00:00:00.009 - 00:00:22.250

This was a student who got arrested with me. She was actually the organizer of getting the students at Watson High School. I remember seeing her name, yeah, yeah, in one of the papers and she um got the students and they were making signs. They were all

00:00:22.250 - 00:00:38.009

excited. She was senior class president here at High School and I had her in class and all and um. And she said, well, Ms. Mendez, you know, we're gonna go out with signs and to support her parents because both her mom and dad were on strike

00:00:38.009 - 00:00:50.779

at Watsmo County. They were both at Watsville County, not Shaw. They were, they were at Watts County. And I said, OK, Miha, you know, let me go see, she said, could you videotape? And I said, well, I don't have a videotape camera, but let me see

00:00:50.779 - 00:01:06.639

what I can do. So I ended a bar and we have a videotape camera from one of the other students who lived nearby where the strike was happening. And got that together and went out and I was going to be and never even got a chance

00:01:06.639 - 00:01:24.839

to because we were arrested but what's interesting about her story, I mean she's attorney now as far as I know, I'm not sure she's still the um assistant district attorney in Pasadena, but she during that period of time as a senior, she was thinking of going

00:01:24.839 - 00:01:40.900

into cosmetology and she ended up. Because of what she saw and the lack of rights and, you know, the just. How people were being treated during this period of time, she said, heck no, I'm gonna go back to school and really go to school and go

00:01:40.900 - 00:01:58.330

to college instead of going to cosmetology and so she ended up, um, going to Berkeley and then uh went to Law School and then ended up going to New York and working for Wall Street and that wasn't her gig and so she came back to California

00:01:58.940 - 00:02:17.550

and there's an article. The newspaper did an article on her and then she gave me a call cause they wanted to interview me as well. Yeah, as well. But some of these folks who were either sons or daughters. Of the strike, some of them who were

00:02:17.550 - 00:02:36.740

arrested, some of them who saw what was going on and thought how unfair that was, um, they really decided they needed to move on and get an education. They saw the mistreatment and so I do teach about this in my class, what happened to me when

00:02:36.740 - 00:02:48.710

you say they need to move on, you mean it's like they, they didn't want to be in the situation to be in a similar situation because at that time. Those were the only jobs Canada jobs really were the only ones who are working out in the

00:02:48.710 - 00:03:08.529

fields, and so a lot of them wanted to pursue their education, higher education, and they did. And I went into like Gloria Peanut and various others throughout the years in the pad. Students in my classes that were either cousins or uh nieces and nephews of law

00:03:08.529 - 00:03:24.649

strikers, you know, former strikers, so it's Gloria's kids were in your class. No, but relatives and some of the other gals too, and I've run into Gloria, OK. Well, she's been chaperoning me around town the last couple of days. I mean, actually we just went and

00:03:24.649 - 00:03:41.720

visited. Juanita Contreras in the nursing home and it was quite upsetting to her, you know, she's not in good shape. I know it's one of the gals. I don't know if you've seen John Silver's documentary. I'm sure you have. I have I've got a, I've got

00:03:41.720 - 00:04:02.860

a videotape that Frank loaned me which I'm going to have to return to him at some point. One of the key people there that was being interviewed along with Gruz Gomez, uh, unfortunate too, passed away several years ago, and, uh, Rayna Diaz from from San Jose

00:04:02.860 - 00:04:21.790

or uh what was her last name? I think Lena Diaz, I'm not sure. Was she from San Jose? No, no, she, she was. OK, that's different, different she was and I had, I had her one of her daughters in my classes and stuff, and then I

00:04:21.790 - 00:04:36.459

realized, you know, a couple of years later, I think it was John that told me that she passed away and Frank did too. Had you been involved with this at all before the strike actually started or I had, well, when this, no, not really, just, uh,

00:04:36.470 - 00:04:54.369

I was informed about what was going on, the possibility of what was gonna be happening, um. Because of the kids had a great, great uh large amount of kids who were whose families and or whether it be aunts or uncles or fathers or mothers were involved

00:04:54.369 - 00:05:11.029

in the strike, uh, well, just uh not involved in the strike yet but involved in the unions at that time. I know your name turned up on some of the support, the local support committee leaflets that I that I saw, but that was after that was,

00:05:11.350 - 00:05:32.790

yeah, I started getting involved. This was your first foray started with a bang bang. Well, basically it was, you know, I looked back at it and kids wanted to go out and support other families with science. And so I said, well, let me go videotape, you

00:05:32.790 - 00:05:47.220

know, since I teach history, I teach government. Let me go out and videotape. And so little did I know that we were all gonna get arrested at that time. So you really had no inkling that there was any risk. Well, we knew though we had spoken

00:05:47.220 - 00:06:00.489

to some of the strikers and we knew that that day because I, you know, I was keeping up with everything. That was going on because we had gone out there. I had gone out there day one when the strike happened. I was out there just supporting

00:06:00.489 - 00:06:21.709

people before the injunction came here yeah, that would have been September 9th, it was amazing. So I was out there from day one, supporting whatever I can do, um. We would take, you know, I remember taking out menudo. I mean we made a batch of menudo

00:06:21.709 - 00:06:39.260

one time. We took out, um, some sweet bread and coffee, and we started serving the people both at Richard Shaw and at Mosca. So you know, we, a group of us went a couple of my aides, some of my students, some uh, uh, one of my

00:06:39.260 - 00:06:54.859

aides, Fran Bruce, who was my, uh, migrant aid in my classroom. And you know, we just met at my house and made the menudo, went out there the next day morning and started serving uh the folks that. And it was sort of around the clock. It

00:06:54.859 - 00:07:10.540

was sort of a, a ritual for me that I went out there daily after I got out of school and just started honking my horn and going to the strikers and honking and supporting and saying, you know, whatever, stopping by, say whatever you need, let me

00:07:10.540 - 00:07:27.070

know, you know, I'll get the word out for whatever needs you have. So, but you need to understand, I'm from Fresno, you know, and I come from a family. My parents worked out in the fields in Fresno and so did I. So, you know, I was

00:07:27.070 - 00:07:43.549

raised, um, as a child working out of the fields, so you know, it could have easily have been my mom and dad on strike here. Had they lived in Watsonville, I'm sure my mom probably would have been a cannery worker, I'm sure. So it was like

00:07:43.549 - 00:07:59.809

if my familia was on strike. And uh a lot of my students are like my extended family, so I felt I felt it was important to go out there and and give whatever support I could, you know, and I, you know, and I'm a member of

00:07:59.809 - 00:08:14.339

this community and I felt it was important, essential to be out there and be involved. I had a lot of my students who were slowly but surely dropping out of school to help mom and dad make ends meet once the strike was going, so, um. How

00:08:14.339 - 00:08:32.190

many kids did you lose from your class? Oh, during the strike. It's hard to say, you know, because some kids came back, uh, they left for a period of time to work and then they came back in. Oh, I would say maybe 5 per class, you

00:08:32.190 - 00:08:48.409

know, and I had about 6 classes, yeah. You know, a total of 5 actually because, yeah, and so you know kids were having a hard time economically. It was really rough. You know, I think that's really. I'm trying to do two things with this one is

00:08:48.409 - 00:09:04.099

I'm just trying to get a sequence of events, you know, as close as I can so I can just tell what happened, um, and the other thing I was hoping to get this from the interview is like how, how people endured. About 18 months, you know

00:09:04.099 - 00:09:19.989

what they had to go through from an outsider like myself, it was all very inspiring. If I was sitting in the middle of it, you know, I think I would have to do with what you have and being the community we live in, it's amazing. People

00:09:19.989 - 00:09:41.669

came out of the woodwork to support. Can you give some examples? Well, you know, the church groups started coming out and supporting. What I loved about um The, the, within the union, they got a support group going to get in and have these celebrations whether it

00:09:41.669 - 00:10:06.609

be for Halloween, for Thanksgiving, for Christmas. Well, that was amazing. That was amazing. And people came out to support. Teachers did, university students did. Students in my classes did. Students from all over came to support. It was amazing, you know, whether it be food or clothing

00:10:06.609 - 00:10:23.690

or toys or whatever, I mean. Uh, and the churches were really good about supporting they were they were very good about supporting the, um, I know that there was, I'm jumping way to the end here, but I remember when they had that when the women marched

00:10:23.690 - 00:10:37.950

on their knees to Saint Patrick's, there was some concern over what the priest was going to let them in. Were you there when that happened? I wasn't there when that happened. Um, I can't even remember where I was, but I knew that that was going to

00:10:37.950 - 00:10:57.309

happen. I don't. It was also during the time that my mother was getting sick. My, well, see, my dad, uh, had a stroke back in 19775, and then he had another one that affected his vocal cords, so it, um, I think it was during that time,

00:10:57.520 - 00:11:10.280

you know, that I wasn't always there. Something would come up and I have to go the weekend to go see mom and dad in Fresno, but, um. I, I remembered that they were going to do that. I was not there. I was there at the end

00:11:10.280 - 00:11:33.169

of the strike. Was this your first teaching job here? Yeah, how, how old were you when this happened? When I started teaching here? Yeah, well, when the strike broke out, how long, how long have you been working here? I came in in '77, so it was

00:11:33.169 - 00:11:56.830

a good, good eight years yeah you had tenure and all that and everybody's like, but there was a school board member, present school board, Steve Cannago, that really wanted me out. He definitely wanted me out. Because I heard that from um the principal Tony Calvo. Was

