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JOSE Z. CALDERON
COMMUNITY-BASED SOCIOLOGIST AND CHICAN@/LATIN@ STUDIES PROFESSOR, WRITER,
ORGANIZER
LATINO AND LATINA ROUNDTABLE EXECUTIVE BOARD NOMINATIONS 10/12 FROM 1- 3 PM
October 12th, 2024 by Jose Calderon
Tomorrow Saturday October 12th the Latino and Latina Roundtable members will be
having nominations for the executive board positions. The election will take
place on November 18th. You have to be a paid member in good standing to be
nominated and to nominate someone.
We will also be having a discussion about Latino Voters, the Presidential
Election, and other measures that are on the ballots. Please join us.
Refreshments will be served.
There also will be other announcements about upcoming events, meetings, and
volunteer opportunities.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns (909) 480-6267.
Also, save the date for our Día de Muertos flower making Wednesdays and the Main
event on November 2nd, 2024 at Lopez Urban Farm.
Lina Mira
Executive Director
Lmira@latinolatinaroundtable.org
(909) 480-6267
Posted in Dia de los Muertos, LLRT of San Gabriel, News
NVITATION TO LRT MEETING FOR BOARD NOMINATIONS AND PRESENTATION ON UPCOMING
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND CA INITIATIVES
October 12th, 2024 by Jose Calderon
Nominations for the two-year positions of Latino and Latina Roundtable
president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer will take place this
Saturday, October 12 at 1 PM at the LRT offices (1460 E. Holt ave., Room 5 in
Pomona. Members can nominate or self-nominate for any of the positions but you
must be a paid member. The election will take place on November 16.
In the second half of the LRT meeting, after completion of the nominations,
there will be a presentation on the upcoming presidential elections and
initiatives appearing on the California ballot. Regarding the Presidential
elections, the presentation will cover the issues of why there is a close race
between Harris and Trump, how our Latino communities are voting, the gender gap
in the Latino and Latina vote, and the importance/significance of the Latino and
Latina vote in this crucial election.
The meeting will be in person but there is an option to connect in with zoom
at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82426825941?pwd=qgYO5I7o6fDKRxaBKPiIzL6wqQ6aav.1
LRT Elections for Executive Board
Saturday October 12th 2024
1-3 pm
Location:
1460 E. Holt Avenue, Room 5
Pomona CA 91767
Phone: 909-480-6267
zoom Link :
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82426825941?pwd=qgYO5I7o6fDKRxaBKPiIzL6wqQ6aav.1
Meeting ID: 824 2682 5941
Passcode: 899468
From Board President Jose Calderon-
As per our by-laws, the Latino and Latina Roundtable will be electing four
officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer) at its membership
meeting on Saturday, November 16th to serve on the board for the next two
years.
Nominations will take place at the next General Membership Meeting scheduled for
Saturday, October 12 at 1 PM at the Latino and Latina Roundtable office (1460 E.
Holt Avenue, Room 5). If you are interested in running for one of the four
positions or if you want to nominate someone, please attend the membership
meeting on Saturday, October 12th.
To be able to vote in the election set for November 16th, you have to be a paid
member in good standing (30 days prior to the election). In order to vote at
the November 16th election, you also must be present at the meeting.
If you are nominated for the board on October 12th, as a nominee you should be
prepared to make a one-minute statement at the November 16th meeting as to your
involvement in the Latino and Latina Roundtable and why you want to be on
the board. Any nominee that does not show up to the meeting on Nov. 16th and
make a statement will be taken off of the list.
If you have any questions, please contact Alicia Rodriguez
at:Mariaaliciar2@gmail.com
Posted in LLRT of San Gabriel, Meeting, News
LINK TO PRESENTATION IN CLAREMONT BY REV. MUNTHER ISSAC: SILENCE IS COMPLICITY:
A CALL TO ACTION
September 17th, 2024 by Jose Calderon
Here is the link to Rev Munther’s August 8 presentation in Claremont:
https://www.youtube.com/live/do258NSCtsk. Attached is the bulletin that was
handed out to attendees. It has two Calls to Action.
Lora Jo Foo, head of the FOSNA Claremont Ceasefire Task Force, would be
interested in doing a forum or meeting with LRT. The local FOSNA chapter took
the lead in sponsoring this event..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 8 Handout – call to action
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted in LLRT of San Gabriel, News
LATINO AND LATINA ROUNDTABLE -UPCOMING EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER 2024
September 6th, 2024 by Jose Calderon
Hope you are all staying cool during this heat wave. Here are some upcoming
events that we are hosting or participating in. Also, we are sharing some
resources from our trusted partners that could benefit the community and someone
you know.
For more information about membership and upcoming board elections and also the
PJP program, please email me or call the office (909) 480-6267.
Read more
Posted in LLRT of San Gabriel, New Events, News
LATINO AND LATINA ROUNDTABLE – EXECUTIVE BOARD ELECTIONS 2024
August 19th, 2024 by Jose Calderon
As per our by-laws, the Latino and Latina Roundtable will be electing four
officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer) at its membership
meeting on Saturday, November 16th to serve on the board for the next two
years. Nominations will take place at the next General Membership Meeting
scheduled for Saturday, October 12 at 1 PM at the Latino and Latina Roundtable
office (1460 E. Holt Avenue, Room 5). If you are interested in running for one
of the four positions or if you want to nominate someone, please attend the
membership meeting on Saturday, October 12th.
To be able to vote in the election set for November 16th, you have to be a paid
member in good standing (30 days prior to the election). In order to vote at
the November 16th election, you also must be present at the meeting. If you are
nominated for the board on October 12th, as a nominee you should be prepared to
make a one-minute statement at the November 16th meeting as to your involvement
in the Latino and Latina Roundtable and why you want to be on the board. Any
nominee that does not show up to the meeting on Nov. 16th and make a statement
will be taken off of the list.
If you have any questions, please contact Alicia Rodriguez
at: Mariaaliciar2@gmail.com
Lina Mira
Executive Director
Lmira@latinolatinaroundtable.org
(909) 480-6267
Posted in General Membership Meeting, LLRT of San Gabriel, Meeting, News
RECENT PRESENTATIONS AND ARTICLES
THE CONTINUED NEED FOR OUR MOVEMENTS TO CONNECT THE LOCAL AND NATIONAL WITH THE
INTERNATIONAL
by Jose Calderon Aug 2, 2023
It is important that any analysis of the electoral, labor, immigrant, and racial
inequities in the U. S. include the relations between the local, national, and
international. Of primary significance in that analysis must include the U. S.
involvement in Ukraine, its policies toward China, and the results of those
policies on the working class in the U. S. and the countries of the global
south.
Biden’s policies are taking billions away from needed resources in the U. S. to
expanding the war in Ukraine; to advancing militarization policies from Japan
and South Korea in the northern Pacific to Australia, the Philippines, Thailand,
and Singapore in the south and India and China – as part of policies aimed at
encircling China and advancing support for an independent Taiwan. The Federal
Reserve’s raising of interest rates has resulted in corporate profits being the
biggest contributor to inflation. Many neoliberal economists and Western central
bank officials have ignored the rise in corporate profits and instead have
blamed inflation on workers’ wages. Today’s inflation and the use of economic
sanctions throughout the world has caused the U. S. Dollar to continue its
dominance, to becoming more expensive, to driving up costs, to deepening poverty
conditions, causing food shortages (in the global south, Middle East, North
Africa, and worldwide), and forcing increased migration from the South to the
North. This soaring inflation and the devaluing of currencies have created a
debt crisis in these regions resulting in their currencies depreciating, the U.
S. dollar strengthening, and an inability for these countries being able to
service their debts.
There is no getting around how the Ukraine war and the economic war with China
is affecting many countries of the Global South that are principal trading
partners and investors. Argentina, for example has an inflation rate that has
reached 100%. As in the debt deal here in the U. S., the governments in the
Global South, including eight countries in Latin America who are now led by left
administrations, are having to cut health, education, and welfare programs. The
result has been massive protests in these countries as well as looking for
alternative solutions such as developing their own currencies and regional
cooperations (such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
(CELAC) as an alternative to the Organization of American States (with a recent
meeting where there were agreements on strengthening economic trade
cooperation).
In following with the analysis that the families who are coming here from
Central America, Mexico, Haiti, Africa, Asian, and Latin America are coming as a
result of historical colonization and this country’s foreign policies (that have
historically separated immigrants into political and economic refugees based on
the relationship between the U. S. and whether it supports the government and
policies of their country of origin) we have 450,000 refugees admitted legally
to the U. S. in the last two years – and a double standard applied with 300,000
from Ukraine and with Afghanistan and Latin America accounting for the rest.
While the Biden administration has extended Temporary Protective Status for
670,000 immigrants from 16 countries (a program that Trump wanted to terminate)
– and a (temporary – 2-year) parole program for up to 360,000 immigrants from
Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, the administration has followed up its support
of asylum bans similar to those implemented by Trump (such as Title 42 that was
used to deport nearly 3 million asylum seekers) with another measure prohibiting
immigrants and refugees from seeking asylum at the border without first applying
for protection in a country they passed through (a measure blocked this week –
by a federal judge in California). Meanwhile, three Republican governors are
implementing a strategy, proposed by Trump back in 2018, to bus and fly
thousands of immigrants from the border to sanctuary cities and places such as
Martha’s Vineyard. The xenophobic strategy is now part of the election
campaigns of right-wing politicians and candidates, including Trump, who are
placing the immigration issue at the top of their agendas in criticizing the
Biden administration for its “lax” immigration policies.
There is no getting around the existence of world capitalism and the economic
wars that are going on and how they affect our internal politics and economics.
There is a continued need to deepen our vision for systemic change, something
that the social movements in the Global South are dealing with in overcoming the
obstacles of international capitalism and neo-liberalism.
There is the need for a social movement that includes organizing for peace and
channeling needed resources to climate change and quality of life – a movement
that is able to cross borders and build alliances with movements in the Global
South with strategies that are aimed at the same source that is fueling
militarization, sanctions, encirclement, scapegoating and corporate profits at
the expense of working people, a movement that organizes our communities against
immigration and refugee policies that only focus on enforcement, that fights for
policies that will lead to permanent residency and citizenship for our immigrant
and refugee families, and that steps-up citizenship drives and voter turn-out
efforts to expand the number of representatives who can advance systemic changes
for our quality of life and for global pro-immigrant and non-exploitative
development policies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DECISION SHOWS THAT SUPREME COURT IS NOT NEUTRAL
Leave a reply
The 6 to 3 decision by the Supreme Court rejecting affirmative action at
colleges and universities brings to mind an article that I wrote awhile back
whose arguments are still relevant today.
The decision comes at a time when there is an increasing trend of competition
for resources with some students and conservative organizations claiming that
there is “reverse” discrimination in the admissions policies of numerous
colleges. The cases are also coming when there is increasing competition for
limited local and federal education funds and when racial discrimination is
being written off as though it did not exist anymore. Memory is short, and some
critics have forgotten how segregation divided this country not too long ago.
Today, there are those who argue that affirmative action has resulted in the
development of a growing middle class among underrepresented minorities. They
also argue that such policies do not serve the needs of those who are stuck at
the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. What they fail to point out is
how affirmative action has helped in opening the doors to social mobility for
some of these same individuals now in the “middle class.”
Critics also argue that we need “class-based” solutions such as full employment,
national health care and quality education that can pull everyone up
simultaneously. What they fail to point out is how people of color, even if they
reach middle-class status, confront unequal resources and a glass ceiling that
prevents them from moving into managerial positions.
Critics are hiding behind the argument that we need to strive for a “color
blind” society, arguing that affirmative action only serves to divide working
people by allowing one group to benefit at the expense of another. This logic
leaves out that specific groups, because of racism and sexism, have been
historically excluded or left at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. It
leaves out the historical existence and use of special preferences for those who
are more privileged, such as the children of large donors or alumni.
Affirmative action has not only resulted in diversifying our campuses with more
women and students of color, but it has also been part of a movement to
diversify the curriculum. Affirmative action has helped to pave the way for
underrepresented groups to attend college, to graduate and to write the
histories of individuals who have been excluded or left
out. Affirmative action has been part of including these voices, to explain why
one group got stratified at one level as compared to another and to interpret
why some groups were institutionalized at the lowest levels of the society.
There would be no need for affirmative action if every individual who wanted to
attend college were granted that right.
In the meantime, we need to support efforts that consider race, ethnicity,
gender, and economic status in admissions policies. Real unity among all those
concerned will be brought about as we direct our energies to the policy-making
arena and promote the idea that there is no contradiction in
preserving affirmative action alongside “class- based” solutions.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on June 30, 2023 by Jose Calderon. Edit
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BOOK – ORGANIZING LESSONS: IMMIGRANT ATTACKS AND RESISTANCE CO-EDITED BY JOSE
CALDERON AND VICTOR NARRO
Leave a reply
UCLA Labor Center project director Victor Narro and Pitzer College
professor José Calderón have released a new book as part of the “Taking Freedom”
book series collaboration between SEIU’s Racial Justice Center, the MIT CoLab,
and CUNY’s School of Labor and Urban Studies. Organizing Lessons: Immigrant
Attacks and Resistance! features a collection of essays from immigrant rights
activists, labor activists, and activist scholars working for immigrant and
workers’ rights.
“The road to securing justice for immigrants and workers is a long and
challenging one. Yet, the history of resistance movements is dense with stories
of inspiring resilience, tenacity, and solidarity,” said Narro. “My hope for
this book is to document and share these historic moments, so that we can better
understand and utilize the power that the intersectional, multiracial immigrant
rights movement has built.”
