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The article considers the communist-led inquiry into the 1939 death of thirteen year old Mexican American Benjamin Moreno while in the custody of the state-run Whittier State School for Boys in California, a juvenile detention facility. It was led by El Congreso del Pueblo de Habla Español (the Congress of Spanish-Speaking Peoples) and a branch of the International Labor Defense (ILD), two California-based communist groups. Moreno was initially reported to have committed suicide, but his family argued against such a conclusion. Other subjects explored include how the communist groups failed in their efforts to garner the support of Mexican Americans; Mexican American civil rights in the 1930s and 1940s, and the national political agendas of American communist societies in the 1930s.

Abstract: The objective was to determine whether ethnic composition of neighborhoods is associated with number and type of food stores in an urban, Mexican American US community. Data were from a commercial food store data source and the US Census. Multivariate count models were used to test associations with adjustment for neighborhood demographics, income, and commercialization. Neighborhoods at the 75th percentile of percent Mexican American (76%) had nearly four times the number of convenience stores (RR=3.9, 95% CI: 2.2–7.0) compared with neighborhoods at the 25th percentile (36%). Percent Mexican American in the neighborhood was not associated with the availability of other food store types (supermarkets, grocery stores, specialty stores, convenience stores with gas stations) in the adjusted model. The impact of greater access to convenience stores on Mexican American residents'' diets requires exploration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]