About 40 years after co-founding the revolutionary Chicano organization Brown Berets, Carlos Montes told UTEP visitors that the struggle has not ended for minorities.

"El Paso can be the number one example of organizing in the United States," Montes said. "El Paso can be on the map in a positive sense. El Paso has a wealth of history, a wealth of resources and talent that can be put toward cultural work, political work, labor organizing, women’s rights and student organizing. El Paso can be on the map as a center for equality and women’s justice."

Montes, a Juárez native who grew up in South and East Los Angeles, spoke to dozens of visitors Friday at UTEP’s Tomás Rivera Conference Center.

The Chicano activist, who was among those portrayed in the HBO movie "Walkout," spoke about issues he said face the Latino community — immigration reform, the anti-war movement and the lack of educational opportunities for minorities.

"We hope to turn this country around and make it more focused on human needs for all of the society in the United States, not just immigrants or Chicanos and Chicanas," Montes said. "I think that our movement can help turn this country around and make it a more humane country, focused on the needs of the population."

The event — sponsored by a UTEP student organization, Cultural Artists United for Social Action; the Chicano Studies Depart ment; and the University Community for Immigration Rights — came four days after the end of Hispanic Heritage Month.

"In talking to the members and going and talking to students, we decided that immigration is one of biggest issues affecting community," said UTEP junior Adrian Rivera, the president of Cultural Artists United. "We wanted someone who was in the position to better describe these issues to students."

Rivera said marches for immigration reform and the controversy over the detention last month of 28 undocumented immigrants by the Otero County Sheriff’s Department in New Mexico made the lecture timely and necessary. The immigrants were turned over to the Border Patrol.

"Since his involvement in 1960s with the Chicano Movement, it led us to really know about his position and knowledge of things that can oppress a community," Rivera said. "His knowledge of the past, the things that he has done and his involvement since, correlates with the things he is doing now."

While a member of the Brown Berets, Montes was jailed for assisting students who protested deplorable conditions for Mexican-Americans in East Los Angeles schools.

Montes invited attendees to become active in current movements or to begin their own, but stressed the importance of involvement.

Griselda Munoz, 26, said, "It just summed up how important it is for youth and those involved in the new movement to get in touch with the founders and learn our history. It is important that we know what happened in East L.A., so that history does not repeat itself."

Source The Mexican Times