The book’s essays also articulate how immigration policy is related to larger
questions of nation building, racialization, political participation, and social
and economic inequality, alongside discussing the vibrant and increasingly
intersectional organized resistance against repressive policies within the
immigrant rights and labor movements.
“I am honored to co-author this anthology, as part of the Taking Freedom Series,
which is aimed at sharing lessons of participatory research, learning, and
organizing from the past and in the present,” said Calderón. “The readings in
this anthology draw out lessons on the importance of building multiracial and
intersectional solidarity in our immigrant rights, labor, and community-based
movements: to fight alongside our communities against immigration and refugee
policies that only focus on enforcement; to organize for policies that will
immediately lead to permanent legalization with no expansion of temporary guest
worker (bracero) programs and with labor law protections; and to cross borders
in building international solidarity to turn around the neo-liberal systemic
policies that have historically served only the interests of capital and
multinational corporations.”
Included in the book are two articles authored by UCLA Labor Center staff: “The
2006 Immigrant Uprising: Origins and Future” by UCLA Labor Center director Kent
Wong, project director Janna Shadduck-Hernández, and Narro, as well as “The
Future of Work: Organize the Immigrant Workers” by Wong.
Organizing Lessons is available in digital format for free. To support
classroom, workshop, and organizing discussions, a set of guiding questions
accompanies each chapter.
Link of digital format of book for free:
Click to access TakingFreedom_Bk4_INT_01-27-22_2pp.pdf
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on June 30, 2023 by Jose Calderon. Edit
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ON SUPPORTING IMMIGRANT/REFUGEE RIGHTS
PEOPLE RALLY OUTSIDE THE SUPREME COURT AS ORAL ARGUMENTS ARE HEARD IN THE CASE
OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DECISION TO END THE OBAMA-ERA, DEFERRED ACTION FOR
CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS PROGRAM (DACA), TUESDAY, NOV. 12, 2019, AT THE SUPREME COURT
IN WASHINGTON. (AP PHOTO/ALEX BRANDON)
“BUILDING MULTI-RACIAL COALITIONS AGAINST TRUMP’S CRIMINALIZATION POLICIES”
| Jose Calderon |
The families who are coming here from Central America, Mexico, and Latin America
overall are coming as a result of years of this country’s foreign policies
toward those countries and the growing violence and poverty. These reasons
include the economic inequalities that exist between the U. S. and Latin
America, the uprooting of farmers and peasants as a result of trade agreements
such as NAFTA that favor the subsidized multinational corporate interests in
this country, and policies that result in the undercutting of staple crops such
as beans and corn.
These policies have historically tended to separate immigrants coming to this
country into political and economic refugees. Those coming from Cuba, for
example, have been labeled as political refugees, as running from a country that
this country has decided is persecuting them, and has welcomed them with speedy
and immediate legalization status. This was also true for Vietnamese refugees
who were also labeled as political refugees.
Those coming from Mexico or Central America are labeled as “economic refugees.”
In practice, the U. S. during the Reagan administration continued to grant
refugee status to immigrants from Southeast Asian and Eastern Europe while
making it difficult for others fleeing places like Honduras, Guatemala, and El
Salvador. Being a refugee then has not been a matter of personal choice, but of
government decisions based on a combination of legal guidelines and political
expediency. How one is classified, as either an economic or political refugee,
depends on the relationship between the U. S. and the country of origin and the
international context of the time. It is problematic because it is not an
economic mode of incorporation but a political status, validated by an explicit
decision of the U. S. government.
The immigrant and refugee families from Central America come from countries
where U. S. companies have been using their cheap labor and resources
historically. The immigrant and refugee families are also running from drug
cartels who would have no success were it not for the demand of the consumers
that are primarily located right here in the U. S. Many are hoping to be
reunited with parents or relatives already living in America, and they cross the
border without papers because there are virtually no legal ways for them to
immigrate. Nor can their undocumented parents return home to get them.
The media primarily blames the immigrant and refugee families for leaving
because of gang violence but there are deeper issues here. A lot of the gangs in
Southern California were formed as part of the great migration from El Salvador
when Ronald Reagan and the U. S. government in the 1980’s intervened in that
civil war resulting in 75,000 deaths. Many were arrested and deported and, in El
Salvador and other central American countries we saw the rise of death squads
and the mass incarceration of gang members. After the war, there was a rise in
gangs and, although the U. S. government has not played any role in developing
programs to deal with this issue, it has been organizations such as that of
Homies Unidos who have been in the forefront of organizing and reducing the
incarceration of gang members. Similarly, the Central American country of
Honduras, from where many recent refugee children and families are coming from,
has had a long history of wars that have displaced thousands. More recently, in
2009, the U. S. supported a military coup in Honduras that resulted in the
ouster of the democratically-elected government of Manuel Zelaya. Following the
coup, there has been mayhem in the government with oppression of any groups that
protest. The economy has been in dire stress and thousands of children and
families have been thrown into the streets and, with nowhere else to go, have
joined the thousands of refugees who have made their way to the U. S. Mexican
border. This is also true for the thousands climbing on trains and leaving
Guatemala, a country where the U. S. supported a military junta that killed
thousands of indigenous people.
The media and politicians in this country bypass this history when they present
the reasons why immigrant and refugee families are coming here and seeking
asylum. As a result, we have had rabid racism and nativism displayed by angry
mobs in places like Murrieta, California with cries that these families have no
rights to be here and should be immediately deported.
This goes against the official reports by the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), which documents that almost 60 percent of the children and
the families fleeing to the United States from Central America are legitimate
asylum seekers.
It is only our efforts that can ensure that the asylum-seeking immigrant and
refugee families stuck in places like Tijuana and those who are coming here are
not removed through a non-judicial process but receive the opportunity for fair
and full consideration of their legal claims with access to legal counsel. The
cost of pushing these refugee and immigrant families back into dangerous or
deadly situations is simply too high.
These children and families, under international law, are entitled to be
classified as refugees from violence and war. They have the right, as refugees,
to have legal assistance and to have their cases heard before a judge. Those who
are found to be refugees from violence or persecution have the right to asylum.
However, instead of the U.S. asylum system recognizing the unique forms of
persecution that these immigrant and refugee families have faced in their host
countries, they are being denied any opportunity to articulate their claims for
asylum — they are simply detained for long periods of time in inadequate
facilities with little regard for their best interests.
In recent years, we have learned that it is only our organizing work at the
grass-roots that can ensure legislation that is truly just and that rewards, not
criminalizes, immigrant families and refugees for their contributions. We have
moved forward from the period in 2004-2006 when California Governor Pete Wilson
used Proposition 187 to get re-elected, when the Sensenbrenner bill was advanced
by the anti-immigrant conservative right, and when there was a cutting of
bilingual education and affirmative action. It was not that long ago that many
labor unions were anti-immigrant. Now, in a recent session of the CA
legislature, it was unions that helped to pass Assembly Bill 450, requiring an
employer to require proper court documents before allowing immigration agents
access to the workplace or to employee information. Alongside this, it is
important to recognize the role that Dream Act recipients played in moving
policy at a federal level like no other organization has been able to do in
recent years. It was Dream Act recipients, before the 2012 elections, that
showed their capacities for exerting this political power by presenting 11,000
signatures, courageously leading protests in the streets, and holding a series
of sit-ins across the country that, along with many community-based legal teams,
led to Obama’s executive order granting “deferred action status” and
implementing a Deferred Action Policy.
The best strategy that these combined forces have been able to advance has been
one that has organized multi-racially at the local, state, and national levels.
On the local level, in the city of Pomona, I have been part of coalitions that
have included immigrant, labor (UFCW), student, faith-based, and community-based
organizations. The Pomona Habla coalition, on a local level, was an example of a
coalition that took a local issue about immigrant rights and connected it to
policy changes statewide (while building support to change immigration policies
nationally).
The coalition became a model for the passage of ordinances in San Francisco, Los
Angeles, and Baldwin Park allowing an unlicensed driver that permit an
unlicensed driver to allow another licensed driver to allow another licensed
driver to take custody of the vehicle rather than having it impounded. These
statewide efforts led to the introduction of a bill by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo,
and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, restricting local police from
impounding cars at traffic checkpoint simply because a driver is unlicensed.
This ultimately led to the passage of a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to
obtain driver’s licenses.
In connecting the local to statewide efforts it is no accident why our political
representatives have taken positions of “no ban and no wall,” supporting
California as a sanctuary state, and vowing to protect the rights of our
immigrant and targeted communities regardless of what oppressive policies Trump
tries to force the states and cities to carry out. In recent years, it is the
immigrant rights and worker movements who have pressured legislators in passing
landmark pro–immigrant legislative policies such as: in-state tuition, driver’s
licenses, new rules designed to limit deportations, state-funded healthcare for
children, a new law to erase the word “alien” from California’s labor code, and
the passage of SB-54, called the Sanctuary bill, which prohibits California
officers from inquiring about a person’s immigration status and limits
cooperation between California police officers and federal immigration agents.
There are other bills in recent legislative session that have included measures
to block the expansion of immigration detention centers, to protect undocumented
immigrants from housing discrimination, and to stop unjust workplace raids.
The roots of these changes on the state level have their foundation in the
organizing that is taking place at the grass-roots. On the local level, we have
our coalitions that have been exemplary in the development of a partnership
between the community-based Latino and Latina Roundtable organization, the
Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, the Pomona Valley Chapter of the NAACP, the
Inland Valley Immigrant Justice Coaltion, and others. In creating connections
between the educational and immigrant rights needs of families, the partnership
has implemented workshops for hundreds of students and parents in how to qualify
for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, how to obtain a
Matricula Consular card (an official identification document issued by the
Mexican government), and (with a coalition with the Pomona Day Labor Center)
workshops on how to obtain a California driver’s license. The partnership on
K-12 and college pipeline issues has led to further action, including family
summits and some parents who have gone with us to Sacramento to educate our
representatives on bills to provide safe schools for immigrant children and to
ban the use of public funds to aid federal agents in deportation actions, as
well as other legislation to protect vulnerable students and advance educational
equity. We have also been organizing by getting our members and others to
understand the Real ID, after the California DMV began offering a compliant Real
ID driver license or ID card as an option in order for its holders to be able to
board a domestic flight or enter a federal facility as of October 1, 2020. Most
of the undocumented community is not eligible to receive these documents, which
exposes them to vigilantism, profiling, and persecution. We therefore have been
calling on our communities to opt for a non-compliant I.D. or driver’s license
for use in our daily life in California instead – and in this way our
documentation will be the same as that of an undocumented person with a driver’s
license, thus making the distinction between “compliant” and “non-compliant”
documents less effective as a mechanism to isolate our undocumented community.
As part of these efforts, we have been organizing to defend the rights of our
Central American families who have faced deportation with Trump’s actions to
abolish the Temporary Protected Status program affecting many Central American
families (some whom have been here for over twenty years) with children who have
grown up in this country and are now attending school or college or have
full-time jobs. When the Trump administration sought to deport over 400,000
immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a coalition made up of
organizations such as the National Day Labor Organizing Network, CARECEN-LA, and
the National TPS Alliance led a campaign to defend the program. This multiracial
coalition has been exemplary in organizing a grassroots network of over 70 TPS
committees from across the country, in training new immigrant rights leaders,
and in bringing two class-action TPS justice lawsuits that initially blocked
Trump’s termination of TPS status for nearly half a million people from six
countries: Haiti, El Salvador, Sudan, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal. These
efforts, while initially successful in achieving a one-year extension for all
six countries covered by the two lawsuits, received a setback on October 12 when
the Ninth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Trump
administration and cleared the way for ending the protection of the 400,000
families covered under this program. In response, the coalition is embarking on
a “Road to Justice” bus tour exposing how Trump’s TPS terminations were
motivated by racism, going to 54 cities in 32 states, and ending with advocacy
actions and meetings with congressional legislators in Washington, D.C.
> Instead of supporting billions for surveillance technology, including unmanned
> drones and military-grade radar and billions toward the construction of a
> double-layer fence, our coalitions have continued to fight to stop the
> deportations of our undocumented brothers and sisters, who are not hard-core
> criminals, but whose only crimes are to work to feed their families here and
> abroad!
We continue to point out through forums and our research that the focus of this
administration on enforcement and against a speedy process goes against the
many studies that show how much undocumented immigrants would stimulate the
economy if they were allowed legalization as quickly as possible. According to
the American Progress organization, a speedier legalization would result in: an
additional $1.4 trillion to the Gross National Product between the present and
2022; resident workers benefitting with an additional $791 billion in personal
income; and the economy creating an average of an additional 203,000 jobs per
year. Within five years of their legalization, undocumented immigrant workers
would be earning 25% more than they are earning resulting in an additional tax
revenue of $184 billion (with $116 billion to the federal government and $68
billion to state and local governments). Overall these statistics sustain the
argument that the sooner asylum and legalization can happen, the more the
significant gains for all working people and the greater the gains for the U.S.
economy.
A progressive immigration policy will take fighting for supporting the
allocation of funds for processing and not for enforcement — to take the
millions being proposed for more fence and more border officers and use it for a
more efficient means of doing away with a backlog of thousands waiting in line
for legalization. It needs to include additional resources to allow for hearings
that ensure the rights and interests of the children and families in all
proceedings, so that they can be released as quickly as possible from Border
Patrol facilities that are inadequate.
