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Documentary, American Experience 1-A CLASS APART
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00:04To be continued...
00:38To be continued...
01:19To be continued...
01:53To be continued...
01:57From Gustavo Gus GarcĂa, a prominent local lawyer.
02:02Quiero rendir un breve informe respecto del caso de Peter Hernández en contra del estado de Texas, el cual se
02:11ventilĂł recientemente ante la Suprema Corte de la NaciĂłn en Washington.
02:16The Hernández case involved an issue that GarcĂa and his listeners knew all too well.
02:24Discrimination against Mexican-Americans in the Southwest.
02:35It was the first time that the issue of Mexican-American civil rights had ever reached the United States Supreme
02:42Court.
02:44And GarcĂa was a key member of the legal team.
02:49Agradezco el hecho de poder haberle dicho a los magistrados de la Suprema Corte que estaban un poquito confundidos, acaso
02:59fuéramos todos espaldas mojadas en Houston, San Antonio y en los demás lugares.
03:21GarcĂa and his colleagues had tried to convince the nine justices that long-standing patterns of exclusion and ill-treatment
03:28were unconstitutional.
03:31If they succeeded, their community could no longer be pushed to the margins with impunity.
03:38If they failed, the best hope for change in a generation would be lost.
03:46The decision would not come for months.
03:50Roguemosle a Dios que triunfemos.
03:53Que la Suprema Corte de la Nación nos dé la razón.
04:09Que la Suprema Corte de la Nación nos dé la razón.
04:35Life in the 1950s was very difficult for Hispanics.
04:40We were considered second rate.
04:42We were not considered intelligent.
04:45We were considered invisible.
04:48It was overt discrimination.
04:51And not just you can't belong to my country club type, you know,
04:54but the real rough type in theaters and swimming pools even in some public parks
05:05we were segregated something something awful really it got to the point where
05:14the Texas Restaurant Association put out a sign that said no Mexicans niggers or
05:21dogs alone discrimination had become a harsh fact the Mexican American life over
05:29the 100 years since the end of the Mexican War in 1848 the victorious United States
05:37acquired huge swaths of Mexican territory and along with it tens of thousands of
05:42residents who were offered American citizenship as part of the treaty ending
05:47the war legal citizenship for Mexican Americans was one thing equal treatment
05:54turned out to be quite another many would lose their land to unfamiliar American
06:01laws or to swindlers with the loss of land came the loss of status over two three
06:10generations the people who had owned vast ranches were suddenly farmers after the
06:18Civil War ever larger numbers of southern whites came into South Texas all of a
06:25sudden you start seeing allegations that are cloned from the attitudes that they
06:30had in the deep south about black people and see these values being applied to
06:34Mexicans to Mexican Americans they're shiftless they're lazy they're dumb they
06:41don't like to work and you know they're trying to get your daughter of mixed Spanish
06:47and Indian ancestry Mexican Americans did not fit neatly into America's ironclad
06:52racial categories black or white by the early 20th century they were considered
07:00white by law largely owing to the treaties grant of American citizenship but in
07:07everyday life their status as citizens meant little a lot of Mexicans were killed for no
07:16reason at all a lot of them were lynched and a lot of them were just shot anybody
07:22was a cowboy hat that could be a ranger or a vigilante or a regulator
07:32segregation was widespread enforced not by written laws as was the case for
07:38African Americans but by a rigid social code it was very clear that the social
07:44isolation was the perfectly symmetrical system one that hermetically sealed
07:49Mexicans and blacks away from whites in all the daily aspects of life
08:03when we moved in the neighbors started getting upset the kids would come on their
08:11bicycles and call us dirty Mexicans you eat toilets one time I said something
08:18really nasty to one of them and the father of this kid came up and asked me
08:24to step off the sidewalk so he could hit me discrimination followed to the grave
08:33cemeteries were segregated many funeral parlors even refused to prepare Mexican
08:40American bodies for burial so for the most part if you died if you were Hispanic you had
08:47to be buried pretty quickly after you died so that you wouldn't create a smell in
08:56education as in many other spheres separate and unequal treatment was commonplace
09:06our school were old school they were dilapidated we had no toilet facilities inside we had an outhouse
09:18the Anglo children had a nice school a modern school was indoor plumbing and heating so there was quite a
09:26difference quite a difference second-class treatment exacted a heavy toll they were
09:35always referring to us as dirty Mexicans they call us pepper belly they call us
09:40greasers they call us wet back they made us feel ashamed to be a Mexican-american
09:55and as long as Mexican-americans believe that they couldn't do anything about that then they in a sense
10:02reinforce the system the social stratification that occurred in their lives
10:11then came World War two 300,000 Mexican-americans served their country
10:30they suffered casualties and earned honors disproportionate to their numbers they returned home with
10:37dramatically raised expectations believing they had earned the right to first-class citizenship
