June 11, 1971
HOUSTON - Nearly 600 Chicanas and Latinas from every part of the country attended a national conference - "La Conferencia de Mujeres por la Raza" - held here on May 28-30. The impressive turnout for this conference was twice that originally estimated by the conference organizers. This was the first national conference of Raza women ever to be held, and as was stated several times during the weekend, it was an extremely successful, important and historic event.

The Saturday session began with a keynote address by Grace Gil Olivarez entitled " Machismo - What are We Up Against?" Afterwards, we broke up into workshops. Both the morning and the afternoon workshops drew up resolutions and were followed by plenary sessions at which the resolutions were read.

Among these were "Sex and the Chicana," "Marriage: Chicana Style," "Feminist Movement: Do We Have a Place in It?" "Women in Politics - Is There Anyone There?" "Choices for Chicanas: Education/Occupation," and "Exploitation of Women - The Chicana Perspective."

One underlying theme throughout the weekend's discussions was that although Raza males are severely oppressed, women are oppressed both as women and as a part of La Raza. There was also a general rejection of the "traditional" role that the woman has had in Chicano culture.

One of the most important concepts expressed in these workshops was that women must control their own bodies in order to control our own lives. Point VI of the " Sex and the Chicana" workshop resolution, for example, states: "Free, legal abortions and birth control for the Chicano Community; controlled by Chicanas. As Chicanas we have the right to control our own bodies."

June 8, 1946
NEW YORK, May 30 - At an emergency meeting held tonight at its headquarters, 18 Allen Street, the Indonesian League of America protested against brutal mass roundups by the U.S. government of Indonesian residents of the United States. They are being incarcerated on Ellis Island in preparation for immediate deportation. p> Many of the Indonesians arrested or in danger of apprehension are married men with families, some with American wives, who have lived and worked here for many years. p> These deportation roundups follow the six-month imprisonment on Ellis Island of 178 Indonesian seamen, who last October struck Dutch ships in New York harbor. They refused to man these ships loaded with arms and ammunition destined for use against Indonesian fighters for independence. These Indonesian seamen and others have now been ordered to leave Ellis Island for San Francisco, where on June 11 they are scheduled to be herded aboard ship and deported. p> Fearing that the arrested Indonesians will be put aboard a Dutch vessel which will take them to concentration camps in Borneo and New Guinea, the Indonesian League is demanding that the U.S. government guarantee their safe conduct to Indonesia. In telegrams sent tonight to President Truman, Attorney General Tom Clark, Secretary of State Byrnes and the immigration authorities, the League urged that the deportees be put on an American vessel with the guarantee that their destination will be Indonesia.  
 
 
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