00:11:56.830 - 00:12:17.179

the principal supportive? He's actually he was, he was very supportive and And he, it was interesting when that happened, that happened when I was arrested, I was arrested on a Friday and that Monday I came back to work. And he called me into his office and

00:12:17.700 - 00:12:34.619

where they're talking and. He was saying, well, you know, people would like me to um To to get rid of you, you know, and I, and I told him I can't do that. She hasn't been found guilty of anything yet, you know, she hasn't gone to

00:12:34.619 - 00:12:52.859

trial yet and, uh, he mentioned Steve Cannago, who was head of the, the board school board at that time, and uh can you tell me anything about him? What his you know, he has a big history here. The Cannagos have a history here. Did I didn't

00:12:52.859 - 00:13:12.760

know Steve that much. All I know is that he was a very powerful man in this community, like the Martinellis and like, you know, some of the other well-known people here, you know, but he was the one that basically um According to Tony Calvo, the principal,

00:13:13.409 - 00:13:29.390

he wanted to see to it that I would never teach again, and Tony said no, and we had, I had a long conversation with Tony that day after school. Because his daughter had been involved in a lot of marches and protests in the Bay Area as

00:13:29.390 - 00:13:44.380

well in uh Latin America when she, uh, studied abroad, so he was very sensitive, you know, towards that he says, you know, you remind me of a good principal makes all the difference. You remind me of my daughter, you know, he says, but I didn't see

00:13:44.380 - 00:13:57.049

that you did anything wrong. I mean, you were out there with the kids, supportive, and, and you know, I told him my side of the story. I says, you know, this is what happened, whether you want to believe that or not, that's up to you. Um,

00:13:57.619 - 00:14:18.049

but he says, don't worry, you know, we'll be OK. But the biggest support on my side was the union. The teachers union backed me up. Ria Dehart backed me up 100%. And um they started a teacher defense fund when this happened to me. Did any of

00:14:18.049 - 00:14:39.489

your students was convicted as a result of those? No, they they they just, they released him, took him to the police station, questioned him. Yeah and they released them, you know, they wanted to go ahead and take uh two of them. You know, to trial and

00:14:39.739 - 00:15:00.390

uh because they were over 1818 and older and uh they, they just dropped, they dropped they dropped everything, but this was pretty early in the strike I mean um. Tell me about that injunction. I mean, I, I, I, I was a court injunction, um. When I

00:15:00.390 - 00:15:19.380

was arrested, I was I was given 3 charges, violation of the court injunction, contributing to delinquency of a minor, which that one, I would have lost my credentials. That would have been the problem. And then the other one was um obstruction of a police officer I

00:15:19.380 - 00:15:35.405

guess at the time that we were down the street and the kids were marching and one Maribel's sister Letty came and told me that Maribel had been pushed. I went down, left, actually didn't leave my equipment because I didn't want to even take it. Got my

00:15:35.405 - 00:15:51.315

equipment together, ran down and asked, uh, Officer Eddie Rodriguez why he pushed her. He wanted to know that you knew him. I knew him. He was a former student at Was High School, but I never had him class. Years later I ended up having his son.

00:15:52.940 - 00:16:10.340

I ended up having his son and I talked about the case and I will never forget, I guess the son went home, you know, and told Dad that I had mentioned his name. I didn't even know I had the son mentioned his name and Ben Tabaga's

00:16:10.340 - 00:16:29.169

name, who was the one that really that pushed me in the police station. And so they wanted to meet with me. So at that time, uh, it was a different principal and uh I'm trying to think to remember which principal years later, right? This is years

00:16:29.169 - 00:16:44.030

later. Oh yeah, this is years later, like 20 years later, so 15 years later I had a son. And he was a little disappointed that I had mentioned the names. I says, well, you know, I was just being honest about, and I apologize if I mentioned

00:16:44.030 - 00:16:58.549

your name, but I needed to be honest about what happened. He says, but that's your perspective. I says, you're absolutely right. This is my perspective and you have your point of view and your perspective, and I even opened it up like that to the students, this

00:16:58.549 - 00:17:14.250

is my bias? This is what happened to me, this is how I, you know, I wrote about it. You know, this is what I saw. And everybody, it was at different times and different places, and this is how it is. But going back to your arrest,

00:17:14.380 - 00:17:29.660

you went over there, you heard that she had been pushed and you confronted the officer, and I asked the officer why she was being pushed that these kids were not here to get arrested and, uh, and it was real interesting because a group of students walked

00:17:29.660 - 00:17:47.109

all the way down the end because they had never been a police officer there because I had been there before. And they had never been the police officer was always on the um corner of 4 and Walker Street. And so there was nobody there and we

00:17:47.109 - 00:18:00.979

had heard that that morning they were gonna go to court to see if they could lift the court injunction to limit the number of pickets that could be at the entrances. And so when we got there, and I would say it was about 4:30 or so,

00:18:01.989 - 00:18:21.589

they um. They said that yes, that they had been lifted while I think that the strikers were misinformed. I truly think that they were misinformed and this is the one of the day that I was arrested. This one I think I might have seen. And this

00:18:21.589 - 00:18:45.000

one you yeah, I'm sure you saw this when I was arrested. Um. Actually. Actually, no, this happened in the evening. This happened, yeah, this happened in late afternoon when I was arrested. Well, OK, it said the situation first became explosive at 9:30 p.m. when a woman

00:18:45.000 - 00:19:10.000

stepped in front of a truck. This is after you were arrested, yeah, yeah, that was something else. And um this was the, the 21st you were arrested on the 20th. Um Here we go. Got you. That was at 4:30, yeah, yeah, at Ford and uh Walker,

00:19:10.310 - 00:19:32.380

yeah, Ford and Walker and so you know the um Students proceeded and. Because Ed Rodriguez, Officer Ed Rodriguez, was a rookie cop at that time. He wasn't on force that long. I think he was at the end of the street and did not know what was

00:19:32.380 - 00:19:48.880

going on. He saw these kids coming in with signs. He didn't know what to do, so he called in the horses, and Ben Tambaga, Sergeant Bintabaga, was one of them and uh. Before he got there, you know, I was like, Eddie, you know, and he knew

00:19:48.880 - 00:20:05.530

me, you know, I said, So, what what's going on? Why was Maribel push, you know, why the kids, they're not here to be arrested. They're here just to support the families. All of these kids had parents on strike. The majority, the majority, and others were friends

00:20:05.530 - 00:20:23.369

with these kids. And uh and there had to have been over 20 students, 17 of them got, got arrested with me. Yeah. So there were a few, the few, well, what was interesting is that the students were going all the way, they went all the way

00:20:23.369 - 00:20:46.640

down the street. On 4th or Walker Street, and then they were turning back and as they were leaving that area, the paddy wagon, the van, police van, and the police cars came in. And many of them had already gone out of that area and they were

00:20:46.640 - 00:21:05.680

so curious that they went back in to see what was going on. They got arrested. Were there other people who were arrested that? Not that I know of. Not that I know of. What's very interesting to me. Is that when I was talking to Eddie about

00:21:06.939 - 00:21:22.859

You know, Maribel being pushed and the kids didn't want to be arrested. They're just there to support the family. Ben Tamba came, Sergeant Ben Taba came on the scene and He took Eddie to the side and then he turned around and looked at me and he

00:21:22.859 - 00:21:40.989

told Eddie, arrest her too. They had already started arresting students in the dance, and he turned around and arrest her too, and it was really interesting because her father when we went down the street was picketing at the at the gate and he saw it happen,

00:21:41.469 - 00:21:54.974

so he's there. I bet he was fit to be tied. He was so mad and he was confronting Eddie and Bentha Baga and saying how do you do that, you know, why are you doing that to my daughter? Why did you push it. He was right

00:21:54.974 - 00:22:10.694

in their face. They didn't arrest him. No, I would have been too. They did not arrest him. They didn't arrest him. Yeah. No, that was interesting, and we talked, we talked about that. I said why didn't they arrest me? They arrested you instead of me. You

00:22:10.694 - 00:22:27.430

were the, you were the one who was least confronted with them. I was and they didn't arrest me. They arrested you, but you know, I, I think that they wanted me to be seen as, uh, one, I, you know, I know Eddie knew I was a

00:22:27.430 - 00:22:46.819

teacher. I don't think Ben toboggan knew, uh. So it's like here, let's use her as an example of what you should not be doing out here the sacrificial lamb. I view it as sacrificial lamb. Well, they don't want school teachers getting the idea they can go

00:22:46.819 - 00:23:05.760

down there and yeah. I mean, and I was probably the only one in the district that was involved in this, and then later, um, one of the professors from UCSA was involved. Um, Elva was involved and she brought in purposely she brought in her students from

00:23:05.760 - 00:23:28.500

university to purposely get arrested from from from where from UCSC UCSC uh which professor was that? I wanna say how. I'm trying to remember her last name. I know her first name is Elva. She was a professor of Spanish and Latin American studies at UCLA, and

00:23:28.500 - 00:23:44.239

she's on the video. She's on the documentary. Oh, I'll take another look at it. I mean, everybody keeps saying, would you see that video? I was in the shot. I was in the shot, you know, um. I, I'd like to talk about your students and What

00:23:44.239 - 00:24:01.790

they went through during that 18 months. Um, I mean, not even, not just with the demonstration because that happened at the beginning, but you know, I'm sure some of them went through some fairly heavy changes um. Like I said, a lot of them had to get

00:24:01.790 - 00:24:22.810

jobs, and they found jobs, uh, you know, some did farm work, some worked at McDonald's, some worked wherever they could find a job, um, to help mom and dad meet get those, uh, finances in order, uh. And some of them babysat. A lot of them babysat,

00:24:23.369 - 00:24:46.939

OK. And uh Laura. Torres Harvey, who now lives in Salinas. Her mom and dad were evicted. That that that's in. Her mom actually became an organizer for 890, and she had been trying to find her if you know how to reach her I'd love to. Yeah,

00:24:47.069 - 00:25:04.939

as far as I know, where did they move? Because I had contact with Laura because she's part of the um. Alumni club association that I sponsored here, club here that got very, very active, uh, and, and just involved a lot of fundraising and stuff, but she

00:25:04.939 - 00:25:25.619

was uh part of the club. She was also uh junior, was it junior class president? No, she was a senior class treasurer, if I'm not mistaken. And anyway, I have contact with her and I think her parents moved. I wanna say they moved to the valley.

