Curriculum English FINAL.indd - Build the Wheel [PDF]

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Welcome, Introduction, Review Goals 10 min

workshop

THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTH BAY

WE ARE RESIDENTS OF SAN JOSE!

The Lifeboat Excercise 15 min

OVERVIEW

THE GOALS OF THIS WORKSHOP ARE TO: • Present an overview of the South Bay’s social, political and economic history • Discuss and understand how this history influences the current reality of the South Bay as well as efforts to bring about social change in the region

The People’s History of the South Bay 130 min

• Highlight the important class, race and gender dynamics that impact the region’s development • Understand the important government policies and corporate practices that impacted the development of the region and the lives of people living here • Present an interpretation of history that captures the interactive relationship between exploitation and resistance to exploitation

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Circle of Unity 10 min

workshop 3 | We Are Residents of San Jose

Uncovering Who We Are: Political Education for Latina Women Leaders

WORKSHOP MENU TOTAL TIME: 3 HOURS 10 minutes

Welcome, Introduction to Workshop, Review Goals

15 minutes

Icebreaker Activity: The Lifeboat Excercise

130 minutes

Play: The People’s History of the South Bay Actual Skit: 80 minutes Discussion: 50 minutes

10 minutes

Closing: Circle of Unity Don’t forget to include a 10 minute Break somewhere in your agenda! Inserting the break halfway through the play is highly recommended, due to its length.

APPENDICES Appendix A: Script for People’s History of the South Bay Appendix B: Character Identification Signs Appendix C: Character Index Cards Appendix D: Handout for Participants

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Welcome, Introduction, Review Goals 10 min

ICEBREAKER ACTIVITY

THE LIFEBOAT EXCERCISE Why Do It?

• Get participants moving around • Get people thinking about their personal connections to the South Bay

Time Materials

15 minutes • A loud bell, whistle or voice • Sheet for facilitator with the following questions: The Lifeboat Excercise 15 min

Question #1: “How long have you lived in San Jose?” Question #2: “What neighborhood do you live in?” Question #3: “What other nationalities/ethnicities live on your block?” Question #4: “Who was the first member of your family to move here?” “When was that?” Directions

1. Ask participants to stand up. Inform them that we are all currently passengers aboard the Titanic. We have just learned that the ship is sinking. To survive, everybody needs to get in a lifeboat. There is only space for 5 The People’s History of the South Bay 130 min

people in each lifeboat. (The initial number can vary.) 2. Upon the (ringing of the bell/blowing of the whistle/yelling “Go!”) participants must quickly form circles of 5. If a lifeboat has more or less people, it will be declared “sunk.” Once groups have formed, read out Question #1 and ask them to discuss. (The threat of sinking is more threat than reality – it’s meant to motivate people to action. There is no need to actually enforce it!) 3. Let two minutes pass and then ring the bell. As soon as you get people’s attention, inform them that the lifeboats now only have space for 4 people each! People must form new lifeboats. These must be with all new people – if any of their old lifeboat mates are on board, their lifeboat sinks! Read Question #2. 4. Let two minutes pass and then ring the bell. Repeat last step – with lifeboats of 3. Read out Question #3.

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Circle of Unity 10 min

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5. Repeat with lifeboats of 2. Read out Question #4. Source

Adapted from Técnicas participativas para la educación popular. Laura Vargas Vargas y Graciela Bustillos de Nuñez. ALFORJA.

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Welcome, Introduction, Review Goals 10 min

PLAY

THE PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE SOUTH BAY Why Do It?

• Track the arrival and history of different immigrant communities to the area • Highlight the key role government subsidies have played in picking and grooming the industries that developed the South Bay (mining, agriculture, canneries, defense & electronics, and high-tech) • Outline the environmental injustices that have accompanied the development The Lifeboat Excercise 15 min

of these industries; outline how intentional policies and mechanisms have determined the winners and losers of this development • Highlight the histories and methods of resistance utilized by communities impacted by these injustices Time

130 minutes (Skit: 80 minutes; Debrief: 50 minutes)

Facilitator Prep

This skit requires thorough review and rehearsal of the script by the 3 main characters. The facilitation team should put aside ample time to prepare The People’s History of the South Bay 130 min

prior to running this training. (Script is attached as Appendix A.) Materials

For the Play: • Simple props to identify all the characters (examples listed in script – Appendix A) • Signs to identify the characters played by audience members (Appendix B). You should photocopy these and clip them around characters’ necks with string. • Index cards with scripts for characters played by audience members (Appendix C) • Handout for participants (Appendix D) For Discussion pieces: • Butcher Paper 1 divided vertically with two headings: a) Government/ Corporate Values & Interests and b) People’s Values & Interests • Markers + extra butcher paper

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Circle of Unity 10 min

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Directions 5 minutes

1. One of the staff members who will be leading the activity should explain that folks are about to participate in a play that will review the history of San Jose and the South Bay. Three of the facilitators are going to play the lead

Main staff roles: 1) Narrator 2) Uncle Sam 3) Businessman

characters, but almost all participants will be asked to assume a character at some point. Inform folks that the play runs for over an hour and that a break will be taken mid-way (or whenever you have scheduled it). Hand out Appendix D and explain that they should use it as a visual aid for the stories they are about to hear. Let folks know that a Narrator will be our guide through the play and introduce your fellow facilitator who will play the role of Narrator. Turn it over to the Narrator.

75 minutes

2. Go through the play (Script – Appendix A).

50 minutes

3. As an initial debrief, spend 15 minutes asking people to share their immediate reactions to the play. Possible questions: • What struck you most about the play? • Did you relate to any situation or community depicted in the play? If so, how and why? • Give examples of similar situations you have lived through. • Is some of this stuff still going on? Where? How? • How did the play make you feel? • Did you learn something new? How did it affect you? 4. Divide participants into groups of four. Unveil Butcher Paper 1 with the two headings: a) Government/Corporate Values & Interests and b) People’s Values & Interests. Ask people in their small groups to brainstorm the values and interests they associate with corporations and government. Then ask them to brainstorm the values and interests they associate with regular, everyday people – the communities depicted in the play.

Facilitator’s Note

Keep Butcher Paper 1! Butcher Paper 1 will be reused in the globalization training. 5. As a large group share observations made during the brainstorm. Facilitator should record the groups’ answers on Butcher Paper 1.

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Welcome, Introduction, Review Goals 10 min

6. Ask: “How would you put the People’s values and interests into action?” Record these answers on butcher paper as well. Facilitator’s Note

Important point to highlight! Political struggle is what defines the government’s values and interests. We often have a static perception of the government’s values and interests – as one and the same as those of capitalists/corporations/the powerful. Our current perception is based on the fact that corporations are very powerful and are winning many political struggles. Yet history and international examples show that the people, when well organized, do exert power and can determine the values and interests of government, whether by directly controlling it or exerting influence through civil society. (It is useful to give familiar examples, like the civil rights movement in the U.S., Cuba, South

The Lifeboat Excercise 15 min

Africa and Venezuela.) This can lead to fertile discussion and may serve as a good prelude to brainstorming ways of putting the people’s values into action. 7. Wrap-up by reviewing the key teaching points of the play. Key summary points: • The hard work of immigrant communities built up the South Bay and is responsible for the bulk of the wealth that exists there, even if those

The People’s History of the South Bay 130 min

communities haven’t reaped those profits. • At different moments in time, the government intentionally subsidized key industries – it selected the industries it wanted to grow to help its own interests and put billions of dollars towards ensuring their success. These choices (not simply the “brilliance” and “perseverance” of capitalist innovators) boosted development in the South Bay and helped shape its outcome. Big business thrived and profited thanks to this collaboration with government. “Corporate Welfare” built the South Bay. • Government also implemented very deliberate policies and mechanisms that determined who would benefit and who would lose from this development. (Examples: immigration and race policy; labor law enforcement, allowing for sexist practices) • Resistance from oppressed communities has informed the destiny and development of the South Bay as well. The tension between conflicting social forces (bosses vs. workers, whites vs. people of color and immigrants)

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Circle of Unity 10 min

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Uncovering Who We Are: Political Education for Latina Women Leaders

and how these conflicts are resolved (or not) plays a central role in determining history. • Different waves of immigrants, despite coming from different places and at different time periods, have faced similar conditions and discrimination upon arrival to the area.

