ABSTRACT
On a winter’s day in 1975 George Ozuna’s grandmother asked him to accompany her shopping in downtown San Antonio.1 The high school senior got his shoes and began the long walk from the Hispanic south side of town to Joske’s Department Store, the largest retail establishment in the city. When the pair arrived, George immediately realized something was going on. Hundreds of Hispanic grandmothers, housewives and churchgoers had gathered outside the store. They entered en mass and began trying on clothes. And they didn’t stop. They continued to try on clothes all day, grinding store operations to a halt. The protesters were all members of Catholic parishes active in Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), a new organization fighting to improve conditions in San Antonio’s impoverished and long neglected south and west side neighborhoods. While they disrupted business, COPS leaders and its organizer, Ernesto Cortes, Jr., met with the store’s owner. They demanded that he use his influence on San Antonio’s city council to pass COPS’ $100 million budget proposal for infrastructural improvements and increased services to Mexican American neighborhoods.
