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"Justice belongs to the people!"
Richard Cruz was
born in 1943 and lived the majority of his life in the Highland Park community
of Los Angeles, California.
Cruz attended Our Divine Savior Catholic Elementary School, graduated from
Cathedral High School in 1961 and then went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree
in philosophy from California State University, Los Angeles.
After graduating with honors, Richard’s interests in philosophy and law inspired
him to enroll at Loyola Law School in 1967. One of only a
handful of Mexican-American law students at the time, Richard became involved
with efforts to increase Chicano/a student enrollment at Loyola and other Los
Angeles area law schools. The student
recruitment work he and other Chicano law students accomplished during this
time inspired the creation of La Raza Law Student Organizations throughout
California. Richard’s beliefs in justice, the advancement of the Chicano community, and the importance of the Catholic Church to faithful Chicanos, led to his role in organizing Catolicos Por La Raza (CPLR). CPLR was considered a radical organization due to its controversial criticisms of the Catholic Church. Their purpose was to reveal the church’s apparent neglect of the Chicano community. On Christmas Eve, 1969, Richard Cruz led a march of several hundred demonstrators to the newly constructed, four million dollar church, St. Basil's Cathedral. The
demonstrators, several of whom were members of CPLR, picketed outside the
cathedral, located in the mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles, and entered
the church during the celebration of the traditional midnight mass.
The Catolicos members argued that the church was not addressing the
social and economic needs of Chicanos who represented more than 60% of
Catholics in the southwestern United States and who faithfully contributed to
the coffers of the Church. Richard
and twenty others were arrested for the demonstration. Throughout his law
school years, Cruz was involved in a number of different causes that would
define the Chicano Movement. He helped lead political efforts on behalf of the
La Raza Unida Party and took part in organizing the East Los Angeles Chicano
Moratorium. Cruz was trained in
various legal aid efforts including internships with the Mexican American
Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the California Rural Legal
Assistance in Santa Barbara. While
in Santa Barbara, Cruz helped to organize farm workers in Salinas.
Along with Cesar Chávez, Cruz helped direct the Catholic Church to
support of the table grapes boycott. In 1971, Richard Cruz passed the State Bar exam but his attempts to practice law were undermined by the California State Bar's refusal to certify him. The State Bar claimed that Richard was un-fitting for legal practice because of his "moral turpitude" in disrupting a religious service. With the support from the American Civil Liberties Union and others, including Cardinal Manning, then Archbishop of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, Cruz was eventually admitted to the Bar. The demonstrations at St.
Basil's are credited with prompting changes within the Catholic Church,
including the commission of several Latino bishops in the Southwest and a
church supported Campaign for Human Development. Another result of the
advocacy by Católicos por la Raza was in the increased support by the
Archdiocese for Cesar Chávez's United Farm Workers Union and in the
incorporation of Mexican culture and traditions in church masses. After Catolicos,
Richard Cruz would continue to combat injustice against Chicanos.
Upon entry of the State Bar, Richard helped organize “Abogados de
Aztlan.” Abogados
was a consortium of Chicano attorneys based in the Los Angeles
metropolitan area dedicated
to addressing the issues of socio-economic discrimination against
Mexican-Americans. In 1974, Richard
opened his law practice in East Los Angeles.
One of Richard’s first high profile legal battles was against Los
Angeles County. In the early 1970s,
County USC Medical Center forced sterilization of poor and/or undocumented
women. Richard revealed that many of these
women were not informed that they were sterilized while giving birth. Cruz was involved in legal
counsel which successfully argued that USC medical policies were
unconstitutional and discriminatory against Mexican women. In 1982,
Richard fought and won the dismissal of charges against a young Chicano named
Gordon Castillo Hall, an adolescent who was falsely convicted for the murder of
a Duarte postman who was shot in 1978. After Hall's conviction, Cruz won the teenager's release from
prison three and a half years later. Richard argued that Castillo Hall had
inadequate legal representation and had received an unfair trial. Throughout his life, Richard was known for his intellectual perspectives about various social and economic issues facing Mexican Americans. He wrote essays on various concepts associated with the Chicano Movement including ideas of “Chicanismo” and “Aztlan” (the homeland of the Aztecs in what is now the southwestern part of the United States), as well as his dreams for building partnership between Chicanos and Mexican nationals. Richard was outspoken on civil rights issues and often stated that "Justice belongs to the people!" Richard was
also known for his love of life and people.
In discussing Richard’s life, one would be remiss not to mention his
gregarious personality and his notoriety for hosting some of the best parties associated with
the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 70s. Richard Cruz, who
acknowledged a 33 year smoking habit in a letter to friends before celebrating
his 50th birthday on the Fourth of July, died of lung cancer at
County USC medical Center on July 21, 1993. Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina saluted Richard
in a letter, written to congratulate him on his milestone birthday, as “a
legal advocate who, instead of racking in the bucks, racked up a stellar
reputation for his compassion, justness and commitment to those in need.” The legacy of Richard Cruz has been permanently archived at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) at the University of California at Santa Barbara. To learn more about the contributions Richard made to the Chicano Movement, you may visit the library and review the many papers, documents, photos and other memorabilia in this collection. For more information, see the CEMA web site. The CEMA archives are described in several pages: Main || Biography || Scope Note || Container Listing. See a slideshow of photos taken by Richard's brother, Ray Cruz, in the 1970's here.
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