Ernesto Fraga

A Chicano activist and founder of Tiempo newspaper, Ernesto Fraga worked tirelessly to advocate for the interests of Hispanic communities in Waco and Austin. Fraga’s family had a long history in Waco: his grandparents, like so many others, had moved there in 1910 fleeing the Mexican Revolution, joining a growing Hispanic community in Waco. Fraga made it his life’s mission to protect this community by fighting discrimination, advocating for their representation in politics and media, and celebrating their rich heritage. 

Born in 1950 in Chicago, Fraga spent the early years of his life moving all over the country because his stepfather was in the Army. He moved to Waco when he was twelve years old, where his extended family still lived, and grew up on Spring St just north of the Brazos. Many of his family members, along with others in the Waco Hispanic community, worked in the cotton fields. In school, Fraga encountered racism and sometimes got into fights; from a young age he refused to let racism go unchallenged. At age seventeen he left home due to familial strife and moved in with two roommates, one of whom was Manuel Sustaita, a Vietnam veteran and activist in Waco, and at this point his political involvement began. That same year, he helped create a junior chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a Texas-born civil rights organization, bringing together around eighty high school and McLennan Community College students in Waco. Within a year, he moved up the ranks to be elected as a state director. He then helped to organize a chapter of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) in Waco, a group originally founded in San Antonio based on more aggressive political demonstrations, including protests and school walkouts. MAYO in turn coordinated the Alliance of Mexican American Organizations in Waco, a coalition of churches, businesses, and clubs that advocated for equitable hiring practices. All of this took place before Fraga graduated from high school in 1968. 

In 1970 Fraga moved to Austin to work for the Office of Economic Opportunity, a War on Poverty initiative, and he quickly became involved in the Austin Chicano Movement. He helped found a chapter of the Brown Berets in Austin, a paramilitary organization that pushed for civil rights for Hispanic communities and a major player in the nation-wide Chicano Movement. The Brown Berets participated in strikes, protested police brutality, and advocated for housing, education, and immigration reforms. While in Austin, Fraga also worked with the Echo newspaper and some other barrio newspapers, introducing him to the ability of media to empower a community. He believed that the mainstream press both in Waco and Austin did not represent the issues and concerns of Hispanic residents, making barrio newspapers crucial tools for informing and organizing Hispanic communities. Fraga moved back to Waco in 1974 after being fired by the city of Austin for his involvement in protesting a city official. He organized another chapter of the Brown Berets in Waco but moved back to Austin in 1977 to continue his activism. 

Two of the most famous incidents the Brown Berets organized in East Austin took place at this time. The first was a confrontation with the Ku Klux Klan in 1977. The KKK claimed they were going to patrol the border in South Texas to intimidate illegal immigrants. After the Brown Berets announced their intent to confront the KKK at a press conference and organized caravans to travel to South Texas, a KKK leader called off the patrol to avoid the encounter. Fraga recalled this success with pride. The second was a protest in 1978 against the annual Aqua Fest, a boat racing contest that took place in a Hispanic neighborhood. The residents of this neighborhood had repeatedly petitioned to have the contest moved to another location, to no avail. The races caused noise, traffic, and significant pollution, as viewers left their trash in the neighborhood and parked on lawns, devaluing the properties in the area. The peaceful protest turned violent when police began to roughly handle and then beat protesters. Ernesto Fraga was one of the nineteen protesters arrested, although all of the charges against them were dropped when the court found that they had been within their rights to protest. Fraga’s activism in Austin was varied, but it forever shaped his political consciousness. 

Fraga’s most well-known work in Waco began with the founding of the Tiempo newspaper in 1982. He believed it was important to have a media outlet that represented Latino concerns. Tiempo was distributed free of charge; Fraga and his wife Linda made their living from ads placed in the newspaper. Tiempo covered all kinds of topics, both political and personal, and it was bilingual. Articles about immigration issues could be found next to announcements of community socials. Fraga continued his political activism, organizing marches and protests, especially against immigration-related policies which he and others felt were degrading to Latinos. The day after one such march in July 2018, Fraga suffered a heart attack which forced the closing of Tiempo. Another newspaper has not yet stepped into the same role, leaving a “void” in the Waco Hispanic community. He inspired not only Latinos, but other minority groups to organize and fight discrimination. Fraga never remained silent on an issue that impacted Latino communities, but raised awareness and advocated for change.