10:54we went to fight to give people liberty and to give them their civil rights and then we come back
11:03home and we find out that it's the same way as we left it
11:08the great many people came home expecting that they had won their full citizenship rights
11:16when they come home and they're decorated war heroes and they're turned away from restaurants are told to go to
11:22the balconies of theaters it created a building resentment
11:29when their kids were not allowed to go to the good schools it created a great deal of resentment
11:43the treatment of private Felix Longoria a war hero killed in the Philippines became a flashpoint
11:51when his body was returned to his hometown of Three Rivers Texas in early 1949
11:58the town's only funeral parlor refused to hold a memorial service because they told Longoria's widow the whites wouldn't like
12:07it
12:09this guy gave his life so that we could have the same rights and privileges that are available to everybody
12:16and he couldn't be buried with the whites because he was brown what the hell
12:22and it really hits a nerve in the nation and particularly with many veterans groups who say how can they
12:29not allow him to be buried
12:31for Mexican Americans the Longoria incident came at a crucial time since the 20s civic organizations such as LULAC
12:40the League of United Latin American citizens had begun pushing for civil rights with some success
12:50now emboldened by their war experience and growing political clout
12:55Mexican American activists press demands for broader change
13:01after an intense public campaign Felix Longoria was buried in Arlington National Cemetery
13:14and it's this generation who fought in World War II who begin to demand civil rights for Mexican Americans
13:21they form important social organizations like the GI forum
13:27these organizations are committed to fighting for equality for Mexican Americans
13:32as well as to fighting for pride in Mexican origins
13:37the activists also took their fight to the courts
13:43with the help of lawyers like Gus Garcia and his colleague Carlos Cadena
13:48both veterans they began to attack the legal foundations of discrimination throughout the Southwest
13:56Garcia led a team that won a court order curtailing the segregation of Hispanic students in Texas schools
14:06Cadena won a ruling that ended restrictive covenants barring Mexican Americans from buying homes in Anglo neighborhoods
14:15but those victories could only take Mexican Americans so far
14:21Mexican American lawyers had achieved some successes on the state level
14:25but the bottom line was the local majorities in these states were intent on treating Mexican Americans as second-class
14:33citizens
14:35if they were to be fully protected
14:39if they were to be regarded as equals with other Americans
14:44they would need to receive the protection of the Constitution
14:48they would need to take their cases to the U.S. Supreme Court
14:52The lawyers faced an uphill battle
14:54they knew that Mexican Americans had been denied the protection of the Constitution's 14th Amendment
15:01an essential weapon for African Americans in their fight against discrimination
15:07some states had argued that the amendment only barred discrimination by whites against blacks
15:13and by law Mexican Americans were considered white
15:18to end the discrimination that stifled their community
15:21they would need to find the right case
15:23one with the potential to redefine the very meaning of the United States Constitution
15:37On August 4, 1951, on the streets of Edna, Texas
15:41the locals were taking advantage of a steamy day off
15:44a tenant farmer named Gaetano Espinosa, known to everyone as Joe
15:50headed to Chencho Sanchez's cafe on Menifee Street
15:55Pedro Hernandez, a field worker with a bad lay, was already inside
16:04It was a Saturday, and I think it was my father's birthday
16:08and as we passed Edna, he said, I'm going to stop here to talk
16:14to the cotton pickers
16:16I sat there at a table and I ordered a Coke
16:21and all of a sudden I heard an argument
16:24Joe Espinosa arguing with Pete, with Pedro
16:29and when I heard the argument
16:32I heard something to the fact that Pedro El Chueco Cabron
16:37no woman is going to look at a cripple like you
16:41they're interested in a real he-man like me
16:45and with that, Pedro left the cantina
16:49We saw Pete walking towards his house
16:53like he was in a daze
16:56he didn't even turn around and say hi boys or anything
16:58he just kept going
17:00so about 20 minutes later, here he comes with a rifle
17:06He came back, entered the cantina
17:09and shot Joe Espinosa in the heart
17:16he lived maybe 30 minutes after we got to the hospital
17:22and my mother told me, okay, I understand
17:27it was just hard to believe, it was just incredible
17:40In his law office in San Antonio, Gus Garcia listened
17:45as Pete Hernandez's mother choked back sobs
17:49Garcia realized that there was more to this case
17:51than a small town murder
17:56Hernandez was guilty of sin, no question
18:01but they had been looking for a significant case
18:04which would bring about a ruling from the higher courts
18:09that segregation or discrimination against Mexican Americans
18:13would be illegal
18:16The key issue for Garcia was not whether Pete Hernandez shot Joe Espinosa
18:21it was that like many Latino defendants before him
18:24Hernandez's fate would be decided by an all-Anglo jury
18:30There were 70 or more counties in Texas
18:33who had never had a Hispanic want a jury
18:39just because they didn't think that we were capable
18:42of doing anything worthwhile
18:45How do you get around the law?
