>> So buenas tardes.
[ Speaking Spanish ]
>> For those of you that don't speak Spanish
[speaks Spanish]. I am professor Alvaro Huerta,
a professor here in urban and regional planning
and ethnic and women's studies. So welcome
everybody. Really happy to be here with such
a smart and gifted group of students and human
beings. Cal Poly Pomona, as I've always said,
is a great university. Especially when they
hired me. Before, it was a good university,
but since I've been hired it's a great university.
And today we have a great opportunity to talk
about an important topic which is immigration.
So after the presentation I'm going to pass
around a hat and I'm going to get some donations
because I think I'm going to get deported
after this. I live in West L.A. so I think
they're going to deport me to the east side.
So I'm going to get ready for that. So today's
presentation has to do with immigration in
the racist era of Trump. And whenever -- I'm
an urban planner and whenever I do a presentation,
throughout the country, I always get asked,
"What does immigration have to do with planning?"
And this is by colleagues and students, and
sometimes I say to myself, "How did you get
a PhD?" Planning and immigration are totally
interrelated. You cannot separate one from
the other. In the late 1800s to the early
1900s over 20 million Europeans arrived in
the United States. They settled in places
like New York, Chicago, and during that time
period the cities that existed, they didn't
have the capacity to take in so many immigrants.
And because of that, they created a situation
where you had overcrowding, where you had
poor housing conditions, poor sanitation.
And all of these things that I talk about
are documented in a brilliant book. The late
Sir Peter Hall in this book, "Cities of Tomorrow,"
which was assigned to me when I was at UCLA
and at U.C. Berkley doing my graduate work
-- And in this excellent book he argues that
what we know today of immigration in terms
of a profession arises or is derived from
that period of the late 1800s, late 1880s,
to the early 1900s like 1910 where millions
of immigrants from -- especially from Southern
and Eastern Europe -- arrived in the United
States. And these terrible conditions that
they experienced and that many experience
today gave rise to planning as we know it.
And while he was not a planner, there was
another excellent book that deals with this
issue. Upton Sinclair in "The Jungle." Prior
to Upton Sinclair, when we were looking at
issues of food, food wasn't regulated like
it is regulated today. So in this classic
book that he wrote in the early 1900s based
in Chicago, he demonstrated or he showed where
immigrants worked the conditions were awful
and the way the food was prepared was just
as bad. So a lot of people didn't even know
it, but they were dying or they were getting
diseases because of the way the food, the
meat, was being treated in these awful conditions
in terms of the production of food. So because
of that, then you start to have regulation,
government regulating food. And before that
you have Jacob Riis who wrote this excellent
book. Not as good as mine, but his excellent
book "How the Other Half Lives." He was a
photojournalist. For the first time, he -- Someone
documented how immigrants at the time lived
in squalor conditions, how the housing was
terrible in terms of there were no codes,
there were no regulations in terms of where
people lived and where people worked. So because
of this excellent research and articles that
were being written at the time, as documented
by Sir Peter Hall, we see that the rise of
planning in the early 1900s -- Where it gave
rise to the -- in particular to the American
Planning Association. There was an earlier
name, but that became the association of planners
that we know today. And one of the issues
that they were looking at was codes for housing
because it didn't exist before. There were
no codes. There were no regulations in terms
of housing. So this planning, and what I do
with immigration as an urban planner, has
all to do with urban planning. And my question
when they ask me, "What does immigration have
to do with planning?" I ask them, "Apart from
where did you get your PhD," probably got
it online, the second question is, "Why aren't
you studying immigration?" So this talk is
focusing on Latinos in general, but more in
particular to Mexicans. And because Mexicans
have become a target just like African American
men and boys when it comes to police abuse.
Have become a target of this current administration.
But this idea of anti Mexicanism that we're
experiencing today is not new. It's easy to
say, "Well, Barack Obama, the first African
American president, was a great president.
Smart, good looking guy, family man," and
so on and so forth. Even though he deported
2.7 million immigrants. Let's not forget about
that. The audacity of hope. That's a lot of
audacity, Mister Obama. But it's easy to target
someone like Trump in this administration,
and the anti Mexican rhetoric that we are
experiencing today. But this has been going
on for decades. So from the mid 1800s to the
early 1900s when it comes to Mexicans these
two scholars, Doctor [inaudible] and Doctor
[inaudible] they documented that thousands
of immigrants were lynched in the United States.
Not just in the southwest, but also in places
like Wyoming. And they wrote this excellent
book where they document this, and they also
wrote an op ed in the "New York Times" which
I recommend that people read. So when we think
about African Americans, we think about slavery,
we think about lynching, but when you think
about Mexicans in the United States, not just
Mexican immigrants, but Mexican people of
Mexican descent, like myself, you don't think
about lynching, but white mobs lynched Mexicans.
