PROGRAM INFO
- Title:
- Surveillance Of The Chicano Movement
- Program #
- 1977-22
- Theme:
- Politics
- Series:
- Social Issues
- Host:
- Alejandro Saenz
- Guest:
- Robert Maggiani
- Date:
- May 19, 1977
Surveillance of the Chicano Movement
Bobby Maggiani discusses his efforts with the Chicano Legal Defense Fund in Austin, Texas to determine and publicize the extent of government spying on the Chicano Movement. Maggiani explains that he and Dr. Armando Gutierrez founded the legal defense fund in 1973 to determine if government agencies had interfered in Chicano political activities. They filed several requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for government documents relating to various Chicano organizations. They received so many documents that they decided to expand the project. With the financial support of several public and private foundations, they established an office and paid a staff of three to determine if the government spied on Chicano organizations. The legal defense fund also publicizes their findings and advocates for stricter control of domestic spying.
In this pursuit, they continue to file FOIA requests, and the ACLU is helping them to initiate a lawsuit against the FBI. Maggiani explains that although many of the documents are heavily redacted, they still reveal that informers infiltrated the Chicano movement and reported on their activities and meetings, especially those with Mexican officials.
KEYWORDS
ACLUAmerican Civil Liberties Union
American GI Forum
Armando Gutierrez
Bill of Rights
Bobby Maggiani
Brown Berets
Chicano Legal Defense Fund
Chicano Movement
Church Committee
CIA
Citizenship
Committee for Rural Democracy
Democracy
Democratic ideals
Domestic spying
DPS
Dr. Jose Angel Gutierrez
FBI
First Amendment
FOIA
Free Assembly
Freedom of Information Act
Government Interference
Government Spying
Government Transparency
Illegal Intelligence
Jimmy Carter
La Raza Unida
MEChA
Mexican American Youth Organization
National security
PASSO
Police
Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations
Political monitoring
Privacy Rights
Romeo Rodriguez
Socialist worker party
Watergate