mexican-american students walkout

In my Spanish III class we just got done watching the movie "walkout." It was really good, so I'm gonna do a blog entry on it :) "Walkout" is about a bunch of students who attend Belmont High School in Los Angelos, California. The teachers, who are white, discriminate against the chicanos (mexican-americans) even though chicanos are not the minority at their high school. There's a paddle in the their classrooms that says, "If it's not worth saying in English, than it's not worth saying at all." This is predjudice against the chicanos because they speak Spanish as well, and they get beat (or spanked) if they even say one word or phrase in Spanish. This movie takes place in the 60's but it was made only a couple of years ago. The chicanos also can't use the restrooms during lunch, the faculty is mean to them, and they can't share any part of their mexican culture in the classrooms. Mexican Americans are still very unheard of today, such as in history textbooks. We hardly ever hear about them, even though I know they played a huge part in history and they are ignored. The students at Belmont High are sick of being discriminated against and they want their rights. The main character Paula (who is played by actress Alexa Vega) starts a group that hands out surverys about being discriminated against because of your race. They eventually start picketting signs outside of school that say, "Brown is Beautiful," "Chicano Power," and "We want our Rights." Then, the group of students, stage "walkouts" which is when the students show up for class until the bell rings at 9am and then the students walkout of their school and start protesting. They do this because the teachers need the students there for their salaries, because they get paid based on attendance of the students. The teachers eventually give in and decide to consider what the chicanos want. They get some of the things they want but not everything, chicanos are still fighting for equal treatment to this day. But that doesn't really surprise me, since I see discrimination everyday at Kennedy still.