race, ethnicity and the seattle

Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 16:50:14 -0500
From: Jesse Heiwa <jheiwa@ngltf.org>
Subject: Where were People of Color at the WTO Protests?

>To:  colorlines@topica.com
>From: ColorLines Magazine <colorlines@arc.org>
>Subject: Where were People of Color at the WTO Protests?

>Below is an extended version of an article contained in the forthcoming

>issue of ColorLines, a national magazine of Race, Culture & Action,
>concerning the relative lack of people of color who participated in the

>protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle at the end of
>last year, written by Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez.
>
>The new issue of ColorLines will be available in early February. The
>issue features a special section on race, gender, and sports, including

>articles by or about the untold story of Dominicans and other Latinos
in
>Baseball, sociologist and sports activist Harry Edwards, Anita DeFrantz

>(vice president of the International Olympic Committee), and the
>successful fight against the Washington Redskins.
>
>Subscriptions to ColorLines are $16 per year (four issues) and may be
>obtained from our website, http://www.colorlines.com or at
510/653-3415.
>
>
>WHERE WAS THE COLOR IN SEATTLE?
>
>Looking for reasons why the Great Battle was so white
>
>By Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez
>
>        "I was at the jail where a lot of protesters were being held
and
>a big crowd of people was chanting `This Is What Democracy Looks Like!'

>At first it sounded kind of nice. But then I thought: is this really
>what democracy looks like? Nobody here looks like me."
>
>--Jinee Kim, Bay Area youth organizer
>
>
>In the vast acreage of published analysis about the splendid victory
>over the World Trade Organization last November 29-December 3, it is
>almost impossible to find anyone wondering why the 40-50,000
>demonstrators were overwhelmingly Anglo. How can that be, when the
WTO's
>main victims around the world are people of color? Understanding the
>reasons for the low level of color, and what can be learned from it, is

>absolutely crucial if we are to make Seattle's promise of a new,
>international movement against imperialist globalization come true.
>
>Among those who did come for the WTO meeting were some highly
>informative third world panelists who spoke Monday, November 29 about
>the effects of WTO on health care and on the environment. They included

>activist-experts from Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ghana, and
>Pakistan. On Tuesday, at the huge rally on November 30 before the
march,
>labor leaders from Mexico, the Caribbean, South Africa, Malaysia,
India,
>and China spoke along with every major U.S. union leader (all white).
>
>Rank-and-file U.S. workers of color also attended, from certain unions
>and locals in certain geographic areas. There were young African
>Americans in the building trades; blacks from Local 10 of the ILWU in
>San Francisco and Latinos from its Los Angeles local; Asian Americans
>from SEIU; Teamsters of color from eastern Washington state; members of

>the painters' union and the union of Hotel Employees and Restaurant
>Employees (H.E.R.E.). Latino/a farmworkers from the UFW and PCUN
>(Pineros and Campesinos del Noroeste) of Oregon also attended. At one
>point a miner from the South Africa Labor Network cried, "In the words
>of Karl Marx, `Workers of the world, unite!'" The crowd of some 25,000
>people cheered.
>
>Among community activists of color, the Indigenous Environmental
Network
>(IEN) delegation led by Tom Goldtooth conducted an impressive program
of
>events with Native peoples from all over the U.S. and the world. A
>15-member multi-state delegation represented the Southwest Network for
>Environmental and Economic Justice based in Albuquerque, which embraces

>84 organizations primarily of color in the U.S. and Mexico; their
>activities in Seattle were binational.
>
>Many activist youth groups of color came from California, especially
the
>Bay Area, where they have been working on such issues as Free Mumia,
>affirmative action, ethnic studies, and rightwing laws like the current

>Proposition 21 "youth crime" initiative. Seattle-based forces of color
>that participated actively included the Filipino Community Center and
>the international People's Assembly, which led a march on Tuesday
>despite being the only one denied a permit. The predominantly white
>Direct Action Network (DAN), a huge coalition, brought thousands to the

>protest. But Jia Ching Chen of the Bay Area's Third Eye Movement was
the
>only young person of color involved in DAN's central planning.
>
>Seattle's 27-year old Centro de la Raza organized a Latino contingent
in
>the labor march and local university groups, including MEChA
(Movimiento
>Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan), hooked up with visiting activists of
>color. Black activists who have been fighting for an African American
>Heritage Museum and Cultural Center in Seattle were there. Hop Hopkins,

>an AIDS activist in Seattle, also black, made constant personal efforts

>to draw in people of color.
>
>Still, the overall turnout of color from the U.S. remained around five
>percent of the total. In personal interviews, activists from the Bay
>Area and the Southwest gave me several reasons for this. Some mentioned

>concern about the likelihood of brutal police repression. Other
>obstacles: lack of funds for the trip, inability to be absent from work

>during the week, and problems in finding child care.
>
>Yet several experienced activists of color in the Bay Area who had even

>been offered full scholarships chose not to go. A major reason for not
>participating, and the reason given by many others, was lack of
>knowledge about the WTO. As one Filipina said, "I didn't see the
>political significance of it how the protest would be anti-imperialist.

