Zack de la Rocha backed up by Ollin at UCLA (October 30, 2009)
Zacarías “Zack” Manuel de la Rocha
January 12, 1970
Long Beach, California
Zack doesn’t need an introduction here nor do I need to list the reasons why he’d be on a post about Chicano history. Right? I mean, the guy wrote “People of the Sun.”
Zack and Rage Against the Machine did a lot to raise awareness about the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas in 1994. Everything can change on a New Year’s day…
Alejandro has several posts about RATM’s music and it’s meaning in his own life. He wrote about the one RATM concert I ever attended at the DNC in 2000:
It was [August] of 2000 and the Democratic National Convention was being held at the famed Staples Center, in Los Angeles, Ca. On the other side of the fence, Rage Against The Machine was scheduled to perform a free show that evening, and before you knew it, over 250,000 people had gathered to proclaim their right to say whatever the fuck was on their minds. I was one of them. Those previous shows were about to culminate into one giant “this is it” at the DNC, and it was to that night to which I traced my confidence and energy. [The Music that Made me Dance]
I also recommend PearMama’s slew of RATM-related posts.
I think I might re-watch Battle of Mexico City. It’s been a while. Some of the issues Zack touches on, such as the student movement in Mexico City, may feel outdated 10 years later, but he also touches on the ejidos and the background for the EZLN uprising. It’s also a reminder that the struggle for autonomy is continuous and fought locally too.
Lotería Chicana 
What I remember most about the DNC was all the LAPD in full riot gear riding around downtown L.A. I saw so many cops riding on the running boards of trucks and SUV’s, following a small group of protesters who wearing sandals amd carring water bottles.
It was a surreal site, watching hundreds of cops in full riot gear following so many young girls in the group walking around L.A.
It was like a movie, with the 200lb cops with their faces covered with helmets and face mask following girls 18-20 years old, who looked so innocent and small.