In a nation that espouses freedom, there is a struggle between those forces seeking to consolidate power and those who wish to distribute it more broadly. In our following look at the Vigil Collection of Federal Bureau of Investigation documents, we see the highlights and lowlights of that struggle so that we can remain ever-vigilant and aware that the past is nearly always prologue. When rights are secured, there will be those in some quarters seeking to roll them back. Likewise, when government power is checked, some will seek to weaponize that power against perceived enemies, both political and personal.
Ernesto B. Vigil joined Crusade for Justice, a Denver Chicano rights organization, in 1968 in the midst of the Chicano rights movement. Later in life, he filed a slew of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain FBI records related to Crusade for Justice to better document the weaponization of the government against that movement. While often heavily redacted, the materials underscore the breadth of the government’s interest in halting and sometimes actively subverting any leftist organizations that threatened their status quo. Some files even suggest active counterintelligence operations against labor unions beyond US borders. These files now reside at Denver Public Library, and what follows is just a brief glimpse of the government’s active role in surveilling and undermining numerous civil rights organizations. While we have provided something of a chronology of government actions, much of the narrative is still lost within the sealed files of government agencies.
Crusade for Justice filed for incorporation as a non-profit on November 14, 1966. The FBI began its focus on the group by infiltrating a June 1966 meeting where Robert Trujillo, delegate from the Communist Party, spoke of Rudolfo "Corky" Gonzales leading the “Spanish-American” people of Denver. In August 1966, agents were present at a protest against the Vietnam War attended by 100 people, organized by the Stop the War Committee, and at which Gonzales spoke out against the war. The following year, the Bureau surveilled a similar anti-war protest attended by Gonzales and included a note in their report that the Socialist Workers Party members are, “generally the guiding figures in all Vietnam demonstrations.” Another memo from 1969 describes “Chicano” as a “term applied to a Mexican-American who is inclined towards the left-wing element.” Ever-present was FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s consistent attempt to conflate all civil rights supporters with communists.
In June 1967, a group of armed men, led by Reies Lopez Tijerina attacked a courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico to free seven of his followers who faced preliminary hearings for unlawful assembly charges. Tijerina was leading the Political Confederation of Free City States that claimed the right to 600,000 acres of northern New Mexico based on old Spanish land grants. Two police officers were shot and wounded and twenty men were held hostage during the siege (RMN 6/5/1967.) Soon after, Gonzales held a June 10 rally in support of Tijerina’s group. While the FBI files state the rally was peaceful, support for the attack in New Mexico certainly raised the profile of Gonzales and the Crusade for Justice movement within the Bureau.
During that same year, the Bureau had informants at a massive civil rights conference in Albuquerque that included members of the Chicano movement, Indigenous tribal leadership, Black Panthers, and even the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which the Bureau described as a “militant civil rights group” The lengthy report closes on an interesting note:
“Most of the speakers during the session on October 21, 1967, stressed that the Negroes, the Spanish-Americans, the Indians, and the poor Anglo-Americans have a common cause and they should work together to solve their common problem.” (Bx1FF1)
By 1968, reports were being submitted to a wide assortment of government agencies regarding Crusade for Justice. Among those listed are the Secret Service, the 113th Military Intelligence Group, the Office of Special Investigations, the Naval Intelligence, and the Naval Investigative Service Office. The same year, the FBI filed reports on local activists participating in the Poor People’s Campaign. Buses coming into and leaving Denver for the march in Washington, DC were all tracked and documented. Among the groups the FBI was tracking for their participation in the march was Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. One memo from July 11, 1968, even suggests that the 113th Military Intelligence Group was taking photos of all those who participated in Denver’s Poor People’s Campaign march on the state capitol.
The following year, a walkout was organized for West Side High School to protest racism amongst certain teachers and within the curriculum. Immediately after the student walkout in 1969, a full report was sent to the director of the FBI (Bx1Sec3). This report ignored many local witnesses interviewed in the press who claimed that the police were waiting for students and began beating them and pulling their hair and, instead, claimed officers were under threat and justified the police use of birdshot and tear gas. Due to the “West Side Blowout,” as it came to be called, the agency then requested that local offices and their informants attempt to get the names of any and all people and groups attending the May 1969 Chicano Youth Liberation Conference.
While surveillance continued unabated, the June 22, 1969 bombing at 3528 Marion Street certainly led to even greater interest by law enforcement. The home was reported to be that of Corky Gonzales’ mother-in-law, Mary T. Romero. The FBI brought in the 113th Military Intelligence Group as well as the Secret Service into the investigation. Memos immediately following the incident were heavily redacted and appear to relate to FBI sources within Crusade for Justice. Another heavily redacted memo from June 12, 1969, appears to relate to the recruitment of a new informant just 10 days prior to the attack stating, “that his activities within CFJ would be completely voluntary on his part.” (Bx1Sec4)
In part two, we will look at the growing violence and tensions in the waning years of Hoover's tenure at the FBI.
Further Reading:
Ernesto B. Vigil Freedom of Information Act papers
The crusade for justice : Chicano militancy and the government's war on dissent / Ernesto B. Vigil
The ultimate betrayal : an autobiography / by Juan Haro
Black Americans : the FBI files / Kenneth O'Reilly
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