00:25:26.390 - 00:25:41.969

Yeah, they did live in Salinas's at one time, and I think they moved to the valley, but she was amazing. Her mother was amazing. She was amazing. Well, I know they were evicted and I know that they, where did they go? Well, they ended up finding

00:25:41.969 - 00:26:02.030

an apartment. And uh I think it was a one bedroom apartment and there were several kids yeah they had uh this Laura, her sister Rosa, brother, I wanna say they had 3 or 4 kids. No, I remember the movie. I mean, Enrique saying, you know, this

00:26:02.030 - 00:26:22.000

house is falling apart, you know, you know, um, that they, they were renting that place, right, yeah, it was fairly close to the plant right across the street, yeah, um. There was somebody else, Aurora Trujillo, who lived right across the street and she was arrested on

00:26:22.000 - 00:26:40.915

her front porch. I remember hearing about that at the time and I had Aurora's daughters in my classes, you know, so it was really, it's a hardship financially it was a hardship. It was hard. They pulled it off, you know, those kids. Graduated, they moved on.

00:26:41.364 - 00:26:57.614

Um, she's a perfect example of what she did with her life. She's a perfect example, and a lot of these kids said this is it, we need to do something different, you know, we need to get into higher education. If not, this is gonna happen all

00:26:57.614 - 00:27:22.890

over again and um. I was surprised to see, well, now I can't say surprised because I knew eventually uh Ramiro would become a leader. Uh, Ramiro Andrade, who I had years ago, was a Teamsters sort of. Area organizer and it was interesting to get the response

00:27:22.890 - 00:27:41.050

from them to see me out there supportive of the strikers. What are you doing here, Ms. Mendez in Spanish. She was, I said, I'm here to support. What do you need help with? And I saw to the um Vitalina and Salome voice, um, their mother too.

00:27:41.239 - 00:27:57.760

A key player in, she works at Safeway now in Santa Cruz. Yeah, I know the daughters do. Yeah, yeah, I'm remembering I know the daughters worked at Knob Hill. I'm not sure. I think one went to Safeway. I'm not sure, but I know the daughters worked

00:27:57.760 - 00:28:16.060

at Esperanza's daughter, yeah, I saw her aunt this morning, yeah. And she was actually on strike, wasn't she? She was working at the plant, about 16 years old, right after high school. I had both of them, so she graduated early on the wall. She graduated early

00:28:16.060 - 00:28:34.609

and, and, uh, well, she graduated, I think Solo. Now I think Salomeg graduated at the age of 1717, but as soon as she was out of here, she went to work in the plant, so she graduated right before the strike. She's in the movie I guess

00:28:34.609 - 00:28:51.640

right both her and her sister, I think the scabs were coming in and there's no talking to the scabs in the car, yeah, and they're they're in some of the pictures. I probably, I've got a big box of my own at home. I mean, everybody was

00:28:51.640 - 00:29:09.180

saving stuff. Oh, I, I got crazy. I was saving all kinds of stuff and I bring out these articles and like I said, a couple of my students are gonna be. Uh, doing a DVD for me so that I can have that. How did you feel

00:29:09.180 - 00:29:25.569

about the way the registered Paharonian was covering it to the Santa Cruz were biased, very biased, very biased in the sport of the company and the police. Can you give an example or two? Um, well, just the interviews that they had with Belgart, Chief of police,

00:29:26.260 - 00:29:46.000

how my goodness, you know, just. they were and getting what they call the whole story um with Ray Bellegarde and you know he's saying, oh no, everything's OK, we got it we got it pretty much covered but it was spice. It was just, you could tell.

00:29:46.010 - 00:30:08.400

I mean, just reading the articles, any article you pick up, uh, the pictures, um. I remember. Giving me a picture that he had taken. He says, why didn't they put this in the newspaper? And it was a picture of a police officer flipping off the strikers,

00:30:09.209 - 00:30:23.829

you know, how unprofessional was that, you know, um. Well, there's a famous picture from the civil rights movement actually of these cops in Mississippi, you know, going like this. I don't know if you know if you're familiar with it or not. And and and you know,

00:30:23.920 - 00:30:41.709

and I love some of the letters editor because I kept a lot of them too and how the community was really split and it was really interesting to see too letters that was a miracle they allowed in where people were comparing that to the civil rights

00:30:41.709 - 00:30:54.780

to Mississippi to what was going on with the marches. Jesse Jackson made a comment like that when he was in town, yeah, um. Was school wasn't out yet when that happened, was it or was it was during the summer? I don't remember the date of that.

00:30:54.939 - 00:31:13.540

No, we were still in session. It was hard. Did your kids go to that rally? Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, and some of us marched with them and yeah. Well, I remember, um, walking alongside of Frank Bardake actually on that thing and arguing about something or other,

00:31:16.130 - 00:31:35.069

he's a guy who likes a good argument, um, I, um. I wanted to ask you something about Bellegarde. I mean, um, was he an unusually bad apple, you know what I, what I, you know. I think, but I mean, I, I gotta sort of reflect right

00:31:35.069 - 00:31:57.829

now on, on as soon as his name came up again, you know, like. When they named the Bellegarde Cup. Which is the challenge, you know, in football and stuff here on this campus. I just rolled my eyes. I said, how could we name this after the

00:31:57.829 - 00:32:22.239

chief of police who, yes, he was popular amongst the status quo in this community, but I saw him as an old Southern sheriff from the South. That's how I saw him. Did you see that good old boy police officer. I remember him talking to him. Uh,

00:32:22.310 - 00:32:38.420

when I was taken down to the police station. No, everything will be OK, and then I get questioned and they ship me up to Santa Cruz County jail. You spent the night in jail. I was just there for like an hour or two. Was he, did

00:32:38.420 - 00:32:54.959

he have a bad reputation before the strike or was it mainly the way he handled himself during the strike that people objected to? It's, I think he was OK before, you know, but there wasn't anything like this that had arisen. OK. He showed his true colors.

00:32:55.204 - 00:33:15.984

There had never been a strike or anything like this in town before, at least not since, in about 30 years. So you don't see people's true colors until something happens and same with the city council at that time from Betty Murphy to Anne Solddo to this

00:33:15.984 - 00:33:37.719

day, I will not support anything but Ann. She was the one who refused to translate the meetings and it was just amazing that these people. are still here, uh, are still supportive. And some people either have forgotten or I don't remember the roles these people took.

00:33:37.969 - 00:33:58.319

Didn't a lot of them get voted out after they brought in district elections, but they're still, I mean they have Ann Solo, the school named after Han Solo, the elementary school, when they brought out a petition, uh. I said, do you wanna say? I said, no,

00:33:58.569 - 00:34:19.919

really, why not? I said. I don't even want to go there. Yeah. So those faces are still around. Those names are still around, you know. Were you involved at all in the district elections issue? On the district elections, was I involved? No, but I was very

00:34:19.919 - 00:34:43.370

supportive of what was happening. I was very supportive of Cruz Gomez. Um, she was the plaintiff in that. She was one of the Waldo Rodriguez and, uh, Cruz, uh, Gomez. They were both the plaintiffs. I understand she's left town now, yeah, and I memorabiliamorabilia. Um, when

00:34:43.370 - 00:35:05.409

she came, I hadn't seen her. For the longest time. Oh, that's right. There was some kind of a program for the case and uh she, I think she lives in Missouri. And John Fahey, I had John Fahey's daughter, um, and I talk about the case in

00:35:05.409 - 00:35:26.500

my class, you know, at large, how they moved that large voting to district voting, um. And she spoke and it was great and got to see her and then they had another gathering, uh, the Women's International Peace and Freedom Group had here down Boot Street at

00:35:26.500 - 00:35:46.000

the church had another little ceremony afterwards and participated in that. And got to sit and chit chat with her a bit and saw a lot of the other strikers there. um, Jose Moreno who got arrested several times. I don't know if you've met with him. I

00:35:46.000 - 00:36:10.179

didn't even recognize him, not Shavelo, Jose, is it Jose Luis More Moreno. And the names are just going crazy. He's also in the video and they pick him out of a group of people just because Lopez Lopez? Yes, there it is. Lopez. He was the co-chair

00:36:10.179 - 00:36:32.219

of yeah yeah, he was always getting busted all the time. I all the time he was there at the meeting after that day at the church. And I saw this man, I was just, you know, white-haired man, and I did not even recognize him. And when

00:36:32.219 - 00:36:48.000

I saw him, I heard that that was him. Oh my goodness, Jose, how are you? It was such a nice reunion to see some of these people. It was amazing. Did you know Cruz before the lawsuit? Yes, I did. Oh yes. How did you know her?

