Josef Enriquez

English 101

Professor Batty

March 1 2018

Equality for All

There are many iconic murals in Los Angeles but I believe the more powerful the message the

better the art. In this case, a mural by Mario Torrero located in East Los Angeles with “We are

not a Minority” labeled across the art has a very powerful message that takes a stand against the

inequalities around Hispanics. The mural pushes back against the government and the law, by

saying that Hispanics are just as important to society as anyone else, especially this being around

the time of the Vietnam war and many Hispanics losing their life in that fight.

To really understand and connect with the mural, we have to go back in time about 40-50

years ago when these unjust actions were taking place. During the 1960’s and 1970’s there was

still very much discrimination and racial tension however no segregation for Hispanics. In march

of 1970 students at Roosevelt high school in East Los Angeles (same location where the mural is

located) elected to protest educational inequities with more walk out’s. The Los Angeles police

department responded with force, beating students and arresting more than 37 of the students

(Latinopia.com). Roosevelt high school is a almost all Hispanic high school, and this act by the

authority’s really sent a message and left he community in awe and reaffirmed that they were not

to step out of line because they are not seen as equal. Another big factor we have to look at is

that this was around the same time that the Vietnam war was happening. There was a very high

rate of Hispanic’s dying in the war and it was concerning the Hispanic community back in the

United States. On August 29, 1970 anti-war activists Rosalio Munoz and Bob Elias organized a
march to protest the high number of Latino deaths in Vietnam. They attracted more than 25,000

people from across the nation, however the march ended with an attack on the crowd by the

police, and Ruben Salazar, who was journalist for the Los Angeles times was one of three people

killed (Latinopia.com).

Analyzing the Mural we can see that the lettering is made to be very noticeable and serious.

The phrase “We are not a Minority” takes up a large part of the canvas and is in 3 different fonts

and colors with 2 exclamation marks at the end. The background of the images is a bright blue

that resembles the sky and I believe it is meant to bring positive vibes. Although the image is

trying to be positive it is doing it in a serious tone, the image of the man on the mural has a very

serious look and he is pointing his finger in the direction of the viewer. The finger pointing back

at the viewer can be perceived two different ways. The message I believe it sends is that since it

is located in East Los Angeles which is a highly populated with Hispanics, the artist knew that

other Hispanics would see it and give them the message that they are not the minority in their

own community. It gives the community hope and makes them believe that they should stand up

for their rights because they are citizens and should be treated equally, especially because they

have their own kind giving their lives in the Vietnam war and they are still being dealt

inequalities. The other way to look at the mural is believing that the male figure in the image is

trying to send a message to the authorities that they are the minorities and that they are out

numbered by the Hispanic community. While the artist may also be sending a message to the

authorities, I don’t believe that was his main intent, I believe that he wanted to bring a more civil

and positive approach rather than one that would cause controversy.

Another interesting thing to note is that the artist’s were originally from San Diego and

were part of a group called the Congreso de Artistas de Aztlan

(CACA)(muralsmakeadifference.com). They traveled to Los Angeles during the heart of the

Chicano civil rights movement instead of doing it in their hometown of San Diego bevause they

believed in would carry a stronger message in this location. I also believe that the message of the

mural was mainly directed to the youth to encourage them to want to engage in activism.

Growing up around the time of the chicano civil rights movement most kids were told that they

couldn’t make a difference or that they were not in a position to be heard, but with this image it

gave the youth hope and showed them that they could make a difference and be heard.

Art is a very powerful technique that can be used to reach a very large audience. Everybody

perceives art differently and there is almost no right or wrong way to view it because art is meant

to bring out the viewers natural emotion. Some art is made purely for asthetic purposes, and

other art is made to carry a message. Activism is best done peacefully in my opinion and what

better way to do it than through Art?

 Citations

http://muralsmakeadifference.weebly.com/we-are-not-a-minority.html

http://latinopia.com/latino-history/timeline-1970-1976/

Word count: 883 words

Appendix