Beyond the short-term need to ensure protection of rights and safe environments
for our immigrant and refugee families, it is important to deal with the reality
of conditions that are occurring in Latin American countries. What is true is
the reality that immigrant workers will remain in or return to their homeland
when the economy in these countries improves. If the U. S. federal government
was really interested in doing something about immigration long-term, it would
work to strengthen the sending countries’ economies. There is no reason why the
U.S. could not develop bilateral job-creating approaches in key
immigrant-sending areas. What is needed now and long-term is moving away from
policies that merely focus on an enforcement that racially profiles our
communities to policies that will speed-up the process to legalization, and
advance a commitment to enhanced funding streams for economic development in the
immigrant-sending countries (such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras).
It was refreshing after Trump’s announcement of non-support for DACA to see how
people from all backgrounds walked out of schools and jobs to protest in
support. Our support for the DACA program has been further bolstered by a study
that just came out from Professor Roberto Gonzalez, of the Harvard Graduate
School of Education, how DACA has benefited over 800,000 of our young
immigrants, contributed to the nation’s workforce, and added billions of dollars
to the economy. This study comes at a time when the Supreme Court opposed the
Trump Administration’s policies to terminate DACA (sending the decision back to
the Department of Homeland Security) and brings forward the significance of the
November presidential elections in deciding its future.
With this administration’s attacks in opposing DACA and TPS, it is more
important than ever to continue organizing marches and protests by our
individual organizations alongside building multi-racial coalitions who are
collectively carrying out voter turn-out efforts to ensure the election of
representatives who truly represent the interests and issues of our communities;
fighting alongside our communities against immigration and refugee policies that
only focus on enforcement; and fighting for policies that will immediately lead
to permanent residency and citizenship for our immigrant and refugee families
with no expansion of temporary guest worker (bracero) programs and with labor
law protections.
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMIC TRANSFORMATIVE THINKING IN THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
TRACING A THREAD FROM THE 1980S TO THE PRESENT, JOSÉ Z. CALDERÓN EXPLORES THE
EMERGING MOVEMENTS TO REORGANIZE THE STRUCTURES OF PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
IN OUR ECONOMY.
* Post author
Hidden too often in the mainstream’s version of history in this country are the
many collective efforts that have created economic and political models of
systemic structural change — models nationally and globally which have sought to
create structural changes in Capitalism.
We have the commonality that there is a need to advance a dialogue on the
contradictions inherent in the system of capitalism, deepen research on the new
local and global economic models that are emerging, and promote the growth of a
movement based on the creation of transformative structural models of equity.
With the inability of traditional politics and politicians internationally not
being able to come up with viable solutions to a growing economic crisis, there
is a growing movement to advance theories and practices for a new economy.
This movement is one that is based on rethinking the nature of ownership and
rethinking the definition of “growth” as a basis for gauging whether there is
progress. This is a movement advancing a transformation of the economy so that
the public, rather than a small elite, little by little come to control the
productive assets in the society.
At the base of this rethinking is the turning around of a system that survives
on the existence of an unequal stratification system and the divisions it
creates on the basis of wages, wealth, and opportunity.
An emphasis on the quantity of profit over quality of life has led to the rise
of a right-wing movement to make sure that our potential power is scattered and
decapitated through: deregulating and allowing corporations to spew chemicals in
the air that result in more of us dying (particularly in people of color and
low-income communities); through the cutting of our cutting health care; through
incarcerating us (we have more African Americans in jail now than we had in
slavery); through keeping us from voting by gutting the voting rights act and
unjust gerrymandering; and through increased enforcement, deportation, and
limits on asylum of our immigrant young people, families, and refugees. This
movement, particularly evident in the policies of the past Trump administration,
continues to rear its head by waging a war against our communities (and
particularly those who have been in the forefront of any gains made in civil,
human, and environmental rights in the last decades).
We have the Alt-Right, the Bannons, the Rockford Institute, the neo-conservative
movements in this country who promote white supremacist, racial-nationalist and
neo-fascist ideologies, who push a deregulated free enterprise system, more
funding for the military, and stand against anything that promotes a system
based on equality. These are movements that continue to defend and promote the
privatization of our economy and that, rather than advancing spaces and places
of a more just and equal world, are seeking to foment a politics of
individualism and ignorance about global warming and the economy.
This trend promotes an unregulated economic system where corporations rule,
where the needs of our communities are put aside for the priorities of
profit-making interests, and that advances a form of neoliberalism that places
emphasis on privatization and consumerism with the outcome of destroying any
ideology that truly advances practices for the collective good.
To combat this right-wing conservative trend, we need a program that: transforms
power at the top; abolishes a structure that allows the wealthy, the
corporations, and businesses to manipulate the tax system in their favor;
reverses banking concentration and supports a system of decentralized community
accountable banks and credit unions; combats unjust gerrymandering; abolishes
the electoral college; moves toward a form of proportional representation and
builds a social movement in support of a living wage; health care with universal
coverage; accessibility for everyone to a quality education; a guaranteed basic
income; investment in pre-school, K-12, and higher education; public financing
of elections; and trade agreements that ensure environmental and labor
standards.
At the local level, we need a social movement to create transitional forms of a
new structure or a new system that is based on the collective and not just the
interests of the individual. Some of these transitional forms include
employee-owned enterprises; cooperatives; and businesses that are used in the
interests of the community.
About 130 million people in the country are members of various urban,
agricultural, and credit union cooperatives. In Cleveland, Ohio, a group of
worker-owned companies has been developed that is supported in part by the
purchasing power of large hospitals and universities. The cooperatives include a
solar installation and weatherization company, an ecologically advanced laundry,
and a greenhouse capable of producing over three million heads of lettuce a
year. The Cleveland model is not simply about worker ownership but the
democratization of wealth and building community particularly in the low-income
areas. They are doing this through the creation of community-serving non-profit
corporations, a revolving fund, agreements that the companies cannot be sold
outside the network and that they must return ten percent of profits to help
develop additional worker-owned firms in the area. Further, an important element
are the agreements with local hospitals and universities who, until recently,
spent their $3 billion on goods and services per year, outside the immediate
neighborhoods. The “Cleveland model” has now won over these entities to be
responsible as publicly-financed institutions and to allocate part of their
spending and assets to the worker co-ops in support of a larger
community-building vision. There are other cities now creating similar models
(Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Amarillo, Texas, and Washington, D. C.) and there are
unions, such as the United Steelworkers, that are developing co-op union models
of ownership.
This is about an alternative form of municipal development and land use. In
some cities, such as Washington, D. C. and Atlanta, cities bring in millions by
capturing the increased land values that their transit investments create. The
town of Riverview, Michigan has been a national leader in trapping methane from
its landfills and used it to fuel electricity generation (providing both
revenues and jobs). There are 500 such projects nationwide. Many cities have
established municipally-owned hotels. There are nearly 2,000 publicly-owned
utilities that provide power and broadband services to more than 45 million
people — generating $50 billion in annual revenue. In Alaska, state oil revenues
provide each person living in the state, dividends from public investment
strategies.
Related to this is the creativity of Community development Banks, like the Bank
of North Dakota (a state-owned bank founded in 1919) that are designed to
facilitate economic revitalization of poor communities. In recent years, the
bank returned $340 million in profits to the state. In Oregon, there are efforts
to develop a similar bank, a “virtual state bank,” with no storefront. The
South Shore Bank in Chicago is another example (developed in 1973) that provides
real estate management, technical assistance, job training, equity investment,
and economic consulting. It has assets exceeding $1 billion with $150 million
invested in low-income communities.
All these models are closely related to what the New Democratic Movement (that
many of us were part of) advocated in the 1980s: the development of a
post-industrial society with concrete innovative economic “transitional” forms.
The Post-Industrial Society thinking of the 1980’s proposed a “struggle to
develop the material basis for a strong cooperative movement” — and a society,
not just based on “high levels of productivity” but on the maximum involvement
of all the people. This outlook encouraged the development of small businesses,
worker-owned cooperatives, and investment in human capital (particularly in
education, housing, and health). It called for a society based on a revolution
in the current mode of production where high productivity is possible through
the development of the most advanced technologies.
This direction, in the contemporary period, includes some contemporary writers
and thinkers that are thinking along the lines of the need for a new economy.
Some of the ideas that relate to the post-industrial thinking advocated in the
1980’s by the New Democratic Movement are now being promoted by such economists
as Richard Wolff, Emeritus in Economics at the University of Massachusetts; Gar
Alperovitz, historian and political economist; Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard of
the Democracy Collaborative; and Joe Guinan, Executive Director of the Next
System Project and Martin O’Neill, Political Philosophy at the University of
York. There are many names being given to these models that, in addition, to
post-industrial a post-industrial economy, include: stakeholder capitalism, the
solidarity economy, new economy, sharing economy, regenerative economy, and the
living economy.
In connecting with some of these themes, in the contemporary period, economist
Richard Wolff, proposes systemic change “where the nature of work is
transformed;” where people “once again control production;” where the creativity
of workers is valued, and where they are in “control of the entire product.”
Agreeing with Marx’s notion of surplus value, Richard Wolff proposes “workers
self-directed enterprises where workers, who produce the surplus capital, are in
charge of the profit (and not the managers or executives). Similar to aspects of
the post-industrial article, Wolff proposes that production works best “when
performed by a community that collectively and democratically designs and
carries out shared labor.” The transformative element for Wolff is the
“reorganization of all workplace enterprises to eliminate exploitation … where
the workers become collectively self-directed at their work sites.”
In his book Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism, Richard Wolff proposes
that these models are fine but that what needs to change is the class structure
of production and that many of the systemic models, including private and state
capitalism have had the commonality of advancing state-capitalist class
structures of top-down production that exclude the workers from production
decisions and the distribution of their production. He proposes that even in the
transitions from capitalist to socialist economic systems in various countries,
there was a lack of prioritization or did not “explicitly include, or if they
came to power, institute an economic system in which the production and
distribution of surplus was carried out by those who produced it.” Overall, he
argues that even in those countries categorized as “socialist,” there was a lack
of prioritizing what he proposes as workers’ self-directed enterprises (where
the workers who produce the surplus generated inside the enterprise function
collectively to appropriate and distribute it). His solution of “workers’
self-directed enterprises” emphasizes that workers must partly or completely own
the enterprises where they work and have a decision-making voice in the
surpluses they produce. Such a transformation, from his outlook, will also
advance the abilities of “workers to become informed, competent, and full
participants in the democratic governance of the communities in which they
reside.”
Similarly, Joe Guinan and Martin O’Neill in The Case for Community Wealth
Building propose that organizing at the local level, in what they call “local
justice,” can be a means of developing models (such as the ones that have been
presented here as examples) that both take on the power of corporations and
“build a more equal and democratic economy.”
Gar Alperovitz, in What Then Must We Do, proposes a direction that builds models
of democratizing wealth and the building of a cooperative and community-based
economy from the ground up. Like aspects of the post-industrial article,
Alperovitz proposes cooperative models that include community land trusts,
worker-owned businesses, and employee stock ownership plans.
In this vein, Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard, in The Making of a Democratic
Economy, present models that are “making what was once radical seem more like
common sense.” These models include: “cooperatively-owned work places; of cities
committed to economic policies rooted in racial justice; of ethical financing
and investing; of communities on the frontline of crisis-building” to show us
that “a different economy is not just a theoretical possibility but that it is
something happening in right now in the real world.” The models include policies
such as that of the Green New Deal (proposed by Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez) to shift to 100% renewable energy in 10 years, to create tens of
thousands of new jobs, and to advance the implementation of publicly-owned banks
like the North Dakota Bank. Already, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and
California Governor Gavin Newsom have committed to establishing state public
banks. This follows with the thinking of Gar Alperovitz that a whole new
economic system is emerging that already include models of economic development
with racial justice at the forefront, employee-owned companies, and local
purchasing by anchor institutions. Agreeing with other economists, Alperovitz
presents “anchor” models that are not just about theory but are “real models”
that have taken the example in Cleveland (the Cleveland Model) and are now being
constructed in other places ranging from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Rochester, New York, and to Richmond,
Virginia.
The rise of this new economy include worker-owned cooperatives ranging from the
“Si Se Puede” cooperative (a Brooklyn house-cleaning enterprise owned primarily
by Latinas) to union cooperatives (such as the Communications Workers of America
Local 7777 in Denver (Green Taxi) where the leadership and board is made up
entirely of immigrant drivers from East Africa and Morocco). Further, worker
coops are being implemented now in New York City, Newark, Oakland, Rochester,
and Madison. There are more than 6,600 employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
throughout the country with $1.4 trillion in assets and “businesses owned by the
people they serve” (that include credit unions, agricultural cooperatives, and
consumer cooperatives) that represent $500 billion in revenue and employ more
than 2 million people.
There are four principles that involve moving in this direction:
1. Thinking of new ways to democratize wealth
2. Placing the building of community and what is in the interests of community
in the forefront in all development
3. Decentralizing power in general – so that there is community input
4. Planning in the interests of quality of life
The character of capital and corporations is that they have the highest level of
planning in individual corporations that do everything competitively to reap the
most profits with a culture of greed and selfishness in the forefront. However,
there is the capacity for a new kind of planning, with a culture of collectivity
in the forefront, to use the earth’s resources to solve the many problems
threatening our survival.