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Welcome, Introduction, Review Goals 10 min

CLOSING

CIRCLE OF UNITY Why Do It?

• End with a collective sense of reflection

Time

10 minutes

Materials

None

Directions

1. Ask participants to form a circle. Thank folks for participating in the skit The Lifeboat Excercise 15 min

and discussion. Remind them of the power that comes from moving beyond divide-and-conquer mentalities so as to build unity across many communities. 2. Ask everyone to reflect for a minute about the different communities’ stories present in the skit. 3. Have folks go around the room and state which community or nationality they learned the most about today, or which one story impacted them the most. Folks shouldn’t give an explanation for their choice; they should simply

The People’s History of the South Bay 130 min

name the community. 4. Ask folks to carry this sense of solidarity and empathy home with them, and to remember that in unity there is strength.

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Circle of Unity 10 min

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Uncovering Who We Are: Political Education for Latina Women Leaders

APPENDIX A

SCRIPT FOR THE PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE SOUTH BAY A huge thank you is due to David Naguib Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park, whose book The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy serves as the foundation and main source for this script.

WRITTEN BY MATEO NUBE

KEY CHARACTERS Played by facilitators

Possible Props

Main narrator

None

Uncle Sam

U.S. flag adorned hat, shirt or pants

Mr. Big Business

Top hat

Played by participants Ohlone person

Seashell necklace

Chinese miner

Helmet

Chinese farmer

Small Hoe

Mexican bracero

Basket with oranges

Cannery worker

Basket with cans of veggies

Anglo migrant from Oklahoma

Straw hat

Latino civil rights activist

¡Sí se puede! picket sign

Vietnamese electronics worker

Computer circuit board

Lorraine Ross (SVTC activist)

Justice now! picket sign

Indian engineer

Computer keyboard

Tenant activist

Housing is a human right! picket sign

General Notes on the script format • (Parenthesis) indicate acting and facilitating instructions for trainers • Italics indicate extra emphasis for that piece of script

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INTRODUCTION Narrator: Today we are going to look at the history of the area we live in – San Jose, the South Bay – also know as the Silicon Valley. I know we are here because we want to fix problems that are affecting our neighborhoods, families and communities. The poverty and pollution that is concentrated in our neighborhoods isn’t getting any better. Part of the answer to fixing these problems includes figuring out how the region got to look this way in the first place. The South Bay didn’t just happen to grow like this by chance or destiny. (Pause) It’s the result of government decisions – government policies – about really important issues. It’s also influenced by the industries that made the South Bay their home. Government and industry play a key role in determining what kind of jobs developed here, who could get those jobs, and the quality of these jobs, for example. And we all know that the issue of jobs is what brings many people to this area in the first place. So we are going to look at how three players affect and have affected the development of the South Bay over time: first the Government; then, Industry (also known as Big Business or Capitalists); and last but not least, the People who have made the South Bay their home – most of whom are immigrants. To do this we’re going to run through a storytelling activity – a little bit like a play – where we will meet each of these characters. I’m going to play the role of the Narrator. My co-facilitator is going to play the role of the U.S. government, who we’ll call Uncle Sam. (Trainer 1 puts on Uncle Sam hat). And my other co-facilitator is going to play the role of Mr. Big Business (Trainer 2 puts on the top hat). And since many communities have made this area their home over the last 100 years, we are going to have various characters represent the people of the South Bay. We are going to ask you all to help us by taking “people” roles throughout the story. So let’s begin! Uncle Sam arrived about 150 years ago, when he annexed California in 1848, but the story of this region actually began a long time before that.

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timeline

13000 b.c. First peoples arrive in California.

500 ad Ohlone settle in the San Francisco Bay Area.

late 1700’s Spanish colonists arrive in California.

FIRST NATIONS Narrator: The truth is that prior to Uncle Sam’s arrival in California, other people were already living here. It’s estimated that over 300,000 indigenous people lived in California at the turn of the 18th century – there were almost 100 distinct languages spoken by these nations across the state.1 These Native Americans had been living here for roughly 15,000 years prior to the arrival of Spaniards or Anglo-Americans! The people who populated the area we now call San Jose and the South Bay were the Ohlone people. (Give the Ohlone prop to an audience member.) Do you know anything about the Ohlone way of life at the time? (If they don’t, give a few brief examples.) • The Ohlone people had fixed village locations, but would move temporarily to FACT: It’s estimated that over 300,000 indigenous people lived in California at the turn of the 18th century – there were almost 100 distinct languages spoken by these nations across the state.

gather seasonal foodstuffs like acorns and berries. Seafood was important to their diet. • An estimated 10,000 Ohlone people lived in the central California coastal areas between Big Sur and the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay prior to Spanish contact. • This group consisted of small tribelets ranging in size from 100-250 members. Unlike many other Native American ethnic groups, the tribelets did not have a common sense of identity and did not act jointly. • They created beautiful woven baskets.2 • The Ohlone worked and operated the land communally.

Uncle Sam: Now, I knew that it wouldn’t look very good for me to come in and displace the people who were already living here, even though that’s what I wanted to do. We wanted all of this land and the riches that came with it! So we FACT: The Spanish killed 1/2 of the native population between 1780 & 1845.

devised a strategy: first, we called this area a “wilderness” and pretended to

In 1848, the indigenous population of CA was about 170,000. By 1868, the U.S. conquest had reduced it down to 50,000.

books and popular culture. (You can ask audience for examples if you find it

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the world that few, if any, people lived here. We certainly didn’t acknowledge that many thriving peoples were already present in this area. We were so successful that the mythical “Wild, Wild West” lives on today in movies, useful.) Then, we referred to those “few people” present as “heathens” who were amazingly violent – this made it easier to attack and kill them when we needed to. Pretty smart thinking, wouldn’t you say? The truth is that I

timeline

1820’s Mexico, which includes California, gains independence from Spain.

1846-1848 U.S. invades Mexico and seizes over half of Mexico, including California.

learned this tactic from the Spanish conquistadores who were here before me. Narrator: The Spanish conquest reduced the native population of California substantially from the 1780’s to the mid 19th century. Even so, Uncle Sam managed to kill over 100,000 indigenous people in 20 years. He annexed FACT: There were 4000 Ohlone in Santa Clara County in 1848. By 1868, only 100 were left.

California in 1848. In the next 20 years – the height of the Gold Rush – the U.S. government disappeared 2/3 of all native peoples. In this area – Santa Clara County – there were 4000 Ohlone in 1848. By 1868, there were only 100 Ohlone people left!3 (As the narrator, feel free to use some, none or all of these statistics – they’re here to aid your story, not to overwhelm it.)

Uncle Sam: Oh come on now! Some of these first people were killed directly by my Anglo troops and the Anglo immigrants that followed me out here, but many others were killed by diseases brought by new immigrants. Don’t try to blame me for all of this! My government took the land belonging to the Ohlone in the South Bay because they didn’t know how to use it properly and we granted it to Anglos who had the common sense of working the land to produce a profit from it. These immigrants had the motivation and the wherewithal to be true entrepreneurs – they arrived here looking to get rich from the Gold Rush. Some of those immigrants did just that! (Gesture to our friend – Mr. Big Business.) I was just helping those who were interested in helping themselves. Narrator: By granting certain communities the right to own and seize land, and by taking it away from others (or preventing others from owning it at all), the government (gesture to Uncle Sam) was determining who would benefit and who would lose out in the future development of the South Bay. As is probably the case in your home countries as well, the issue of land and who controls it often determines who gets to make the rules and who ends up having to obey other people’s rules. It might help us to hear what an Ohlone from that time period might have to say about these matters. (Hand Ohlone index card and prop to a participant and ask her to read it out loud.)

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timeline

1847 New Almaden Mine opens in San Jose

1849 Gold Rush begins

OHLONE - INDEX CARD #1 We are the original inhabitants of this land – we have a long tradition of living in harmony with it. It feeds us and clothes us. When the white settlers arrived we were surprised by their lack of respect for nature and the wisdom she imparts. Yet we figured that they would pick up some of our knowledge over time. The white man, however, never made an effort to get to know us – they attacked us violently instead. We defended ourselves with dignity and fought back for many decades.

D E.J. IMPACT: Land was stolen from the Ohlone and all first peoples of CA. Land that had been held communally became land for profit held in private hands.

