Brown Beret Bicycle

The Brown Berets was a national grassroots organization that emerged from the Chicano Rights Movement in the late 1960s, the Austin chapter of which was established in 1972. Artist and former Brown Beret Ramon Maldonado painted this street bicycle with Chicano Rights imagery to celebrate the movement.

The Austin chapter of the Brown Berets was established in response to the racism and police brutality experienced by East Austin’s Mexican American community. The chapter focused on a number of issues, including police, economic, education, housing, and immigration reform. Their headquarters, El Centro Chicano, was also a community gathering place, particularly for neighborhood youth. In 1983, the Austin Brown Berets shifted their focus from activism to community building, and its legacy persists through the work of former members who continue to advocate for their community.

Artist and activist Ramon Maldonado credits the Brown Berets with setting him on his life path. As a teenager in the mid-1970s, Maldonado was using drugs and saw few options for himself. He started hanging out at El Centro Chicano, where he was introduced to people working for positive change in his community. It was also here that he met and learned from master Chicano muralist Raul Valdez. To date, Maldonado has painted numerous murals across East Austin that are rooted in his Chicano identity and draw from Mexican American history. While best known for his community murals, Maldonado also paints and customizes bicycles that he exhibits at lowrider car shows.

Maldonado has continued his community activism in the years after he left the Brown Berets. He and his friend Marcos de Leon, a former Travis County Commissioner, run the Lil’ Homies Bike Project that gifts bicycles to neighborhood children. Maldonado also works with Arte Texas and Mas Cultura. Many of his projects include Mexican American youth, using art to teach them history and instill pride in their community. Maldonado directly involves them in the mural painting process, giving them ownership over the final product. It also gives him an opportunity to inspire the next generation of Mexican American muralists, as he was inspired by Raul Valdez.