00:36:48.330 - 00:37:07.040

I knew her because we were involved in a lot of um women's groups and stuff. There's a lot of folks that I knew that she knew and and see her. Yeah. So OK, she must have filed the suit before July of '88, right? It was already

00:37:07.040 - 00:37:26.689

on, yeah, you know, in, in the works, uh, when the strike was going on, wasn't it? The strike was going on in 1985 to 18, it was after. I think she filed after yeah and after the strike she filed the lawsuit yeah and um. So Adelante,

00:37:26.770 - 00:37:43.530

I've seen that newspaper. I, you know, I've got a few copies of it at home. I haven't seen Adelante. That was her paper. She, yeah, she helped work with that paper. Um, Yeah, I heard they showed the movie, uh, John Silver's movie at that program, but

00:37:43.530 - 00:38:02.199

she's back in Missouri. As far as you know she's in Missouri. She has family there, you know, uh, I think a couple of her daughters came down to meet the daughters, yeah, yeah. It was good to see her. Important was that suit in terms of local

00:38:02.199 - 00:38:33.830

politics. I think it was important because it really changed. The situation here in Wattsville in terms of folks who had power traditionally, it became more progressive. It still is somewhat. But still, I mean, you have that base of power that they, they just won't let go,

00:38:33.879 - 00:38:58.189

they won't shake it loose and um And sometimes I look at our city council today and even though you have a large Latino group on the city council today, which you never saw back then, um. I think there's a lot of folks used as puppets, you

00:38:58.189 - 00:39:14.840

know, politics. I think this is what I was arguing with Frank about I remember I was telling you when we were picketing, um. I think he was making that whole, you know, he was the Langston Hughes quote about colored faces and high places, and it's not.

00:39:15.780 - 00:39:29.189

You know, it's not enough, and so on. I'm, I was curious. I, I I knew Oscar Rios before the strike, and I was curious how he, I was out of touch, you know, when he was mayor, you know I was up in Oregon, but I was

00:39:29.189 - 00:39:42.189

curious how much he would be able to accomplish and you know, I know that was all I, you know, once in a while, uh, he'll call and I'll call, see how he's coming along, and he was gonna come and speak to my classes and I just

00:39:42.189 - 00:40:02.530

didn't have time to organize. And I don't think he, you know, he's a good guy, don't get me wrong, he's a good guy. But I don't think too much has changed. How did, how did you, I mean how did the handle all those plant shutdowns? I

00:40:02.530 - 00:40:23.889

mean it when all the frozen food plants closed. It was devastating for everybody and of course many of the women and men had to rechannel their um energies to what other jobs they could get and I know many women went back to school and I know

00:40:23.889 - 00:40:43.689

many men got into construction. There has been a lot of, a lot of that and a lot of these men got into that area, um. And it pays better than cannery work, different skills. They have to learn different skills. Were there opportunities for people to retrain?

00:40:44.439 - 00:40:58.729

Yes, is that something the city set up or city set up, uh, even some of the academy stepped that up too to retrain some of these people, um, and a lot of these people went back to school, which was good. It was good to see these

00:40:58.729 - 00:41:19.300

women empowering themselves that way, going back to school, getting retrained, getting, you know, whether it be. Um, childcare and, and starting their own, um, daycare centers and stuff, working as aides in the classroom, you know, um. That was a good thing. That was a good thing.

00:41:19.919 - 00:41:37.969

Um, and then some of them did leave, leave the area. Some did leave. Some did leave the area. Some went to the Central Valley. Um, I heard that a lot of people did go to Central Valley. You know, one thing I. He just two years ago

00:41:37.969 - 00:41:51.120

when all the foreclosures were happening I think is that I was at Stockton that led the country in foreclosures. It was one of those towns in the northern end of the San Joaquin Valley. I don't know if it was Stockton or uh Ntica or, you know.

00:41:52.310 - 00:42:15.709

Yeah, it's hard. It was hard, and so people are leaving, you know, and we were devastated twice, actually 3 times, uh, the quake, the floods, you know, this town took a big hit financially, economically, these folks could not afford to live here any longer. It was

00:42:15.709 - 00:42:31.000

just really tough. Did you have a lot of your students who became homeless in the course of the strike? Not that I know that you know, not that I know they all hung on. Yeah, I know. But a lot of them dropped out of school to

00:42:31.000 - 00:42:45.520

take a lot of them dropped out of school and for a period of time and then came back, you know. We had Emotional issues or had a hard time keeping up with their work or they needed more help I know that a lot of them were

00:42:45.520 - 00:43:03.209

struggling with work and trying to get things done because of what was going on and you know having to take care of the, you know, their siblings because mom and dad were on strike or um. Having to work, having to work, I mean, when you, you're

00:43:03.209 - 00:43:17.090

now having to work, how the heck are you gonna keep up with your classes, you know, you're not gonna be able to, you're gonna have some hard time that they had their grades were falling off yeah. Oh yeah, without a doubt. How did you um How

00:43:17.090 - 00:43:34.139

did you handle that as a teacher? Well, I handled it well I was giving a lot of tutorial stuff after school where they could come in. Um, I educated other other teachers about what was going on and hey, we aware of this? I think they had

00:43:34.139 - 00:43:52.500

a hard time because they weren't out there and those of us who live in the community had a better understanding even still to this day. Most of the teachers here come from outside Watsonville. Today, yeah, back then, somewhat, somewhat, but there were still a lot of

00:43:52.500 - 00:44:09.709

folks who, um, this was their first teaching job and they lived in the community, whether it be here or a little outside of Watsonville, but they lived in the community, but the majority today and the majority, even I would say the majority back then lived outside

00:44:09.709 - 00:44:25.959

of Watsonville. They had no clue. They had no clue. Just what they read in the papers, what they heard. But they didn't see it. They didn't live it. They didn't know how tough it was for the kids. Mhm. Did that ever become a source of tension

00:44:25.959 - 00:44:48.050

in the school itself? I didn't see it, but it could have been. I didn't see it, um. I think Kids were very supportive of each other and I know that she got a lot of flack for getting involved, OK, and it would be, you know, in

00:44:48.050 - 00:45:03.000

speaking with her but years later, she said, yeah. How so? What kind of? Well, because she was a senior class president. How dare she get involved in this you know so she was getting it from the administration or from other teachers, from the students from other

00:45:03.000 - 00:45:28.090

students, students, students students weren't sympathetic like what are you doing? You know you don't have to get involved in that, you know, what's what's your reasoning? They weren't. Sympathetic or sensitized to what was really going on. Unless their parents were on strike, so unless their parents

00:45:28.090 - 00:45:50.600

were on strike, and that's one thing too that in in teaching at that time, which was really hard, um, having to also deal with my issues, I try to educate the students about being sensitive. Hey, what if that was you, even still today. Even still today,

00:45:51.060 - 00:46:09.479

you guys, your parents can lose their house right now. Or they can lose their job right now. How would that affect you? did she get flak from kids whose parents were not on strike? Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. What was the, what was

00:46:09.479 - 00:46:32.870

the composition of the student body? Let's see, 1985. I think it was slowly but surely half and half. Was it mainly the mainly the Anglo kids? No, I think it was even some of the Mexican kids, you know, that had no knowledge about, you know, parents

00:46:32.870 - 00:46:47.429

being on strike and maybe their parents working in the fields or maybe their parents were, uh, pretty much well to do and also some of the Anglo kids, I think she got flak from both sides. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Well, I guess it was a

00:46:47.429 - 00:47:08.820

teachable moment for you. Oh my God, it was, it really was. And it was amazing how students in my classes were so supportive. They were amazing. And you know, I have the class of '85 up there and And those kids still to this day if I

00:47:08.820 - 00:47:27.300

run into them, they, they were just amazing, um. Saying we're there for you, whatever you need, Ms. Mendez, you know, um, it's a good way to go through something like that and talking about this, the situation, they were curious about my trial. Some of them went

00:47:27.300 - 00:47:47.409

to my trial. Well, I guess I should ask you about the trial. I mean, I gather you were acquitted. It was, it was interesting, just the whole process. I mean, I learned so much and uh like I tell students, take up that negative and change it

00:47:47.409 - 00:48:07.479

into a positive and that negative that was happening to me, I turned it around and learned a lot from it and empowered me and empowered just just the the. The time of the arrest, when I was arrested, I was like going, is this for real? Is

00:48:07.479 - 00:48:29.020

this for real? I'm like it, OK, my head. Had to work like a video camera. I had to remember everything and still to this day so fresh in my mind, so of what happened and what I went through and what I did and um where I

00:48:29.020 - 00:48:55.320

was and I wish people would say that to me. I've had so many people say, gee, I don't remember that was 25 years ago. I, you know, I remember. As being put in. A police car. Me and 3 other young women, my my students. And sitting