We courageously resisted their attacks and worked hard to protect our culture, language and lifestyle. We may be few in numbers these days, but our lifestyle still stands strong amongst our descendants.

Narrator: The fact is that genocide and popular resistance to this genocide left a lasting mark on the development of California and the South Bay.

FROM THE GOLD RUSH TO THE BIRTH OF AGRIBUSINESS Narrator: The California Gold Rush began in 1848 and lasted for about 10 years. The Gold Rush sparked world-wide interest and a huge migration of men into Northern California. It also created significant development and growth in the area. San Francisco grew exponentially as a result of the Gold Rush. So another big myth about California surrounds this Gold Rush. It is often said and repeated that thousands of adventurous individuals came out to FACT: Legend has it that many thousands of individuals came to CA to look for gold and became rich. In fact, U.S. and British owned mining corporations – not individuals - demanded and received land claims to the mines in California.

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the state, looked for gold on their own, and became filthy rich. That’s what Uncle Sam said a few minutes ago. The truth is a bit different. A lot of people did move here – and I’ll tell you about them in a second – but almost all of them ended up working for him (point to Mr. Big Business) – big, private corporations. The U.S. and England owned mining corporations that demanded and received land claims to the mines in California. Those who took most of the profit – the company owners - never even stuck their bare hands into a mining shaft.

Mr. Big Business: Let me clear this up! Our contribution to the construction of California and the South Bay was immense – we brought with us this firm belief in FACT: The Gold Rush created a labor shortage in CA - Big Business lobbied the government to open immigration for Chinese workers and by 1860, 10% of California’s population was Chinese (all men) – they made up 25% of the workforce.

the rights of private ownership. In the 1850’s the land in San Jose was organized into communal land known as ejidos – that’s a term you all still use back in your homeland, I believe. Anyway, we quickly convinced the government to sell off that land to private landholders. Naturally, those owners could only be Anglo businessmen like me.4 A lot of people did come out to work for us – 300,000 Anglos, mostly men, came out between 1848 & 1868.5 Heck, we created lots and lots of jobs! But we needed even more workers. (Speak directly to Uncle Sam) Can you get me more workers? I need them kind of fast.

Uncle Sam: No problem! How about we open the borders to men from China? I’ll send some merchant ships right now, to pick up some new cheap labor. Narrator: So Mr. Big Business lobbied the government to open immigration for Chinese workers and by 1860, 10% of California’s population was Chinese (all men). They made up 25% of the workforce.6 (Give the Chinese miner prop to an audience member.) (To audience) What do you know about Chinese immigrants at the time? (If there are no answers, give a few brief examples.) • The first Chinese arrived in the United States around 1820. The major initial wave of Chinese immigrants started around the 1850’s, due to the California Gold Rush. At that time, southern China was suffering from severe political and economic instability due to the weakness of the Qing Dynasty government, internal rebellions such as the Taiping Rebellion, and external pressures such as the Opium Wars. • Many Chinese emigrated from the poor Toisanese- and Cantonese-speaking area in Guangdong province to the U.S. in order to work on the railroads. They endured such poor living conditions in their homeland that many were willing to sign up for prepaid long-term labor contracts to work in the U.S. It is estimated that over half of these early immigrants were from Taishan.7 Narrator: San Jose became a key location for the gold rush because the biggest mercury (quicksilver) mine in the Western Hemisphere was discovered 12

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miles outside of town. Mercury is a central ingredient for gold and silver extraction. Mr. Big Business: Soon, we had almost 2000 workers digging for mercury in the Almaden mine.8 All the gold mines depended on us for mercury. San Jose grew and grew due to this development. As the bosses, we came up with an ingenious way to distract workers from the

D E.J. IMPACT: The biggest mercury (quicksilver) mine in the Western Hemisphere –the New Almaden mine – was located in San Jose. Mercury causes serious damage to the nervous system and causes fatal illnesses. Many of the miners – mostly workers of color– suffered terribly and died due to exposure.

fact that we were walking away with most of the profits. We decided to pay the Anglo workers at the Almaden mine $5-7 a day and gave them the easier work. The Mexican, Chinese and Native American workers were only paid $2-3 dollars a day and had to do the dirtiest and most dangerous work.9 I gave them (move towards Ohlone and Chinese characters and pat them on the back) the hardest work and paid them the least. The white workers were glad not to be doing the hardest work and the rest were resentful that the whites got it better. Often the whites even accused the other workers of working for less and blamed them for “bringing down wages.” By promoting these racial divisions, they paid less attention to us! Owners did the same thing all over the state.10 This technique of promoting racial divisions in the workplace is so effective that we still use it today!

Narrator: (To audience) Have any of you observed such dynamics in your workplaces? I wonder if he (gesturing towards the Chinese miner) has anything to say? (Hand Chinese miner index card to participant and ask her to read it aloud.)

CHINESE MINER – INDEX CARD #2 D E.J. IMPACT: Currently, the Guadalupe River - on which the city of San Jose was founded in 1777 – happens to be the most mercury contaminated river basin in the U.S. Poor people of color, especially Vietnamese, still fish there out of necessity.

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Do any of you know what working with mercury is like? The truth is that it’s super-toxic. It causes serious damage to your nervous system and causes fatal illnesses. Many of the miners – workers of color mostly – suffered terribly and died due to exposure. And possibly worse – mercury pulled out of mines and mercury used in gold mining was poured and dumped directly into streams and rivers. Mercury kills fisheries, affects entire ecosystems and accumulates up the food chain – if you eat fish and shellfish, you’re eating all of the mercury that’s polluted their bodies!

timeline

1862-1869 First transcontinental railroad built.

1882-1883 Other links to transcontinental railroad completed.

Narrator: 75% of the people who still fish in the Bay today are people of color – Laotians, African-Americans and Vietnamese. They are poisoning themselves by ingesting mercury dumped into the Bay 150 years ago.11 They do this

D E.J. IMPACT: Anglo workers at the Almaden mine were paid $5-7 a day. The Mexican, Chinese and Native American workers were only paid $2-3 dollars a day and had to do the dirtiest and most dangerous work.

because they do not have enough money to afford food. By the way, the Guadalupe River which runs near your neighborhoods – the river on which the city of San Jose was founded in 1777 – happens to be the most mercury contaminated river basin in the U.S.12 (Uncle Sam interrupts abruptly.)

Uncle Sam: Where’s this guy from – communist Cuba or something? (Gesture towards Narrator.) Dude, we live in a capitalist society. Hello! We are a capitalist country through-and-through. The right to make a profit is more important than taking care of nature or guaranteeing workers’ health. Get with the program! (Narrator jumps back in.) Narrator: More often than not, the people who suffered the consequences were the poor, non-whites and immigrants. The truth is Uncle Sam and Mr. Big Business chose to ignore sustainable farming, mining and hunting habits implemented for many years here by the Ohlone and Mexican people – simply because they wanted to become wealthier and more powerful. Mr. Big Business: (Speaking directly to Uncle Sam) Dude, we need an effective and quick way to move our goods, like gold, across the country. That would guarantee us the big, big profits we businessmen are seeking. Will you build us a railroad that cuts straight across the country? We need it kind of fast. Uncle Sam: No problem! I’ll see to it – and I’ll make sure we’ve got some cheap labor available to cut down the costs. Narrator: One of the big projects at the time ended up being the construction of this transcontinental railroad. Many of the Chinese men who came to the U.S. looking for work during the Gold Rush (gesture towards Chinese immigrant) ended up building this railroad. They were treated just like black slaves in the South were treated – working these men to the bone until they collapsed.

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timeline

1882 Chinese Exclusion Act passed – denies citizenship for Chinese immigrants and suspends entry of Chinese immigrants.

1890’s Agribusiness takes off. The South Bay & Central Valley become the “breadbasket of the U.S.”

