-
4. The Calm Before the Political Storm (1973-1975)
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
4 The Calm Before the Political Storm (1973-1975) The years between 1973 and early 1975 were the apogee of RUP's community control in Crista!' During these years Ciudadanos Unidos (CU) developed into a full-fledged political machine. After three years of community control RUP succeeded in effecting many changes that improved Mexicanos' quality of life. Politically, it defeated all challenges to RUP's control of the city council and school board, and in 1974 it captured control of the Zavala County Court of Commissioners. These were also the years of RUP's continued expansion as a statewide party. But it was during these two years that RUP's peaceful revolution began to experience internal schisms, nascent power struggles, and conflicts. By 1975 these difficulties had led to its political rupture and eventually its demise. Cristal's 1973 Local Elections: An Observer's Perspective RUP kicked off 1973 with confidence. Already assured of its control of Cristal's city council and school board, the party had won a seat on Zavala County's Court of Commissioners, and its members had taken three other county elective offices in the November 1992 elections. In early January 1973, despite the lawsuit initiated by the defeated Democratic candidates, the four RUP victors were sworn in. But before the 117 Copyrighted Material 118 Part Two. The Politics of Community Control sweari!1g-in ceremony they were required to post bonds in connection with the lawsuit, as stipulated by the Texas Election Code. The bond amounts set by the district clerk of the 38th District Court ranged from $28,000 for Sheriff Jose Serna to $4 for Constable Rodolfo (Rudy) Espinosa Jr.! Although January was politically uneventful, Dale Barker, in his Sentinel column, The Barker, reminded readers of the upcoming April elections: With only a brief rest from the November election, the political machines are being oiled up for the city council and school trustees elections in April. Candidates are currently being selected in hush-hush meetings for another all out confrontation at the polls between Amistad and La Raza Unida. And this spring's political bout will bring to light some new and, perhaps, surprising alliances as the maneuvering for control of the city and school continues.2 The city council elections were crucial to both sides, because control of the city council was on the line. Three of the five council seats were in contention. On the school board three of seven seats were open. The terms of Jose Angel Gutierrez, Arturo Gonzales, and RUP defector Mike Perez were expiring. In February a long-simmering controversy surrounding the school district's bilingual education policy started to boil (see Chapter 8). It led to the first serious internal schism to plague RUP's peaceful revolution . The district had established a bilingual education program in 1970, and some Mexicanos were openly opposed to it. The district's policy was to develop a bilingual-bicultural program that was different from the program developed under federal guidelines, which was to use a child's native language in instruction only until the child gained proficiency in English. Instead, the Cristal district would develop a program that called for each student to become proficient in both Spanish and English before being graduated from high schooP This was a pet project of Jose Angel Gutierrez, who was president of the school board. Now the district was making twenty-two recommendations for improving the program.4 On January 22 about six hundred people from the community met with the school board to discuss the list. Some parents felt that their children were not learning English well enough. Some felt so strongly that the bilingual policy was to blame for their child's lack of progress in English that they walked out in protest when the board refused to take a vote to reject its bilingual policy. Ponciano Hernandez, an anti-Gutierrista and outspoken member of the community, explained the reaction of some parents: "That Copyrighted Material [52.15.63.145] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 10:17 GMT) The Calm Before the Political Storm 119 night I got home and I must have received over thirty calls.... They would ask, if they are not going to listen to us, then what are we going to do about it?"5 On February 1, the board held a third community forum on its proposed bilingual policy. School trustee Mike Perez, who had split with RUP in 1972 over CU's candidate-endorsing policy...