00:48:55.320 - 00:49:11.679

there and I'm saying, trying to calm him down, don't worry, everything will be OK, you know. And as soon as that happened, my mind had to go on, OK, video mode. My brain had to go on video mode. I just had to remember this because I

00:49:11.679 - 00:49:36.169

wanted to document everything that was going on and Eddie Rodriguez gets in the car. And right then and there, here's us 4 women in the backseat of the police car. And somebody must have called registered Paharonian because somebody was ready to flash a picture and how

00:49:36.169 - 00:49:52.649

ideal that picture would have been on the front page. Here's me and my students in a police car, so I didn't give them the benefit of the doubt. I told the girls. And I look the other way. Turn your head, turn your head. And as we

00:49:52.649 - 00:50:08.570

looked the other way, the strikers at Wamo Cany in the entrance were all, they were clapping and applauding and saying, yeah, you know, we're gonna get some more attention and thank you and viva and all this other stuff. So when we turned and we looked the

00:50:08.570 - 00:50:30.500

other way and we saw this, I'm going, yeah, what else am I gonna do? Yeah, you know. And I will never forget Rodriguez how mad he was. He says, This isn't a funny matter. This is serious. I said, I know this is serious, but don't expect

00:50:30.500 - 00:50:50.899

us to cry. Yeah. Were you frightened about the possibility of losing your credential? I wasn't frightened because I knew that that would be the least. Of the um charges that they could prove. However, I had Plan B. I says if I lose my credential because of

00:50:50.899 - 00:51:08.780

this, they haven't seen anything yet. I will be more active in this community. Yeah, oh yeah, I was, I was already in my head. I was already, OK, what here can I get involved in? What, what organization am I going to organize to get involved because

00:51:08.780 - 00:51:31.919

they haven't seen the last of me. Yeah. Oh yeah, without a doubt. Um, Who testified at your trial? The police, who were the witnesses for the defense, uh, I, I, I went ahead and, uh, was on the stand. I asked to be on the stand. Um,

00:51:32.030 - 00:51:55.449

a couple of students, and that was it. It was it really, and it didn't last or it was a jury trial. We selected a jury that was interesting. Oh, the jury selection was interesting. Um, Stu Weinberg from San Francisco was the um. The attorney, uh, that

00:51:55.449 - 00:52:11.899

the teachers union hired for me, so the union basically paid for your expenses and his assistant was Nel Hashimi, and uh I'm trying to remember there was another fellow when Stu couldn't make it, there was another fellow, I can't remember his name right now, but it

00:52:11.899 - 00:52:29.179

was amazing. They were so impressed with Stu um. The the clerk. Uh, and the bailiffs were so impressed with him and they said this is off the record. We just want to tell you we don't know what, what the hell you're doing here. We have no

00:52:29.179 - 00:52:46.139

idea what you're doing here. This is off the record. Even the judge was like. Yeah. You know, even the police department in Santa Cruz when I was transferred over there. What are you doing here? It sounds like you were fairly confident and I think because that,

00:52:47.199 - 00:53:00.879

I had that support. I had the teacher's support. You know, I was getting all of this from everybody else like, what are you doing here? He didn't do anything wrong, you know, it wasn't like we were had knives and sticks and rocks. I, I was my

00:53:00.879 - 00:53:15.639

video camera that I wanted to shoot didn't get a chance to, but I was there to support the kids who were there with banners to support the family. Did any of the kids go back to the picket line after that? Uh, they were at the rallies.

00:53:16.290 - 00:53:30.750

They were at the marches, you know, yeah, oh yeah, and I made sure I was there too, and then some of those. I somebody told me somebody that I interviewed out at the senior center yesterday morning. She said those rallies were very important in terms of

00:53:30.750 - 00:53:46.270

keeping our morale up, you know, that was what kept us going. Yes, that's what kept them all going. That's what kept, I think all of us going. Um, I remember the rally at Callahan and we were asked to speak and I said, OK, but I also

00:53:46.270 - 00:54:03.699

wanted to support it any other way, so we were there as a support, uh, security. And uh I'm also in the video there which which which rally was this? Was this solidarity solidarity rally at Calahan there were 3 of them yeah it was a lot. There

00:54:03.699 - 00:54:18.949

was one on October 6th and there was one that I think I went to in early November, right? I was about 4000 people, yeah, and that one was uh. Oh, I remember the one at Callahan and went all the way to Watsonville Canning and then we

00:54:18.949 - 00:54:38.770

went all the way to Dick Shaw's on the Riverside, and that was massive and to see what was incredible was to see and I have a picture of all the of the men in uniform. This was a sight to see. Oh yeah. That was incredible. And

00:54:38.770 - 00:54:55.399

for us, you know, and the kids to go like. And I lost count at 100. I started counting. I couldn't believe it. How many students were there? Oh, I I don't really know because some of them went with me and then others went on their own,

00:54:55.489 - 00:55:11.580

so I have no idea. There were quite a few, but those rallies were were awesome. Um, the support they got from the Bay Area and from LA from all over. Well, I, you know, I was working at the Oakland Post Office then we had a food

00:55:11.580 - 00:55:31.219

drive. I, I forget how much, you know, how much went south with it, but, uh, a fair amount. There were a bunch of. Women on my Part of the uh operation who had been brought in, you know, this Hispanic affirmative action, you know, lawsuit and they

00:55:31.219 - 00:55:50.979

all, I remember driving around one night going to everybody's house and picking up canned food. It was amazing. didn't have to explain anything. It was amazing how people are out there from the universities, uh, students from the universities, folks who could help churches. It, it was,

00:55:51.060 - 00:56:10.899

I was in awe by the amount of support that people got. Do you remember that vote during the summer to recertify the certification vote? Were you around for that? When they've been on strike for 11 months and the teams petitioned for. I wasn't there but had

00:56:10.899 - 00:56:30.560

heard about it and uh I remember talking to some of the striking about it. What impressed me about that was that people were just scattered all over creation and they all came back to town for that vote. And I, I, I keep asking people how in

00:56:30.560 - 00:56:49.969

the world did you get in contact with everybody. Oh, you know, it was nothing, you know, um, there's something that I don't understand about that I think that that was the that was before. Well, I mean, yeah, and people had. We go back and forth, you

00:56:49.969 - 00:57:00.169

know, they had family connections. They knew everybody in town, you know, from where they came from and it was you could always call up and say, hey, so and so went back there two weeks ago. Can you tell them to come back to Watsonville and they

00:57:00.169 - 00:57:14.919

would, you know, um, that was amazing because there were quite a, quite a number. I mean that that that's how it was built. Did your students talk at all about just the, the progress of the strike and the you know the the kind of the tactical

00:57:14.919 - 00:57:36.570

issues? Um, no, I think they, whatever they could do to support they were there, um, they questioned just, I mean not questioned, they were just frustrated that it had been going on for a long time. It's like, what is this gonna end, but uh. No, I

00:57:36.570 - 00:57:53.330

know that we were um. Wanting to do little skits about the strike. Was there any talk about Wells Fargo's role, we didn't talk about it. No, we didn't talk about it. We just talked about, you know, the role of the companies, you know, their role, you

00:57:53.330 - 00:58:08.360

know, and we did some little roles. Did you know anything? Oh, you did role playing. You know, tell me more about that. Uh, the role playing of, of, uh, the big business, you know, the strikers and the scabs, and, and to really take a good look

00:58:08.360 - 00:58:24.530

at, you know, how difficult it is to play each role as a striker, as a scab, a strike breaker, how difficult that must have been. I wanted to get into their heads. Those different positions and it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy for all of them that

00:58:24.530 - 00:58:54.139

were involved in this and, and then to discuss who do you think of the three groups from the, from the uh canneries, big business to the strikers and to looking at the scabs. Who do you think? Um, Basically hurt the most, suffered the most, and I

00:58:54.139 - 00:59:12.520

always came back to the striker. I always came back to the striker. Did you have any contact yourself with with strikebreakers? Uh, yes, I did. Yes I did and Not because I wanted to, but because it just so happened to, I was there at the time

00:59:12.520 - 00:59:34.310

that somebody wanted me to be involved in trying to talk to them. Um, I was. Getting out of the pharmacy. Oh, that pharmacy that is on East Lake and Main Street used to be a pharmacy there. Now it's a, it's uh. Western store. And I used

00:59:34.310 - 00:59:55.419

to go pay my um phone bill there that pharmacy. And so I get out of the parking lot and a striker recognizes me. Oh, senorita Maestra, you know, they knew me as Maestra, the teacher. And oh I, you know, it just, can you help me in

00:59:55.419 - 01:00:10.060

Spanish? All of this was in Spanish. Can you help me? And I says, Well, how can I, you know, how can I help you? What do you need? He says, Well, there's a group of men in this span that are going to where we're striking. They're

01:00:10.060 - 01:00:28.739

strike breakers. They're coming in from. Uh, I don't know if it was Salinas or Soledad, and can you talk to them for us, you know, tell them who you are, and I think they'll respect that. I didn't know what, you know, I was, OK, whatever. So

01:00:28.739 - 01:00:42.500

I went and I was talking to them and I introduced myself to them, and I told them what happened to me and the students and, and I know that they needed a job, but you know, not to, not to hurt the strike here because these people,

01:00:42.570 - 01:00:57.050

you know, need a decent wage and I know you need a decent wage, but you know, if you come in and break the strike, then it's going to um Make the cannery stronger and uh who knows this can happen to you too and you might be

01:00:57.050 - 01:01:10.370

out of a job, so be aware, you know, these are your companeros you're the same colors and culture and and to go ahead and do this and I know you desperately need a job, but if you can find it somewhere else, somewhere else it'd be better.