18:47that you have to be judged by a jury of your peers
18:52Garcia was convinced that this was the case
18:55that he and his activist colleagues had been waiting for
18:59Gus Garcia was not one to think small
19:03You can write a book about Gus
19:06fine-looking fellow
19:08movie star-looking type
19:10well-dressed guy
19:12brilliant
19:15At 36
19:16Gus Garcia was already a local legend
19:20the son of ranchers who could trace their Texas roots
19:22back to the Spanish crown
19:24Garcia was a dashing figure whose legal victories
19:27and glamorous social life had made headlines
19:34he was tall and he was slender
19:36he had cold black hair and those green penetrating eyes
19:41that in my view made him very handsome
19:47Gus was a silver-tongued orator
19:51he had a deep resonant voice
19:55anything he said he said with authority
19:58Garcia had been an outstanding student at the University of Texas
20:02captain of the nationally ranked debate team
20:05he had excelled at law school as well
20:08still even for Latinos with a stellar record like Garcia's
20:12the doors to the state's top law firms remain closed
20:17there was only so far that you can go
20:20there was a certain space provided them
20:22in which they could then fulfill some of their ambitions and dreams
20:28so as good as they were they saw the ceiling quite low outside of their community
20:33but within their community I think they could fulfill much of their desires
20:39Pete Hernandez's trial was set for October 8, 1951
20:44in the Jackson County Courthouse
20:47at the pretrial hearing
20:50Garcia entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of his client
20:54then he raised an objection to the entire proceeding
20:57he argued that Hernandez was being denied a jury of his peers
21:02that the practice of excluding Mexican-American jurors
21:05and the social hierarchy it reflected were fundamentally unfair
21:12if Mexican-Americans had served on juries that judged whites
21:17that would have upended Texas' racial caste system
21:20that would have said that Mexican-Americans were the equal of whites
21:25were capable of sitting in judgment on whites
21:28and that I think is ultimately what the lawyers were fighting for
21:32Garcia soon realized it was not wise to wage legal war alone in Edna, Texas
21:39without some reinforcements
21:42Texas had a phenomena called sundown towns
21:48this name came from the idea that no minority should be caught in town
21:54after the sun went down
21:57at the penalty of violence
22:00Garcia called in John Herrera
22:02an experienced Houston trial lawyer
22:05with a well-earned reputation for toughness
22:08Mr. Herrera was not afraid to speak out against anybody
22:13he had big feet, he'd step on anybody
22:16he was scared
22:18Herrera brought along a young attorney
22:20James Deanda
22:22to handle the statistical research
22:24I did quite a bit of investigation on the case in that county
22:28as it turned out there had never been a Hispanic in modern times
22:32ever served on either a grand jury, petty jury or any other type of jury
22:36Garcia and his team pressed their case
22:39armed with statistics proving the county's history of systematic exclusion
22:44and their lead lawyer's sharp tongue
22:46they walked into the courthouse
22:49and when they confronted the judge
22:51the judge asked them if they needed an interpreter
22:54and in his own articulate way
22:57Gus Garcia replied
22:58no sir, if you can't understand English or Spanish
23:03perhaps one of my colleagues can interpret for you
23:09when you bring a civil rights case
23:11you're challenging social convention
23:13and tradition and custom
23:17and some people see it as a threat to a political structure
23:21a social structure, a threat to a way of life
23:26it wasn't safe for them to stay there
23:28because some of the people were very upset about the case
23:32and what these lawyers were trying to do
23:36and they thought it best not to stay there
23:39they may not wake up there
23:42the men who were arguing the Hernandez case
23:45had to drive home to Houston every night from Edna, Texas
23:49they didn't dare stay in town
23:53the first task the lawyers faced
23:56was to show a pattern of discrimination against Mexican Americans
24:00as a group
24:01to do that, they called Pauline Drosa, an Edna resident
24:05to the stand
