Heritage month. This is about 90 minutes. Good afternoon, and welcome back. This is our next panel in the afternoon. Organizing across the boundaries, strategies and coalitions in the struggle for the civil rights and social justice. Before we get started i just wanted to explain a little bit about the genesis of this panel or this how it came about like a lot of great ideas, i came across this book doing a search in the catalog. And this is many months ago we were kind of thinking about what do we want to do. There are so many books that come out on if Civil Rights Movement every year. We thought lets focus on some that are kind of different and interesting that kind of change how we think about the movement, kind of up in our understanding of it. When we came across this one. It has a great cover art. We loved how she was looking at these groups in an area we dont often think about and how these two groups came together in their struggles. So dr. Rice is going to be our first speaker. She earned her ph. D. From berkeley. Shes now a professor in ohio. Shes taught there since 2007. This is her first book so march for others. It was published just last year by the university of pennsylvania press. And our next speaker after her will be Bill Jennings who grew up in san diego and he was just telling us the story early today which i thought was great about his p. E. Coach in middle school was tommy smith and he had this wonderful inspiring moment when he saw him on tv at the 1968 olympics after hed won the gold medal, racing his fist up in the air and that inspired him to become an activist. He moved to oakland and joined the black Panther Party. He helped without a loft of he helped out with a lot of programs for many years with the panthers, with Free Breakfast Programs and also uniting with Mexican American farm workers and cannery workers and doing responsible similar programs with him, too he is 2 archivist of the black Panther Party and he started a website called its about time bpp. Com that includes tons of images, manuscript items from the party that you can peruse at home. After both of them speak well do a q. A. On stage. The moderator for that will be cap selena gomez. Our monitor grew up in bogota, colombia. So please join me in welcoming our panelist starting with lauren ariza. Thank you. \[applause] thank you. Thank you for that kind introduction. I actually wondered how i came to be invited. I had no idea. So thank you all for coming. I also want to thank forward . Ok. All right. Ok. Also want to thank the library of congress for organizing todays symposium on coalitions and the struggle for justice as part of their year long serious on what has been termed the long Civil Rights Movement. Todays symposium rectifies one of my major critiques of social movements which is that each movement is usually studied in isolation as if each movement was an island with no connections, other movements, or as maria said, as the beach was a silo unto itself. Examining coalitions between movements provides us with a more nuanced, more complex and ultimately i argue, more accurate depiction of social movements and the people and organizations that fought for social justice. Quite simply, activists of this period didnt think of themselves as being part of individual movements. They didnt describe themselves as being part of the Civil Rights Movement or the which i or the Chicano Movement or the red power movement. Instead, they envisioned themselves as part of the movement. The umbrella term for the various struggles for equality and social justice that unfolded in the 1960s and 1970s. So accordingly, these movements were marked by continuous interaction and Dynamic Exchange between activists. Sometimes the strategies, philosophies and accomplishments of one movement nearly influenced others. But in other instances movements physically intercepted. Participants overlapped, resources were shared and efforts were merged to more effectively combat the shared enemy. But how do coalitions happen . How did we even get to this point . How do people divided by race, ethnicity, geography, religion, or language come together to fight for social justice they each have their own struggles and concerns. And what determines whether these coalitions will be successful how do where do we get to the point where not just people coming together but obviously accomplishing something. In my book, i attempt to answer these questions by using the United Farm Workers as a lens to explore attitudes and approaches towards Multiracial Coalition building. Briefly, cesar chavez founded the National FarmWorkers Association in 1967 in order to organize farm workers in california, many of whom were mexican. Chavez and others believed in unionization would offer the best protection for workers who suffered from back breaking labor, expose jury to extreme temperatures, dangerous insecticides and low pay. They were also vulnerable to child labor and sexual harassment. In the their struggles against the powerful forces, these were not just these were not family farms that the farm workers were working on. These were massive corporations that operated huge farms that were then backed by california politicians and Law Enforcement. And so in their struggles against this powerful system, the ufw engaged in action tactics such as picket lines, markets and boycotts, all of which were rooted in labor activism were also inspired by the Civil Rights Movement. These protests attracted Media Attention and eventually