History shows power of inter-ethnic solidarity

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.