24:07she testified that she had tried to enroll her U.S. born English speaking children
24:12in Edna's all Anglo school
24:14only to be told
24:16they did not accept any Latin Americans
24:20pressed by the prosecutor she insisted
24:23they discriminated against me and my children
24:27for Pauline Rosa, a Mexican American woman in Jackson County, Texas
24:32to challenge the Anglo power structure was something pretty, pretty amazing
24:39she saw that she could do something to effect change for her children
24:46people have said, she's indicting the whole community
24:49but she was reflecting a view by Mexican Americans
24:52that while people might not individually say something or do something to them
24:58collectively, they were happy with the system
25:01but I think all of them, both Anglo and Mexicans
25:05understood very well what she was talking about
25:07in terms of, they all discriminate against me and my children
25:13during a pause in the proceedings
25:15the Hernandez lawyers sat out a men's room
25:18they found one on the courthouse grounds
25:21but it turned out that there was a problem
25:24the sign said men, but a Mexican janitor whispered to them in Spanish
25:28that they couldn't use it
25:29and he told them in Spanish that there was another one
25:31hasta paca, out back
25:33and they went downstairs and they find another men's bathroom downstairs
25:38with a bathroom sign that says colored men
25:41hombres aquĂ, men here
25:44think of the irony of this
25:46in the very courthouse
25:48where the state of Texas is arguing that Mexican Americans are white
25:51and therefore an all white jury can convict a Mexican charged with murder
25:55they can't use the bathroom reserved for whites
25:58they're not lawyers who are operating above the fray
26:01who are somehow independent of everything that's going on
26:04they too are subject to this racial system
26:09in some real sense
26:11the lawyers in Hernandez versus Texas
26:14were themselves the clients
26:18the judge overruled the defense team's objection to the all white jury
26:25it took that jury less than four hours to reach its verdict
26:33Pete Hernandez was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison
26:37his lawyers immediately appealed
26:41for them, the hard work was just beginning
26:51in the spring of 1952
26:54as they mapped out their strategy
26:56Garcia and Herrera realized they needed help
27:00they turned to Garcia's longtime friend and former law partner Carlos Cadena
27:07these two guys together were probably the most powerful
27:11intellectual legal team that you could ever field
27:15they made a kind of legal odd couple
27:17Garcia, charismatic and outgoing
27:20and Cadena, scholarly and reserved
27:24Carlos was the quiet one always doing the heavy research
27:28Gus was the one always talking and making the changes
27:30and I think that's why they got along so well
27:37After discussions with Latino civil rights activists
27:40the Hernandez lawyers decided on a bold but risky legal strategy
27:47arguing for constitutional protection for Mexican Americans
27:50they would emphasize their ambiguous and vulnerable place
27:54in America's racial hierarchy
27:57they would put their very identity on trial
28:03Mexican Americans were fighting to be treated as if they were white
28:09but the irony here is that the Texas courts seized on their claim to be white
28:14not to treat them fairly
28:17but to continue to defend this practice of unfair mistreatment
28:23the Texas courts responded by saying
28:26so you're white, that's fine, look at the juries
28:30there's nobody but white persons on the jury
28:32you have no claim of discrimination
28:35in turn the Mexican American lawyers had to respond
28:38we're white but we're a class apart
28:41we're a distinct class that though white is being treated as if we're not white
28:46and that's the basis on which they went forward with their litigation in Hernandez versus Texas
28:50the class apart theory was as controversial as it was innovative
28:55I think many Mexican Americans were afraid
28:59what would happen if we weren't considered white
29:04how do we know we're not going to be forced or pushed to identify with the black race
29:10at a time when black people are fundamentally denied so many basic rights
29:18but there's also the element of racism