Mr. Big Business: Hey, in the end, we built our railroad. Think about how much that did to change the lives of everyone. Once we built it, we realized that there was another opportunity waiting to be exploited by us: agriculture. Santa Clara County and much of central California was prime agricultural land. With the railroad, we were suddenly able to access all U.S. markets with our fruits. So corporations seized even more land in this area and began farming the land like crazy – peaches, oranges, grapes, and strawberries were some of the many crops we grew. Again, we needed lots of workers to get this done. Narrator: Since white miners and railroad workers had become so hostile and violent towards Chinese workers, many of these Chinese men fled to places like San Jose and became cheap labor in agricultural fields.13 (Give Chinese D E.J. IMPACT:

immigrant the fruit sack.) White workers however, didn’t stop their

San Jose’s Chinatown is burned down twice by angry whites between 1870 & 1895. Racism causes many to lose their homes.

harassment of Chinese people - the racist sentiment promoted in the mines was so successful that San Jose’s Chinatown was burned down twice by angry whites between 1870 and 1895.14 For the next half century, agriculture became the king of the South Bay. This area became the source of fresh food for people across the country. Farming and canneries became the next big business venture for Mr. Big Business. As I mentioned a minute ago, some of the communities that worked as agricultural hired hands in this area at the time were Asian. Japanese and Chinese laborers, for example, settled in what in now known as Alviso.15 Let’s ask one of them to tell us what their experience was like at the time. (Give Chinese farm worker index card and ask her to read it aloud.)

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timeline

1890’s Del Monte – the first agribusiness multinational – is founded in the Bay Area. Canneries take off a few decades later.

CHINESE FARMER – VERY EARLY 1900’s - INDEX CARD #3 We have been living in this country for many decades yet the boss treats us like we are animals. We got tired of all the racism and exploitation and decided to demand respect and better treatment. We went on strike, demanded better wages and began buying little plots of land to cultivate on our own. We realized that through mutual aid and organization we could improve the reality we were facing.

Mr. Big Business: Obviously, this situation wasn’t to our liking. (Turn to Uncle Sam.) Uncle Sam, this resistance is hurting our profits! Can you do something about it? Uncle Sam: I’ll be more than happy to help you! Anybody that hurts the creation of profits is hurting the progress of this country! I have various methods through which we can control your workforce. (Turn to audience.) At the

D E.J. IMPACT: Along with the Chinese Exclusion Act, laws were passed in the early 1900’s barring non-citizens from owning land to farm.

time, we helped Mr. Big Business by passing two laws in the early 1900’s – one of them prohibited non-citizens from buying land for farming, the other restricted immigration from Asia and limited the rights of Asian immigrants, a lot like Prop. 187 did against Latinos just 10 years ago.16

Narrator: In other words, politicians and the government passed laws that helped determine who would come out on top and who would come out on the bottom in the new California that was forming… Uncle Sam: Stop interrupting! The other way we helped him was by encouraging migration from other places. Our logic was that new immigrants, often children and women who didn’t speak any English, would be the easiest workers to control. Mr. Big Business: So we got Uncle Sam to crack down on the historic Asian communities who had been here for over 50-75 years and I started hiring Mexican, Filipino and Southern European workers. Later on in the century, the government actually created a special program that brought thousands of Mexicans into the fields – it was called the Bracero program. Narrator: (Introduce a Mexican farm worker – give her a fruit sack.) Have any of you heard of the Bracero program? Can you tell me what it was like? Do you know people who participated in the Bracero program? Someone in your family?

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timeline

1910’s More laws target immigrant activists – many labor organizers are deported; new restrictions are placed on Asian immigrants.

1928-1938 Great Depression strikes U.S. – massive poverty leads to mass organizing across the country.

(Give Mexican farm worker index card and ask her to read it aloud)

MEXICAN BRACERO – INDEX CARD #4 The program allowed only men to come work here but did not grant them any labor rights. Bosses could send us back to Mexico at their D E.J. IMPACT:

convenience. In many ways we were indentured servants.

Pesticide use also became the norm in the fields in the 1940’s – on average 1,000 farm workers died and 300,000 took ill nationally each year!

Pesticide use also became the norm in the fields in the 1940’s, just as the Bracero program started. On average 1000 farm workers died and 300,000 took ill in the U.S. each year! Pesticides have led to very high rates of cancer, infertility, and defective births amongst farm workers and their families. Many of the chemicals in pesticides remain in the soil for decades and have long-term damaging effects on the environment.

Narrator: Meanwhile, technological breakthroughs in food conservation and the birth of supermarkets beginning in the 1930’s led to the explosion of another industry: cannery work. Given that the agricultural fields surrounding the South Bay were producing much of the food for U.S. markets, dozens and dozens of canneries sprouted up in the area.

FACT: 90% of those hired to work in the new canneries were foreign-born. Some were as young as 12 – almost all were women.

90% of the workers hired to work in the new canneries were foreign-born. Some were as young as 12 – almost all were women. (Ask the audience.) Why do you think the bosses and government favored hiring new immigrants who were women and children? What was their logic? (Possible answers: Stereotypes about manual dexterity, submissiveness, lower wages for women, language barriers and continuation of divide and conquer approach.) Well, let’s meet a cannery worker and hear her perspective. (Give first index card to cannery worker and ask her to read it aloud.)

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timeline

1930’s Severe drought wreaks havoc for small farmers in the Mid-West. Many Anglos lose their land and migrate West.

CANNERY WORKER – INDEX CARD #5A In our workplaces they wouldn’t give us breaks to go to the bathroom… sometimes they didn’t even have bathrooms! They wouldn’t even supply drinking water and would force us to work bent over for hours at a time. There also was a lot of sexual harassment. They would make us work FACT: Canneries became the industry with the highest workplace injury rate of any manufacturing industry in the country.

faster and faster with very dangerous machinery. Many of my co-workers lost fingers, damaged tendons and suffered serious psychological trauma due to these conditions. And since the pay was very low, many women were forced to bring their young daughters in to work to make ends meet and avoid going hungry.

Narrator: Uncle Sam obviously turned a blind eye to this reality, even as the canneries became the industry with the highest workplace injury rate of any manufacturing industry in the country!17 Uncle Sam: Well, given a choice between protecting immigrant families and my friend here (gesture to Mr. Big Business), the choice was obvious… …(hugging Mr. Big Business) I also helped Mr. Big Business by finding new markets for him and being his biggest client. In the 1920’s and 30’s the U.S. government sent food aid to Europe as a result of World War I. This guaranteed profits and demand for my friend here. Narrator: This policy continued throughout the century. Have you all heard of the company Del Monte? Of course you have. They were the first brand food company in the world and the first global agribusiness company. They FACT: The U.S. govt. became the biggest client of the canneries - in the 1940’s, for example, 50% of Del Monte’s canned goods were purchased by the military for the war effort overseas.

started in Oakland and controlled many of the canneries in the area. Their biggest client has historically been the U.S. military. In the 1940’s, for example, 50% of their canned goods were purchased by the military for the war effort overseas.18 But that’s enough statistics … (speaking directly to Cannery worker) … the situation you described a moment ago was pretty dire. What else can you tell us about that situation? (Give second index card to cannery worker and ask her to read it aloud.) workshop 3 | We Are Residents of San Jose

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timeline

1910-1945 Huge migration of African-Americans – 1 million leave the South for the North and West. Many migrate to work in the shipyards of the Bay Area in Richmond, Oakland and S.F. Very few settle in the South Bay.

FACT: Canneries used to be where the Washington neighborhood of San Jose is now. It still is a predominantly poor Latino neighborhood.

1942-1964 Bracero Program brings millions of “guest” workers into the U.S. Most go to work in Central Valley of California.

CANNERY WORKER – INDEX CARD #5B The boss made a mistake when he assumed that we would remain silent in the face of such abuse. We quickly formed unions in our workplaces. We soon realized that all of us – the American women, the Portuguese women, the Mexican women – we all shared the same concerns. We became more than friends – we became sisters in the struggle to bring about justice. You must remember, there was a huge economic crisis at that time in this country, the Great Depression. Unionists of all walks of life, we joined together and formed a nation-wide movement demanding fair living standards for all. We accomplished a lot through these struggles: we won the 8-hour workday, the minimum wage, an end to child labor in factories, social security, unemployment benefits and the right to rest on weekends. All that was won by the working class – immigrant and American-born alike. The government and the bosses took notice and realized that well organized people can actually change the world.

Narrator: Earlier I mentioned how many Anglos moved to this area during the Gold Rush looking to become rich. A second wave of Anglo migrants from the mid-west came to this area in the 1930’s. Many poor white farmers were hit hard by the depression and a terrible drought that struck their home states. Many of these folks were desperate and migrated to California. (Hand dust bowl migrant prop to a participant.) Once here, they also took up work in the fields and canneries, alongside the Mexican, Italian and Portuguese migrants. Mr. Big Business: Remember the technique I described earlier regarding the mining industry? Where job categories were divided by race and ethnicity? Pretty soon the same thing was orchestrated in here as well – the safer, easier and better paying jobs in the canneries were given to the Anglo and South European workers. Again this produced resentment and divisions amongst the workers. As the boss, I was happy – I could simply concentrate on making more profits.

