Chicano civil rights mural by El Paso's well-known artist 'Cimi' Alvarado to be unveiled

A new mural by well-known muralist Jesus 'Cimi' Alvarado depicting the Chicano civil rights struggles of the 1960s will be unveiled on Saturday, Aug. 24.

The mural, which includes members of the Mexican American Youth Association active from 1966 to 1975, will be dedicated in a cultural event from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club, 801 S. Florence. The mural is on the back of the building.

The celebration will include entertainment by the San Ignacio Parish Matachines, Lydia Patterson Institute and Bowie High School Mariachis, some poetry, DJ provided music, and guest speakers.

Oscar Lozano, who attended Bowie High School and later taught social studies there for 21 years, said the mural project took about a year and a half from the sketch to its completion.

Lozano, 71, a member of MAYA, said the "scenes depicted in the mural have to do with MAYA and other groups like the Tenets Union that existed back then, struggling for a better community in the sense of better housing, better educational opportunities, better employment opportunities in the mid-60s and on."

Lozano said one of the issues the MAYA organization addressed was punitive measures for speaking Spanish at the old Bowie High School.

"They had a policy of now allowing Spanish to be talked on school grounds and those that did were punished by having to stay after school in what was called Spanish detention. MAYA struggled against school administrators to eliminate that, something that was discriminatory and an issue that prevented us from exercising our culture rights," he said. "That was one concrete victory that MAYA was able to achieve."

They also lobbied at City Council meetings seeking better employment opportunities, sometimes even getting escorted out by police, he said.

The mural features figures such as Salvador Ramirez, who directed the Boys and Girls Club in the 1960s, poet Lalo Delgado, Nina Cordero, one of the founders of La Fe Clinic and her son, Juan Contreras, another poet, Cecilia Rodriguez, one of the co-founders of La Mujer Obrera, and Carmen Felix, who advocated for improved housing conditions in the Segundo Barrio.

Alvarado is an El Paso graffiti artist best known for using his art to honor and share Chicano/Latino culture and for often leveraging political and social messages in his work.

His murals around the city include the Blue Beetle , which features the first Latino superhero on the front wall of Cinemark Tinseltown at Las Palmas XD, 11855 Gateway West Blvd. (It was removed after the movie's release.)

He also painted a mural of El Paso native and artist Patrick Gabaldon at 1230 Texas Ave. and a mural of Castner Range National Monument at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology.

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María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com, @EPTMaria on Twitter; eptmariacg on Instagram , eptmariacg on TikTok.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Chicano civil rights mural by El Paso's well-known artist 'Cimi' Alvarado to be unveiled