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On Friday, speakers at the CFT Rising Up for Justice rally included those from reproductive justice and environmental organizations as well as education and labor groups, effectively communicating the idea that we all need to fight together against the hostile autocratic executive in Washington, D.C.
Attendees at the CFT Convention walked a few blocks to the Federal Plaza in downtown San Diego, many wearing red shirts printed with “Rising Up for Justice!” and carrying signs reading “Gotta Get Through Us First,” among other slogans. The rally came at the end of a week when cuts to the U. S. Department of Education were announced that would reduce its workforce so severely the agency would struggle to provide services for disabled students, disperse federal funds, and conduct civil-rights investigations.
The courthouse in front of them was built by union labor, California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez, told the crowd. She said President Trump had made it clear he planned to go after the most vulnerable first, and unions needed to use their privilege to stand up for them.
Her grandparents, Alliance San Diego’s Erin Tsurumoto Grassi shared, along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans — two thirds of them born in the United States —were incarcerated without due process during World War II.
To learn more about this bleak period in history, Grassi visited Los Angeles’ Japanese American National Museum. The day she went, May 1, 2006, hundreds of thousands of people, responding to a punitive bill, marched nearby in support of immigrant rights.
Inside the museum, reading how laws like the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act led to Executive Order 9066 and internment camps while hearing the protestors outside, Grassi had a revelation.
“In that moment, I realized that what happened to my family was connected to what was happening with those families outside,” she said.
This connection between different struggles is something both Judy Vaughs, Public Affairs Manager for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, and Zachary Norris, the California Climate Director for Greenpeace, talked about.
“We all need to fight for a world where everyone can get the care and education they need and deserve,” Vaughs said. “Some of us are afraid or uncertain about the future, but we need to remember who we are together.”
Norris, who said he had teachers and union members in his family and noted that he was born in 1977–the year before Proposition 13 devastated the tax base for schools– talked about a bill in Sacramento to bring in billions for education and essential services. He then led the crowd in chanting, “Make polluters pay!” when he said, “Tax the rich!”
CFT President Jeff Freitas spoke at the end of the rally, joking that rain was falling as it seems to do every time the union has a rally or a strike — a metaphor for CFT fighting back in dark moments. Freitas exhorted everyone to use the power of the union.
“This seed of resistance, let’s carry that back to our locals, go back to our area, plant that seed, feed it, and let that grow,” he said. “Together we are stronger. Together, we will not stop, and together, we will win. We will win this country back!”
That message was just what she needed, said Sharon Sampson, a Vice President in the San Diego-Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College Districts’ AFT Guild, Local 1931, whose parents immigrated from Belize. Sampson said the speeches, as well as the place and the timing of the rally were perfect.
“It was unifying, uplighting, and inspiring,” she said. “It feels good to be in community. Community is important, especially when you’re feeling demoralized. So today it’s like a reset, recharge, and an opportunity to reengage in front of this government building because they’re the ones that make a lot of the decisions, the federal courts, and many are pushing back on the executive orders.”
Carol Abohatab, a Membership Coordinator and Grievance Officer for the San José/Evergreen Federation of Teachers, was glad to see people get together for a common cause.
“I love that somebody from Planned Parenthood spoke as well as someone about climate change. It’s about education, but it’s also about educating people about other issues that are going on,” she said. “They’re bigger than issues — they’re catastrophes happening right now, and I’m very passionate about this fight and ready to go to the front lines when needed.”
The Vice President for the Long Beach Council of Classified Employees, Marc Smith, says visibility matters.
“It’s important to show that we are united and that we will not put up with the BS coming from this administration,” he said. “It puts some eyes on this that might not have been there. It unites us in the fight, and we’re here to win it.”