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Narrator: Or so he thought … Let’s ask this dust-bowl migrant from Oklahoma for his perspective. (Hand dust bowl migrant index card to participant and ask her to read it aloud.)

ANGLO MIGRANT FROM OKLAHOMA – INDEX CARD #6 I was a small farmer in Oklahoma but I lost everything due to the drought and the Great Depression of the 30’s. I came to California and found work in the fields as a farmworker; my wife started working in the canneries. We noticed how the boss tried to divide workers on the basis of race. Some white workers were tricked into following these racist ploys. But many of us fought for justice side by side with immigrant workers from Mexico, with Black workers, and with Asian workers. Many of us united in the 1930’s – workers, the unemployed, the homeless – and demanded that government care for all, not just the rich. As the sister from the canneries said before me, many publicly run social programs were born out of our struggles. In the process we also learned that all of our struggles were one: the struggle to end racism, to end economic exploitation, and to rid our society of sexism. I know the bosses and the government got very scared by our activism!

Mr. Big Business: Okay, okay the truth is that I did get scared by all this working-class activism and organizing. (Talking to Uncle Sam) Those revolutionary rabble rousers were going to put me out of business permanently! Didn’t you hear them labor organizers? They said that under socialism nobody gets to be a boss! Uncle Sam: We saw that cracking heads wasn’t going to be enough, because millions and millions of people around the country were angry and mobilizing. (Speaking to Mr. Big Business) I think we have no choice other than to implement some social reforms – I think we need to raise some of the taxes on you and your business friends in order to pay for programs like unemployment, social security, and Medicare and things of that nature. It’s the only way to calm people down.

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timeline

1951 The Stanford Industrial Park is established. The electronics industry becomes a driving force behind the growth of the South Bay.

1950-1980 Urban growth of South Bay takes off – orchards give way to suburban development. Canneries relocate to Central Valley.

Mr. Big Business: (Responding to Uncle Sam) Okay … I wish it didn’t have to happen, but if you think it will calm people down some … (To audience) Luckily, we survived that storm and, despite paying higher taxes and that kind of thing, capitalism remained in place. (Turning towards the Narrator while wiping his brow) Maybe it’s a good time to jump ahead into a less turbulent decade, wouldn’t you say?

THE RISE OF THE MILITARY/ ACADEMIC/ELECTRONIC COMPLEX Narrator: So now it’s around the 1950’s or so. All this migration has meant that the greater San Jose area has grown a fair amount. While still small compared to her sisters San Francisco and Oakland, the South Bay is starting to look more and more like the urban area we are familiar with. Mr. Big Business: In this context, I was looking for new ways to make money. I knew that forming alliances with my friend here (gesture to Uncle Sam) always makes sense and is profitable, especially if I found a way to make money from war and armaments, since Uncle Sam always seems to be engaging in military interventions around the world.

FACT: In search of financing, Stanford becomes the hub of military and defense industry research thanks to funding from the U.S. govt. The Stanford Industrial Park gives birth to Intel, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed and other tech giants.

So we came up with this brilliant idea. (Moves over to Uncle Sam and puts his arm around him.) We chose Stanford University as our headquarters, and proposed to the government that Santa Clara County become the center for military and defense industry research. We knew the government was trying to beat the Soviets at making bigger and better weaponry to win the Cold War. By offering to help them innovate and make new things, we knew the government would throw a lot of money our way! The idea was a hit – the federal government, local municipalities, universities, industry and the military – we all collaborated and in 1951 gave birth to … SILICON VALLEY!19

Narrator: Said another way, the government chose this county as one of its central hubs for military research and innovation. It so happens that Stanford was in a financial crisis and needed someone to bail it out! The fact that the area had plenty of cheap land and labor available, along with few environmental restrictions, made the choice “logical.”

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The government’s choice gave birth to the electronics and high-tech industry we all know today. Since 1940, tons of federal dollars have poured into this area. By the 1970’s, the amount was about $2 billion a year!20 Mr. Big Business: I tell you, you can’t beat friends like these. (Smooches Uncle Sam on the cheek.) Narrator: Did any of you know that the roots of the computer industry and the Internet and all that fancy high-tech stuff are in the military and war? Kind of crazy, isn’t it? Most of the big tech companies you’ve probably heard of – Intel, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed – they were born out of military contracts FACT: By the 1970’s federal subsidies to Silicon Valley tech companies averages $2 billion a year!

given out by the Department of Defense and administered by Stanford through the Stanford Industrial Park established in 1951. The rich CEO’s who today say that the Silicon Valley was started from “scratch” through the sheer brainpower of their company founders are not telling the truth. Their companies grew thanks to Uncle Sam’s help and lots and lots of taxpayer money. By the late 1950’s, 60% of all of the electronics product market was for the military. (Before World War II, 75% of the products were for consumer use.)21 What did this mean for those people who were already living here? (Gesture towards participants with migrant props.) Well the canneries began their slow decline around this time, and as the city and county urbanized, less and less agricultural work was to be found around here. So people needed jobs. (To audience) Who do you think got a lot of the jobs that began sprouting up in the electronics industry? Initially, a lot of the work involved research, scientific work and white collar work – do you think the Mexican and Chinese workers were offered training for these jobs?

Uncle Sam: I wanted to grow a middle class, but I wanted to make sure it was white. I actually created a free federal training program and a very inexpensive home FACT: Massive federal home loan program in the 1950’s supports Anglo home ownership in suburbs. Millions of white families benefit. People of color legally excluded.

purchasing program in the 1940’s and 1950’s, but the truth is that only Anglos were allowed to participate. So the good jobs at the electronics plants went to the whites. And that’s when suburban neighborhoods like Palo Alto, Burlingame and Mountain View started sprouting up. We wanted the new workers of our emerging and world-leading industry to live in nice, clean, well-maintained neighborhoods, with nice driveways and new cars of course.

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timeline

1950-1980 Urban renewal programs implemented in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.

1956 Interstate Highway Act passed. The Federal government spends massively to connect suburbs with downtown areas.

But we would only give home loans to whites. Pretty ingenious idea, wouldn’t you say? I think you can still see a lot of those housing patterns today. Narrator: So it was his (point to Uncle Sam) segregationist housing and job policies back then that organized who lives where in the South Bay. (To audience) Is Alviso still a poor community of immigrants? Is Burlingame still white and wealthy? It is … so it looks like he’s right – his long term strategy worked! D E.J. IMPACT: These federal exclusions, along with restrictive covenants and bank redlining, insure housing segregation by race – people of color are forced to stay in ‘worst’ parts of town; home ownership not an option for many.

I wonder what somebody who was impacted by these policies would have to say? (Hand prop and index card to Latino activist and ask her to read it aloud.)

LATINO CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST – INDEX CARD #7 Those of us who lived in communities affected by the government’s discrimination got together and organized to make change. The AfricanAmerican struggle for civil rights greatly inspired many of us in the Latino community. We saw how young Blacks in the South struggled long and hard to win the right to vote, the right to a decent education, the right to live free of discrimination. Back in the cities we witnessed Blacks’ and Chicanos’ fight to end discrimination in housing, universities and in the workplace. Out in the agricultural fields of California this struggle gave birth to

D E.J. IMPACT: Millions of poor people in big cities are displaced from their homes by urban renewal programs and highway construction. Majority are people of color. Most do not receive relocation benefits FACT: All told, the government spends over $1 trillion subsidizing white flight into suburbs.

United Farm Workers’ Union. Although Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta are the best-known figures of this union, it actually was started by Filipino workers in Southern California. From its inception the UFW became an alliance across nationalities. The power of this solidarity transformed working conditions in the fields – wages went up, sexual harassment was reduced and the use of pesticides was reduced. Just like in the 30’s, people in the 60’s organized, demanded their rights, and forced the government to implement laws and programs that were more sensible and just. Meanwhile, urban activists forged a great civil rights alliance and forced the government to pass laws banning discrimination in housing, education and the workplace. Many beneficial federal programs serving the most needy were initiated as a result.