>We didn't know anything about the WTO except that lots of people were
>going to the meeting." One of the few groups that did feel informed,
and
>did participate, was the hip-hop group Company of Prophets. According
to
>African American member Rashidi Omari of Oakland, this happened as a
>result of their attending teach-ins by predominantly white groups like
>Art and Revolution. Company of Prophets, rapping from a big white van,
>was in the front ranks of the 6 a.m. march that closed down the WTO on
>November 30.
>
>The problem of unfamiliarity with the WTO was aggravated by the fact
>that black and Latino communities across the U.S. lack Internet access
>compared to many white communities. A July 1999 federal survey showed
>that among Americans earning $15,000-$35,000 a year, more than 32
>percent of white families owned computers but only 19 percent of black
>and Latino families. In that same income range, only 9 percent of
>African American and Latino homes had Internet access compared to 27
>percent of white families. So information about WTO and all the plans
>for Seattle did not reach many people of color.
>
>Limited knowledge meant a failure to see how the WTO affected the daily

>lives of U.S. communities of color. "Activists of color felt they had
>more immediate issues," said Rashidi. "Also, when we returned people
>told me of being worried that family and peers would say they were
>neglecting their own communities, if they went to Seattle. They would
be
>asked, `Why are you going? You should stay here and help your people.'"

>
>Along with such concerns about linkage came the assumption that the
>protest would be overwhelmingly white as it was. Coumba Toure, a Bay
>Area activist originally from Mali, West Africa, said she had
originally
>thought, "the whites will take care of the WTO, I don't need to go."
>Others were more openly apprehensive. For example, Carlos ("Los" for
>short) Windham of Company of Prophets told me, "I think even Bay Area
>activists of color who understood the linkage didn't want to go to a
>protest dominated by 50,000 white hippies."
>
>People of color had reason to expect the protest to be white-dominated.

>Roberto Maestas, director of Seattle's Centro de la Raza, told me that
>in the massive local press coverage before the WTO meeting, not a
single
>person of color appeared as a spokesperson for the opposition. "Day
>after day, you saw only white faces in the news. The publicity was a
>real deterrent to people of color. I think some of the unions or church

>groups should have had representatives of color, to encourage people of

>color to participate."
>
>Four protesters of color from different Bay Area organizations talked
>about the "culture shock" they experienced when they first visited the
>"Convergence," the protest center set up by the Direct Action Network,
a
>coalition of many organizations. Said one, "When we walked in, the room

>was filled with young whites calling themselves anarchists. There was a

>pungent smell, many had not showered. We just couldn't relate to the
>scene so our whole group left right away." "Another told me, "They
>sounded dogmatic and paranoid." "I just freaked and left," said
another.
>"It wasn't just race, it was also culture, although race was key."
>
>In retrospect, observed Van Jones of STORM (Standing Together to
>Organize a Revolutionary Movement) in the Bay Area, "We should have
>stayed. We didn't see that we had a lot to learn from them. And they
had
>a lot of materials for making banners, signs, puppets." "Later I went
>back and talked to people," recalled Rashidi, "and they were discussing

>tactics, very smart. Those folks were really ready for action. It was
>limiting for people of color to let that one experience affect their
>whole picture of white activists." Jinee Kim, a Korean American with
the
>Third Eye Movement in the Bay Area, also thought it was a mistake. "We
>realized we didn't know how to do a blockade. We had no gas masks. They

>made sure everybody had food and water, they took care of people. We
>could have learned from them."
>
>Reflecting the more positive evaluation of white protesters in general,

>Richard Moore, coordinator of the Southwest Network for Environmental
>and Economic Justice, told me "the white activists were very
>disciplined." "We sat down with whites, we didn't take the attitude
that
>`we can't work with white folks,'" concluded Rashidi. "It was a
>liberating experience."
>
>Few predominantly white groups in the Bay Area made a serious effort to

>get people of color to Seattle. Juliette Beck of Global Exchange worked

>hard with others to help people from developing (third world) countries

>to come. But for U.S. people of color, the main organizations that made

>a serious effort to do so were Just Act (Youth ACTion for Global
>JUSTice), formerly the Overseas Development Network, and Art and
>Revolution, which mostly helped artists. Many activists of color have
>mentioned Alli Chaggi-Starr of Art and Revolution, who not only helped
>people come but for the big march in Seattle she obtained a van with a
>sound system that was used by musicians and rappers.
>
>In Just Act, Coumba Toure and two other members of color--Raj Jayadev
>and Malachi Larabee--pushed hard for support from the group. As a
>result, about 40 people of color were enabled to go thanks to special
>fundraising and whites staying at people's homes in Seattle so their
>hotel money could be used instead on plane tickets for people of color.

