''This story isn't really known by anyone except for the students that participated in the schools that were walking out. During the sixties and even today, we still have a tremendous lack of understanding of what it takes to have a well-rounded diet that really makes people want to grow and be all that they can be. The key issue for the 1968 walkouts was that there was a real lack of cultural history being taught in the schools of East Los Angeles. About seventy to ninety per cent of the children that lived in East LA and were going to school at that time - especially in the schools that walked out - were of Mexican American descent. So they knew very little about themselves and even today they still know very little about themselves. I think the idea of bringing about social change by way of non- violent behavior is the strongest single method that we have, of making ourselves understood and understanding ourselves better.''

- Edward James Olmos