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PRESENTACION EN “INSTITUTO DE LIDERAZGO JOSE FERNANDO PEDRAZA”
Por Jose Zapata Calderon – 26 de Enero, 2020
Gracias por la invitacion a esta inaguracion del “Instituto de Liderazgo Jose
Fernando Pedraza.” El desarollo de la Red Nacional de Jornaleros y ahora este
instituto – esta cerca de mi Corazon. —- Yo era parte del comienso del Centro
Jornalero en Pomona en 1997 cuando el concilio paso una ley a multar cada
jornalero mil quinientos dolares nomas por pedir trabajo en la calle — y
Respondimos con una marcha y llenamos el concilio con cienes de personas hasta
que estuvieron en acuerdo con ayudar a desarollar ese centro jornalero. Yo era
parte del comienso de la Red Nacional cuando se desarollo la primera conferencia
con doce organisaciones comunitarias en Northridge en Julio de 2001 –
Tengo que decirles que mi compromiso – mi pasion – en apoyo de estas luchas
–vinieron de que yo era inmigrante de Mexico – que vine a los siete anos – con
mis padres – que eran campesinos en Colorado toda sus vidas – y mi padre era
jornalero en los inviernos – esperando en las esquinas – hasta cuando habia
nieve – por un trabajo – para que pudieramos comer. Nunca olvide – y cuando
gradue del colegio – fui a trabajar por un rato con la Union de Campesinos en
Delano – y cuando regrese a Colorado con mis padres – comense una escuelita en
en un garaje atras de la casa de mis padres – y les tengo que decir que comense
a ensenar 18 estudiantes que no sabian ingles en el mismo modo que ustedes estan
usando el metodo de Paulo Freire – la educasion popular. Y les tengo que decir
hoy que no hay mejor manera de honrar la vida de Fernando Pedraza que con el
desarollo de este Instituto porque Fernando verdadera era el ejemplo de un
desarollo de conciencia – de un jornalero que organisaba otros jornaleros – en
una esquina – para respetarse unos a otros en busca de trabajo – y tambien a
luchar en contra injusticia. Fernando era parte de las clases con algunos de
mis estudiantes – haciendo para aprender alfabetisacion – pero lo que aprendio y
enseno – fue mucho mas que nomas aprender a escribir y leer – Fernando era el
ejemplo de usar sus abilidades para luchar en contra injusticia. En 2002,
cuando la ciudad de Rancho Cucamonga paso una ley en contra los jornaleros poder
buscar trabajo en la esquina – Fernando no tenia miedo en usar su nombre y llevo
la ciudad a corte para asegurar el derecho de sus companeros Jornaleros poder a
continuar a buscar trabajo en esa esquina. Despues de esa Victoria, Fernando
continuo a luchar para un centro para los jornaleros. Y era porque Fernando,
Don Gilberto y los demas trabajadores, con apoyo de estudiantes y el centro
jornalero de Pomona y la Red — desarollaron una esquina de lucha – que
anti-inmigrante grupos como el Ku Klux Klan y los Minute Men comensaron a
protestar los trabajadores en esa esquina de Arrow y Grove. Era en Abril 2,
2007 – cuando una docena del grupo Ku Klux Klan protesto a la esquina. Y era
nomas un mes despues – en el Cinco de Mayo de 2007 – un dia que se celebra como
dia cuando Los Mejicanos ganaron una gran Guerra en contra los Franceses en
Pueble – que el grupo Minute Men estaba protestando en contra los jornaleros –
cuando dos carros choquearon en medio de la carretera – y uno de los carros
atropello y mato a nuestro lider Fernando. Aunque su muerte nos dolió
profundamente – Fernando a continuado a vivir en el desarollo del Centro de
Pomona, en el continuo de clases y liderazgo en la esquina, y en un memorial
atendido por jornaleros, estudiantes, y comunidad cada ano. El ejemplo y
espiritu de Fernando esta aqui hoy – con ustedes – lideres – con el desarollo de
la Red Nacional (que comenso con unos cuantos y ahora existe en esquinas,
centros, y ciudades por toda la nacion).
— Estamos aqui en el espiritu de Fernando a usar nuestras abilidades – sin tener
miedo – a derrotar los muros de ignorancia, racismo – y de hacernos chivos
expiatorios. En este tiempo cuando los de la derecho y el gobierno usan la
frustracion de trabajadores (muchos que no tienen Buenos sueldos y beneficios
para sobrevivir) para avanzar odio en contra nuestras comunidades inmigrantes –
es mas importante que nunca – para cometernos a luchar y organisar (en el
espiritu de Fernando) por justicia, igualdad, y legalisacion por nuestras
comunidades que contribuyen billones a la economia con su sudor de trabajo y
impuestos. Sabemos muy bien que esto fuera lo que quisiera Fernando y todos esos
jornaleros por todo la nacion que han sacrificado sus vidas y ya no estan
fisicamente con nosotros. El Espiritu de Fernando y todos esos antepasados esta
muy vivo entre nosotros – y con ese espiritu – con la Red, con el desarollo de
Instituto – hay que estar seguros que a lo ultimo la verdad va a ganar – que un
mejor futuro para nuestras comunidades esta al alcance de nuestros esfuerzos – y
que: Pedraza Vive, La Lucha Sigue y Sigue — Pedraza Vive, La Lucha Sigue y
Sigue!
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PRESENTATION AT FERNANDO PEDRAZA CELEBRATION
We are here today – on Cinco de Mayo – a day that has been commercialized and
its real meaning lost in festivities that fail to mention how a less equipped
army of Mexican people defeated the colonial French army in Puebla.
We are here in this tradition of struggle – of organizing — once again to
commemorate the life of Fernando Pedraza, a father – a grandfather – and a day
laborer leader – who died in 2007. In 2007, at this time, Fernando Pedraza
stood alongside other day laborers here – like any other day – waiting for a
job. Little did they know that the Minute Men would use this day – Cinco de
Mayo – as a day to protest the Rancho Cucamonga day laborers. On any other day,
the workers would have been gone by noon – but because of the Minute Men
presence – they stayed on. An auto collision in this intersection resulted in
the death of our brother Fernando. He died at a time when he had been
advocating to the Rancho Cucamonga city council for a day labor center. This
was his dream. Since Fernando died, we have continued to organize and fight for
the rights of our day laborer and immigrant communities.
The federal government, under Trump—continues to use the sincere frustration of
working people (who have lost their jobs and their homes in this economic
crisis) – — and use that frustration to blame our day laborers and immigrants.
We are here to place the blame where it belongs – on a system that is broken –
and continues to create roadblocks to the legalization of our 12 million
undocumented immigrants in this country. The year that Fernando died – the
Minute Men had protested a number of times before his death and the Ku Klux Klan
showed up at one of their protests. We have responded in how Fernando would
want us to respond- through organizing as we are doing today – through marches,
protests and pickets – but through also carrying out citizenship drives, voter
registration drives, getting out the vote – and ultimately prevailing – by
throwing out an administration who has been intent on attacking our Muslim
communities, refugees, women, LGBTQ communities, unions, workers, people of
color, our poor people, our immigrant communities, and our physically and
mentally challenged.
Today we gather in memory of Fernando and for all those whose only dream is to
have a better life. Today we gather as “bridge-builders” – to tear down the
walls of ignorance, scapegoating, and hate. We vow today to continue exposing
those who blame our immigrant and refugee communities for all the economic ills
in this country – and commit to remember Fernando and all day laborers and
immigrant families who have sacrificed their lives—by working to build the kind
of sacred spaces that we have been able to create today – one that places the
quality of life in the forefront – builds bridges among all people of all
backgrounds – and advances our common ongoing efforts to obtain justice and
equality for all our immigrant families, workers and communities.
On Cinco de Mayo, 2007, a spontaneous demonstration by the Minutemen against day
laborers on the corner of Arrow Highway and Grove Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga,
ended with the death of day laborer leader Jose Fernando Pedraza. Fifty-seven
year old Pedraza died at the corner where he waited on a daily basis for one-day
jobs. It is also the corner where Pedraza organized other day laborers to
defend their rights. In 2002, Pedraza was part of a court case against the City
of Rancho Cucamonga who wanted to enforce a law disallowing day laborers to
gather on the street. In the recent months before his death, Pedraza had
attended several meetings of the Rancho Cucamonga city council to support his
fellow day laborers so that they could have a job center where they could be
safe from hate-based attacks and traffic accidents.
Pedraza, a Mexican immigrant and a father of five daughters and the grandfather
of seven, was killed at 1 P. M. on May 5, 2007 when an SUV, that hit a car in
the intersection, rolled onto the sidewalk where day laborers were gathered. On
any other day, the day laborers would have left by the noon hour. On this day,
the day laborers stayed because the Minutemen showed up to protest the day
laborer corner.
The memorial march and service is supported by the Latina/o Roundtable, the
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the Latino Student Union, The
National Day Labor Organizing Network, CLUE, and a coalition of
campus/community organizations.
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LA MISMA LUCHA
DERECHOS DE LAS Y LOS INMIGRANTES Y LA JUSTICIA EDUCATIVA
- José Calderón -
Mesa redonda Latino/a y Pitzer College y de los valles de San Gabriel y Pomona,
Pomona, California
José Calderón describe cómo ha establecido una conexión entre las luchas por los
derechos de las y los inmigrantes y la justicia educativa en su trabajo como
activista académico en la ciudad de Pomona, en el Condado de Los Ángeles. José
comienza relatando su propia historia llegando como inmigrante a este país y el
papel que la educación pública tuvo en abrir nuevas oportunidades en su vida. A
continuación, analiza una serie de campañas paralelas: poner fin a los retenes
policiales, la lucha por el derecho al voto, la creación de alternativas a la
violencia de las pandillas, y la promoción de escuelas comunitarias. Discute
también los profundos procesos de construcción de relaciones que tuvieron lugar
a través de estas campañas, creando coaliciones multirraciales con una visión
unida que combina los derechos de las y los inmigrantes y la justicia educativa.
MI PASIÓN POR CONSTRUIR PUENTES entre las luchas de nuestras comunidades
inmigrantes y la justicia educativa se encuentra en mi propia historia como
inmigrante. Llegué a los Estados Unidos a los siete años junto a mi padre y mi
madre, quienes trabajaron toda su vida en los campos como trabajadores
agrícolas. Vivíamos en el barrio, en un cuarto ubicado en el segundo piso de una
gasolinera, con una estufa a leña y sin plomería interior. Comencé la escuela
con otros siete estudiantes de México que, como yo, no sabían hablar inglés. En
conjunto, enfrentamos el doble problema de ser pobres y no saber hablar inglés.
Gracias a una maestra que se quedaba conmigo después de la escuela, logré
aprender el inglés y graduarme de la escuela secundaria, la universidad y,
finalmente, un programa de doctorado. Otros estudiantes de origen mexicano en mi
clase no tuvieron la misma fortuna, ya que gradualmente abandonaron la escuela.
Cuando me gradué de la Universidad de Colorado en 1971, tomé un autobús a
Delano, California, para poder conocer a César Chávez y unirme al movimiento de
trabajadores agrícolas. Cuando llegué, durante una huelga de trabajadores de la
uva, escuché las palabras que cambiaron el resto de mi vida. En un mitin
nocturno en Forty Acres, la sede central del Sindicato de Trabajadores Agrícolas
Unidos, César desafió a las y los jóvenes estudiantes ahí presentes: nos dijo
que solo hay una cosa asegurada, y eso es la muerte. Entre este momento y el de
la muerte, la pregunta es cómo usaremos nuestras vidas. Podemos desperdiciarlas
fácilmente con las drogas, el egoísmo y las cosas materiales, pensando que esto
nos traerá felicidad; pero nos aseguró que, si comprometemos nuestras vidas al
servicio de los demás para empoderar a otros, cuando envejezcamos y miremos
hacia atrás podremos ser capaces de decir que nuestras vidas han sido realmente
significativas.
Transformado por esta experiencia, regresé a mi ciudad, Ault, Colorado, e inicié
una escuela con dieciocho jóvenes estudiantes de inglés en una vieja cochera en
el patio de mis padres. Cuando la junta escolar local les dijo a nuestras
estudiantes que se “regresaran a México” si queríamos una educación bilingüe en
las escuelas, treinta estudiantes y yo organizamos una marcha de cuatro días y
setenta millas hacia el Capitolio estatal. Cientos de simpatizantes nos
encontraron en el camino y nos animaron. Cuando mis estudiantes regresaron,
tomaron la iniciativa de organizar escuelas en todo el condado, lo que dio como
resultado algunos de los mejores programas bilingües en el estado.
Debido a que la mayoría de quienes estudiaban el idioma inglés provenía de
familias inmigrantes, los problemas de justicia educativa en las escuelas se
entrelazaron con la lucha por los derechos de las y los inmigrantes en nuestras
comunidades. Por lo tanto, algunos de los mismos padres y madres que se
organizaron para la educación bilingüe en las escuelas también se organizaron
para proteger a residentes sin documentos. Finalmente, obtuvieron el compromiso
del Sheriff Richard Martínez y del Departamento del Sheriff del Condado de Weld
de que no detendrían a inmigrantes sin documentos. Estas experiencias me
llevaron a realizar un compromiso de catorce años para organizar en el norte de
Colorado, tanto por los derechos de las y los inmigrantes como por la justicia
educativa.
Salí de Colorado para obtener un doctorado en sociología en UCLA, pero fue a
través de estas experiencias de organización comunitaria como realmente entendí
las conexiones entre las inequidades en nuestras comunidades y los problemas que
estudiantes con poca representación enfrentan en las aulas. Mis luchas con el
aprendizaje del inglés y el crecer en una familia pobre de trabajadores
agrícolas inmigrantes sentó las bases de las conexiones que finalmente llegué a
hacer, tanto como estudiante graduado y como profesor, entre los problemas con
los derechos de las y los inmigrantes y la educación, lo que me llevó a
convertirme en un activista académico. Como activista, he sido parte de los
esfuerzos para crear coaliciones entre padres y madres, docentes, estudiantes y
organizaciones comunitarias para organizarse en torno a los derechos de las y
los inmigrantes y la justicia educativa. Como académico, realicé una
investigación basada en la comunidad para apoyar estos esfuerzos de
organización. Como activista académico, combino la investigación y la
organización para crear cambios dentro de las escuelas y en los vecindarios
donde residen padres, madres y estudiantes.