01:01:10.810 - 01:01:28.129

And so I, who knows if I helped, you know, but I give you a respectful and oh, they were very respectful. They were very respectful and, and they were saying thank you, Senorita, you know, we appreciate you talking to us. Uh, we won't go, you know,

01:01:28.580 - 01:01:42.084

uh, we're sorry this happened to you. We're sorry that's happening to all these people, but we need a job. I said I know, but if you could find somewhere else. So who Who knows if that helped, you know, who knows if they just turned around and

01:01:42.084 - 01:01:58.274

you know, cross the picket line. Well, this is different from almost every story I've heard about contact with strike breakers because it's usually pretty ugly, you know, I guess the fact that he introduced me as a teacher and I explained that I was a teacher what

01:01:58.274 - 01:02:15.500

had happened and what had happened to the 17 students and And they were sort of caught off guard when I said, yeah, students were also arrested and they were released, but I'm having to go to trial and I think just the fact that here was a

01:02:15.500 - 01:02:35.550

teacher in this cause that got arrested. And I, and I even told her, I said, I, I didn't go out there to get arrested. I got arrested in the process of supporting the strikers. When was this? Do you recall that this had been. A couple of

01:02:35.550 - 01:02:50.969

months later after I was arrested November December, I, I would say maybe even like January, February, yeah. Well, I want to ask you about February too because that's when things kind of got out of hand for a little bit. Um, what can you tell me about

01:02:50.969 - 01:03:06.399

that? Hm, are we talking about? I'm thinking specifically of the you know that that rally on the 17th where a bunch of people after the police broke it up some people went down to Main Street and broke windows, but I know there was a lot of

01:03:06.399 - 01:03:20.169

stuff leading up to that too. There was that really tense meeting and I remember what I remember because I don't remember a lot of that, but I remember reading about all of that and I thought, oh jeez, and the slashing of tires and rocks and all

01:03:20.169 - 01:03:39.709

that kind of stuff. There was a lot of. Anger and frustration and I think it was based on the city council, the police siding with the company and and I think there was a big frustration with that. I didn't support the violence that was happening. We're

01:03:39.709 - 01:04:05.080

very blessed and very lucky that nobody got killed. Mhm mhm. I'm so thankful, but I remember, what I do remember is um Seeing the sights of the burning of the palates at Dicksha, at Dicksha Richard Shaw in the back of the um Cannery And somebody had

01:04:05.080 - 01:04:27.189

said something, so we went. And I, I don't even remember who I was with that drove me there. And we're watching all these pallets up in smoke, burning. And somebody we don't know who who it was that lit up these pallets and started a fire. It

01:04:27.189 - 01:04:43.389

was at Shaw's. Was this in February or I'm not sure exactly the date. I'm not sure. I know there were a couple of incidents, you know, one is uh. A warehouse behind what's what's farmers, whatever it is, uh, burned down and there is a lot of

01:04:43.389 - 01:04:58.090

debate about who did it but you know some people were suggesting it was an inside job, some more consul could collect insurance and yeah. Yeah, that I read in the paper, but the other was pallets. There were pallets that were being burned, and that was at

01:04:58.090 - 01:05:15.790

Dick Shaw's. Yeah, I remember that. But yeah, that was a crazy. Anytime something like that happened, the union was blamed for it. Yeah, yeah, sure. And it was a crazy period of time, you know, I was uh. Did you ever have to talk to your kids

01:05:15.790 - 01:05:36.120

about Not Not doing things like that, you know, or they would want to do something you didn't a good thing, you know, we have to be careful about the violence because the violence doesn't get us anywhere. That violence doesn't get anywhere. It doesn't get us anywhere.

01:05:36.290 - 01:05:53.510

Did any of them argue with you? No, no, I think, I think the way that I brought it up and you know, I pointed it out to a lot of the nonviolence folks, and I know how difficult it is to resist um. Uh, and I think

01:05:53.510 - 01:06:09.149

I, I. When I told him when I was arrested and when I was pushed by the police officer Tabaga right in the police station, it was, it was easy for me to go like this, quit, don't touch me, OK? But I said I kept my cool,

01:06:09.270 - 01:06:21.550

and I said, and those are things that you need to understand. You gotta keep your cool because uh. A lot of folks love when we are provoked. Sometimes they set the trap for so we can be provoked to do something, and I think that's where we

01:06:21.550 - 01:06:35.550

have to be very careful, and we talked about it and we had some discussions about it and it was, uh, it was really good because, you know, still kids have a hard time even today without a strike, without anything, you know, like this, uh, have a

01:06:35.550 - 01:06:57.530

difficult time. It's just our society and the makeup of our society and how we've been talking. Well, my son actually did a. Lesson about um you know that movie. Because I even told him that when I was taken into the police station. They, it was interesting

01:06:57.530 - 01:07:14.889

for me that they separated the girls from the boys. They questioned the girls somewhere else. And they questioned the boys somewhere else, and they took me in where the boys were, and I thought that was really interesting. Why do you suppose they did that? I think

01:07:15.570 - 01:07:42.679

because. They could control the boys. Well, yeah, I don't know. I want to think that it was easier for them to control the boys with me there than to control the girls with me there. I think so, OK. Um, But it was really interesting. When Ben

01:07:42.679 - 01:07:59.429

Tobago pushed me, there was no reason I was walking into the police station. Get in there, get in there. Push me twice, and the boys, they had him on the floor, seated on the floor, weren't even chairs for them. They were seated on the floor, and

01:07:59.919 - 01:08:15.110

one of the guys got up like this, and this is what I shared with my students. I said one of the guys and another one was getting up to try to protect me, and I go, calm down. Calm down. It's OK. Calm down, because that was

01:08:15.110 - 01:08:34.539

a form of provoking them. I says, keep it cool. We're OK. I'm OK. And so when I got in there. I needed to, I wanted to talk to the chief, and they said he was busy cause there were all these people complaining and stuff. So I

01:08:34.539 - 01:08:50.450

said, well, I want to talk to somebody about this because I think this is absolutely ludicrous. This is wrong. And the only one that wanted to talk to me, that would talk to me anyway was Eddie, Eddie Rodriguez, the rookie cop. And the first thing that

01:08:50.450 - 01:09:03.450

came out of his mouth was, you know, why are you here? You know, what are you doing? I said, I'm here to support the kids, you know, I'm here to videotape. This is history in the making, you know, how can I not be here? I'm part

01:09:03.450 - 01:09:23.229

of the community here. Hello, you know, he says, we'll wait right here. And then Ben Tabaga, sergeant Ben Tabaga came in, took me to another room. And sat me down. And started questioning me, and there was a police officer next to the door, and Ben was

01:09:23.229 - 01:09:40.470

sitting in one area, so You know, he started quiet. I said, are you gonna listen to me because nobody wants to listen to me. So I moved my chair and again used my psychology, used my education, used my study of sociology, and I went ahead and

01:09:40.470 - 01:09:57.410

I moved my chair next to him and I put my hand and I, and I distinctly remember this, and you know, and I tell the students this, I put my hand on his arm. And I looked at him straight in the eyes. He says, Are you

01:09:57.410 - 01:10:19.549

gonna listen to me? Because I, what I saw there was a macho Filipino man with, with this, with his uniform with his badge trying to be up here and to make me feel this way, and I said no and I teach these kids this. I wanted

01:10:19.549 - 01:10:38.009

to speak. He didn't much like me putting my hand there, but I wanted to indicate to him we're equal here, and this is my story, and my story was because he also asked me the same question, what are you doing here? And I says, have you

01:10:38.009 - 01:10:57.600

ever been involved in a strike? No, were your parents, um, a lot of marches, yeah, were your parents in the UFW? No, my parents weren't in the United Farm Workers at that time. My dad worked for a farmer, you know, um. Uh, in Fresno and he

01:10:57.600 - 01:11:18.680

was a small farmer. My mom also worked picking grapes and packing grapes, and she, towards, uh, I would say maybe towards the end of the season, she ended up joining on with the UFW but they didn't have a lot of weight back then at that time.

01:11:19.370 - 01:11:33.689

And uh she packed grapes and also picked grapes and stuff um but there wasn't a lot of power at that time with the when you were growing up and then when I was growing up I knew a lot about the United Farm Workers and started marching

01:11:33.689 - 01:11:51.839

with them and and uh boycotting products and stuff so I was heavily involved when I was in in uh junior college in City, yeah, big time. Well, um, I guess I could ask you about some of these programs. I mean how well do you remember this

01:11:51.839 - 01:12:17.589

one, the Women's Day program? The only thing that I remember about them was uh folks who had program, for example, got involved with a little skit with one of these programs, uh, for solidarity, um. At EA home, OK, in the cafeteria, I remember doing a presentation

01:12:17.589 - 01:12:45.109

here these programs and basically used to keep the solidarity going, you know, and, and these women were just feisty women, they were awesome women, um. And they, like so many other women uh before them. Um, I admired so much because they had given so much. Uh,

01:12:45.399 - 01:13:05.310

of themselves to the strike. They were at the forefront. The women were at the forefront. I saw them very strong, um, and not giving up, and I saw the men's, uh, sort of slipping back a little bit, and these women were strong. They were amazing women.