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Mr. Big Business: Eventually, as the electronics industry started moving towards producing mass consumer goods like computers, we realized we needed to employ lots of people for manual labor – just like in the mines and in agriculture. So we FACT: By 1979, 200,000 people in Santa Clara county were either directly or indirectly employed by the electronics industry.

started employing Mexicans and Asians and other immigrants for this work. By 1979, 200,000 people in the county were either directly or indirectly employed by the electronics industry.22 You all remember the strategy I used for hiring people in the canneries? You know – non-English speakers and new immigrants – using sexism to pay

D E.J. IMPACT: New immigrants were hired at very low wages to do the dangerous and toxic assembly work in the electronic industry. INS raids on electronic plants kept workers afraid to stand up for their rights.

less? It worked so well back then that we decided to use that strategy once more. Let me give you one example – we knew that many Vietnamese immigrants were fleeing the U.S.-funded war in Southeast Asia at the time. Many came to San Jose because word was out that jobs might be available here. We thought, perfect! A new and vulnerable community; they are economically desperate, and they don’t speak English. We started employing many people in this new industry assembling computer chips. (Give prop to Vietnamese electronics worker to new participant.)

Narrator: (Ask new participant) Can you guess what working conditions were like for you? (Possible answers: Low wages, mostly women, toxic conditions, etc.) Narrator: Once again, our friend Mr. Big Business here was employing thousands of workers to do hard and dangerous work and at low wages... Uncle Sam: …but if he hadn’t employed them, they would have starved! Be a little grateful! He did ask me for help to ensure that these workers were kept under tight supervision and control. If we kept them afraid, they were less likely to stand up for their rights at work. So, just like at the beginning of the 20th century, we used immigration status as a way to keep these workers in line. The truth is we knew their working conditions were horrible and that they would be inclined to do something about it. So we had to act. In 1984, the INS opened a new office in Santa Clara County.23 That’s the division of my government that controls immigrants. You know, “la Migra.” The same day we opened the office, we conducted two raids on electronic firms in the

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timeline

1980’s The market for personal computers explodes. The electronics and hightech industry become the economic motor of the South Bay

FACT: By 2000, people of color made up the majority – 51% – of the 1.6 million people in Santa Clara county.

1984 The INS opens an office in Santa Clara County

cities of San Jose and Santa Clara. The Western Director of the INS at the time made the following statement that day about the raids: “We intend to make our presence known [in the Silicon Valley]. Our officers will be freeing up jobs for U.S. citizens and people who are here legally.”24 We also began to enact federal immigration laws that again were punitive and similar to what we had done 70 years back.

Narrator: There was a key difference by this time however. There was a critical mass of people of color in Santa Clara County at this point. By the year 2000, people of color made up the majority of the 1.6 million people in the county, at 51%!25 In their desperation to continually get cheap labor, Uncle Sam and Mr. Big Business forgot about the strength and numbers of this community!

THE MYTH OF “THE CLEAN INDUSTRY” D EJ IMPACT:

Narrator: Our Business friend here succeeded in growing the electronics industry to

Although the electronics and high-tech industry promotes the myth that it’s clean, it has proven to be one of the most toxic and environmentally unsound industries in modern history.

such a huge proportion by convincing the neighbors and local governments that the high-tech industry is a clean industry. In the 60’s and 70’s, our friend here pointed out that his industry was the way of the future: no smokestacks, no pollution – squeaky clean workers and a squeaky clean industry in nicely built office parks. What neighborhood wouldn’t want this kind of industry moving in next door?

Uncle Sam: Well, I’m glad you’re finally telling the true story. President Clinton said it well in the early 1990’s… he said that “[the high-tech industry] will move America forward to a stronger economy, a cleaner environment and technological leadership.”26 My friend here (proudly gestures to Mr. Big Business) was an environmental innovator! Narrator: I’m not sure about that. Ten years before Clinton was tooting the high-tech horn, a woman from South San Jose called Lorraine Ross had something a little different to say about the industry. Let’s hear her testimony. (Hand Lorraine Ross prop and index card to participant and ask her to read it aloud.)

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LORRAINE ROSS – INDEX CARD #8 My name is Lorraine Ross and I’m from the Los Paseos neighborhood in South San Jose. When my child was really small, I noticed that the rate of cancer amongst infants was very high in our neighborhood. We started having meetings amongst the mothers of Los Paseos and discovered that there were an extraordinary number of unexplained miscarriages, birth defects, heart conditions and premature deaths. We demanded a health study in our neighborhood and it confirmed that these rates were really high. We organized and began a public campaign

D EJ IMPACT: 24 of the 29 Superfund sites in the South Bay are a result of electronic firms’ pollution. The county has the highest number of Superfund sites in the nation.

to find out what was causing this travesty. Through our efforts we found out that an electronic company called Fairchild had spilled over 120,000 gallons of toxic liquids into the ground water system that ends up as our tap water! We were outraged! We went to the city council, to the press, to the churches, and we didn’t

D EJ IMPACT:

rest until justice was done. We formed a large coalition of neighbors

Of the 29 Superfund sites in Santa Clara county, 24 are a result of electronic firms’ pollution!

and sympathizers. We were able to shut down the factory and forced the company to pay $40 million to clean up their toxic spills. Yet, probably the most important aspects of our struggle were: 1) making it clear to all residents that we must be constantly watching and monitoring the pollution produced by the electronics industry, and 2) we realized that we had to be organized, so we formed a permanent watchdog organization – the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition!

Narrator: Unfortunately, the Fairchild case was not the exception – it was the rule. Lorraine Ross and her fellow activists uncovered a consistent pattern across electronics and high-tech companies which has proven it to be one of the most toxic and environmentally unsound industries in modern history. The production of silicon wafers for computers requires mixing many toxic chemicals together. Electronics companies keep these chemicals in underground tanks. What happened in the Los Paseos neighborhood happened many places – underground tanks have leeched chemicals into groundwater in Santa Clara, Mountain View, San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, and many other South Bay cities. 65 out of 79 companies had hazardous chemicals leached into the ground beneath their plants.27 workshop 3 | We Are Residents of San Jose

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timeline

1990’s The electronics industry gradually moves production plants out of the Bay Area in search of cheaper labor and weaker environmental regulations. Many plants end up in third world countries.

Santa Clara county has more Superfund sites – sites categorized by the government as extremely, toxic and dangerous – than any other county in the nation. Of the 29 Superfund sites in the county, 24 are a result of electronic firms’ pollution!28 We are talking about firms like Intel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and the subcontractors who produce computer parts for them. Let’s hear what one of the workers in these chip-manufacturing labs has to say about her experience. (Give index card to Vietnamese electronics worker and ask her to read it aloud.)

VIETNAMESE ELECTRONICS WORKER - INDEX CARD #9 D EJ IMPACT: It takes about 4,000 gallons of water to produce one eight-inch silicon computer chip wafer. Communities where chip production plants have been set-up are starting to face long-term water crises because their water tables are decreasing substantially.

The working conditions in the electronics assembly factories were terrible. We not only faced low wages and abusive bosses, we also faced a work environment that put our health at risk. We suffered horribly because we were handling toxic chemicals all the time. The cancer rates amongst my co-workers were very, very high. Our kids also suffered the negative impacts – many were born with serious health conditions. Most of my colleagues were immigrants like me.