garnered the farm worker support from a wide array of constituencies, including religious orders, students, activists of the new left, house wives, politicians and celebrities. So among the supporters were five major organizations of the black freedom struggle in the 1960s and 1970s. My book explores these relationship. I look at the naacp, the urban league, the southern christian Leadership Conference and the black Panther Party. What i wanted to know was which such a diverse array of organizations that really capture the scope of civil rights organizing during an era from a radical to the very conservative, i want to know why such an array of organizations chose to work with a union of Mexican American farm workers in rural california. I also want to analyze the trajectories of these alliances. The level and type of support that each of these organizations gave them varied. So my book is a study of the factors that determine the viability optical Multiracial Coalition building. When social movements form in a coalition it can make practical strategy a sense when youre fighting racism, poverty, exploitation, disenfranchisement, Police Brutality, you need all the help you can get. But even when working with an ally makes sense, Coalition Forming is a complicated undertaking and involves complicated factors. So the coalitions that were formed between the black freedom and the ufw were shaped by race, class, region, gender. But aspects of each organizations organizational identity, ideology, tactics, Historical Context in which it operated, its leadership, all of these things were also instrumental in the development and outcome of coalitions. So for the purposes of todays symposium, im going to focus on the relationship between the the ufw and the black Panther Party, which for some its probably the most surprising aspect of my book. So two people founded the black q a newton and bobby seale founded the black Panther Party in oakland, california, in 1966 in response to overwhelming Police Brutality in that city. On the surface, as i said, this alliance surprises a lot of people, because on the surface, the two organizations seem to be unlikely allies. The black panthers were different in nearly every way from the largely Mexican American, nonviolent, rural and catholic farm workers. Despite their differences, the the ufw and the black panthers formed a coalition in 1968 during the unions nationwide boycott of california grapes. Previously, in the unions earlier strikes, they would target one grower at a time. They would boycott that growers products and when they got a union contract, they would move onto the next. In late 1967 they came up against a vineyard corporation that was very stubborn. They convinced other Grape Growers in california to give their labels to them. So you might think you were buying grapes from a different grower, but you were actually buying their grapes because they put somebody elses label on the box. When the leadership discovered this was happening they went to chavez and said, this isnt going to work. We cannot do this boycott unless we boycott all california grapes. So if it grows in california, were boycotting. And this ended up being a spectacular strategy, because, one, it was easier. California grapes. And i was like were going. It was easier and take the boycott nationwide. People are boycotting california groups so its this moment that black Panther Party along with self other people in the country take notice of what the farm workers are doing and the panthers come to the union state immediately participate in rallies in support. The black panther newspaper regularly pushed articles explaining the great boycott and calling for its readers to join in the various members of the vfw told me was very effective because not only did they need bodies on the picket line panthers on picket line made it less like hi that they would be harassed by the police. So and the panthers and the ufw the panthers werent just helping the ufw. They were helping each other. They joined forces and this happens during the great boycott when both groups align against Safeway Grocery stores. Safeway Grocery Stores, i believe they still are, but certainly they were at the time the largest Grocery Store change on west, and they refused to remove california grapes from the shelves. They also refused to donate to the black panther parties free breakfast for children program. The party ran this program to help underprivileged children of all races succeed in school by serving them a hot nutritious breakfast every morning and relied on locke rall businesses to make this happen and the panthers and the farm washingers join forces. Not only did they picket together. The panthers brought their particular know how. Many of the panthers, including the panther leadership were veterans. A motor pool was formed for the black Panther Party to use, and he implemented that during the safeway boycott, so what happened was that in the evening when people get off work and go growsry shopping on their way home, panthers would recruit local children from the find to come man the picket line out in front of safeway, and then motor pool would be there, and the panthers would say to shoppers trying to come into the safeway store, please dont shop here. Safeway is telling greats, dore participate. And so well drive you in this car right here to luckys. Well right you while you shop and you dont have to carry those bags and chauffeur to the Grocery Store and by doing this