partido de la Raza Unida.

Biography

Serna was born to parents Porfirio and Clara Serna, along with siblings Roberto Dave, Betty Muñoz and Cecilia Ohm. Serna grew up in Avondale raised by his grandparents, and graduated from Pueblo County High School in 1962. He had Indigenous and mestizo background, and taught his son about Huitzilopochtli and

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

ways. He served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper, and in 1965 received an early discharge to support victims of a major flood in the Eastside floodplain. He then became a principal organizer in the preservation for the community on the eastside. In 1969, he was the Editor-In-Chief of an issue of El Zapatista.

Activism

Serna studied political science at

Southern Colorado State College Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) is a public university in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. It is part of the Colorado State University System and a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). History 1933 to 1959 The idea for starting ...

(SCSC), and received his bachelor's degree from the

University of Colorado Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a Public university, public research university located in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. Established in 1912 as an extension of the University of C ...

. He then began law school to pursue legal knowledge in support of the Chicano community. While at SCSC, he inititated the student groups United Mexican American Students (UMAS),

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships a ...

(SDS), Chicanos for Action, and

Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines, typically depicted as piloted, humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japan ...

(MEChA). He played a key role in La Raza Unida and LRU Service Agency, Barrio Coalition Group, Counseling, Remedial, Education, Cultural Enrichment de la Raza (CRECER), Chicano Recreation Program, Salado Improvement District, and the Barrio Batos Against Dope. His work with La Raza Unida was extensive. Serna was frustrated by Colorado politicians ignoring the problems that Chicanos faced except during elections when "they come around, put on a sombrero, eat a taco, and say, 'Buenos dias.' Those days are over... The Chicano people are coming alive and I think everyone will be surprised when they see how many votes La Raza Unida candidates will get election day." His platform supported guaranteed income, free education, and changing Anglo attitudes about minorities. Serna ran for the

U.S. house of representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

in 1970, representing the 3rd congressional district of Colorado as a member of the La Raza Unida party. He co-authored the first draft of the platform for the party that was adopted statewide. He was in the Los Angeles Moratorium against the Vietnam war in August 1980, and was arrested with 23 other Chicanos from Colorado. He was one of the Colorado 23 who were arrested in California on August 30, 1970. In 1971, he organized the La Raza Unida party convention featuring 600 delegates from 12 states. In 1970, he organized students at SCSC to remove Coors beer from the school pub. He organized a boycott of the Pueblo Star Journal and the Chieftain, the two major news publications in Pueblo, because of their poor coverage of Chicano-related events and news. He walked 120 miles to Denver to expose the plight of farmworkers. He worked as Project Coordinator with the Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA) in Denver at the time of his death. He planned the first Cinco de Mayo celebration and 16th de Septiembre events in Pueblo, as well as the first ceremony of Las Pasadas.

Personal life

Serna's first wife was Maria Subia, and they had a son Greg. They were high school sweethearts. His second wife was Carmen Roybal Arteaga. They met when she was a student at Adams State College and worked with the Chicano movement in the San Luis Valley.

Death and legacy

He took his own life in 1978 at age 33, dying of carbon monoxide asphyxia in his Denver, Colorado home. Hundreds of people gathered for his funeral in Pueblo. Brown Berets in military uniform carried his coffin. His name for the Pueblo Eastside community center, El Centro del Quinto Sol, has remained.

References/Notes and references

Biography

Activism

Personal life

Death and legacy

See also

References/Notes and references

Further reading