UVALDE – School starts on Tuesday for the students of Uvalde CISD — it’s the first time they’ll be back in the classroom since the shooting at Robb Elementary took 21 innocent lives.
The months that have followed have been filled with anger, heartbreak, and calls for change.
It’s reminiscent of a time 52 years ago in Uvalde, where students rose up and walked out demanding an end to racism.
We are taking a look back at @Uvalde_CISD‘s history tonight on the #NightBeat. In 1970, students walked out for 6 weeks demanding an end to racism. With school starting on Tuesday, some are wondering if history will repeat itself this year. @ksatnews pic.twitter.com/rpyCpP9AwR
“I grew up a few blocks from, from the school, from Robb, and I attended Robb, you know, myself,” Abelardo “Lalo” Castillo said.
He’s the only living non-student organizer of the 1970 Uvalde walkout.
Before Robb Elementary was known as the site of a mass tragedy, it was the site of unrest.
“We had a lot of problems with segregation and discrimination and things of that nature. In school, with our, with our classes, with our teachers we didn’t have a lot of Hispanic teachers,” Castillo said.
Castillo sat down with KSAT at Uvalde Memorial Park, it’s just over a mile away from Robb Elementary.
“The catalyst for the walkout was the fact that the principal at Robb Elementary did not want to renew one of the only Mexican-Americans or teachers that we had. His name was George Garza,” Castillo said.
Students of Uvalde CISD wouldn’t stand for Garza to be fired, so they asked Castillo and other organizers for guidance and walked out of their classes.
According to Alfredo Santos’ article “Remembering The Uvalde Public School Walkout of 1970,? students had a list of demands for the school district.
List of the 14 Demands – Uvalde School Walkout
On the first day, 200 students left their classes and after a while, that number grew to 650.
“The students started you know, coming out of the classrooms and they walked out… out of the schoolyard and up to the, the sidewalk. And then the other schools followed,” Castillo said.
Their walkout lasted six weeks. Most students were held back as a punishment, and seniors didn’t get their diplomas.
But Castillo said it was seen as a victory. This was a pivotal moment where students and their families stood up against racism and fought for what’s right.
It’s something that is familiar to the Uvalde community today.
“The leadership back then was garbage. And look what happened. The leadership is still garbage now. And look what happened,” Brett Cross, Uziyah Garcia’s guardian, said.
Brett and Nikki Cross can’t say for sure what will happen Tuesday when classes start, but they’re hoping this generation looks to the past for guidance.
“I hope so. I think we have some very powerful kids here,” Nikki Cross said.
It’s the kind of guidance that Castillo is ready to supply should it be necessary.
“They want the walkout. And what I’m going to be doing is I’m going to get them ready to have a walkout if they wish to do that,” Castillo said.
Castillo said he’s proud of the walkout they did in the 70s but believes the young people now can do an even better job and create more permanent and meaningful change for the current and next generation.