The police, the cops, the local cops, lynched
Mexicans. And also in Texas the Texas rangers
lynched Mexicans as well. So this idea of
anti Mexicanism is not new. Trump didn't invent
it when he came down the elevator with his
wife and he based Mexicans. This has been
going on since the United States occupied
Texas and then -- in the early 1800s. And
then the rest of Mexico, the half of Mexico
in terms of the southwest, in 1848. So once
again we learn a lot in history in class in
high school about the civil rights movement.
We all know about Rosa Parks. We all know
about Martin Luther King. These are all great
figures. And I'm glad that we know this history.
But we don't -- We know little history about
the attacks against Mexicans in this country
from the mid 1800s, you know, to the present.
For example, here during the Great Depression
that were experiencing -- Not me because I
wasn't alive at that time. But what the country
was experiencing. Millions of Mexicans were
deported. So over 2 million Mexicans, people
of Mexican descent, as documented by this
book by Doctor Balderrama and Mister Rodriguez,
over 2 million Mexicans were deported during
the Great Depression. And we're not just -- We're
not talking immigrants. We're talking citizens
and residents. So over 60% of them being citizens
or residents. And too often we think -- When
we think about Mexicans we think about immigrants,
but Mexicans are not immigrants. They -- Those
people, those people, my people, we have ancestral
roots to this land dating thousands of years.
So I don't believe in this idea of -- I mean
we use the label just to classify people,
but I don't really believe it. I believe we
all at one point or another have migrated.
We're all immigrants at one point. But you
have to go back thousands of years for the
indigenous people. But at the end of the day
when the country is facing one of the greatest
economic depressions in the history -- And
this was also a global depression. The easy
thing to do and to blame at the time, just
like today, is to blame the Mexicans. So we're
-- White Americans are experiencing unemployment
at a high level. So let's get rid of the Mexicans
to free up more jobs. We also see here a situation
where Mexicans are experiencing exploitation
with these binational programs. One, in particular,
referred to as the bracero program. Now during
World War II, during that time period, there
were millions of immigrants or even before
that millions of Americans leaving the farms
and going to the cities. And then during the
war there were millions of Americans, also
Mexican Americans, going off to war. So when
people are leaving the farms to the city,
and when people are going to war, what do
we have? We have a shortage of what? We have
a shortage of food. So what's the solution?
Bring the Mexicans. So during that time period
there was a program that brought millions
of Mexicans to the United States, 4.6 million
of them, my father being one of them, my grandfather,
and being exposed to DDT in the process of
being welcomed to the United States. I mean
this is the way the United States welcomes
guest workers. I mean what kind of guest is
that? What kind of host treats a guest like
that? So you're dealing with Mexicans coming
over to meet the labor demands of agriculture
for the United States to feed the men that
are fighting overseas because they were mainly
men back then, but also to feed the men and
women of the United States in this country.
So we're talking about Mexicans here, 4.6
million of them, and my parents being one
of them, or my father, but also many of these
also worked in not just agriculture, they
also worked in like railroads like in Oregon
and in other states. Now again this is not
just about targeting Mexicans and -- Well,
not again, but this is not just about targeting
Mexicans in agriculture and exploiting them
and spraying them with DDT, forcing them to
strip naked in front of their peers. This
is also about attacking young people like
we see today with African American youth in
the cities. So the [inaudible] were young
Chicano kids that had their own style, the
way they dressed, the way they spoke. Pretty
much rebellion against society. But at the
same time doing their thing, listening to
their music, dressing the way they wanted.
You know, not bothering anybody. And we see
them being attacked here in the summer of
1943 by white navy men and also the local
police. So it's referred to as the Zoot Suit
Riots, but it implies that they're riots -- It
implies like the zoot suitors were the ones
inciting the riots, but they weren't. Pretty
much the navy men came in and they beat them
up on the streets. They were taken to jail.
And they were harassed during this time period.
So this idea of deporting of what at one point
candidate Trump talked about like mass deportations
is not new. You know, we see it in the 1930s,
but we also see it with Eisenhower during
what's referred to as Operation Wetback. So
after World War II the United States experienced
economic growth. Because of the war economy,
it allowed the United States to rebound from
the depression. And it was FDR that made this
possible with the New Deal, New Deal one,
New Deal two, but also because of the war.