29:22of the belief among some Mexican Americans that blackness is inferior
29:30so there's an element of racism and there's an element of fear of Jim Crow segregation
29:37Carlos Cadena took the lead in drafting the Hernandez appeal
29:40writing a tightly argued legal brief
29:43he elaborated on the novel theory of a class apart
29:48he also punctured the state's legal position
29:51that Mexican Americans were white
29:53and therefore outside the protection of the 14th Amendment
29:56with a few well-placed rhetorical thrusts
30:01about the only time Cadena wrote that so-called Mexicans
30:05many of them Texans for seven generations
30:07are covered with the Caucasian cloak
30:11is when it serves the ends of those who would shamelessly deny this large segment of the Texas population
30:17their fundamental rights
30:21Texas's high court was not persuaded
30:24the appeal was denied
30:26the next step for the Hernandez lawyers
30:29and a very risky one
30:31was to turn to the United States Supreme Court
30:35it was an unusual
30:37ambition to take a case beyond Texas
30:40and to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court
30:43moreover no Mexican Americans had ever tried a case in the U.S. Supreme Court
30:47they had no reason to believe that they would win
30:53the lawyers in Hernandez gambled when they decided to take this case to the Supreme Court
31:00they knew on the upside that they could win national recognition for the equality of Mexican Americans
31:07but they knew on the downside that if they lost
31:10they would establish at a national level the proposition that Mexican Americans could be treated as second-class citizens
31:19and not just that
31:22they knew that this was probably their one shot in a generation
31:28an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States is a costly matter
31:32you have to pay a filing fee
31:34you have to pay for the printing of the briefs
31:37you have to pay to travel to Washington D.C. to argue the case
31:42they didn't even have money to get up there much less to really fight the case
31:48and all that time away from home and their practice all shot because they were dedicating so much time to
31:56the case
31:58activists issued a national appeal for funds
32:03the Mexican American community was generally poor
32:06but the Hernandez case struck a chord
32:10the American G.A. Forum takes it to the people
32:13its founder and national president Hector Garcia has a radio program
32:20he gets on the radio and he starts pleading for donations
32:25Lulek does it through its chapters across Texas and the Midwest requesting money
32:31so what you find is people sending letters and saying this is the Wharton Lulek Council and we're sending you
32:37$25
32:38there is a group in Chicago that sends $25
32:44and then you have these individuals who are donating money
32:49there is a gentleman who says I heard you on the radio and I'm sending you this money
32:53please let me hear my name as someone who stands up for Mexican American rights
33:00at one time Carlos Cadena literally had tears in his eyes
33:04he said they would come up to me and they would give you crumpled up dollar bills
33:09and they'd give you coins
33:12these were people who couldn't afford it but couldn't afford not to
33:17we all dug deep into our pockets and through the dollar bill
33:22and the fundraiser and the dollar bill there
33:25we made it you know we made it
33:28the Hernandez team had another problem
33:30one of their own
33:34according to the rules of the Supreme Court
33:37the petition was due on January 20th 1953
33:41and had to be professionally printed
33:44the Hernandez petition arrived on January 21st
33:48a day late
33:49typewritten
33:52despite the Texas Attorney General's repeated objections
33:56the Supreme Court decided to accept the submission
33:58but it was a close call
34:01and a troubling indication that something was seriously wrong
34:06Gus Garcia had a problem with alcohol
34:12quite young in his life
34:14most people received that he was an alcoholic
34:16and some of the discussions among reformers is
34:19can Gus Garcia handle this opportunity
34:29the activists who had backed the lawyers efforts for so long began to worry out loud
34:36finally they had the case they wanted before the United States Supreme Court
34:40but perhaps after going all this distance
