Democracy Now! co-host Juan González discusses the Latinx Freedom Movement Conference, taking place this week at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. The conference will be a landmark gathering of 1960s movement veterans, scholars, cultural leaders and more.

González, who co-founded the Young Lords, a revolutionary group that fought for Puerto Rican rights in the 1960s and ’70s, says the CUNY conference will kick off a series of events in cities across the United States, presenting “sort of an alternative view of the 250th anniversary of Declaration of Independence” that aims to “bring to a new generation this story of how the Latinx freedom movement developed.”

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

Juan, you’re going to be here in New York Thursday and Friday for a historic gathering called “Latinx Freedom: Power and Protest in the 1960s.” It’ll be at the CUNY Graduate Center. You’ll be giving a keynote address on Thursday. Can you tell us more about the gathering? Who will be there? And a preview of what you’re going to talk about?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, Amy. Well, this amazing conference has been organized by two historians, professor Johanna Fernández of Baruch College and professor Felipe Hinojosa of Baylor University in Texas. And it’s bringing together, I think, for the first time, veterans of the Latinx freedom and revolutionary movements of the 1960s to be in conversation with academics, university students and the general public. And it’s actually the prelude to a series of events that are going to occur this year, sort of an alternative view of the 250th anniversary of Declaration of Independence, that will feature exhibitions in cities across the country — in Houston, Texas; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; L.A.; and New York — to bring to a new generation the story of how the Latinx freedom movement developed.

And there are going to be — among the people that are going to be speaking there, there’s Carlos Montes, one of the original leaders of the Brown Berets in California; Rosie Castro, one of the leaders of the L.A. blowouts of 1968; Martha Cotera, the famous feminist and leader of the Raza Unida Party from Texas from that time: Omar López and Tony Baez, both of them leaders of the Chicago Young Lords back in the 1960s; Eliseo Medina will be there, one of the original organizers of the United Farm Workers and then a major U.S. labor leader; Digna Sánchez of the former Puerto Rican Socialist Party; my own two comrades from the New York Young Lords days, Denise Oliver and David Pérez, will be there and speaking, as well; Linda Coronado, one of the leaders of CASA, the great Marxist Chicano organization in Chicago and L.A. and around the country. And there’ll also be some of the top historians of the Latino community: David Montejano, the great historian from Texas; Sonia Lee; Lorrin Thomas; Lilia Fernández. And I’ll also be participating in a town hall meeting on Friday night with the great journalist Maria Hinojosa and others to talk about the shadow of ICE, what it means for the Latino community and America.

And it’s going to be a terrific two-day conference. And those people who are interested in attending that, they need to register. It’s free, but you’ve got to register at LatinxFreedom.com. And I hope to see a lot of people there at the event Thursday and Friday.

AMY GOODMAN: I can’t wait, Juan. Again, Thursday and Friday at the CUNY Grad Center here in Manhattan, that town hall meeting that you’re having on Friday called “In the Shadow of ICE,” with Maria Hinojosa. I also hope you’ll join us on Thursday night for the premiere of the theatrical opening of Steal This Story, Please! about the 30 years of Democracy Now! And in it, as we did at the 30th anniversary, there’s a wonderful section, Juan, on your background as one of the founders of the Young Lords here in New York. And that’s going to happen at the IFC Thursday evening, the IFC Center at West Fourth and Sixth Avenue.

This is Democracy Now! When we come back, a $1.5 trillion budget. Stay with us.

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AMY GOODMAN: “The Healers” by the late great Randy Weston, performing the song when he spoke to Democracy Now! in 2012. I’ll never forget sitting next to him at his piano. Monday, April 6th, marks what would have been Randy Weston’s 100th birthday. To see his performance and our interview, go to democracynow.org.