What we see clearly in all the readings are two main themes:
1) California's economy has historically been built on treating people of color as migrant labor. They come. They work. But they don't stay. In the case of Asians, the state of California (and the United States government) passed laws to have Asians removed, excluded, or disenfranchised to help keep the community here as small as possible. In the case of Latinos, we've seen an eagerness to hire bracero and undocumented laborers because there's a legal case to prevent permanent settlement. In the case of Blacks, the major driver of migration to California was the war industry, whether as active duty or as civilians in shipyards and such. With active duty, they would leave as soon as they were called to their next duty station. With civilians, the contraction of war- related jobs had a huge impact.
2) Blacks need to build cross-racial coalitions for survival and justice. That could theoretically apply to any minority group, but Blacks are especially vulnerable because their numbers areshrinking and shrinking in California. Outside of the entertainment industry, Blacks have never received a fair shake in the private job sector, especially in California, whose jobs (even the well-paid ones) are so geared to exploitation of immigrants. Blacks, not being immigrants for the most part and thus less recruited in immigrant-heavy industries, have thus leaned on government employment to rise to middle class status. One of those big government employers is the U.S. Military, but with the closure of so many bases in the 1990s, there won't be a major influx of African Americans to the golden state. Thus Blacks don't have to worry about immigration laws or immigration authorities. They have to worry about racial discrimination in jobs, housing, education, and more.
If you're Willie Brown and have the power of the Speakership in the California Assembly, rank these issues facing Black people in terms of what you'd want to address 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. The issues are housing, jobs, relationship with police, education, homophobia, and the Black exodus out of California.
