History shows power of inter-ethnic solidarity
By Ryan Masaaki Yokota
Through the 150 years or so of shared experience here in
Amerika, many connections between the Asian Pacific Islander and
Latina/o communities have been close and fruitful. From the Oxnard
sugar beet fields of 1903 to the Delano grape strikes in 1965, our
people have stood together through history, defining the great
moments of the past through inter-ethnic coalitions.
Even today, the fate of certain common issues of welfare,
immigration and labor could very well set in motion wheels that
threaten all of our communities. We must remember the lessons of
the past if we are to go forward and succeed in our struggles, for
together we hold the collective power to change the face of
politics, especially in California today.
Some 90 years ago, for example, 500 Japanese and 200 Mexican
sugar beet farmers in Oxnard organized the Japanese-Mexican Labor
Association to collectively protest for higher wages. Leading a
force of 1,200 workers, within a month the coalition staged a
strike that broke the industry’s hold on wages, bringing a
settlement from their opponent, the Western Agricultural
Contracting Company, and signifying the beginnings of the first
inter-ethnic labor alliance in California history.
With meetings held in both Japanese and Spanish, and with
English as the common language, the coalition reveled in the
victory their efforts produced and applied for membership to the
American Federation of Labor, as any successful, newly formed union
did at the time.
Yet little did they realize the response they would receive.
Samuel Gompers, then head of the AFL, agreed to a charter of what
had been dubbed the Sugar Beet Farm Laborers’ Union of Oxnard on
one condition, that they would deny "membership of any Chinese or
Japanese."
To refute Gompers’ categorically racist demands (which stood in
alignment with the majority of the anti-Asian racist platforms of
organized labor in the early 20th century), the then-secretary
Lizarras of the Mexican branch of the labor association
countered:
"In the past, we have counseled, fought and lived on very short
rations with our Japanese brothers, and toiled with them in the
fields, … (and) will refuse any other kind of charter, except one
which will wipe out race prejudice and recognize our fellow workers
as being as good as ourselves."
In this refutation, Mexican laborers steadfastly stood by their
Japanese brothers, refusing to bow to the racist demands of
organized labor.
Other examples of inter-ethnic solidarity abound.
On Sept. 8, 1965, for example, Pilipinos initiated the Delano
grape strike under the initiative of the Agricultural Workers
Organizing Committee to protest for higher wages and better
conditions. Six months later, for similar goals, Mexican laborers
in the National Farm Workers Association organized the historic
farm workers’ march from Delano to Sacramento.
Recognizing their common goals and methods and the strengths of
coalition formation, Mexicans and Pilipinos jointly formed the
United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, which eventually evolved
into the UFW of today. Led by Cesar Chavez on the Mexican side and
Philip Vera Cruz on the Pilipino side, the UFW eventually gained
significant benefits for all laborers, as we know today.
Which brings us to the present.
Currently, the Asian Pacific Islander community and the Latina/o
communities share common issues such as poverty, the lack of
educational access, social services and alternatives to gangs, the
ever-present issue of immigration as the hot-button political issue
of our times and the need for collective labor organizing.
In terms of Asian Pacific Islanders in L.A. County, for
instance, 13 percent of the total population currently lives in
poverty. Within the Vietnamese community, for example, the poverty
rate is 25 percent; for Pacific Islanders, 24 percent, for other
Southeast Asian immigrants, 45 percent. This stands in comparison
with the 23 percent poverty rate for Latina/os, the 21 percent rate
for African Americans and the 7 percent rate for non-Hispanic
whites.
In terms of the immigration debate, as well, with the passage of
Proposition 187 and the push for other measures to remove health
services, educational access and welfare from the reach of
immigrants, both legal and illegal, the most affected communities
remain the Asian Pacific Islander and Latina/o communities.
In 1992, for example, the leading sources of new permanent legal
residents in Los Angeles were Mexico, El Salvador, the Philippines
and Vietnam. Realizing the ethnographics of the current push for
immigration restriction, as well, a pattern of racism emerges on
the part of the legislators and the general public, for the
majority of the people currently immigrating to the United States
are overwhelmingly people of color from south of the border and
Asia.
While economic recession and high unemployment play into the
equation, the main fear on the part of white Amerika has been the
growth of people of color communities in this country, especially
in California, where growing gains in political enfranchisement
have come along with the demographic changes.
This, along with the general public’s failure to hold the
government and industries accountable for poor economic policy,
demonstrates how racism and fear have made the scapegoating of
immigrants all the easier, especially considering the lack of voice
immigrants traditionally have in legislative decisions.
Even now, struggles exist where Latina/os and Asian Pacific
Islanders are attempting to coordinate their goals in order to
demand greater corporate accountability. Currently, for example,
the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11 is organizing
the 280 workers of the New Otani Hotel in downtown L.A.’s Little
Tokyo in order to gain the collective bargaining power necessary
for greater health care and job security benefits.
These attempts to organize the predominantly Latina/o and Asian
Pacific Islander hotel workers demonstrate the dire need for
greater unionization in the $8 billion L.A. tourist industry. With
a unionization rate of 30 percent, as compared to Hawaii’s, San
Francisco’s, New York’s and Las Vegas’ rate of 90 percent, L.A.
wages remain 50 percent lower than in those other cities.
Asian and Latina/o American organizers have already begun the
work for a coalition movement that will take into account the
different cultural dynamics of each group, in working towards their
common goals. Through these efforts, Local 11 will hopefully be
able to organize the hotel to "redistribute the wealth to
communities in which the workers come from," as David Monkawa of
the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations has said.
In this way, multi-ethnic coalition formation will aid in
driving forth the message of the necessity of unionization efforts
as a means of demanding greater worker control and rights.
Now that our communities have begun to gain the necessary
resources and political allies to effect positive change,
especially on issues affecting the inner cities today, on
immigration and on the labor issue, the situation for our
communities can become better.
Historically, members of our community have realized the
incredible power of coalition building in working together to
achieve goals for the benefit of all. Now, the time seems right to
continue in this spirit of greater cooperation, by working together
to challenge the policies being propagated against our peoples.
Collectively, we can effect change in the political
infrastructure of L.A., California, and even further, in the whole
of the nation. All that we need is the vision to make it come to
pass, and the commitment to make it a reality.
Yokota is a senior double majoring in English/American studies
and history with a specialization in Asian American studies.