01:13:07.410 - 01:13:27.540

You know, And what I loved seeing was that they even were looking for folks to provide childcare or or take turns in childcare, helping each other with that when they would go on strike, um. Organizing uh the foods, did you ever go down to the food,

01:13:27.549 - 01:13:48.859

uh, yeah, yeah, I, I talked to a couple of people yesterday who did you know? What's Lidia Lerma, I guess her her son is running the union now as president. I, oh, the Santos, yeah, Santos and Debbie, they're my neighbors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she was surprised

01:13:48.859 - 01:14:06.450

that I was that's right, you're right, yeah, you're right in front yeah, they're on. Yeah, Debbie and I walk our dogs together, and I know Santos, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean she was talking about what it was like running that that food. So they actually had

01:14:06.729 - 01:14:20.129

the union, the strikers had their own little thing where people would do weekly pickups. Then there was the county food bank over on what was it Walker Road, was it? There were there were two different places, yeah, not sure where where they organized all of that,

01:14:20.250 - 01:14:34.839

yeah, a big part of that. I was so busy trying to keep up with the kids here and my you know grades and classes and I don't know how I did it all. plus I had sponsored a, you know, I was advisor to a club here.

01:14:35.540 - 01:14:48.180

Do it I, you know, I look back at this period of time and then I. I, uh, took about a half a year off of the club because of all of this that was going on and I had a couple of other teachers in the club

01:14:48.180 - 01:15:10.250

for me because I just couldn't do it. I was just overwhelmed with all of this. Are there activities that you participated in support activities in the community that you'd like to talk about? That's especially. That are important to you. And look back um. I think that

01:15:10.250 - 01:15:31.720

just basically having kids, educating kids, educating my, my peers, my colleagues about what was going on, for me that was important because I didn't think they. Covered a big part of that through the media and so I was trying to get some headway with the teachers,

01:15:31.879 - 01:15:47.000

um, yeah, I got a lot of support. Oh, there were a lot of teachers that thought, you know. Because you were saying a lot of here's this here's this radical teacher, you know, but I got a lot of support and, and then some teachers were sort

01:15:47.000 - 01:16:08.390

of like scared to say anything because, you know, again, some of them were tenure and others were not and um. Even those who are 10 year. Just don't wanna have uh. And I'm not sure. I mean, this is me talking. I'm not sure they, they never

01:16:08.390 - 01:16:25.270

told me, but. There, there was some reluctancy, uh, to be supportive of what was going on out there or fear they might have that in their file and all that. I know what's that gonna do? You know, what's that gonna do? You're still teaching, you still

01:16:25.270 - 01:16:43.939

have a job. Something in your file. What's that gonna do? They can't do anything, you know, um. And I had the biggest support of all was Ria Dehart, who was president of the teachers union and still to this day, OK, and she's 88 years old today

01:16:44.390 - 01:17:05.035

and she was, she was amazing. She was there during my trial, but I would say just educating people here on site, uh, I just got to, uh, this, you know, dealing with hearings in my case and And students, I went to several rallies, um, I think

01:17:05.035 - 01:17:20.439

I went to all of the rallies. I spoke at UCSE and got the students at UCSE educated what happened to my case and the students, and I took a couple of students who got arrested with me there, educated them, um. So there were several of us

01:17:20.439 - 01:17:38.620

who spoke all over the community and the university in Santa Cruz and, and just educated. That was, I thought my role was to educate people what was happening in Watsonville, to give support to the people here. I probably should leave it at that. I mean, if

01:17:38.620 - 01:17:58.910

there are other people that I should talk to but you're in touch with, um, I have interviewed Frank. Yeah, she's she's in LA now. As far as I know, she's in LA. And she was an assistant DA. Well, when, and that was about 8 years ago,

01:17:59.040 - 01:18:17.430

so I'm not sure if she's still there, but she was an assistant, uh. District attorney of Pasadena, and there's a great article about her in there and this is the uh oh. San Francisco Journal. I'll look at the date I can look it up in the

01:18:17.430 - 01:18:38.750

library probably. And then Claudia Webanov. Who works at the district. I emailed her to see if she could make it today, but she says, you know, if it's between 9 and 10, I have no problem, but she had a previous engagement, but her, her uh father

01:18:38.750 - 01:19:04.189

was on strike. Well, I know. You know, I'm gonna be around, um. Uh That You know, in the evenings usually I'm free. I'm gonna be in town at least through tomorrow, possibly through Tuesday, so I mean you can shoot Heidi an email or I can leave

01:19:04.189 - 01:19:23.419

you my phone number it'd be awesome to get her point of view, um. I'd like to talk to one of the students, Claudia, her sister Fatima. You know, 2 of the sisters were arrested with me. And I'll never forget them saying, if you're gonna arrest them,

01:19:23.529 - 01:19:44.020

you might as well arrest me too. It was so brave of her to To stand up to that, and a lot of people really took a good hard look at what was going on at that time. And like I tell my students today, you need to

01:19:44.020 - 01:20:08.569

stand up for principle for what you believe in and it's essential. Here So she was the president of the bar association you know. So it's amazing. I got, and she's in the video, she's in some of these articles as a young girl, as a senior. So,

01:20:08.770 - 01:20:30.919

it's just, and like you said, yeah, you got to do we, isn't that something how we got carried away? It started just. Articles after articles and advertisements. You know, you, did you go to that rally on February 17th that the police broke up? I know you

01:20:30.919 - 01:21:06.470

weren't, you weren't on Main Street, yeah. Well, actually you would have been working. It was a daytime rally. Oh, this Good Lord, This is the very beginning. Yeah, and the letters to the editor, he's one that Cruz Gomez sympathies was placed. Just let us. OK. That

01:21:06.470 - 01:21:40.200

was good. OK One nice thing about this newspaper they printed long letters. I've learned to express myself in 150 words or less, and it's not always fun. And I hated that they put me as 33 when I was really 32. I wanted to go ahead and

01:21:40.200 - 01:22:10.609

take out a correction. Well, this was before the strike. This is what August of '85. What Dear editor, you can bet your last Krugeron that the Soviets would like to see the present government of South Africa fall. This present South African government is one of the

01:22:10.609 - 01:22:36.750

most anti-communist governments in the world. We depend on their strategic minerals produced by South Africa's rich mining industry. The Soviets know that blah blah blah. Wow. And then here's The trial. Let's have a quick look. But this is the same, this is the same as this,

01:22:37.470 - 01:22:53.649

it's, it's, it's edition, this is December, yeah, they're both December 5th. It looks like the same, uh. You know, I think you just take the uh. And then, uh, yeah, that's right, and, and there's Claudia Loban no, that's not gonna be good, she's mentioned in that

01:22:53.649 - 01:23:57.930

article. How long was the jury out in that case? Oh, just a day and a half a day and a half. Yeah, no biggie. That was just so interesting. Yeah, the rallies and the speaking and the. Well, Yeah, this is the original one. There's Yeah And

01:23:57.930 - 01:24:40.200

the strikers, the fire, the rest, the rock throwing, I collected a lot of that. I'm guessing the notes I've seen, yeah, this one. I do you know Mike Cole? I wonder what happened to Mike. I haven't seen my cost. Castle Mike I've heard the name. He

01:24:40.200 - 01:24:59.959

was in Santa Cruz, wasn't he? Or was he like on the team, yeah. No, I think the one from the, the Watsonville strikes support for me that I know, you know, when I talked to the strike and. As I say, I knew him from way back.

01:25:00.859 - 01:25:16.859

I was a student at Santina actually and he. The teacher, uh, occasionally would be out of town, couldn't teach, you would have Frank fill in for him, and what I remember, the only thing I remember was the story he told about a mechanic friend of his.