the panthers are able to assist the farm workers in the star and the store meanwhile was shout dunn because of lack of customers because this motor pool was so successful. So following the uaw winning the First Agricultural contract for farmers in the united states. The panthers and farmers continue to Work Together and their relationship grows and evolves. The panthers supported the ufws production of iceberg lettuce. The ufw spoke out in defense of the black Panther Party when it was subjected to violent repression by Law Enforcement and then an bill will be talking about this as well. Their political interests coalesce, when california growers sponsor proposition 22 in 19727 where this proposition, had it pass, would have outlawed boycotts against Agricultural Products so it would have crippled bfws organizing off the. This coincide when bobby seal was running for mayor of oakland. Chavez and bfw endorse bobby seals mayoral campaign. Chavez goes door to door in oakland xanks on seals behalf so this their we like evolves and grows and their interest, as i said, continued to dovetail. What brought these organizations together in the first place and what made them look at each other against these gulfs of culture, of play, of identity, and reach out to each other . What makes this happen . So the first is a sense of crossracial solidarity. There was a recommend in addition among both the panthers and the farm workers that both africanamericans and mexicanamericans suffered from similar patterns of racial discrimination, and this recognition of the shared the share repression is really the foundation for this for this alliance, and this is something thats misunderstood about the black Panther Party. While the black Panther Party certainly advocated for selfdetermination and black power, it also called for selfdetermination, political power, racial pride, Economic Justice on behalf of all oppressed groups. Not just africanamericans, and it advocated multiracial solidarity, and this is evidence in their slogan of all power to the people, right, so whereas other black power groups were wanting black acpower, black panthers did, that they also chanted all power to the people emphasizing this inclusiveness, this shared sense of power. This is later articulated by huey newton when he develops this philosophy of revolutionary incommunalism, this idea that oppressed people worldwide are united, that the National Borders are inconsequential in the face of capitalism, but as i said, even before he articulates, that because he doesnt articulate that until 71, theres that foundation, that shared recognition of the plight of peoples of color is really foundational to the black Panther Party ethos so they formed alliances with several organizations regardless of race, including the brown berets as carlos mentioned but also the young lords, the red guard, a radical Chinese Organization based in San Franciscos chinatown, the young patriots, a group of young white afternoppan migrants in chicago. So in my book this is also very similar to whats happening with snic. Snic also reached out to the farm workers on this recognition that mexicanamerican farm workers in california and africanamerican sharecroppers in the south were experiencing the same types of exploitation. And so theres this recognition of this crossracial solidarity. So this is also by place. The unique, one of the reasons the party imbrace this is multiracial solidarity is because of where it is. The unique of the American West often prompted, not just in the 1960s but earlier, we see in the 1940s where the naacp is working with latino and Asian American organizations. And part of this is the diversity of california but then also part is because of the way segregation happens in the west. Carlos alluded to this earlier where yes there was residential segregation but African Americans and latinos were segregated to the same neighborhoods, especially in los angeles but also in oakland as well. So panthers in oakland, or in los angeles as well, had grown up with latinos, with american indians, with Asian Americans. And so they shared the same experiences of residential segregation, inadequate education, Police Brutality. And so this shapes the partys development. And again, this is also characteristic of civil rights organizations in the west. Civil rights organizations in the west tended to be more supportive of the ufw because they already have knowledge of Mexican Americans and their issues. So for example snic field secretaries in california, who were originally from california persuaded the rest of the organization to support the farm workers before the farm workers Even National ly. Snic was working with the farm workers before even their first strike. This is how aware of whether the Mexican American farm workers were experiencing in california. Similar think naacp in the west had to fight new york to support the farm workers. So the contrasts are the southern based organization. In the 1960s and 1970s the south was still very much black and white. This changes in the 1980s with immigration reform. But in the south, as i said in the 60s and 70s, latino population was never more than about 4 of the population. So southern christian Leadership Conference for example wasnt aware of the struggles of latinos until the Poor Peoples Campaign in 1968 because they just werent privy to it. It wasnt what was happening in alabama and georgia and what have you. And so also later as black power organizations start to form in