So you're experiencing here economic growth
in the United States. And you're experiencing
here prosperity. We're looking at the rise
of the middle class. We're looking at white
flight from the cities to the suburbs. We're
looking at transportation and freeways being
built. But, like always, there's always a
convenient scapegoat, and that happens to
be the Mexicans. So during this same time
period Eisenhower decided to deport over 1
million Mexicans. And this includes also U.S.
citizens and permanent residents. To Mexico.
Now this is -- This is the contradiction here.
I mean there's many contradictions. One. The
United States is bringing in the braceros
to the -- to agriculture. Right? So during
this time period they're bringing them in.
But in the city they're deporting them. Right?
So we want you for your -- Bracero means arms
so we want you for your arms. Not for your
ideas. Not for your aspirations. Not for your
dreams. But for your arms. That's all they
want you for. And then it's like this -- like
razor blades. They're disposable. They get
hurt. They just send them back. But at the
same time, in the cities, they have this campaign
to deport them. This is what Trump referred
to as bringing back another Operation Wetback.
But for the Mexicans, and also the Filipinos,
the Chinese, the Muslims, and other ethnic
groups in the United States, the Salvadorians,
the [inaudible] the Haitians, now they're
being resented, their temporary stay here.
Thousands are going to be forced to leave
the country. We see that the [inaudible] the
immigration enforcement, they're pretty much
terrorizing our communities. So the idea here
is that we're targeting the bad hombres. We're
targeting the criminals. But why are you to
believe that just because they say somebody's
a criminal, that the government says that,
that they're a criminal? That we need to question
that in itself. Right? It's like who believed
George Bush when he said Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction? So when you believe
the lie, then you're falling in to a trap.
So the fact of the matter is that they're
deporting on a rapid rate. Not as fast as
Obama. He pretty much has the record. But
they're catching up. Innocent workers. And
separating families. So when Trump was a candidate
he talked about Mexicans being rapists, being
murderers, being drug dealers. So this is
kind of the campaign that he ran on. And a
lot of people when he was talking about -- boasting
about sexually assaulting women and so on
and so forth throughout the campaign -- Everything
was like the last straw. But in my mind it's
like this was the first straw. This is -- This
should have knocked them out of the campaign,
but there's an audience for this. Right? So
there's an audience that people believe the
message because they want to believe it. So
Trump is not converting anybody. He's just
channeling what people believe in the first
place. And in a way I prefer somebody call
me a wetback in front of my face than behind
my back. Right? So the idea here that Mexicans
are characterized this way was a way for him
to appeal to a certain white working class
voter that feels disenfranchised. And the
frustrations are being misplaced. So here
are a series of photos by a Mexican photographer,
Antonio Turok. He's a brilliant photographer.
World renowned. And when we're talking about
Mexicans and we're labeling them as drug dealers,
what you don't want to do is get in to this,
"Well, I'm not a drug dealer. I'm a good one.
I'm one of the good ones." Because you're
buying in to the narrative. It's like Nixon
when he said, "Well, you're a crook." He said,
"Well, no. I'm not a crook." When someone
labels somebody something, and you reject
it in terms of, "Well, no. I'm not like that."
Or, "I'm not one of those," then you're accepting
that premise. Right? So I reject it altogether.
When I look at immigrants, I don't look at
immigrants. I look at human beings. To me
it doesn't matter. I was born here. My brother
was born in Tijuana. I don't see a difference.
I mean I'm better looking than him, but I
just don't see a difference. It doesn't -- To
me that category is arbitrary. Before 1848
if you were here you were a Mexican. Today,
you know, you're an American. But to me it's
the same -- We're the same. It's the same
people. Same blood. So when I look at these
people I think about, you know, family. I
think about unity. That's what I think about.
Those are the characteristics. Not these labels
that we fall in to. I don't think about criminals
when I see a street vendor in the city of
Los Angeles. Street vending is a crime. While
they're taking away the criminal aspect in
terms of like a misdemeanor charge, there's
still a fine to it. They can pay up to like
$250, and their goods are taken away like
if they're selling crack. I mean these ladies
are selling tamales. They're not selling,
you know, medical marijuana here, people.
You know? Not that I have anything -- Well,
that's another story. So when I see a picture
like this, I don't think about criminals.
What I think about is that is a hard working
person. Because you have to get up like at
five in the morning and get the goods for
the truck, the vending, whatever you're going
to vend. And you have to prepare it. And then
you have to transport it. And then after you're
done, then you have to take it back. These
are hard, honest, good working people. They
have the values, the characteristics, in terms
of being family oriented, a strong work ethic,
being entrepreneurial, that this country needs.