Luchando contra el movimiento English-Only en Monterey Park
Un ejemplo sobre cómo conectar los movimientos por los derechos de las
inmigrantes y la justicia educativa ocurrió en la ciudad de Monterey Park, donde
residía con mi familia mientras completaba mi doctorado en sociología. Monterey
Park, ubicado al este de Los Ángeles, es una ciudad con más de sesenta y dos mil
residentes. Ha pasado de ser un 85 por ciento blanca en 1960 a ser una ciudad
mayoritariamente minoritaria en la actualidad. Según el Censo de los Estados
Unidos en 2015, aproximadamente el 65 por ciento de la población era del Asia
Pacífico, el 30 por ciento era latina y solo el 4 por ciento era blanca.1 Muchos
miembros de la comunidad del Asia Pacífico y casi toda la comunidad latina son
inmigrantes.
Trabajé con otros organizadores y organizadoras en Monterey Park para generar
confianza entre miembros de la comunidad y las y los investigadores, y crear así
la base para un cambio social. Muy frecuentemente, las y los investigadores de
la academia han ido a la comunidad simplemente para recolectar datos y luego
irse cuando la investigación finaliza. La creación de confianza lleva más
tiempo, ya que se requiere que los miembros de la comunidad vean que las y los
investigadores contribuyen a los esfuerzos comunitarios, y luego adopten la
investigación como una herramienta para lograr sus objetivos. En mi caso,
combiné los roles de investigador y organizador y construí confianza al hacer un
compromiso a largo plazo con la comunidad de Monterey Park.
En 1986, el consejo municipal de Monterey Park –compuesto en su totalidad de
personas de raza blanca– aprobó una resolución que requería que sólo se
utilizase el inglés en la literatura oficial de la ciudad y en los letreros
públicos. Formé parte de la Coalición para la Armonía en Monterey Park (con
siglas en inglés CHAMP), un grupo multiétnico de residentes que reunió a padres
y madres inmigrantes de las comunidades latina y del Asia Pacífico para derrotar
la ordenanza y, eventualmente, reemplazar vía votación a sus principales
proponentes. Más tarde, en respuesta a políticos de derecha y personas que
culpaban a la comunidad china por la congestión de las calles y por la
construcción excesiva en Monterey Park, nuestra coalición eligió candidatos y
candidatas que propusieron un desarrollo planificado, sin abordar el tema del
crecimiento urbano en términos antinmigrantes.
Esta coalición creó un nivel de confianza que también ayudó a resolver
conflictos en las escuelas de la ciudad. Cuando surgieron tensiones raciales
entre estudiantes latinos/as y del Asia Pacífico en el distrito escolar de
Alhambra, los padres y madres inmigrantes trabajaron juntos para crear un Grupo
de Trabajo Multiétnico en todo el distrito, compuesto por padres y madres,
estudiantes, miembros de la PTA, el sindicato de docentes, el personal de
servicio y el personal administrativo. Para contrarrestar las afirmaciones de
algunos funcionarios escolares que negaban la existencia de tensiones raciales
en las escuelas —culpando el “machismo” o las “hormonas” naturales de las y los
adolescentes por las tensiones—, colaboré con el grupo de trabajo para llevar a
cabo una encuesta a mil quinientos estudiantes, incluyendo trescientos
estudiantes con un inglés limitado. Encontramos que el 86 por ciento del cuerpo
estudiantil percibía las tensiones raciales como un problema muy serio en las
escuelas. Utilizamos la investigación para hacer que la junta escolar adoptase
una política que lidiase con el comportamiento motivado por el odio, para
institucionalizar las clases sobre resolución de conflictos y para crear la
opción de la mediación como una alternativa a las expulsiones de estudiantes.
Sabíamos que los conflictos en las escuelas y la comunidad estaban vinculados.
Al existir una gran afluencia de inmigrantes del Asia Pacífico, principalmente
de nacionalidad china que se asentó en Monterey Park, la unión con los padres y
madres y estudiantes latinos/as se produjo al encontrar un terreno común
radicado en sus historias comunes como inmigrantes. Al proponer una estrategia
de formación de coaliciones, los dos grupos pudieron utilizar colectivamente las
investigaciones como una herramienta para promover un currículo multicultural y
programas de resolución de conflictos que beneficiaron a ambos grupos.
La experiencia en Monterey Park me ayudó a resolver el dilema de cómo conectar
mi posición en el mundo académico con la investigación participativa, la
enseñanza y el aprendizaje basado en la comunidad. En lugar de perpetuar la idea
tradicional de que las y los investigadores no deberían participar en las
organizaciones que estudian, esta experiencia de investigación y acción
participativa permitió mi participación, tanto en mi rol de organizador como de
investigador en la comunidad. Cuando acepté un puesto de profesor en el Pitzer
College y me mudé al Valle de Pomona, en el Condado de Los Ángeles, tomé las
lecciones aprendidas en Monterey Park y comencé a organizar gente en la ciudad
de Pomona. Aquí nuevamente combiné la investigación y la organización para
ayudar a los padres, madres y estudiantes a establecer conexiones entre los
movimientos de los derechos de las y los inmigrantes y de la justicia educativa.
Terminando con los Retenes Policiales en Pomona
Mis estudiantes y yo nos unimos a padres, madres y líderes comunitarios para
organizar una coalición de base amplia para construir un movimiento local de
justicia social que expusiera el uso injusto de los puestos de revisión
policiales para atacar a las y los inmigrantes. Durante los últimos veinticinco
años, la ciudad de Pomona ha experimentado los cambios demográficos que se están
produciendo en todo el Sur de California. Según el Censo de los EE. UU., ahora
es una ciudad de mayoría minoritaria que en 2015 estaba compuesta por
aproximadamente 71 por ciento latinos, un 6 por ciento afroamericanos, un 9 por
ciento de asiáticos del Pacífico y un 11 por ciento blancos no-hispanos.2 Cuando
la policía de la ciudad de Pomona comenzó a ubicar los retenes de revisión
frente a escuelas, negocios y vecindarios que servían principalmente a familias
latinas y trabajadores inmigrantes, padres y madres inmigrantes junto a
simpatizantes formaron una coalición llamada Pomona Habla (Pomona Speaks). A
través de esta coalición, lanzamos un proyecto de investigación que impulsó
acciones organizadas contra los puntos de control de tráfico en la ciudad de
Pomona. Nuestra investigación descubrió datos que mostraron que menos del .001
por ciento de quienes conducían y fueron detenidos en los puntos de control lo
hacían bajo la influencia del alcohol.3 Las estadísticas también mostraron que
la mayoría de los detenidos eran inmigrantes sin documentos que no tenían
licencia de conducir y no podían pagar las excesivas tarifas de la multa, el
remolque y la cuota del corralón.
La coalición Pomona Habla lanzó una serie de protestas y acciones en las que
residentes y estudiantes de la comunidad sostuvieron carteles que alertaban a
las y los conductores sobre los puestos de control en las calles cercanas. Las
tensiones en la ciudad alcanzaron su punto máximo cuando la policía llevó a cabo
un punto de control vehicular de cuatro vías (que cubría cuatro esquinas de las
calles) que incluía a oficiales de policía de cuarenta ciudades, lo que provocó
la detención de 4,027 vehículos, la confiscación de 152 de ellos y la emisión de
172 multas.4 En respuesta, Pomona Habla lideró una protesta de más de mil
personas y estableció a estudiantes y miembros de la comunidad en cada punto de
control policial. La investigación y las acciones dieron como resultado que el
consejo de la ciudad acordara detener los puntos de control de cuatro vías,
permitir los puntos de control sólo en áreas residenciales y desarrollar un
comité ad hoc para revisar las quejas y recomendaciones de la ciudadanía.
La investigación y organización basadas en la comunidad de esta coalición se
convirtieron en un modelo para la aprobación de ordenanzas en San Francisco, Los
Ángeles y Baldwin Park, las que permiten ahora que un conductor sin licencia
transfiera a otro conductor con licencia la custodia del vehículo en lugar de
que éste sea confiscado. Estos esfuerzos en todo el estado llevaron a la
propuesta de un proyecto de ley por parte del asambleísta de California Gil
Cedillo, la que fue aprobada formalmente por el gobernador Jerry Brown en 2011,
restringiendo la capacidad de la policía local para confiscar autos en puntos de
control de tráfico simplemente porque quien conduce no posee licencia. En última
instancia, esto llevó a la aprobación de un proyecto de ley que permite a
inmigrantes sin documentos obtener licencias de conducir. Pomona Habla, que
incluía organizaciones comunitarias y estudiantes de escuelas y universidades
locales (incluyendo estudiantes de mis clases en Pitzer College), reunió más de
diez mil firmas en la región para apoyar este proyecto de ley.
ORGANIZACIÓN E INVESTIGACIÓN SOBRE EL DERECHO AL VOTO
Como reacción a estas victorias, la Asociación de la Policía de Pomona, junto
con otras fuerzas conservadoras de la ciudad, se enfocaron en una de las líderes
de esta coalición, la concejala de la ciudad Cristina Carrizosa. Intentaron
expulsarla de su cargo al proponer un proyecto de ley, la Medida T, en la boleta
electoral de noviembre del 2012 para reemplazar la elección de los miembros del
consejo de la ciudad por distrito con elecciones generales. La medida buscaba
contradecir la voluntad de la gente de Pomona que, luego de las demandas del
Fondo Mexicano-Americano de Defensa Legal y Educación y el Proyecto de Registro
de Votantes del Suroeste, votaron en 1990 la eliminación de las elecciones a lo
largo de la ciudad a favor de distritos de un solo miembro para reforzar la
representación de minorías. Trabajando con la coalición, mis estudiantes y yo
llevamos a cabo una investigación que reveló un historial de derechos del voto
de cómo se crearon las elecciones del distrito y quién estaba detrás de la
Medida T. Nuestra investigación reveló cómo la asociación de policías había dado
más de cincuenta mil dólares para respaldar este proyecto de ley, descubriendo
también su patrocinio a la elaboración de un volante que representa una mano
blanca extendida hacia arriba sobre las manos cafés que se extienden desde
abajo.5 Una coalición multirracial de miembros y organizaciones de la comunidad
llamó a una conferencia de prensa, difundió tocando de puerta en puerta y, en el
Día de Elecciones, derrotó a la Medida T y además ayudó a elegir dos concejales
adicionales que apoyaban los derechos de las y los inmigrantes.
LA CREACIÓN DE LA COALICIÓN SOBRE VIOLENCIA CALLEJERA
Después de la derrota de la Medida T, el problema de las pandillas y la
violencia callejera surgió en la ciudad. En respuesta a la creciente tasa de
homicidios, la policía llevó a cabo una redada de presuntos pandilleros que
resultó en el arresto de 165 personas. Nuestra coalición creía que las
estrategias más exitosas para lidiar con la creciente violencia entre jóvenes
tenían que centrarse en la prevención en lugar de la penalización y la acción
policiaca. Mis estudiantes y yo, junto con miembros de una coalición progresista
liderada por la Mesa Redonda Latino/a y el Local 1428 del United Food and
Commercial Workers, investigamos una serie de reuniones comunitarias.
Argumentamos que la violencia de las pandillas no existiría si las pandillas no
tomaran el lugar de otros satisfactores de las desesperadas necesidades de los
jóvenes por una familia, educación, tutoría, vivienda, empleo, atención médica y
apoyo espiritual y social. A medida que ampliamos la coalición para incluir a
padres, madres, estudiantes, maestros y organizaciones comunitarias, defendimos
una estrategia para contrarrestar a las pandillas con un plan de justicia
económica y estrategias de creación de capacidad para empleos de calidad,
vivienda, salud, educación y educación preescolar / programas extraescolares,
particularmente en sectores de bajos ingresos de la comunidad.
En este proceso, estudiamos modelos exitosos de prevención de pandillas,
incluyendo uno desarrollado por el Padre Gregory Boyle en Los Ángeles. Este
modelo aborda las necesidades de los jóvenes para desarrollar una escuela
primaria alternativa, programas de guardería e instancias después de la escuela,
organización comunitaria y un extenso proyecto de desarrollo económico de
Homeboy Industries, que incluye Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen y
Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise. Convocamos a una conferencia comunitaria basada en
este modelo para promover la idea de abordar los problemas estructurales que
afectan a las y los jóvenes y a sus familias en Pomona.
PROMOVIENDO ESCUELAS COMUNITARIAS Y UN MOVIMIENTO MÁS AMPLIO
Esta nueva dirección para abordar los problemas de la juventud llevó al
desarrollo de una asociación entre la organización comunitaria Mesa Redonda
Latino/a, de la cual soy presidente, el Capítulo del Valle de Pomona del NAACP y
el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Pomona. Como parte de esta asociación, un
comité de desarrollo comunitario ha realizado reuniones mensuales para
implementar varios proyectos de construcción de comunidad y transformación
educativa. Esta coalición ha incluido a padres y madres de familia líderes de
las iniciativas comunitarias sobre los puntos policiacos de control y las
pandillas. La coalición también impulsó las propuestas identificadas
inicialmente en las reuniones de la conferencia para alejarse de la simple
aplicación de la ley e ir hacia estrategias centradas en el desarrollo de la
juventud y la comunidad.
La coalición ha comenzado a implementar el concepto de las escuelas
comunitarias, donde las escuelas proporcionan educación y servicios sociales y
de salud a jóvenes, padres y madres de familia y miembros de la comunidad.
