Brown Berets
The Brown Berets (Spanish: Los Boinas Cafés) is a pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled after the Black Panther Party. The Brown Berets was part of the Third World Liberation Front. It worked for educational reform, farmworkers' rights, and against police brutality and the Vietnam War. It also sought to separate the American Southwest from the control of the United States government.
Brown Berets | |
|---|---|
| Founder |
|
| Founded | 1967 |
| Dissolved | 1972 (officially) |
| Preceded by |
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| Newspaper | La Causa (1967-1977) |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing to far-left |
| Colors | Brown and yellow |
| Slogan | "Serve — Observe — Protect" |
| Part of a series on |
| Chicanos and Mexican Americans |
|---|
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The Brown Berets' high visibility and paramilitary stance made it a key target for infiltration and harassment by local police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other law enforcement agencies. The majority of the Brown Berets' chapters disbanded in 1972. Several groups reformed and became active after the passage of California Proposition 187 in 1994.