Today in Labor History March 5 1968: The first Chicano student walkout in East Lost Angeles occurred on this date. The Walkouts, or Chicano Blowouts, occurred throughout 1968 in protest of unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District high schools. Chicanos were often in classes of 40 students. Teachers often treated them with contempt. Drop-out rates were high. At Garfield High School, 58% of Chicano students dropped out each year. Thousands of students participated in the Blowouts. On March 4, 1968, J. Edgar Hoover sent out a memo to law enforcement, nationwide, warning them to be extra vigilant against “nationalist” movements in “minority” communities. Harry Gamboa Jr., one of the organizers of the first walkout, was placed on the list of 100 Most Dangerous & Violent Subversives, by the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, along with Angela Davis & Eldridge Cleaver.