Neil Foley, Quest for Equality: The Failed Promise of Black-Brown Solidarity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010)

Abstract

onized nation of the Philippines (84). The racial classifications of the white oligarchy impacted how workers saw each other and themselves, influencing the kinds of struggles they waged (i.e., ethnic-specific labour associations) and their strategic thinking about how to unite against a common enemy. Thus, from the mid-1800s to the early 1940s, workers struggled among themselves over racial classifications like coolie, cheap labor, citizen, haole, and American, "defining what these categories meant and who belonged to them" (188). To unite together, workers of different ethnic groups needed to confront and overcome qualitatively different racial inequalities. According to Jung, during World War II and the immediate years preceding it, new "mobilizing structures" and "political opportunities" enabled workers to transform their thinking about race and class (107). In this period, workers took advantage of New Deal legislation and the coming of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to Hawaii. Longshoremen in the islands gained resources and new approaches to organizing from their contact with West Coast counterparts. Japanese Americans fought valiantly in World War II, shifting perception in the islands of their loyalty. The impact of these developments culminated in the 1946 strike. For Jung, the strike represented for workers a new understanding of racial justice as encompassing united worker power. In other words, workers defined the strike as not simply an economic struggle-i.e., a campaign for better wages and working conditions and union power-but as part of the historical struggle of workers in the islands against racial discrimination and for the rights of immigrants against a common oppressor. Can Jung's insights about the relationship of race and class be applied to other multiracial settings, beyond colonial Hawaii? Most definitely. However, the crucial starting point is for labour historians and social scientists-as well as labour and community organizers-to discard the predominant framework of "deracialization" and to understand that the making of a working class integrally involves racial justice.

From multicultural to romanticized representations of the past: How Mendez v. Westminster's significance shapeshifts to appeal to different contexts

“…Thus, Sylvia Mendez frames the case as a contribution to the civil rights movement. Yet, scholars have noted that Mendez did little to expand civil rights (Saenz, 2004) and was hardly part of a large organized movement or civil rights agenda (Brilliant, 2010;Foley, 2010;Santiago, 2019c). Sylvia Mendez connects Mendez to the civil rights movement because she wants people to understand how "Latinos have always been fighting for integration" (The White House, 2011).…”

“…Similarly, at the time of the Mendez case it was not considered part of the larger national desegregation effort. Indeed, some people, including prominent Mexican American leaders considered Black and Mexican American segregation as different issues (Foley, 2010;Robinson & Robinson, 2003). Despite all the limitations of the case and its racial/ethnic nuance, Mendez has evolved to become a symbol of Latinx contributions to racial progress nationwide.…”