♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, friday night lights. it's more than a game in this town, shattered by tragedy. >> we're not going to give up, we're going to keep fighting for the town and for the families. >> uvalde high school's first home game since that deadly shooting is giving this town a reason to cheer. >> we fought our hardest, but we never gave up. you know, that was what this town needed. >> we're with the uvalde coyotes as they try to bring home a win. how the team is honoring the 21 lives lost. plus the walkout. the proud history of uvalde making national headlines 52 years ago. students protesting inequality. >> people found their voice.

>> enough is enough. >> today drawing strength from that history. >> we must get up and honor the memories. let's not forget it. the people who forget the past will repeat it. >> why some say it's time to rise up again. "nightline," "uvalde 365:rising up" will be right back.

♪ (don't stop me now) ♪ ♪♪ ♪ (don't stop me) ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm having a good time ♪ ♪ having a good time ♪ ♪ i'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger ♪ ♪ defying the laws of gravity ♪ ♪ (don't stop me now) ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm having a good time ♪ ♪ i don't wanna stop at all, yeah ♪ ♪ ah, da, da, da, da da, da, ah, ah ♪

♪ thanks for joining us. tonight, friday night lights are shining throughout the country. but perhaps shining even more brightly in uvalde, texas. it's bringing strength and healing to a town marked by tragedy. a bittersweet moment as the team takes the field for their first home football game. here's abc's john quinones. >> high school football is a very big thing here in texas. everybody always comes out on friday nights. >> reporter: those friday night lights shine brighter in texas. and on this field, a community ripped apart is coming together. here in uvalde, football is a religion. tonight in the stands and in the boxes you can almost feel the presence of a higher power. it was just over three months

ago that tragedy struck here. a gunman killing 21. 19 children and 2 teachers at robb elementary school. >> football will hopefully bring the community out, find a reason to smile by enjoying watching our kids do what they love to do. and i believe that will help heal the community. >> reporter: heading into the season, that number, 21, weighed heavily on the coyotes' head coach, wade miller. >> i called some of the seniors over and i said, do we retire it? do we give it to a senior? what do you want to do? they were unanimous, it would be awesome if somebody who represents the community were to wear that every year, a different senior every year. >> how did you wind up wearing number 21? >> my coaches and peers would take a vote over who should wear it. and my coaches and peers looked at my hard work and ethic, and they chose me for the job. >> how do you feel about it? >> i feel good. i feel honored, i feel blessed that i'm able to run out on

friday nights and wear 21. >> he's not just 21 on friday night. i said, before you take this, you're 21 in town all year. you can't be a knucklehead, you have to be respectful. and he has handled it absolutely fabulous. he's humble, he works hard, he helps others, he's kind. those are all the kind of things that we wanted in that player. >> reporter: 18-year-old justin rendon is also team captain. his family -- month, vanessa, dad, duterio, and two younger brothers are his biggest fans. >> knowing he's wearing 21, it's a very proud moment. i'm very happy for him, i'm proud. >> reporter: justin's youngest brother evan was at school at robb elementary on the day of the shooting. dad, a police detective from san antonio pd rushed home. >> i couldn't get here fast enough. all the what-ifs started playing through my mind. >> reporter: but they were among the fortunate. >> i ran about a block before i

found him. i saw his face. he looks up at me, "mom." i ran to him, i carried him, picked him up. and he's like, "mom, why are you crying?" >> we all slept in the bed that night. and it was just difficult to process, that there was families that weren't going to be able to do that. >> reporter: for some of the coyotes, summer practice became a lifeline. >> mostly everybody was impacted by what happened. so just being able to go to strength and conditioning, practices, bringing everybody together, was a therapy. so everybody didn't have to feel the sadness and the sorrow. we all can lean on each other's shoulders. we don't have to feel alone. >> reporter: a feeling the linebacker and his team want to extend to others in uvalde. >> makes the team feel good that we're able just to uprise everybody on friday nights. and hopefully those little kids get to come out and watch us win. >> they talk about needing to

