Denounce Thuggery

We, the 50th Chicano Moratorium Committee, representing the Chicano/Mexicano/Latino communities in Los Angeles, California, call upon all communities, organizations, movements, and leaders to denounce thuggery, assaults, and arbitrary attacks against the Chicano/Mexicano/Latino people in the U.S., starting with the police murders, ICE (Migra) brutality and anti-immigrant targeting, and discriminatory bullying of “essential workers”.

By definition, thuggery is rough/violent behavior against another, and the definition of a thug is a violent, lawless or vicious person, especially one who commits a crime such as assault, robbery, or even murder.

If we read about the history of the United States, the history books tell a beautiful history, but let’s be real, it was built by means of thuggery, with colonized thugs enforcing their nation-building-agenda by a few slave masters. Examples of this are replete in their treatment of the original inhabitants, Native Americans, by the English-Europeans in the east, in the name of manifest destiny, as well as the Spanish-Europeans in the west of the continent that claimed rights and power by way of thuggery too. The second major form of thuggery came in the form of slavery, with the Africans forced from their home lands, into slavery to do the work of Euro-Americans. The third was aimed at the Mexicans, who settled in the southwestern territories, building ranches and working the lands under Mexican land grants. The Mexicans were later promised equality under the terms of a war treaty, if they helped Euro-Americans gain more lands. But this resulted in the creation of a border that split the native and Mexican populations, and indentured servitude was implemented. The fourth major form of historical U.S. thuggery was against the Chinese, as they were forced to build the railroads but were excluded from the U.S. under the first immigration acts (Page Act of 1875, banning Chinese women, and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882).

Today, in its present form, thuggery has been encouraged politically by individuals who have a selfish agenda. There are also political thugs that invade capitals in the name of Trump, and their corporations are funding negative votes to gain more strength over workers. These acts have encouraged whites to attack Chinese, Black, Mexican/Latino families, and/or Afro-Americans to kill and beat elders (Fresno, CA.), Mexican workers with their vending carts, and assaults on little girls/boys, only because they are brown. Thugs have participated in mass killings, i.e. Charleston Church massacre in North Carolina, the Wal-Mart massacre in El Paso, Texas, and the Asian community massacre in Georgia.

Again, we call on all progressive organizations, minorities, celebrities, labor unions and political leaders to formally oppose this thuggery, use their media, roundtables, and open events to call for an end of this thuggery by systematic thugs. YA BASTA! Unidos Venceremos!