34:44Gus Garcia would not be up to the challenge
34:49I think in some ways the Mexicans were also intimidated by the process and said you know
34:53we got to be up to it
34:55we really got to look good there
34:57we've got to seize the opportunity
34:59and is Gus ready to do that
35:07The case of Hernandez versus Texas was scheduled for oral argument before the Supreme Court
35:14and its new Chief Justice Earl Warren
35:17on January 11th 1954
35:20Gus Garcia arrived in Washington early to prepare
35:25time enough it turned out to give his doubters more cause for concern
35:31Garcia knew that lawyers for the NAACP led by Thurgood Marshall
35:36had recently appeared before the court
35:38arguing the landmark school desegregation case
35:42Brown versus Board of Education
35:46hoping to keep up with the better funded civil rights group
35:49he retained a publicist
35:51and a hotel suite his team could ill afford
35:56Gus Garcia was looking at the issue
35:58and he wanted the kind of support that African Americans had gotten
36:01and the other reformers were dealing with the realities
36:05that is we can come up with maybe $3,000
36:08and that barely covers what we have to do
36:10soon Garcia was joined by the rest of the legal team
36:14including John Herrera and Carlos Cadena
36:18Carlos got to Washington
36:21and Gus had taken a hotel room for him
36:24he had a bartender
36:26and he had a table set up with drinks and everything
36:30Carlos was pretty furious because they were on a short budget
36:34and Gus thought nothing of spending the budget
36:37because it was partly his
36:41Cadena went out to the airport
36:43to meet a man who was bringing money from San Antonio
36:48and the man said how did you like the money that we sent
36:52and he said well there isn't any of it left
36:55the man gave him several hundred dollars more
36:58and they both agreed that they would not tell Gus about the money
37:04Cadena said Gus Garcia was a scoundrel and he was a liar
37:12to be a lawyer
37:12January 10th the final night before the oral argument
37:15the next morning Gus Garcia would argue the case of a lifetime
37:20a case that would determine not only his own reputation
37:24but the future of the community that depended on him
37:31some time that night
37:32Garcia managed to evade the watchful eyes of his nervous colleagues
37:39he went off on a toot
37:41and everybody knew but nobody knew where he was
37:46and Gus shows up sometime rather late in the morning
37:50and he is very very drunk
37:58they knew they were about to face the Supreme Court justices in a few hours
38:03and here's this man putting the case at risk
38:06he was one of the two main lawyers who was going to speak
38:09before Chief Justice Earl Warren and the other justices
38:12they threw Gus in a cold shower clothes and all
38:16ordered room service a big pot of black coffee
38:20and went on to sober him up and get him ready
38:31on January 11th as the lawyers marched up to the Supreme Court
38:36the wintry chill reminded them that Texas was very far away indeed
38:43the lawyers were about to face a court that had never before been addressed by Mexican American attorneys
38:49or been asked to consider the question of Mexican American civil rights
38:54if you can imagine Carlos Cadena and Gus Garcia getting the opportunity that no one else has ever had
39:00to be able to paint a picture of a community and where it stood in time
39:05and all the practices, the laws, the circumstances that kept them where they were
39:12Carlos Cadena sitting at the council table wearing a very dark serious suit
39:18Gus Garcia sitting next to him
39:20the nine justices sitting on a long bench facing the two sets of parties
39:26the Texas Attorney General sitting at their own table
39:29ready to defend the state's decision that Mexican Americans were really whites
39:36the lawyers in Hernandez needed to argue that the 14th Amendment protected Mexican Americans
39:41to a court that had barely ever heard of Mexican Americans
39:47I opened the argument
39:48I said your petitioner is a
39:52an American citizen of Mexican descent
39:56and one of the judges
39:58asked me
39:59what is that?
40:00I'm a pretty stupid guy
40:02everybody knows what that is
40:04but anyway I was explaining
40:07and Justice Frankfurter interrupted and said
40:10they call him Grease is down there, don't they?