Narrator: To top it off, it takes about 4,000 gallons of water to produce one eightinch silicon computer chip wafer!29 In many cases, communities where chip production plants have been set-up are starting to face long-term water crises because their water tables are decreasing substantially. This is about as environmentally unsustainable as you can get.30 Mr. Big Business: With the rise of environmental justice activism in the South Bay and the creation of organizations like SVTC, it became harder to do business here. Suddenly, residents and even city governments were asking us to respect minimum wage laws, labor laws, and environmental codes, regulations that get in the way of making a large profit. It was like they thought our companies were democracies or something - trying to have a say in how our business is run! The nerve! Anyway, I’m accountable to my shareholders and they always want bigger and bigger profits. So I came up with another plan: I kept my corporate

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headquarters with the white-collar workers, the scientists and engineers, here in the Bay Area to do the high-end research. But we began moving production plants to places with less environmental and labor regulations – New Mexico, Arizona and eventually Costa Rica, China and other third world countries. We looked for places where labor was cheap and governments and pesky community groups wouldn’t interfere with our business. Uncle Sam: (Speaking to Mr. Big Business) I can see you are having some trouble. Why don’t I give you a hand? To begin with, I’ll make it easy for you to relocate in other cities in the U.S. by getting states and municipalities to offer huge tax breaks, subsidize your expenses and even cover your relocation costs. I’ll also make sure that, on a federal level, we ignore the environmental violations and stop enforcing environmental regulations that could hurt your business. (To audience) Beginning in the 1980’s, we consistently cut the budget of the EPA such that enforcement became impossible! Mr. Big Business: As in the past, I also needed help with immigration laws, because we had a shortage of highly-skilled workers in the country. (Speaking to Uncle Sam) We need more computer engineers and researchers. Aren’t countries like India and China graduating many such people from their universities? Can you bring us some of those workers? Uncle Sam: No problem! I’ll create a special visa category for such workers and recruit workers abroad. Narrator: Well, let’s see what one of these immigrant workers has to say. (Hand prop and index card to Indian engineer and ask her to read it aloud.)

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timeline

late 1990’s The internet driven ‘New Economy’ creates an economic boom in the Bay Area. Rents skyrocket around the region, as does wealth disparity.

INDIAN ENGINEER – INDEX CARD #10 The visa I got to enter the U.S. only allows me to stay here if I’m still working with the company that hired me. I feel like a second class citizen because I am at the mercy of my bosses. I do make good money if you compare it to what I would make back home, but I have to watch what I say and do, and I also face a lot of racism in this country. Many people here assume that Indians have more money because we have white-collar jobs. What they don’t realize is that our country has tremendous poverty – just like in China, Mexico or Nigeria, for example. The U.S. government only grants visas to people with professional degrees. The poor people in my country never get that same opportunity. They cannot even afford the plane ride to the U.S.

GENTRIFICATION AND THE 1990’s Narrator: We are almost at the end of our story. It is the 1990’s, it’s the dot-com boom. The explosion of the Internet economy had a huge impact on the Bay Area. Mr. Big Business: The Internet boom definitely put me in the driver’s seat during the 90’s. Suddenly many young college graduates in their 20’s from around the country started migrating to the Bay Area looking for easy money. Initially, we were making such obscene profits from our new Internet companies that we decided it was okay to pay these youngsters big cash – in some cases folks were making upwards of $100K a year. Yet there was another business we invested in that ended up being our long-term cash cow in the 90’s and beyond: real estate. We knew that these single kids making huge paychecks would be willing to pay high rents. We also knew that many didn’t mind living in gritty urban and downtown neighborhoods – they liked being near the action. Uncle Sam: (Speaking to Mr. Big Business) Hey, in many of these newly “exciting” neighborhoods the existing renters are low-income folks – immigrants and the like. These people don’t have the money to pay high rents. They

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are standing in the way of profits yet again! How about I deem that these neighborhoods are “blighted” and in need of “renewal”? Mr. Big Business: What a great idea! Narrator: What they mean by “renewal” is that the government either forced poor people and people of color to sell their homes or move out so that the area could be rebuilt. New apartment complexes with new amenities would get built and the rents would be double or triple. This has happened in downtown San Jose, around the new convention center and museum, for example. Uncle Sam also allowed landlords to evict current tenants without just cause so as to find new tenants who could pay the doubled rents. The new dot-com employees were the only ones making enough money to move in. There were so many new wealthy people in the area that demand for housing was huge. FACT: The Bay Area has the most expensive real estate of any metropolis in the U.S. At their peak in early 2001, residential rents in the Silicon Valley averaged $2,000 a month

This contributed to the problem of high rents. Poor families started living in converted garages, or eight people in one apartment, or simply moved one or two hours out of the area to find cheaper rents. Let’s see what one of these affected tenants has to say. (Hand prop and index card to Tenant Activist and ask her to read it aloud.)

TENANT ACTIVIST – INDEX CARD #11 When rents skyrocketed a few years back we got desperate. But I have a cousin who lives in the Mission district of San Francisco and he told me that tenants in his neighborhood started forming tenants’ unions to combat the rent increases and evictions there. He told me that they had success – through rallies and meetings and other activities they have been able to stop some of these problems. Apparently they have received the support of many of the city council members. Maybe we could do something similar in San Jose.

Narrator: As we all know, the Internet bubble eventually burst, and thousands of people around the Bay Area lost jobs in the process. Yet the price of housing and the cost of living stayed quite high, making life even that much harder for cash-strapped families around the South Bay. The current jobs crisis, workshop 3 | We Are Residents of San Jose

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FACT: When the Internet bubble burst, Silicon Valley lost 225,000 jobs – over one-fifth of the total jobs in the area!

housing crisis, and health crisis are all challenges still in need of long-term solutions. Perhaps this review of 200 years of history in the San Jose area will help us better understand the dilemmas we face and will also help us develop useful solutions. END SKIT

KEY SUMMARY POINTS • The hard work of immigrant communities built up the South Bay and is responsible for the bulk of the wealth that exists there, even if those communities haven’t reaped those profits. • At different moments in time, the government intentionally subsidized key industries – it selected the industries it wanted to grow to help its own interests and put billions of dollars towards ensuring their success. These choices (not simply the “brilliance” and “perseverance” of capitalist innovators) boosted development in the South Bay and helped shape its outcome. Big business thrived and profited thanks to this collaboration with government. “Corporate Welfare” built the South Bay. • Government also implemented very deliberate policies and mechanisms that determined who would benefit and who would lose from this development. (Examples: immigration and race policy; labor law enforcement, allowing for sexist practices) • Resistance from oppressed communities has informed the destiny and development of the South Bay as well. The tension between conflicting social forces (bosses vs. workers, whites vs. people of color and immigrants) and how these conflicts are resolved (or not) plays a central role in determining history. • Different waves of immigrants, despite coming from different places and at different time periods, have faced similar conditions and discrimination upon arrival to the area.

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ENDNOTES 1. Pellow and Park, Silicon Valley of Dreams, p.26 2. Wikipedia. Other useful sources include: Robert Cartier, et al.; An Overview of Ohlone Culture; 1991; De Anza College, Cupertino, California. Malcolm Margolin, The Ohlone Way; Heyday Books, Berkeley: 1978. 3. Pellow and Park, Silicon Valley of Dreams, p.41. In 1848, the indigenous population of CA was about 170,000. By 1868, the native population was down to 50,000. 4. Ibid, p.36 5. Ibid, p.33 6. Ibid, p.39 7. Wikipedia 8. Pellow and Park, Silicon Valley of Dreams, p. 34 9. Ibid, p.35 10. By 1852, the white working class was so angry that Chinese workers were “bringing down wages” that they helped pass a law that said the Chinese were “non-white” and also forced non-citizen miners to get a mining license and pay a Foreign Miner’s Tax of $3 a month! [Ibid, p.40] 11. Ibid, p.42 12. Ibid, p.43 13. Ibid, p.40. 14. Ibid, p.47 15. Ibid 16. Ibid, pp.47-48. 17. Ibid, p.52 18. www.delmonte.com/history 19. Pellow and Park, Silicon Valley of Dreams, p.60 20. Ibid, p.61 21. Ibid, p.59 22. Ibid, p.61 23. The INS has since changed its name to ICE. 24. Pellow and Park, Silicon Valley of Dreams, p.66 25. Ibid 26. Ibid, p.72 27. Ibid, p.76 and SNEEJ and CRT, Sacred Waters: Life-Blood of Mother Earth, p.27. 28. Pellow and Park, p.76 29. Ibid, p.77 30. Ironically, some of the places the electronics wafer plants have relocated to in search of cheaper labor and lax environmental regulation – New Mexico and Arizona for example – are in the desert. The communities around these plants are paying an extremely high price by losing their long-term water sustainability.

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APPENDIX B

CHARACTER IDENTIFICATION SIGNS Instructions: Enlarge each of the following name tags to 86 point font or so. Print each one out centered on an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper. (You probably want to re-orient the page so that it is 11” long horizontally.) Tie or clip string to the corners of each name tag so that participants can wear them during the skit.

Ohlone Chinese miner Chinese farmer Mexican bracero Cannery worker Anglo migrant from Oklahoma Latino civil rights activist Vietnamese electronics worker Lorraine Ross (SVTC activist) Indian engineer Tenant activist

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APPENDIX C

CHARACTER INDEX CARDS Instructions: Print and cut out each index card. Hand them out to volunteer participants when the script calls for it.