>Reflecting on the whole issue of working with whites, Coumba talked not

>only about pushing Just Act but also pushing people of color to apply
>for the help that became available.
>
>One of the problems Coumba said she encountered in doing this was "a
>legacy of distrust of middle-class white activists that has emerged
from
>experiences of `being used.' Or not having our issues taken seriously.
>Involving people of color must be done in a way that gives them real
>space. Whites must understand a whole new approach is needed that
>includes respect (if you go to people of color thinking you know more,
>it creates a barrier). Also, you cannot approach people simply in terms

>of numbers, like `let's give 2 scholarships.' People of color must be
>central to the project."
>
>Jia Ching Chen recalled that once during the week of protest, in a jail

>holding cell, he was one of only two people of color among many Anglos.

>He tried to discuss with some of them the need to involve more
activists
>of color and the importance of white support in this. "Some would say,
>`We want to diversify,' but didn't understand the dynamics of this." In

>other words, they didn't understand the kinds of problems described by
>Coumba Toure. "Other personal conversations were more productive," he
>said, "and some white people started to recognize why people of color
>could view the process of developing working relations with whites as
>oppressive."
>
>Unfortunately the heritage of distrust was intensified by some of the
>AFL-CIO leadership of labor on the November 30 march. They chose to
take
>a different route through downtown rather than marching with others to
>the Convention Center and helping to block the WTO. Also, on the march
>to downtown they reportedly had a conflict with the Third World
People's
>Assembly contingent when they rudely told the people of color to move
>aside so they could be in the lead.
>
>Yet if only a small number of people of color went to Seattle, all
those
>with whom I spoke found the experience extraordinary. They spoke of
>being changed forever. "I saw the future." "I saw the possibility of
>people working together." They called the giant mobilization "a shot in

>the arm," if you had been feeling stagnant. "Being there was an
>incredible awakening." Naomi, a Filipina dancer and musician, recalled
>how "at first a lot of my group were tired, grumpy, wanting to go home.

>That really changed. One of the artists with us, who never considered
>herself a political activist, now wants to get involved back in
Oakland.
>Seattle created a lot of strong bonds in my small community of
coworkers
>and friends."
>
>They seem to feel they had seen why, as the chant popularized by the
>Chicano/a students of MEChA goes, "Ain't no power like the power of the

>people, `Cause the power of the people don't stop!"
>
>There must be effective follow-up and increased communication between
>people of color across the nation: grassroots organizers, activists,
>cultural workers, and educators. We need to build on the contacts made
>(or that need to be made) from Seattle. Even within the Bay Area,
>activists who could form working alliances still do not know of each
>other's existence.
>
>With mass protests planned for April 16-17 in Washington, D.C. at the
>meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
the
>opportunity to build on the WTO victory shines brightly. More than
ever,
>we need to work on our ignorance about global issues with study groups,

>youth workshops, conferences. We need to draw specific links between
WTO
>and our close-to-home struggles in communities of color, as has been
>emphasized by Raj Jayadev and Lisa Juachon in The Silicon Valley
Reader:
>Localizing the Effects of the Global Economy, 1999, which they edited.
>
>Many examples of how WTO has hurt poor people in third world countries
>were given during the protest. For example, a Pakistani told one panel
>how, for years, South Africans grew medicinal herbs to treat AIDS at
>very little cost. The WTO ruled that this was "unfair" competition with

>pharmaceutical companies seeking to sell their expensive AIDS
>medications. "People are dying because they cannot afford those
products
>," he said. A Filipino reported on indigenous farmers being compelled
to
>use fertilizers containing poisonous chemicals in order to compete with

>cheap, imported potatoes. Ruined, they often left the land seeking
>survival elsewhere.
>
>But there are many powerful examples right here in the U.S. For
>starters, consider:
>
>* WTO policies encourage sub-livable wages for youth of color
>everywhere including right here.
>
>* WTO policies encourage privatization of health care, education,
>welfare, and other crucial public services, as well as cutbacks in
those
>services, so private industry can take them over and run them at a
>profit. This, along with sub-livable wages, leads to jeopardizing the
>lives of working-class people and criminalizing youth in particular.
>
>* Workers in Silicon Valley are being chemically poisoned by the chips
>they work on that make such wealth for others. WTO doesn't want to
limit
>those profits with protection for workers.
>
>* WTO has said it is "unfair trade" to ban the import of gasoline in
>which certain cancer-causing chemicals have been used. This could have
a
>devastating effect on people in the U.S., including those of color, who

>buy that gas.
>
>* Overall, WTO is controlled by U.S. corporations. It is secretly run
by
>a few advanced industrialized countries for the benefit of the rich and

>aspiring rich. WTO serves to further impoverish the poor of all
>countries.
>
>Armed with such knowledge, we can educate and organize people of color.

>As Jinee Kim said at a San Francisco report-back by youth of color, "We

>have to work with people who may not know the word `globalization' but
>they live globalization."
>
>***ColorLines:  The nation's leading magazine on race, culture, and
>organizing
>
>http://www.colorlines.com