win all the time and i try to calm them down, don't put too much pressure on yourself. i think they feel it's their responsibility to make them heal, which it's not, but if that's what they feel i'll support them in that. >> reporter: their first game of the season last week was an away game. all 54 players determined to bring home a win. >> just putting on the jersey the first time, a rush of emotions, you know? ready to go out there, beat the wil wildcats. >> lord, they are here to play in your name. may you give them all the glory, in your name we pray, amen. >> i want you to think about all we've been through. and i'm talking about everything. i'm talking about from a coaching change to the pandemic to the tragedy. you guys have been an inspiration to me, never seen it, i've been doing this a long time. now it is your turn to go out

and be an inspiration to your t team. let's take care of business. >> reporter: the team flying onto the field, flying their flag, w"uvaldearnthtand to te.evenhe opposing team sportin special decals. once on the field, the coyotes did not disappoint. giving the community something to cheer for again. >> go, baby! yeah! >> reporter: final score, wildcats 13, uvalde coyotes 21. a pointed reminder of the 21 lives lost. >> i don't know where this stands in the games that i've won, as far as importance. because i've won some big playoff games and things like that. but right now, with the weight of the world on our shoulders what you came out here and just done, i love you like you're my

own children, you understand that? could not be more proud of you. >> i was hearing my community cheer and chant for us. it's a lot of emotions coming in at once. we're not going to give up, we're going to keep fighting for the town and for the families and for everybody else. it just felt real good that i know they're happy and they're not mourning or sad anymore. >> it's funny, because as a football dad, i want the score to be 100-0. but they won 21. and to me it was just a sign that the 21 angels are looking down at this community and saying that they're here that they're still present. and that they will remain present. >> reporter: on the eve of the team's first home game, a big surprise and a show of support from local nfl heroes, including texans head coach lovie smith. >> how many texan fans do we have in here? oh, that was the wrong answer

right there. that was the wrong answer. >> reporter: and defenders christian kirksey and camus grigehill. >> this table can lift this city to a whole new level. >> good luck tomorrow. >> thank you. >> reporter: and tonight, on the field, another win for the coyotes. making it the 600th win of the high school's history. >> a big win with my boys. fought our hardest, but we never gave up. that was just what this town needed. >> reporter: the coyotes giving their fans and the community a reason to come together and cheer. and to collectively feel just a bit of healing, one tiny step at a time. >> our thanks to john. up next, the walkout. how an historic protest is fueling a new movement in uvalde, texas. : my a1c stayed h, it needed to be here.

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♪ fighting for change is part of uvalde's history. tonight we speak to those who took part in a mexican american movement 52 years ago that ignited change in that town. how their legacy still resonates today. here's abc's maria elena salinas. >> we ask for justice for our on grandkids, our kids. >> our babies are dead, our teachers are dead, our parents

are dead. >> reporter: here in uvalde, texas, anger, heartbreak, and frustration. as families lash out at the city's school board. >> you guys dropped the ball. you messed up. >> reporter: their pain is palpable. parents and survivors urging the board to hold district employees and police officers accountable. >> you know what, your schools, they suck. they're not secure. and we're not sending our kids back. >> reporter: that call to action, to keep children home from school, coupled with a widespread distrust of law enforcement and school officials, is not new in uvalde. in the spring of 1970, nearly 650 students walked out of their classrooms to protest the firing of jose garca. >> we had kids kindergarten

through the 12th grade. >> uvalde was a very segregated community. >> things started to come together like a perfect storm, then it exploded. >> reporter: the walkout lasted six weeks and was one of the largest demonstrations surrounding the chicano rights movement of the '60s and '70s. the protest still vibrant in garza's mind five years later. what did you think of the walkout? >> it was a climax to a chain of injustices for the mexican american parents and the students. >> reporter: now 92, garza was a fifth grade teacher at robb elementary when he was let go. a staunch advocate for the growing hispanic community in uvalde, unafraid to speak out. >> they would come to me with problems, the kids, and sometimes i served between the principal and the parents trying to help the students and the parents. discrimination was not right, not right. i don't want to think, i don't want to be selfish, but that was

