Willie Velasquez was a champion of voting rights for Mexican-Americans or Chicanos, as many preferred, at the height of the civil rights era.In his 44 years of life, the boy his family knew as Billy, then Bill, would go on to champion voting rights for Mexican-Americans or Chicanos as many preferred, at the height of the civil rights era.
“He was always a protector, always a protector,” said Aguilar, like the time he showed her an apple and an orange, “So that I could learn to speak English and not have problems that he went through in the first grade.”Velasquez said when they were kids, their church group went to New Braunfels to swim.Yet his older brother, who was lighter-skinned, stayed back with the other deeply disappointed children.
He said the “elders,” as they were called, had all served in World War II, yet faced discrimination when they returned.