01:25:18.439 - 01:25:33.770

Who had a guy drive into his shop with a brand new Lincoln Continental. Very agitated saying I just paid $30,000 for this car and there's a rattle in it. The mechanic looked the car up and down and this car's in perfect condition. The guy drives away

01:25:33.770 - 01:25:46.660

shaking his head, comes back 5 minutes later I figured out where the rattle is. It's in the door. Oh, it's impossible. It can't be in the door. Oh, I'm telling you it's in the door on the driver's side. So Mcan takes the screwdriver, takes the panel

01:25:46.660 - 01:26:00.640

off the door, and finds a Coke bottle with a note in it that says, So you finally found the rattle, you rich son of a bitch. Anytime I think of Frank, I think of that story. I don't know what he taught us. I think he talked

01:26:00.640 - 01:26:23.959

about John Stewart Mill at one point, but that's what I remember. That's one of my favorite. I love that 40 some years later and then just kinds of things, those kinds of things that were coming out, you know, advertisement by Richard Shaw. Those kinds of things

01:26:23.959 - 01:27:04.629

that are coming out. Oh, this is his Buy America. And then Uh, Steve Shaw, I guess his son. Yeah. Look at this, isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? Yeah Yeah. Amazing. And then the pictures and the Yeah. It's interesting how we got so caught up in

01:27:04.629 - 01:27:40.649

all this. You know, this was like. And I know we tape stuff and to this day I have no idea what I did with the tapes because I interviewed the students. And where they were and was, you know, who questioned them. Oh this is terrible. Is

01:27:40.649 - 01:28:00.919

that something? I can't believe it. Isn't that something, huh? He was supposed to be the reasonable one, you know, was a smile. Just, you know, just all kinds of stuff I kept. Well, I, I should. Yeah Yeah I should get out of here, but um thank

01:28:00.919 - 01:28:21.439

you. I don't know if I help much. No, um, really everything and uh. This was a perspective I hadn't gotten. You know, I mean, the hardest. I find it's hard for people to talk about this stuff, the people who are actually, you know, they'll talk about,

01:28:21.509 - 01:28:35.660

they'll talk about this, you know, the police did this, the scabs did this. I remember when we followed the scabs out of town, but when you talk about what their personal lives were like, and I don't like to ask people questions like that, you know, maybe

01:28:35.660 - 01:28:57.520

I'm not. Like I told the students, it says, for me it wasn't difficult because. I had a permanent position. I said it was the other folks that were arrested and had to put up with so much, and they felt powerless, and I had a lot of

01:28:57.520 - 01:29:22.040

support and backing. Um, where I didn't feel powerless, but those who, you know, trying to eke out a living, uh, were so helpless, and that's something we need to get ourselves educated to help folks to, you know, halals to bring them to a level of consciousness

01:29:22.040 - 01:29:40.560

to a level of knowing what their rights are, and you know, to this day, which is awesome to hear from students of mine. That many want to study and uh come back to the communities and help, whether it be um Uh, labor rights and immigrant rights,

01:29:40.649 - 01:30:01.279

and it's just so awesome. That's good because that's that's nice to hear because you hear so much about how kids nowadays don't have the same, you know. Well, and it's, it's changing because I would say. 5 years ago it wasn't like that I have. An incredible

01:30:01.279 - 01:30:28.209

group of seniors this year. That uh. It's awesome to hear them say that. Yeah, it's awesome. It's just that's why I still love teaching. I mean, I've been teaching for 34 years, going on my 35th, and I still love it. There was what really price. I

01:30:28.209 - 01:30:43.879

love teaching. What can I say? I love the kids. I love this community. Um, I want these kids to get, yeah, I push hard. I'm very strict. I, I push hard, and they come in and I'm like, oh you got with this, but once they're here

01:30:43.879 - 01:31:01.770

and they get the message of why I push them hard, why I want them to learn so much, and then they get it, they go, OK, I get it, and then just um. They're just awesome, they're very passionate, and last week, I lost my sister. And

01:31:01.770 - 01:31:22.680

she passed away last Tuesday and uh I don't have any family here. She and her husband had lived in Virginia to Las Vegas. They had lived in Vegas for about 4 years and. And she passed away. She had uh a stroke and she was bouting uh

01:31:23.120 - 01:31:44.750

uh diabetes and she had some minor strokes throughout the years and. So it was really hard, but these kids were the ones that really, oh, they were just so awesome, they were just, they just embraced. With that compassion, sincerity and love, I was just like, oh

01:31:44.750 - 01:31:59.350

you guys don't make me cry. I was just talking about it right now it's because I'm getting teary eyed, but there's just lots of, you know, this generation of kids, um, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with their life. Because they're gonna be awesome

01:31:59.350 - 01:32:14.430

out there because they're very compassionate about making a difference and making a change, which is awesome to hear, you know, when I start hearing about, you know, they wanna work in immigration, they wanna help the kids, uh, 8 by 40 kids want to start, get a

01:32:14.430 - 01:32:36.479

good education, go to school, when I start hearing that from these kids I'm, wow, wow. We're gonna be better off, I hope, I hope. Sometimes people go out. grade. He teaches the same as you. He teaches uh juniors and seniors at he teaches history and um

01:32:36.479 - 01:32:52.189

he he's been teaching history lately, you know, he, he's taught government and economics. How long has he? 05 years now. Oh good for him. How does he like it? I think he loves the work. I think there are things about the job that drives him crazy,

01:32:52.819 - 01:33:12.100

you know, uh, they. He gets frustrated that the union doesn't do more. He gets frustrated that you know that doesn't do more and do more, you know, I get frustrated, but once I close the door, guys. No, I think as long as he's with his students,

01:33:12.180 - 01:33:25.970

he's fine he's with the other stuff, you know, I keep saying to him, look, if you're not happy with the union, you know what you can do about it, you know. Quit pissing and moaning about it and get out there, you know, have a better program,

01:33:26.009 - 01:33:44.290

you know, this whole thing is if you pay people junk wages, they give you junk work and Oakland is very low paying, and he, you know, he works 1012 hours a day, and in that time, it's, it's easy to put that amount of hours like that

01:33:44.290 - 01:34:00.589

we all do and it's just like the best for that every now and then he'll call us up and special ed. And you know he will. You know, have heart to hearts with her. Um, he'll call me up. He'll ask me, hit my new lesson plan,

01:34:00.640 - 01:34:11.959

you know, I, you know, he asked about that, that whole thing with Freedom Song. He called me up and asked if there was something I knew of that he could show his students, well, yeah, there's a scene from that movie. See it's on, on YouTube and

01:34:11.959 - 01:34:33.109

he found it he showed it and he just came up with this whole. you know, and, and it's like me before the kids he does the I the, the great debaters and the kids were like. They were like, wow, the mouth dropped how powerful it was

01:34:33.109 - 01:35:01.330

just that one what you put into it, it's what you put into it. It's the gun, the design, the energy you put into it and then. Well, you know, one thing I think I will do. I'm gonna leave you my phone number and if you happen

01:35:01.330 - 01:35:33.750

to find somebody who's available uh I hope I got. sometime when they. or anytime between now and to speak to and you know what kind of stuff I'm looking for. This is a cell phone. It's got a Portland area code. Yeah, right now. So you know

01:35:33.750 - 01:35:54.200

you can always shoot Heidi an email but. OK, OK, well thank you, you know, this has been inspiring, as well as useful and um we'll try to write it up. You know how long do you think it's gonna take for you to, you know, why did

01:35:54.200 - 01:36:12.740

you want to get started in your book? Well, I always, you know, I was so impressed with this guy and I actually was. Um, Working for a paper that covered you know labor struggles, you know, just on the side around the country and the Hormel thing

01:36:12.740 - 01:36:28.180

was going on, the Phelps dodge strike, all these strikes just ended badly and by rights this one should have been smashed. I mean the union was completely nonfunctional when it started. People had no resources, nothing, and you know it just amazes me that the way it

01:36:28.180 - 01:36:43.220

did, and I realized from the striker's point of view. You know, 5, 10 years later, most of them have lost their jobs anyway. But and it was a lot of suffering. It wasn't just glamorous, you know, but I've always thought that. The story needed to be

01:36:43.220 - 01:37:01.299

told. It didn't get nearly enough attention except for John Silver's film, you know, I mean, I've seen a couple of articles that strictly a local story though, you know, I mean, I, I think Frank wrote a pretty good article right after the strike. He published it

01:37:01.299 - 01:37:18.750

in, you know, against the Current, which not that many people read and I came across the anthology in the library with another article by Bill Flores, you know, which. Probably only academics read that one, you know, um, but nobody's actually written, you know, a narrative of

01:37:18.750 - 01:37:31.870

the whole thing, and I always thought, well. That someday I'm gonna do it. I retired from the post office two years ago, so I've got the time. I no longer have any excuse not to. Good for you. Well, thank you for doing that too. Well, you

01:37:31.870 - 01:37:53.020

see the book. I may make a hash of it, but it's, it's, you know, I can imagine with the strikers and everybody else. You know it's. It's such a some people don't remember anything or they remember it, but they would rather not talk about it. Some

01:37:53.020 - 01:38:10.509

people just astonish me with how clear it all is, and then, you know, it's like this morning I saw, you know, Anita and it's like. How can I say it? I, I felt bad when I left, you know, Gloria felt worse because they're friends, you know,

01:38:11.479 - 01:38:34.680

but um. It made me feel kind of intrusive, you know, people have their lives and continue and I'm just writing my little book, you know, right to go ask. out there We have a documentation of all that they would. Well, I know, it's easy to get

01:38:34.680 - 01:38:52.399

the people who are in leadership positions or, you know, I mean, I, uh, Sergio Lopez, he spoke to me not once but 3 times, you know, uh, Joe Fay, I spent a whole day with him, uh. You know, Gloria and Chavela are both very articulate people.

01:38:52.450 - 01:39:14.060

They talked to me quite a bit. Um, these are people who are in positions of leadership, you know, or whatever, but they're the ones who I think really made it, made it happen, not to diminish what anybody else did. If they hadn't been willing to hold

01:39:14.060 - 01:39:33.220

out, none of the exactly and it's very hard for one I truly admired when I went out there and saw these people with signs and doing just around the clock, you know, it just amazes me, still amazes me. I mean, every time I watch the video.

01:39:34.990 - 01:39:53.310

Every year I show the video to my students and we talked about freedoms and and then I talked about what happened and start pulling out newspaper articles and stuff and so much of the emphasis of that video is on the police, you know, um, yes, that's

01:39:53.310 - 01:39:59.859

what gets your adrenaline of seeing somebody being pushed around by a cop. And yet I think so much of the story was the quieter stuff.