Después de que la Mesa Redonda Latino/a y la NAACP se pronunciaron a favor de
una resolución para implementar el concepto de escuelas comunitarias, la Junta
Escolar Unificada de Pomona votó su apoyo por unanimidad. La Junta Escolar
impulsó planes estratégicos avanzados que incluyen (1) currículos culturalmente
relevantes y atractivos; (2) un énfasis en enseñanza de alta calidad, no en las
pruebas de altas expectativas; (3) sistemas de apoyo que incluyen servicios
sociales/emocionales y atención médica; (4) prácticas de disciplina positiva,
como la justicia restaurativa; (5) participación de los padres y madres de
familia y la comunidad; y (6) liderazgo escolar inclusivo y comprometido a hacer
que la estrategia escolar de transformación comunitaria integral se parte del
mandato y funcionamiento de la escuela.
Siguiendo el principio de César Chávez de usar la vida de uno para servir a los
demás, ayudé a que el distrito escolar se uniera a una coalición que organiza
una marcha y festival anual de peregrinación por César Chávez que se centra en
temas de justicia social. Estos temas, que incluyen la solidaridad con Black
Lives Matter, los estudiantes mexicanos desaparecidos en 2014 y el apoyo a los
estudios de minorías étnicas y el Santuario para Todos y Todas, ofrecen ejemplos
del entendimiento amplio que hemos desarrollado a partir de las conexiones entre
temas de justicia educativa y derechos de las y los inmigrantes.
Con este entendimiento interseccional, la asociación ha implementado talleres
para cientos de estudiantes, padres y madres sobre cómo calificar para el
programa de Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA), cómo
obtener una tarjeta de Matrícula Consular (un documento de identificación
oficial emitido por el gobierno mexicano) y cómo obtener una licencia de
conducir de California. Más recientemente, como parte de una coalición estatal
de College for All, esta asociación se ha expandido para respaldar e implementar
activamente el Proyecto de Ley 1050 del Senado de California (cuyo paso fue
dirigido por uno de mis antiguos alumnos, el presidente del Senado pro tempore
Kevin de León) para crear un conducto de oportunidades educativas y el éxito
desde la guardería infantil hasta la universidad para estudiantes de bajos
ingresos, aprendices del idioma inglés e hijos e hijas adoptivas. La asociación
en estos temas ha llevado a una serie de desarrollos extraordinarios, que
incluyen talleres educativos para cientos de padres y madres de familia, muchas
de los cuales luego cabildean con nosotros en el capitolio del estado sobre
proyectos ley para proporcionar escuelas seguras para niñas y niños inmigrantes
y para prohibir el uso de fondos públicos que permitan acciones de deportación
por parte de agentes federales, así como otras leyes para proteger a estudiantes
vulnerables y promover la equidad educativa.
CONCLUSION: JUSTICIA EDUCATIVA EN EL CORAZÓN DE LOS DERECHOS DE LOS INMIGRANTES
La experiencia y trayectoria de mi propia vida muestra cómo la búsqueda de la
educación es fundamental para la lucha de las inmigrantes. Soy un organizador,
un educador y un miembro de la comunidad. Uso la investigación y la organización
de base comunitaria para construir puentes entre las comunidades de inmigrantes
y entre los movimientos por los derechos de las y los inmigrantes y la justicia
educativa. Este tipo de compromiso e investigación muestra la conexión íntima
entre ambos, enfatiza los aspectos sistémicos y estructurales de la desigualdad
e involucra a investigadores e investigadoras activistas para que trabajen junto
a comunidades excluidas en proyectos comunes para abordar las causas
fundamentales del racismo, la exclusión, la práctica de culpar a los más
vulnerables y la desigualdad en nuestro sistema educativo y en nuestras
comunidades.
Las y los activistas de la academia construyen una base de confianza con las
comunidades al comprometerse a trabajar a largo plazo en una asociación genuina
para encontrar e implementar soluciones a los problemas que enfrentan las
comunidades. Este tipo de acción e investigación se aleja de la caridad o el
servicio y se alinea con la creación de nuevos modelos de participación
democrática y de creación de coaliciones para el cambio social. Este modelo
interseccional distingue los fundamentos estructurales de las desigualdades
experimentadas por las comunidades de inmigrantes en las aulas y en la
comunidad, creando estrategias que conectan las luchas por la justicia educativa
y los derechos de las y los inmigrantes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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FROM LIFT US UP!! DON’T PUSH US DOWN
JOSÉ CALDERÓN
Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies
Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
President
Latino/a Roundtable of the San Gabriel Valley and Pomona Valley, Los Angeles
County
The Same Struggle: Immigrant Rights and Educational Justice
In his essay, José Calderón describes how he has made the connection between the
struggles for immigrant rights and educational justice in his work as a scholar
activist in the city of Pomona in Los Angeles County. José begins by telling his
own story of arriving as an immigrant to this country and the role of public
education in opening opportunities in his life. He discusses a number of
overlapping campaigns: ending police checkpoints, fighting for voting rights,
creating alternatives to gang violence, and promoting community schools. He
discusses the deep relationship building processes that occurred through these
campaigns that created multiracial coalitions with a united vision combining
immigrant rights and educational justice.
José Calderón’s website
Read more about José’s book- Lessons from an Activist Intellectual: Teaching,
Research, and Organizing for Social Change
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PRESENTATION AT KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER RALLY
Posted July 4, 2018
I came here as an immigrant child with my parents and appreciated that I had
parents who were there for me – as we crossed into this country.
My parents brought me to this country – looking for a better life – and they
worked all their lives as farmworkers — died in a barrio as farmworkers — —
looking for a better life like many of the families who are coming here from
Mexico – from Central America — Families who have been uprooted as a result of
poverty, violence, wars – with some of the roots lying in a history of
colonization and the role that international corporations have played in making
profits from the labor of the workers – from the resources in those countries –
and, at the same time, forcing some families to leave – and to work in this
country – producing billions in profits and taxes and remittances — while at the
same time being scapegoated – blamed for the state of the economy – when workers
here do not see any improvement in their quality of life – and are lied to –
manipulated – into believing that it is these immigrants – it is these families
– it is these children – that are the cause for the economic conditions – where
we know the truth – where corporations are making record profits while the wages
of workers remain the same for decades.
This is the foundation of why I am here today – why we are here today – for, it
is under these conditions that the Trump Administration is breaking up families
– and taking children from their mothers – and placing them as nothing more than
concentration camps – where even actor George Takai has proclaimed are “worse”
than the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II” because, as he
succinctly wrote in an op-ed: “At least during the internment, when I was just 5
years old, I was not taken from my parents,”
And let us be clear that that what Trump is proposing now is no backing off of
criminalizing all undocumented immigrant families but seeking to quell the
international furor over his inhumane policies of separating the children from
their families by ensuring that families will continue to be detained- but be
incarcerated “together.”
Let us be clear that there is no plan – and that the only plan is to increase
the numbers that are being detained and forcing immigrant families to decide
whether to leave their children behind or take them with them to face the deadly
consequences of why they risked their lives to come here in the first place.
Let us be clear that it is an executive order by the President that has created
this crisis – and that it is only our organizing efforts and the use of our
voting power – that can turn this situation around. To this today – We say —
Stop the criminalizing of our families! — Our children and families belong in
our communities and not in family concentration camps! – Full legalization for
our refugee and undocumented immigrant families! – No Hate No Fear – Immigrants
are Welcome Here! No Ban – No Wall – Sanctuary for All!
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PRESENTATION TO LATINO AND LATINA ROUNDTABLE RETREAT ON “CONDITIONS, THREATS,
AND OPPORTUNITIES” – FEBRUARY 10, 2018
What is important in looking at conditions – is not to look at it superficially
– but to look at the systemic or structural reasons for the conditions – which
is primary in our consolidation on why we are doing what we are doing – and how
it can be tied to creating what I call sacred spaces of collectivity – with a
vision of how we change the structural conditions of our problems.
Internationally – there is the rise of the conservative right in many countries
– an anti-immigrant wave. Economies are in turmoil. It is important to look at
what is happening internationally and nationally as tied to this system serving
the very rich and multinational corporations – for quantity of profit and not
quality of life I am sure that you will agree that the character of this system
is primarily based on profit. When we talk about the Gross Development Product –
it is only measured on the basis of quantity of profit and not quality of life.
This has been going on for quite some time. In the past the rich countries such
as the U. S. and Great Britain (or what have often been called the first world)
have grown rich by extracting profit from the workers in their own countries as
well as from countries they have colonized (particularly using the labor power
of indigenous populations). Mexico as an example – Puerto Rico as an Example –
Haiti as an example – Central America as an example. The profit of major
corporations has been derived from labor power – and when this profit decreases
– due to many factors including colonies liberating themselves, workers
unionizing and winning better wages and benefits – the tendency has been for
these major corporations to move abroad (where they get away from paying taxes
by creating tax havens – and are able to use the labor power and the resources
in those countries – at a cheaper rate than if they had to just use workers in
their home country. The other way is to promote migration through keeping third
world countries oppressed, poor, and dependent – and accumulate profits in
another way – by controlling the resources in those countries – using the labor
power there – but also, through their policies, forcing a migration of a sector
that crosses borders to survive economically. In this scenario, the
corporations, and the political elites who support them, appreciate the labor of
this sector – as long as they can use the workers without having to give them
any rights. Any giving of rights – can mean a lessening of profits – and they
will use every form of enforcement to ensure no rights. The reality is that
worldwide – corporations have been pulling in record profits – with the top 1%
benefiting – while the conditions of working people have stagnated. We have only
to look at the situation in the U. S. where – over the past four decades the U.
S. economy has doubled in size but the bottom half of the U. S. households have
seen no income gains. ”In 1970, the bottom half of wage earners made an average
of $16,000 a year. By 2014, this group’s earnings had risen to only $16,200.
Over 85 percent of income gains have gone to the top 1 percent with CEO’s of
major firms earning over 300 times more than typical workers. The Forbes 400 –
billionaires have a combined net worth of $2.3 trillion – with more wealth than
the bottom 61 percent of the U. S. population combined.
The result of this is that workers have had to work longer hours, take-on more
debt, and forced more numbers in the family to work. Almost half of U. S.
workers earn under $15 an hour – and one in three – less than $12 an hour.
— One of every seven persons in this country – live below the poverty line.
— Since the great recession of 2008, over 85% of income gains have gone to the
top 1% of households – and CEO’s of major firms earn over 300 times more than
average works in their companies.*
— The growing inequalities of income bring to the fore the inequalities of
income and wealth – particularly historic inequalities when comparing Black,
Latino, and white households. According to the PEW Research Center – the median
wealth of white households in 2013 was `13 times that of Black households. White
households had ten times more wealth than Latino households.
— It is this wealth and power that we must look at – when we ask the question
about “ what is democracy in the age of trump– Most workers, today, are getting
by only on poverty wages – with nearly half of the workforce stuck in jobs that
pay less than $15 an hour – earning less than $25,000 a year.*
— We have only to question this structure when elections are run by money – and
donors who use tax-exempt funds to influence politics. Look at the networks of
the Koch brothers who organized a network of donors (including coal, gas, and
oil industries) to prevent environmental regulation and ensure the control of
health care by the for-profit drug and medical monopolies. This has included
big monies to elect those candidates that represent their interests.
It is under these conditions that a form of power has emerged — where power is
at the top – decisions are made – and we feel powerless to do anything about it.
This is a form of power that focuses on specific issues that raise emotions and
have no context other than to benefit those in power, the wealthy – confuse
working people – and divide our movements. This form of power — being promoted
as democracy – is now presented in the realm of an authoritarian top-down
government and state – where we have a never-ending war, more power being given
to corporations, manipulation of the media, an increase in repression, and
policies of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. – to foment division. Since the
mid-1970’s, there has been a major power shift. Today, fewer than 12% of workers
are in unions – while the power of multinational corporations – the power of
financial capital — has grown.*
— With this power – laws governing taxes, global trade, wages, and government
spending priorities – have shifted to the power of capital and not of wage
workers.
Under these conditions, there are blatant Policies that are aimed at blaming the
problems in the economy on immigrants, women, and working people – to blame the
problems on them – and advance an ideology that the problems will be solved if
their power is diminished, if they are incarcerated, kept from voting, and
deported. This authoritarianism lives off of the politics of resentment,
alienation, frustration, anger and fear. It is here especially – where the
economic problems of working people – who are angry at their conditions – are
used, much like they were used in Germany against Jewish people – to scapegoat
and to dehumanize. It involves power – controlling the power of the state and to
violate all principles in ensuring that power.
An emphasis on the quantity of profit over quality of life has led to what I
call a form of genocide to make sure that our potential power is scattered and
decapitated – through deregulating and allowing corporations to spew chemicals
in the air that result in more of us dying (particularly in people of color and
low-income communities); through the cutting of our cutting health care; through
incarcerating us (we have more African Americans in jail now – than we had in
slavery) and keeping us from voting through gutting the voting rights act and
unjust gerrymandering – and of course through increased enforcement,
deportation, and limits on asylum of our immigrant young people, families, and
refugees. This authoritarianism is waging a war against our communities – and
particularly those who have been in the forefront of any gains made in civil,
human, and environmental rights in the last decades. This authoritarianism is
using deficits in the economy to cut Medicare, Medicaid, – to threaten social
security – and ensures that the power over the future of our health stays in the
hands of the profit-making health and drug industry.
Under these conditions — we have the Alt-Right, the Bannons, the Rockford
Institute, the neo-conservative movements in this country who promote white
supremacist,racial-nationalist and neo-fascist ideologies — who push a
deregulated free enterprise system, more funding for the military, the building
of a wall, and mass deportations. This is an authoritarianism that has allowed
for the privatization of our economy and institutions to run rampant – that has
resulted in more of our people in debt – and remaining on the margins – with the
result of creating a foundation of anger among working people – allowing for a
politics of scapegoating.
