[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 29, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E894-E895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING THE LIFE OF BOBBY LEE VERDUGO

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIMMY GOMEZ

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 29, 2020

  Mr. GOMEZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy 
of Bobby Lee Verdugo, a Chicano activist from East Los Angeles, most 
known as the leader of the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkouts.
  Growing up in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Bobby 
lived the all-American life--he was a popular football player, his 
father coached a youth baseball team, and his mother was part of the 
Parent Teacher Association and volunteered for Bobby's Boy Scouts 
troop. Despite the active role Bobby's family played in the community, 
he and his Latino classmates would get singled out for speaking Spanish 
in school and were subjected to paddlings by their white teachers as 
punishment. The Latino students at the school were also being tracked 
into vocational classes. They were not afforded college preparatory 
courses or resources, and made to feel as if their futures were all but 
bright. Eastside schools were notoriously rundown and overcrowded and 
had some of the worst dropout rates in the country. Encouraged by his 
social science teacher, Sal Castro, Bobby and other students across the 
Eastside of Los Angeles organized a walkout to protest the 
discrimination, abuse, and mistreatment. Soon thousands of Latino 
students across the country followed suit, bringing the attention of 
the entire nation to their cause.
  Bobby eventually enrolled at UCLA but left after two years to work as 
a bus dispatcher and a labor organizer. He married Yolando Rios, his 
high school sweetheart and fellow walkouts organizer, and they had two 
kids.
  After noticing the lack of resources for at-risk young men, 
particularly Latino youth, Bobby decided to enroll at California State 
University of Los Angeles at the age of 40 to become a social worker. 
In 1995, he co-founded Con Los Padres, a counseling program modeled 
after the Mesoamerican talking circles (circulos), giving teenage 
fathers the space to discuss their feelings, connect to their heritage, 
and receive the support they needed to navigate fatherhood.
  His advocacy work led him to speaking invitations across the country 
and Bobby quickly became a frequent figure at Latino high school

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youth and academic conferences. Bobby's infectious personality and 
humor drew thousands of students to him and to them, he became a 
father-figure and mentor.
  Bobby was a trailblazing force that paved the way for the young 
Latino activists of today and his legacy lives on through their social 
justice work and activism. May Bobby's lifetime of leadership, passion, 
and service continue to be an inspiration to us all. Madam Speaker, I 
ask my colleagues to join me in remembering and honoring Bobby Lee 
Verdugo.

                          ____________________