40:15Gus Garcia who seemed to be out of it during most of the presentation by Carlos Cadena
40:21was suddenly awoken by several questions that were asked by the judges
40:25can Mexican Americans speak English or are they citizens
40:28and I think this was the key for Gus Garcia
40:31because Gus Garcia tended to personalize that
40:34and he saw within himself all the abilities and qualities of the Mexican American community
40:41Fueled by indignation
40:43Garcia offered the justices a brief irony-laced history lesson
40:47My people, he told them, were in Texas a hundred years before Sam Houston
40:53that went back from Tennessee
40:56and he was just getting started
41:02Gus's delivery was so eloquent
41:04it was so beautiful
41:06so penetrating
41:08so down to earth
41:10in high
41:12spun
41:14legal argument
41:16There are some lights there on the rostrum
41:18and when the red light comes on, you stop
41:22and everybody knew that
41:23when the red light came on, Gus stopped in mid-sentence
41:26and then Justice Earl Warren
41:29leaned off the bench and said
41:32continue Mr. Garcia
41:36Gus Garcia was told to proceed
41:39so he stole 16 extra minutes
41:41so when we walked out of the Supreme Court of the United States
41:45he met with one of the attachés
41:47and the attaché was an old black man
41:49he says, this is unprecedented
41:50he says, they've never even given extra time here at the Thurgood Marshall
41:54he was here last week
41:58after years of planning and all the legal work, it was finally over
42:04the case that the activists and lawyers had focused on for so long was now out of their hands
42:12the exhausted Hernandez legal team headed home to await the court's decision
42:22soon after their return, Garcia and Herrera went on the radio to share their tale with the public that had
42:29supported them with their dollars and their prayers
42:35for me for a great satisfaction to participate in this case
42:40and to tell the truth to the magistrates of the Supreme Court in Washington
42:45and remember Johnny, that neither you, nor Carlos Cadena, nor a servitor
42:52have we never left the words to defend our rights
42:57finally, on May 3rd, 1954
43:00the United States Supreme Court announced its ruling
43:04in the case of Hernandez versus Texas.
43:10The decision of the Texas court was reversed.
43:18Peter Hernandez would receive a new trial
43:20before a true jury of his peers,
43:23a trial that would ultimately result in his reconviction
43:27for the killing of Joe Espinosa.
43:30But far more important was the court's legal reasoning,
43:35a holding that Mexican-Americans as a group
43:38were protected under the Constitution's 14th Amendment,
43:42in keeping with the theory that they were indeed a class apart.
43:50It was a victory for the ordinary people
43:52who had endured discrimination without recourse for generations.
43:58And the activists who had fought on their behalf.
44:01For Carlos Cadena, the meticulous legal theorist.
44:06And for Gus Garcia, who had disproved the doubters
44:10and triumphed despite his inner demons.
44:13Hailed as heroes, the Hernandez lawyers were applauded
44:17by Mexican-Americans across the Southwest.
44:21In every place they went and spoke, it was about,
44:24look at what Mexican-Americans have done.
44:27Look at how we presented our case to the nation.
44:30Look at how we have finally made the people of the United States listen.
44:37Now they know we are here.
44:40The victory in Hernandez was huge for the Mexican-American community.
44:45They now had the highest court in the land saying,
44:49it's unconstitutional.
44:52Indeed, symbolically, it's un-American to treat Mexicans as if they're an inferior race.
44:59With the decision and the power of the United States Constitution behind them,
45:05Mexican-Americans successfully challenged employment and housing discrimination.
45:09They tore down barriers to their right to vote and run for office.
45:15They ensured that their children would no longer be forced to attend segregated schools.
45:22This case is incredibly important because it guarantees that even being different,
45:29that we are still protected under the laws of this great land.
45:33I think Mexican-Americans in particular, Latinos in general,
45:36but America as a whole owes a great debt to the people who pursued this case.
45:48For Gus Garcia, the future would be shadowed by tragedy.
45:54Not long after his legal triumph, his personal life spun out of control.
46:00Alcoholism would be cruelly compounded by mental illness.
46:03Taking Garcia in and out of institutions for the next decade.
46:09I didn't see him those last few months when they said he was just beyond himself in San Antonio.
46:17All the reports that I got back were that his mind was deteriorating,
46:23that his behavior was changing, and he died on a bench.
46:29Not tragic.
46:31I mean, somebody with such a brilliant mind.
46:34My God.
46:39Gus Garcia died of liver failure in 1964 at age 48.
46:51Less than a year later, Carlos Cadena would be named the first Mexican-American justice of the Texas Court of
46:57Appeals,
46:58and would go on to become Chief Justice.
47:06After the Hernandez case, Mexican-Americans across the country would no longer be considered second-class citizens under the law.
47:18The struggle was hardly over, but the lives of millions of Americans had been changed forever.
47:27Hernandez versus Texas belongs in the pantheon of great civil rights cases.
47:31Indeed, of great American cases.
47:35But even more important, it belongs in the pantheon of great moments in American history.
47:41This is a moment when a people long regarded as inferior organize and demand equal treatment and succeed in that
47:50demand.
47:51This is an inspirational moment in American history, a moment in which equality is demanded and achieved.
48:12Aised by the major
48:12It's a very happy and
48:27more bait piece of the crust,
48:28the savage's larvae is at the same source of valемis.
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