The Chicano

The massive news coverage of the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse Raid catapulted Reies López Tijerina to the national civil rights stage almost instantly but only briefly. In the wake of the raid, Chicano movement participants felt empowered by his insistence that Spanish-speakers had a historic claim to the American Southwest. Soon he enjoyed invitations from Martin Luther King, Jr. to participate in the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. For a short while, he also benefited from the advice of Maria Varela, a veteran civil rights activist. Yet in D.C. during the Poor People’s Campaign, the glare of publicity also exposed his autocratic tendencies and massive ego. Thrilled by the post-raid attention, Tijerina’s aspirations only grew. He eagerly spoke of moving beyond the land-rights agenda of the the Alianza Federal de Mercedes, the organization he had led since 1963.