Baca, Herman

Biography

Herman Baca was born to Nicholas and Eloisa Carrasco Baca on April 5, 1943, in Los Lentes, New Mexico, a small agricultural community outside of Los Lunas. When he was eleven years old, his family moved to National City, California, where Baca attended Sweetwater Union School District schools through high school. Starting in the printing trade business after high school, he worked in a few local shops before opening his own private business, Aztec Printing, in 1969.

With the emerging Chicano movement in the 1960s, Baca became involved in local electoral politics with a Chicano perspective. His father's (Nicholas Baca) participation in New Mexico's intense electoral politics influenced his development and transformation in California from a believer in the two-party political system into an independent Chicano activist committed to self-determination and human rights.

Having previously worked as a block captain for the 1968 Richard Nixon presidential campaign, Baca organized the National City chapter of the statewide Mexican-American Political Association (MAPA) in 1968 and served as its president and southern region director until 1974. Despite the opposition of the local Democratic Party, Baca successfully managed Peter Chacon's primary election bid to win a seat to the California State Assembly; Chacon went on to author the state's bilingual education bill. Baca also managed the campaign of Ben Moreno, elected as a Southwestern Community College trustee, as well as other Chicano candidates.

In 1970, prompted by the lack of Chicanos represented by either the Republican or the Democratic parties, Baca organized the San Diego County chapter of La Raza Unida Party, a national third-party effort to increase the participation of the Chicano commmunity as both registered voters and political candidates. That same year, he served as the Southern California representative to the National Congreso de la Raza Unida, the party's national convention. Also in the early 1970s, while chairman of the board of "War on Poverty" programs such as the Mexican American Advisory Committee, now the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee (MAAC), and NEPSI, a narcotics education and prevention program, Baca organized and served as the chairman of the board of Casa Justicia, a community-based social service agency providing support for undocumented persons dealing with immigration issues.

Not long after working on Peter Chacon's campaign, Baca helped organize the Ad Hoc Committee on Chicano Rights, representing thirty-two organizations in the Chicano community, with a purpose to address issues affecting the Chicano communities' civil and constitutional rights.

Finally in 1975, in reaction to the co-option of the government-funded community organizations by the traditional political apparatus, he reorganized the Ad Hoc Committee as the Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR). With Baca as its chairman, the CCR established itself as a community-based, non-profit, non-government funded, volunteer membership organization committed to developing social and political awareness in the Chicano/Mexicano/Latino communities.

Herman Baca currently operates Aztec Printing, resides in National City, and continues to address issues and be involved in local politics within the community, representing the Committee on Chicano Rights.

Herman Baca Timeline:

1943 Born and raised in Los Lentes, New Mexico

1954 Moved with family to National City, California

1961 Graduated from Sweetwater Union High School, National City

1968 Organized the National City Chapter of a statewide political organization, the Mexican-American Political Association (MAPA) and served as president and Southern Region organizer until 1974

1969 Organized Peter Chacon's successful primary election campaign for California State Assembly

1969 Established private business, Aztec Printing in National City

1970 Served as San Diego County organizer for the La Raza Unida Party, a Mexican-American national third-party, and acted as the Southern California representative to the National Congreso de La Raza Unida, its national convention

1970 Served as chair of the board for community organizations such as MAAC and NEPSI, a narcotics education and prevention program

1970 Organized and served as chair of the board at Casa Justicia, a community based social service agency supporting undocumented persons dealing with immigration issues

1970 Chaired the Ad-Hoc Committee on Chicano Rights, representing thirty-two organizations in the Chicano community

1972 Casa Justicia co-organized a Los Angeles march of 10,000 undocumented workers protesting the California Legislature's Dixon/Arnett Immigration Bill

1973 Organized a 500-person picket at the San Diego County jail, protesting Sheriff Duffy's order to taxicab drivers to report suspected "illegal alien" passengers

1975 Organized a 2000-person march in National City protesting a National City police officer's shooting and killing of an unarmed Latino youth, Luis "Tato" Rivera

1975 Organizer and founding chairman of the Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR), a community based, non-profit, non-government funded, volunteer membership organization based on the principal of self-determination and dedicated to protecting the civil, constitutional, and human rights of the Chicano community

1975 CCR organized a recall of National City mayor and city council for their failure to address the murder of Tato Rivera

1977 CCR organized a 10,000 person unity march at the US-Mexico border protesting the Ku Klux Klan's planned apprehensions of undocumented Mexicans

1979 CCR organized a Chicano National Immigration Conference, representing 200 national organizations, followed by a memorial march of 4000 community members at the US/Mexico border

1981 CCR organized the Chicano National Immigration Conference Tribunal in San Diego, attended by major Chicano leaders to document the violence and brutality against person of Mexican ancestry. A 1,000 page document was delivered to the President of Mexico and to the Reagan administration

1983 CCR organized a 3,000 person "17 Mile Walk for Rights" from San Diego to the US/Mexico border protesting Congress's Simpson/Mazzolli Immigration bill

1984 CCR organized a rally to stop the National City Police Department from enforcing federal immigration laws

1985 CCR organized a rally protesting the INS policy of arresting, incarcerating and deporting minor age children

1986 CCR organized a protest of San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding's utilization of police reports against undocumented immigrants

1987 CCR assisted Native Americans in opposition to the canonization of Father Junipero Serra

1988 Opposition to the 1987 Congressional approval of the Simpson/Rodino Immigration Act

1989 Protested the San Diego County Jail abuse of inmates

1990 Opposed talk show host Roger Hedgecock's campaign to encourage his supporters involvement in a "Light up the Border" effort at the US/Mexico border

1991 Assisted National City's Filipino community seeking redress for police harassment

1993 Opposed Senator Barbara Boxer's proposal to utilize California National Guard at the US/Mexico border to stop illegal immigrants

1994 Organized a campaign and boycott against San Diego's NFL Chargers football team for naming their defensive line the "Border Patrol"

1997 Campaigned against a Sierra Club's anti-immigration vote

1998 Addressed through press release the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1999 Organized a political campaign regarding inferior education by Sweetwater Unified School District

2000 Campaigned against the US Census Bureau's labeling of Chicano/Mexico/Latinos as white

2003 Organized campaigns against National City's mayor and city council for failing to carry out voter mandates

From the guide to the Herman Baca Papers, 1964 - 2007, (Mandeville Special Collections Library)