It is a form that, rather than advancing spaces and places of a more just and
equal world – is seeking to destroy our educational institutions, our unions –
our research and science – to foment a politics of individualism and ignorance
about global warming and the economy.
This authoritarianism promotes an unregulated economic system where corporations
rule – where the needs of our communities are put aside for the priorities of
profit-making interests – and advances a form of neoliberalism that places
emphasis on privatization and consumerism – with the outcome of destroying any
ideology that truly builds a collective community or engages in practices for
the collective good.
There are opportunities in a growing movement nationally that understands the
foundations of our conditions and sees the creation of sacred collective spaces
as not being abstract – but is concretely uniting around a program that builds
power from below to change power at the top – a program that proposes abolishing
a structure that allows the wealthy, the corporations, and businesses to
manipulate the tax system in their favor; that reverses banking concentration
and supports a system of decentralized community accountable banks and credit
unions – that combats unjust gerrymandering, abolishes the electoral college,
moves toward a form of proportional representation and builds a social movement
in support of a living wage; health care with universal coverage; accessibility
for everyone to a quality education; a guaranteed basic income; investment in
pre-school, k-12, and higher education; public financing of elections;
legalization for our 12 million immigrant brothers and sisters, and trade
agreements that turn around the profits going to the richer countries and that
ensure environmental and labor standards.
On a local level – in California — it is no accident why our political
representatives have taken positions of “no ban and no wall” – supporting
California as a sanctuary state – and vowing to protect the rights of our
immigrant and targeted communities regardless of what oppressive policies Trump
tries to force the states and cities to carry out. It has been our grass-roots
work and the building of coalitions.
It was not that long ago that many labor unions were anti-immigrant – now, in
this last session – it was unions that helped to pass Assembly Bill 450,
requiring an employer to require proper court documents before allowing
immigration agents access to the workplace or to employee information.
On a state level, it is no coincidence that California is now an exemplary state
in its support of undocumented immigrants.
Look at this — and I can only mention a few of the pro –immigrant legislative
policies that have been passed: in-state tuition. driver’s licenses, new rules
designed to limit deportations, state-funded healthcare for children, a new law
to erase the word “alien” from California’s labor code; $40 million in the most
recent state budget to provide Medi-Cal coverage to children younger than 19
regardless of legal status – the appointment of a number of noncitizens in the
country to state agencies and departments, the passage of SB-54 (called the
Sanctuary bill) that prohibits California officers from inquiring about a
person’s immigration status and limits cooperation between California police
officers and federal immigration agents about people detained by police or in
jail awaiting trial; — and there are other bills, in this last session that
include measures to protect undocumented immigrants from housing discrimination,
workplace raids and block the expansion of immigration detention centers.
On the local level, we have our coalitions that have been exemplary in the
development of a partnership between the community-based Latino and Latina
Roundtable organization, the Pomona Valley Chapter of the NAACP, and the Pomona
Unified School District. In creating connections between the educational and
immigrant rights needs of families, the partnership has implemented workshops
for hundreds of students and parents in how to qualify for the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, how to obtain a Matricula Consular card
(an official identification document issued by the Mexican government), and
(with a coalition with the Pomona Day Labor Center) workshops on how to obtain a
California driver’s license. The partnership on k-12 and college pipeline issues
has led to: including family summits and some parents who have gone with us to
Sacramento to educate our representatives on bills to provide safe schools for
immigrant children and to ban the use of public funds to aid federal agents in
deportation actions, as well as other legislation to protect vulnerable students
and advance educational equity.
It is the character of the work of these multi-racial grass-roots coalitions in
both organizing and turning out the vote on a state, local, and national level
that have been the foundation for bringing to the forefront a national dialogue
that is now highlighting the contributions of undocumented immigrants – and how
much their labor is needed by the service, business, and agricultural
establishments.
With these conditions, it is more important than ever to advance the development
of cross-border alliances with movements in Mexico, Central America, Latin
America, Haiti, and globally — as part of our understanding that immigration
patterns will not significantly change because of domestic immigration policies
alone.
As part of these alliances, We have to fight to ensure the continuance of this
TPS program – defend the rights of these Central American families (some who
have been here for over twenty years – with children who have grown up in this
country and know no other country except this one).
It was refreshing – after Trump’s announcement on DACA to see how our coalitions
responded right here in Pomona with a press conference — in Los Angeles, D. C.,
New York, Phoenix – with students walking out in Denver – and colleges
supporting all over the nation – with the majority – people from all backgrounds
– workers, educators, political and business leaders standing up in support.
Again, we have to be careful of those politicians and organizations who are
willing to use DACA as a “bargaining chip” – and conciliate a tradeoff for
supporting Trump’s recent enforcement policy proposals that include funding more
funds for border enforcement, a crackdown on sanctuary cities, expansion of the
e-verify program, a decrease in the number of refugees allowed to enter, and
immediate removal of minors crossing into the U. S. from Central American
seeking asylum.
Overall, we need to continue to build multi-racial coalitions that collectively
carry out naturalization drives, voter registration, voter turn-out – and
education forums that can ensure the election of local, state, and federal
representatives who truly represent the interests and issues of our communities
– who will fight alongside our communities against immigration and refugee
policies that only focus on enforcement – and will fight for policies that will
immediately lead to permanent residency and citizenship – with no expansion of
temporary guest worker (bracero) programs and with labor law protections.
Finally, on the local level, in addition to our continued work for immigrant and
education rights, there is a need for a type of “community schools” or education
– that can utilize classes, forums, workshops, and clinics to train a leadership
– provide tools to new leaders in deepening their understanding – so that we can
build policy campaigns – and advance alternative solutions – to address the
structural foundations of a direction which is strategically using the media,
educational system, the new technologies, and the global means of communication
to confuse our communities – to divide us and to keep us from using our
potential political, social, and economic power. What would further strengthen
our efforts, in my view, is to build a new sector to our work that is a
Leadership School that unites us – and allows for the fullest use of our
resources in building the type of equal and just society that we all deserve to
live in.
*Note: Statistics primarily from “Reversing Inequality: Unleashing the
Transformative Potential of An Equitable Economy”by Chuck Collins, The Democracy
Colaborative and Next System Project, 2017.
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THE AGE OF TRUMP AND THE RISE OF AUTHORITARIANISM
I like the title of this conference, flirting with Fascism, because what is
happening in this country right now – has some vestiges of fascism – although
this is not a settled question. We still have democratic forms and some
democratic rights – that we must use to advance a more just and democratic
society. However, what are some of these vestiges?
There is a form of authoritarianism that has emerged where power is at the top –
decisions are made – and we feel powerless to do anything about it. This is an
authoritarianism that focuses on specific issues that raise emotions and have no
context other than to benefit those in power, the wealthy – confuse working
people – and divide our movements. This authoritarianism threatens what
vestiges are left of democratic institutions and social movements in our
society. The term democracy is thrown around and used by the Trump
administration and the alt-right to advance policies based on quantity of profit
over quality of life. There are many, such a Noam Chomsky – who I agree with –
that what is being promoted as democracy – is now presented in the realm of an
authoritarian top-down government and state – where we have a never-ending war,
more power being given to corporations, manipulation of the media, an increase
in repression, and policies of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. – to foment
division. These are blatant Policies that are aimed at blaming the problems in
the economy on immigrants, women, and working people – to blame the problems on
them – and advance an ideology that the problems will be solved if their power
is diminished, if they are incarcerated, kept from voting, and deported. This
authoritarianism lives off of the politics of resentment, alienation,
frustration, anger and fear. It is here especially – where the economic problems
of working people – who are angry at their conditions – are used, much like they
were used in Germany against Jewish people – to scapegoat and to dehumanize. It
involves power – controlling the power of the state and to violate all
principles in ensuring that power.
An emphasis on the quantity of profit over quality of life has led to what I
call a form of genocide to make sure that our potential power is scattered and
decapitated – through deregulating and allowing corporations to spew chemicals
in the air that result in more of us dying (particularly in people of color and
low-income communities); through the cutting of our health care; through
incarcerating us (we have more African Americans in jail now – than we had in
slavery) and keeping us from voting through gutting the voting rights act and
unjust gerrymandering – and of course through increased enforcement,
deportation, and limits on asylum of our immigrant young people, families, and
refugees. This authoritarianism is waging a war against our communities – and
particularly those who have been in the forefront of any gains made in civil,
human, and environmental rights in the last decades. This authoritarianism is
using deficits in the economy to cut Medicare, Medicaid, – to threaten social
security – and ensures that the power over the future of our health stays in the
hands of the profit-making health and drug industry.
We have the Alt-Right, the Bannons, the Rockford Institute, the neo-conservative
movements in this country who promote white supremacist,racial-nationalist and
neo-fascist ideologies — who push a deregulated free enterprise system, more
funding for the military, and stand against anything that promotes a system
based on equality. This is an authoritarianism that has allowed for the
privatization of our economy and institutions to run rampant – that has
resulted in more of our people in debt – and remaining on the margins – with the
result of creating a foundation of anger among working people – allowing for a
politics of scapegoating.
It is a form that, rather than advancing spaces and places of a more just and
equal world – is seeking to destroy our educational institutions, our unions –
our research and science – to foment a politics of individualism and ignorance
about global warming and the economy.
This authoritarianism promotes an unregulated economic system where corporations
rule – where the needs of our communities are put aside for the priorities of
profit-making interests – and advances a form of neoliberalism that places
emphasis on privatization and consumerism – with the outcome of destroying any
ideology that truly builds a collective community or engages in practices for
the collective good.
To combat this authoritarianism – we need a program that transforms power at the
top – that abolishes a structure that allows the wealthy, the corporations, and
businesses to manipulate the tax system in their favor; that reverses banking
concentration and supports a system of decentralized community accountable banks
and credit unions – that combats unjust gerrymandering, abolishes the electoral
college, moves toward a form of proportional representation and builds a social
movement in support of a living wage; health care with universal coverage;
accessibility for everyone to a quality education; a guaranteed basic income;
investment in pre-school, k-12, and higher education; public financing of
elections; and trade agreements that ensure environmental and labor standards.
Jose Zapata Calderon
Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Chicano/a and Latino/a Studies
1050 North Mills Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711-6101
(909) 952-1640
Jose_Calderon@pitzer.edu
Website: www.josezcalderon.com
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NO BAN, NO WALL RALLY VIDEO
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BEING ABLE TO ELECT CANDIDATES IS NOT ENOUGH
Pomona now is comprised entirely of Latino and Latina representatives on the
council. This is in a city that is 70% Latino, 10% Black, and 7% Asian Pacific
Islanders. While, on the one hand, this is historic – on the other, it does not
mean the interests of our communities will be fully represented. While it is
important to elect Latino/a candidates to positions where they can wield some
political power, there is also the necessity of our community-based
organizations ensuring that they will represent the issues that our communities
are most concerned about – and that these representatives truly represent the
needs of quality jobs, health care, education, environment, and community
development. In Pomona, although the council is now fully comprised of Latinos
and Latinas, there is the example of Ginna Escobar who voted against a
resolution opposing immigration raids, supporting the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, calling for imposing a moratorium on immigration raids, and
calling for all city employees to not collaborate in enforcing federal civil
immigration laws. Another Latina councilmember, Adriana Robledo, abstained on
the resolution. Hence, electing Latinos and Latinas to political positions does
not mean that they will represent the interests of our communities. It is a
step forward to register our people to vote and to get them to vote – but this
has to be coupled with collaborative educational efforts which focus on the
issues in our communities and what is in their interests. Otherwise, Latinos/as
can be elected that represent their own interests or those of power elites, such
as greedy developers, whose interests are in the quantity of profit and not in
the quality of life. It is important for our communities to continue to be
organized after the elections to ensure that the individuals that they elect are
held accountable – and use their growing power of the vote to vote them out when
they clearly are not representing the interests of our communities.
Nevertheless, the election of a new mayor, Tim Sandoval and new city
councilmembers Rubio Ramiro Gonzalez, Elizabeth Ontiveros-Cole, and Robert
Torres is historic. There was a time when, although the city had a majority of
Latino/a people in the city, there was little representation from this
community. Back in 1990, after law suits were filed by the Mexican American
Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Southwest Voter Registration Project,
Pomona residents voted to scrap citywide elections in favor of single-member
districts to bolster minority representation, to facilitate more direct
communication between the voters and their representatives, and to reduce the
costs of running for city council seats. The voters voted in this way, also to
stop the reality that, although Pomona had changed demographically to over 50%
in ethnic minorities in the city, only two members of racial or ethnic
minorities, up until 1986, had ever been elected to the council in the city’s
99-year history. Now, in recent years, we have seen the results of the voters’
decision in 1990 – as we have seen a diversity of city council candidates and
elected city council members – and for the first time an all-Latino/a city
council. At the same time – why this has been possible is that candidates have
been able to run from a district that they live in and not at-large. The
possibilities are stronger now, with strong community-based organizing, to have
candidates who are closer to the issues that represent the people that they vow
to represent, and that can be held accountable. This is the challenge in the
coming years in Pomona.
Jose Zapata Calderon
Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Chicano/a and Latino/a Studies
1050 North Mills Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711-6101
(909) 952-1640
Jose_Calderon@pitzer.edu
Website: www.josezcalderon.com
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DIA DE LOS MUERTOS EN CENTRO DE LABOR: ACORDANDO JORNALEROS
NOVIEMBRE 2, 2016 –
POR JOSE ZAPATA CALDERON
Me acuerdo de Gerardo, David, Don Luis –
Y todo los obstaculos que confrontaron —
El dolor que tenian en sus ultimos dias –
y verdaderamente –
Yo, como ustededs, no sabia que hacer.