the catalyst that brought this together. >> that gave them the strength to fight? >> yes. >> the parents had established a good rapport with him, then all of a sudden they just yank him away. >> reporter: she was just 17 years old at the time of the walkout. a top student and senior in high school. >> it was a very, very white community. in terms of the power. it hadn't been very long ago, and i was little, that the sign had finally been removed that said, "no dogs or mexicans." a big sign at the entry to the city. >> reporter: she says that kind of racism against mexican americans bled into the school system. >> there was a lot of discrimination and recrimination when kids spoke spanish in school? >> yes. kids would get suspended from school, they would get spanked,

fined, different things would happen. and that was unfair. >> did you have any hesitation in participating in the walkout? >> i was a real aware kid, i think. i used to watch the way our black brothers and sisters had been advocating for themselves and suffering tremendously. and i thought, you know, it's time. i guess it's time we need to start doing some of the same if we want to make a change if we want to be heard. >> reporter: castillo knew the woukout would hit the board where it hurt the most. >> if kids don't go to school, school doesn't get money from the government. every day a student is absent, it's less money they get. so we felt that the only thing that we could do was to hurt them in the pocketbook. >> reporter: in addition to reason staysing garza's contract, students and other activists put together a list of demands that included hiring more hispanic teachers and providing mexican american history classes to present at a

school board meeting. >> so we were going to the board meeting, and i started crossing the street. and i don't know why i looked up. and sure enough, the texas rangers were on the roof, pointing a gun at me. >> how did that make you feel? >> it just broke my heart. it just broke my heart that a citizen should have to endure this. an american. but we weren't seen, i guess, as americans. >> reporter: and garza was never reinstated. >> the school board didn't entertain our demands. >> any of them? >> no. >> reporter: alfredo santos says the recrimination against students who participated in the walkout was swift. >> a lot of the students who were am the walkout were flunked back one year as punishment. and even though i was now 16, 17, i was too embarrassed to go

back. i was too humiliated. and so that's why i never went back. some students went back. instead of being members of the class of '70, they became members of the class of '71. >> how did participating in this walkout affect you academically? >> well, i was rumored to be the valedic valedictorian. but i never got to graduate. >> reporter: as the school year ended, so did the walkout. but uvalde residents weren't ready to stop fighting. one mother filed a class action lawsuiting discrimination against mexican american students. the case was set to go to trial in 2008, but a settlement agreement was reached. and the lawsuit was only dismissed in 2017 after both parties agreed the terms of the agreement had been met. >> the schools changed their policy. now we have morales junior high, flores elementary. so there was a lot of changes.

>> they have a very nice dual language program in the school district that's very, very well received by the community. >> reporter: garza would later become mayor of uvalde for more than a decade. >> people found their voice, i think. it was this action that made people realize, you know, if we want better for our kids, we've got to start speaking up. >> reporter: today -- >> enough is enough. >> reporter: the fighting spirit still burns bright in uvalde. >> my sister, miss irma, and all the kids did not have to go through this. do not let them die in vain. >> reporter: this last week, protests outside the state capitol building. >> vote them out! vote him out! >> reporter: demanding governor greg abbott pass more gun safety laws. >> either man up and do what's right for us or get the hell out of our way, because we are not

stopping. no more children need to die. >> you stood up together with your classmates and with other members of the community, and you demanded change. and change came about. do you think that same thing can be replicated now? >> yes. >> after the tragedy at robb elementary? >> oh, yes. the whole community has poured its heart out for these families. everybody. >> we must get and up honor the memories and let's not forget. people who forget the past will repeat it. i hope we can come up stronger than ever for the sake of our children, our students. >> our thanks to maria elena. stay with abc news for continuing coverage of "uvalde 365" as we focus on the texas community and how it forges ahead in the shadow of tragedy. up next, the champions. honoring the only uvalde football team to win the high school championship.

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