OHLONE - INDEX CARD #1 We are the original inhabitants of this land – we have a long tradition of living in harmony with it. It feeds us and clothes us. When the white settlers arrived we were surprised by their lack of respect for nature and the wisdom she imparts. Yet we figured that they would pick up some of our knowledge over time. The white man, however, never made an effort to get to know us – they attacked us violently instead. We defended ourselves with dignity and fought back for many decades. We courageously resisted their attacks and worked hard to protect our culture, language and lifestyle. We may be few in numbers these days, but our lifestyle still stands strong amongst our descendants.

CHINESE MINER – INDEX CARD #2 Do any of you know what working with mercury is like? The truth is that it’s super-toxic. It causes serious damage to your nervous system and causes fatal illnesses. Many of the miners – workers of color mostly – suffered terribly and died due to exposure. And possibly worse – mercury pulled out of mines and mercury used in gold mining was poured and dumped directly into streams and rivers. Mercury kills fisheries, affects entire ecosystems and accumulates up the food chain – if you eat fish and shellfish, you’re eating all of the mercury that’s polluted their bodies!

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CHINESE FARMER - INDEX CARD #3 We have been living in this country for many decades yet the boss treats us like we are animals. We got tired of all the racism and exploitation and decided to demand respect and better treatment. We went on strike, demanded better wages and began buying little plots of land to cultivate on our own. We realized that through mutual aid and organization we could improve the reality we were facing.

MEXICAN BRACERO – INDEX CARD #4 The program allowed only men to come work here but did not grant them any labor rights. Bosses could send us back to Mexico at their convenience. In many ways we were indentured servants. Pesticide use also became the norm in the fields in the 1940’s, just as the Bracero program started. On average 1000 farm workers died and 300,000 took ill in the U.S. each year! Pesticides have led to very high rates of cancer, infertility, and defective births amongst farm workers and their families. Many of the chemicals in pesticides remain in the soil for decades and have long-term damaging effects on the environment.

CANNERY WORKER – INDEX CARD #5A In our workplaces they wouldn’t give us breaks to go to the bathroom… sometimes they didn’t even have bathrooms! They wouldn’t even supply drinking water and would force us to work bent over for hours at a time. There also was a lot of sexual harassment. They would make us work faster and faster with very dangerous machinery. Many of my co-workers lost fingers, damaged tendons and suffered serious psychological trauma due to these conditions. And since the pay was very low, many women were forced to bring their young daughters in to work to make ends meet and avoid going hungry.

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CANNERY WORKER – INDEX CARD #5B The boss made a mistake when he assumed that we would remain silent in the face of such abuse. We quickly formed unions in our workplaces. We soon realized that all of us – the American women, the Portuguese women, the Mexican women – we all shared the same concerns. We became more than friends – we became sisters in the struggle to bring about justice. You must remember, there was a huge economic crisis at that time in this country, the Great Depression. Unionists of all walks of life, we joined together and formed a nation-wide movement demanding fair living standards for all. We accomplished a lot through these struggles: we won the 8-hour workday, the minimum wage, an end to child labor in factories, social security, unemployment benefits and the right to rest on weekends. All that was won by the working class – immigrant and American-born alike. The government and the bosses took notice and realized that well organized people can actually change the world.

ANGLO MIGRANT FROM OKLAHOMA – INDEX CARD #6 I was a small farmer in Oklahoma but I lost everything due to the drought and the Great Depression of the 30’s. I came to California and found work in the fields as a farmworker; my wife started working in the canneries. We noticed how the boss tried to divide workers on the basis of race. Some white workers were tricked into following these racist ploys. But many of us fought for justice side by side with immigrant workers from Mexico, with Black workers, and with Asian workers. Many of us united in the 1930’s – workers, the unemployed, the homeless – and demanded that government care for all, not just the rich. As the sister from the canneries said before me, many publicly run social programs were born out of our struggles. In the process we also learned that all of our struggles were one: the struggle to end racism, to end economic exploitation, and to rid our society of sexism. I know the bosses and the government got very scared by our activism!

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LATINO CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST – INDEX CARD #7 Those of us who lived in communities affected by the government’s discrimination got together and organized to make change. The AfricanAmerican struggle for civil rights greatly inspired many of us in the Latino community. We saw how young Blacks in the South struggled long and hard to win the right to vote, the right to a decent education, and the right to live free of discrimination. Back in the cities, we witnessed Blacks’ and Chicanos’ fight to end discrimination in housing, universities and in the workplace. Out in the agricultural fields of California this struggle gave birth to United Farm Workers’ Union. Although Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta are the best-known figures of this union, it actually was started by Filipino workers in Southern California. From its inception the UFW became an alliance across nationalities. The power of this solidarity transformed working conditions in the fields – wages went up, sexual harassment was reduced and the use of pesticides was reduced. Just like in the 30’s, people in the 60’s organized, demanded their rights, and forced the government to implement laws and programs that were more sensible and just. Meanwhile, urban activists forged a great civil rights alliance and forced the government to pass laws banning discrimination in housing, education and the workplace. Many beneficial federal programs serving the most needy were initiated as a result.

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LORRAINE ROSS – INDEX CARD #8 My name is Lorraine Ross and I’m from the Los Paseos neighborhood in South San Jose. When my child was really small, I noticed that the rate of cancer amongst infants was very high in our neighborhood. We started having meetings amongst the mothers of Los Paseos and discovered that there were an extraordinary number of unexplained miscarriages, birth defects, heart conditions and premature deaths. We demanded a health study in our neighborhood and it confirmed that these rates were really high. We organized and began a public campaign to find out what was causing this travesty. Through our efforts we found out that an electronic company called Fairchild had spilled over 120,000 gallons of toxic liquids into the ground water system that ends up as our tap water! We were outraged! We went to the city council, to the press, to the churches, and we didn’t rest until justice was done. We formed a large coalition of neighbors and sympathizers. We were able to shut down the factory and forced the company to pay $40 million to clean up their toxic spills. Yet, probably the most important aspects of our struggle were: 1) making it clear to all residents that we must be constantly watching and monitoring the pollution produced by the electronics industry, and 2) we realized that we had to be organized, so we formed a permanent watchdog organization – the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition!

VIETNAMESE ELECTRONICS WORKER – INDEX CARD #9 The working conditions in the electronics assembly factories were terrible. We not only faced low wages and abusive bosses, we also faced a work environment that put our health at risk. We suffered horribly because we were handling toxic chemicals all the time. The cancer rates amongst my co-workers were very, very high. Our kids also suffered the negative impacts – many were born with serious health conditions. Most of my colleagues were immigrants like me.

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INDIAN ENGINEER – INDEX CARD #10 The visa I got to get into the U.S. only allows me to stay here if I’m still working with the company that hired me. I feel like a 2nd class citizen because I am at the mercy of my bosses. I do make good money if you compare it to what I would make back home, but I have to watch what I say and do, and I also face a lot of racism in this country. Many people here assume that Indians have more money because we have white-collar jobs. What they don’t realize is that our country has tremendous poverty – just like in China, Mexico or Nigeria, for example. The U.S. government only grants visas to people with professional degrees. The poor people in my country never get that same opportunity. They cannot even afford the plane ride to the U.S.

TENANT ACTIVIST – 1990’s - INDEX CARD #11 When rents skyrocketed a few years back we got desperate. But I have a cousin who lives in the Mission district of San Francisco and he told me that tenants in his neighborhood started forming tenants’ unions to combat the rent increases and evictions there. He told me that they had success – through rallies and meetings and other activities they have been able to stop some of these problems. Apparently they have received the support of many of the city council members. Maybe we could do something similar in San Jose.

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APPENDIX D

HANDOUT FOR PARTICIPANTS

OHLONE PEOPLE

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CHINESE RAILROAD WORKERS

BRACERO PROGRAM

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17 YEAR OLD MEXICAN POTATO PICKER IN 1940S

CANNERY WORKERS

DUST BOWL MIGRANT WORKERS

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1960S CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

CHICANO MOVEMENT

CESAR CHAVEZ

FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR

VIETNAMESE HIGH-TECH WORKER

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HIGH-TECH INDUSTRY MOVES AWAY