Pero siempre – habia un sentimiento de
Sobrevivir todos obstaculos para hallar
Un espacio de unidad en este centro –
Que para todos de nosotros a venido a
Ser nuestro domicilio – nuestro santuario.
Gerardo, david, Don Luis apresiaban este centro con todo
Sus corazones – y lucharon por este centro
En las oficinas del concilio – En las juntas para asegurar
Que no lo cerraran.
En un tiempo – Gerardo, David, y Don Luis – eran parte de las juntas
De trabajadores – participaban con los estudiantes en los Encuentros
Y eran parte de varios proyectos con los estudiantes.
Me acuerdo que ellos se llenaba con tanta alegria cuando
Participaban con los proyectos de los estudiantes.
Ellos eran quienes somos – personas luchando para mejorar la vida –
Mientras que la ferocidad de la economia nos ataca en modos
Que ultimamente afecta nuestra salud.
Todo lo que tenemos – es uno a otros – y muchas veces
Yo se que este centro es mas que un espacio para buscar
Trabajo – Para Gerardo, David, Don Luis y muchos otros – a sido – amistad,
A sido un abrazo – a sido una fiesta cuando no hubiera navidad
O dia de gracia – a sido – y es lo que quiere decir familia.
Me duele mucho que no pude hacer mas para estos amigos –
Y a veces nos perdemos en tantas otras problemas – que nuestros
Amigos nos pasan – y a veces estamos ciegos –
Pero en lo ultimo – hacemos lo que podemos para sobrevivir –
Y nos acordamos unos a otros.
El acuerdo de Gerardo, David, Don Luis esta aqui en el centro – que continua
A sobrevivir por lo que contribuimos – y por lo que todos ustedes
Han contribuido y continuan a contribuir.
Yo se que Gerardo, david, y Don Luis quisieran que los acordaramos como los
estamos
Acrodando hoy – Y yo se que ellos quisieran que los acordaramos en
Continuar la lucha – para que otros no tengan que sufrir –
Y para que el inmigrante que a dado tanto de su sudor para esta nacion
Pueda algun dia recibir la justicia y igualdad que merece.
Nos acordamos de Gerardo, david, y Don Luis hoy – y nos cometemos a continuar
Lo que este es este espacio – un santuario – un abrazo – una amistad
Un Esfuerzo para el futuro – y mas de todo – una familia.
Gerardo, David, y Don Luis y todos Jornaleros que viven en nuestras memorias –
hoy y siempre – somos tu Familia.
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POMONA VALLEY HOSPITAL WORKERS SUPPORT STATEMENT
BY JOSE CALDERON
OCTOBER 19, 2016
I am here today, as President of the Latina and Latino Roundtable of the San
Gabriel and Pomona Valley, an Emeritus Professor at Pitzer College – and one who
has known about Pomona Valley Hospital and the high quality of work by the
service and technical workers – because I have been a patient here. I am here –
we are all here — to support these workers. We are calling on Pomona Valley
Hospital to show the same commitment to patients as the people who directly care
for them. What does this mean? It means respecting the workers’ decision to
unite in a union.
-As many of you know, I am a strong union and labor supporter and I have always
supported the workers at Pomona Valley Hospital. I was here in 2001 in support
of the nurses when the same tactics being used today were used against our
nurses. We won then – and we will win now! Recently, I was dismayed when Pomona
Valley Hospital Medical Center workers and community members informed me about
the recent union election at the hospital where Over 1,100 service and technical
workers won a union election in January to join SEIU-United Healthcare
Workers-West (SE-UHW).
-On the one hand, I was so glad to hear about the National Labor Relations Board
ruling that a majority of workers – that were eligible to vote at Pomona Valley
Hospital Medical Center – voted for the SEIU-UHW in a fair and democratic
election. This was a big victory” On the other, I was dismayed to learn that
the CEO decided to file “exceptions” with the NLRB’s Regional Director in order
to delay the NLRB from certifying the election results and, consequently,
preventing the workers from joining the Union. As many of you know, I come
from a long history of supporting the unionization efforts of the United Farm
Worker’s Union and I am well aware of how these types of tactics result in long
delays with the intention of outlasting the wish of the workers. It is my
strong view that Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center’s full attention and
resources should be focused on its patient care and not on legal tactics aimed
at delaying the SEIU-UHW from representing workers.
-In these critical times, it seems that Pomona Valley is more interested in
increasing executive pay than doing what is best for the staff and patients. The
CEO is paid $1.7 Million – which is far more than CEO’s who run larger
hospitals. And this – in Pomona where the median household income is $49,000 per
year.
-In light of this, – today – we call on the CEO and top management to work with
our service and technical workers – and not against them – to treat them with
dignity and respect with a contract that treats them fairly and recognizes their
contributions to quality care.
-Today, we call on Pomona Valley Hospital to stop using union-busting tactics
and sit down and negotiate a contract that helps the patients, our workers, and
our community. We know that when management and employees work together – the
patients win, our diverse communities win – we all win. Now is the time for
Pomona Valley Hospital management to honor the contributions of our workers here
in a win-win direction – in respecting their vote — that will continue to
sustain the best patient care – and ensure, in the long-term the retention and
attraction of the best staff. Brothers, and sisters – what do we want? A union
contract? When do we want it? Now.
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THEORY TO PRACTICE IN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
I have been deeply thinking about the meaning of the connections between theory
and practice, teaching and learning as it connects to our continued efforts to
connect the academic with pedagogy, research, and community-based organizing for
social change (see my book Lessons from an Activist Intellectual). Some recent
books which directly connect to this thinking include: On Intellectual Activism
by Patricia Hill Collins (which directly applies to my history of connecting the
issues of race, class, and gender to Public Sociology); Community Gardening as
Social Activism by Claire Nettle (which directly connects to my practice of
creating collective quality of life spaces as examples of the kind of
local/global world we can help create); Publicly Engaged Scholars by Margaret A.
Post, Elaine Ward, Nicholas V. Long, and John Saltmarsh Liberating Service
Learning by Randy Stoecker. The theories and practices in these books are
something that I would like to build on to help further the thinking,
scholarship, and practice of campus/community engagement for social change.
Indeed, the commonality of these works is that they are all seeking new and
visionary strategies for social change. All have in common a critique of service
learning models based on mere service, charity, or dependence. Patricia Hill
Collins focuses on two primary strategies. One that “speaks the truth to power”
which harnesses the power of ideas toward the specific goal of confronting
existing power relations” and a second strategy of speaking “the truth directly
to the people” – one that argues “that ordinary everyday people need truthful
ideas that will assist them in their everyday lives.” The others have in common
– how to move from diagnosing and theory to actual implementation of concrete
new models for social change. Both Liberating Service Learning and Publicly
Engaged Scholars critique the practices in academia that have a tendency to
implement a practice of market driven privatization. In Publicly Engaged
Scholars, the authors argue that “higher education became viewed as a private
benefit” where “education became part of the commodification of everything and
its larger democratic and social goals were either discarded or redefined in
market terms.” It included “relentless attachment to privatization and the
destruction of an ethical and relational public – undermining the civic
commitments of the movement.” Liberating Service Learning agrees with this
perspective that institutionalized service learning “feeds into neoliberalism by
promoting the belief that, since individuals all have assets, all they have to
do is mobilize those assets and they will be successful in life.” Lacking a
critique of the social structure, this perspective proposes that these types of
practices result in the destruction of collectivities and turns the “consumer
and person-turned-into-capital open to the … market persuaders that manufacture
reality in the quest for market share.” All these authors have the commonality
of which our work in connecting theory to practice should strive for: structural
social change and the creation of spaces and places where community-based
engagement is democratic, raises consciousness, builds collective leadership
alongside our diverse communities, and results in collective quality of life
outcomes.
–Jose–
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PRESENTATION BY JOSE ZAPATA CALDERON
NAACP—SPONSORED FORUM AND CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL IN SOLIDARITY WITH FAMILY AND
FRIENDS IN LOUISIANA AND MINNESOTA
MADEDONIA BAPTIST CHURCH IN POMONA, CA
JULY 8TH, 2016
We are all here, as we have gathered before, to reflect – and to continue our
work to stop the senseless violence in our communities. We cannot, for one
moment, put aside the conditions in this country – and those who use these
conditions to spread fear, hatred, negative stereotypes, and hostility. These
conditions include the state of the ECONOMY, growing demographic changes —
conditions that are forcing our diverse communities to compete, rather than
collaborate, for the diminishing resources in health, education, employment, and
quality of life. With an increasing global society — it is easy to scapegoat the
most vulnerable among us and create anger toward our increasingly diverse
communities.
We are all here today – remembering the lives of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and
Philando Castil in Minnesota – two African American men whose deaths once again
bring to light the issue – that more than 500 people have been killed by police
in 2016 – and that racial profiling and excessive use of force are on the
upswing.
We are also here to reflect on what happened in Dallas – and that a peaceful
demonstration was turned into a stage of violence – with the media tending to
blame “the Black Lives Matter” movement – when the violent acts were clearly
carried out by individuals who had nothing to do with this movement. As we have
said in the past, there is a foundation to the anger and frustration in our
communities – but it is important not to take this anger out on one’s self, or
on others (particularly those close to us in our communities) – but we need to
turn frustration into organizing to change the conditions which are creating our
anger.
It is no accident that we have an increase in hate crimes. When presidential
candidates, such as Trump use the frustration of working people with the economy
– to call for a ban on Muslims’ entry to the U. S. and targets Mexican and
Latino people – and influences public attitude with the help of the news media —
to call for the deportation of the eleven million undocumented — and force
Mexico to fund a wall to keep them out – there is a direction being promoted
here that targets specific groups as a threat to national security – and
influences public opinion – (with 25% approving of such policies as religious
profiling, surveillance, special ID’s, and incarceration).
There is no getting around the issues of poverty and race in our communities –
and the problems of crime, violence, substandard housing, unemployment, lack of
jobs, and environmental degradation. Mass deportations and mass incarcerations
have been expanding to unconscionable levels in recent years – leading to
separation of families – children left without parents – poverty, unemployment,
homelessness – in our communities. We do have to change the stereotypical media
portrayal of our Muslim and people of color communities. We do have to change
the reality of a renewed form of racial segregation, profiling, and
criminalization of our communities. We do have to take concrete steps such as
those proposed in a report by the Center for Popular Democracy and Policy Link
titled Building From the Ground Up: A Toolkit for Promoting Justice in Policing:
1. Stop criminalizing everything: de-prioritize enforcing and prosecuting
low-level offenses.
2. Stop using poor people to fatten city budgets.
3. Kick ICE out of your city. The report suggests that cities sever ties
between ICE and local police department. ICE should not be able to request
these holds. Nor should they have access to the address and names of family
members of people detained by local police.
4. Treat addicts and mentally ill people like they need help, not jail. Some
issue – like acting erratically due to mental illness or possessing and
using drugs due to addiction – are actually better served by medical
attention, not incarceration.
5. Make policy makers face their own racism. The report recommends that policy
makers should have to evaluate the potential racial impact of any new laws
they create, and involve community organizers and people who work with
disadvantaged population in every step of the process.
6. Actually ban racist policing. But at the very least, cities, counties and
states should provide avenues through which private citizens can take the
police to court when they believe they’ve been profiled.
7. Obey the Fourth Amendment – prohibiting “unreasonable searches and
seizures.”
8. Involve the community in big decisions. Every city should have an
adequately funded community oversight board with significant investigatory
and disciplinary powers.
9. Collect data obsessively. The report says that cities and departments
should maintain a transparent and searchable database on every stop, frisk,
summons, use of force, arrest, and killing they conduct.
10. Body cameras. Body cameras are far from the solution. But they can be
important and helpful, especially when the local community supports their
use, guided by clear regulations.
11. Don’t let friends of the police prosecute the police. Cases against police
officers would be tried by independent prosecutors, not the district
attorney who works with them all the time.
12. Oversight, oversight, oversight. The report proposes external oversight
committees – ones that oversee the implementation of reforms and
proactively identify issues in police operations and practices.
13. No more military equipment. President Barack Obama did recently issue and
executive order prohibiting police departments from obtaining specific
equipment – namely tracked armored vehicles, grenade launcher, large
caliber weapons, ammunition, and bayonets.
14. Establish a “use of force” standard. The report says that all departments
should issue a statement affirming that their officers should use minimum
force to subdue people. They should develop clear and transparent standards
for reporting, investigating, and disciplining officers who do not comply.
15. Train the police to be members of the community, not just armed patrolmen.
Police should be trained on how to develop better relationships with their
communities – training that incorporates culture, diversity, mental illness
training, youth development, bias, and racism.
Brothers and sisters – it is time to build a movement to not take our
frustrations, conditions, and fears on oneself – or take it out on our friends,
families, and neighbors – but to use our energies and abilities to build unity
in our communities – to fight for legislative actions (at the local, state, and
national levels) that directly address racial profiling, excessive use of
enforcement – without addressing the foundations. With so many problems being
faced by our society, there is the need for coalitions to develop between all of
us — in advancing a leadership that combats prejudice, racism, sexism, and
homophobia — and builds our unity in advancing solutions to the structural
issues of racism, poverty, and inequality in our communities.
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2016 INTERVIEW – ASA SPEAKS WITH RETIRED SOCIOLOGIST JOSE CALDERON
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UNA LUCHA POR LA JUSTICIA
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