Because the more Americanized you get, the
lazier you get, as far as I'm concerned. And
I can tell you that as a fact. I was like
the laziest American kid in the history of
humanity. But an immigrant at 16 years old,
you don't have to tell that kid to do his
bed. He'll make a bed. But try to get an American
kid to make their bed. So this idea that the
rapist, I mean all these labels -- You know,
once you start telling the lie over and over,
people buy it. So we have to break this narrative,
these false labels that the leaders -- They're
not my leaders, but the leaders of this country
are the ones that are perpetrating. So this
idea of family values, today we don't see
it as much, but a couple of years ago, like
10 years ago, there was the republicans and
the conservatives, they talked a lot about
family values. They were like really big on
this. That's why they're like against abortion,
because like, "We're for family values." But
if family values was like an Olympic sport,
the Mexicans would be getting -- would be
getting medals all the time. You know? Like
gold medals. None of this silver and bronze.
Because the Mexicans don't mess around when
it comes to the family. It's not just the
mom and dad. It's abuelo, abuela, and it's
[speaking Spanish]. There's like first cousins,
second cousins, third cousins. We don't mess
around. We can go to an aunt's house. We just
open the refrigerator. We don't have to ask,
you know. There's no label like, "Oh, don't
eat this. For Brad." No. Just open the [speaking
Spanish]. You go to any Mexican -- You go
to the poorest Mexican village, the poorest
Mexican village, and you get there. And the
first thing they'll do is they'll feed you.
They won't even ask, "Are you hungry?" They'll
just put you a plate right there. And then
you go visit another family member or another
poor village and they'll keep feeding you.
It's like, "All right, already." But it's
that family -- For them, it's family. This
idea of mi casa es tu casa. The problem is
that they said that to the Americans and they
took them literally. But family is important
to the Latino just like it is to the Asian
Americans, just like it is to the Filipinos,
and other groups. So there's also another
false narrative that I want to attack here,
and I will continue to attack until I get
deported. This idea of racism being framed
as like a black and white issue. And this
idea that now we see in racism framed like
as a brown and white dichotomy. And this is
a false dichotomy that we need to reject.
You know, when I look at students here at
Cal Poly, they're very diverse. And whenever
I speak at any university of this nature I
see like diversity, and I see that diversity
being embraced. But I don't see the leaders
of this country embracing that diversity.
They're using that diversity to separate us.
So there was a professor, passed away now,
at Harvard, Samuel Huntington. He argued in
this article he wrote, "The Hispanic Challenge,"
he argued that Europeans were superior to
the Latinos. And this idea of superiority,
it goes way back to the late 1800s of the
studies of eugenics where these pseudo scientists
-- That's an SAT word. The pseudo scientists
argued or tried to argue that there was genetic
differences between Europeans and Africans.
Genetic differences between Europeans and
Asians and Europeans and Mexicans. And it
explained to them -- They were trying to explain
why is it that Europe was developing when
other countries were not developing. So they
tried to get this idea. And this is where
the IQ comes in to play and all that. So they
were trying to test it, the brain size and
-- They were trying to make sense of it from
a racist premise. And there's actually an
idiot out there that got his PhD from Harvard
-- I'm starting to like see Harvard as like,
"Jesus Christ, you know. What kind of people
are you producing?" Who wrote a dissertation
and got it approved by this Cuban American
professor, conservative, of George Borjas.
And his thesis of his argument of his dissertation
-- He argued that -- He claimed that Mexicans
were inferior to whites. And that's why we
should exclude them. I mean he literally,
genetically speaking -- And if you take a
test genetically of everybody, of all races,
we're all the same. There's no difference.
There's genetic difference in terms of like
family and certain regions and all that you
can find, but like at the end of the day we're
all human beings. We're all the same. But
this false narrative of whites being superior,
you know, brown people being inferior, this
culture here is advanced, this culture here
is primitive, so this -- This dichotomy, we
need to reject that altogether. So this is
a painting by my brother Salomon Huerta. He's
a world famous painter. He studied at Art
Center College of Design, one of the best
or the best schools of design in terms of
automobile. The main designer from Tesla,
he's from Art Center. And then received his
masters at UCLA. But for me, looking at this
painting, I want to make it clear that we
need to see people for what they are. So for
me the idea of immigration is not -- It's
not just a political -- It's not just a scholarly
interest, but it's also, at the end of the
day, a personal. So here's a picture of my
grandparents. That's right there. Handsome
man. And my grandma [speaks Spanish]. Actually,
Antonia is the name of my wife. And I didn't
notice, but my cousin -- It's kind of weird
the way the world works. He texts me a picture
of a card where it showed that my grandfather
was a member of the United Farm Workers Union
with Cesar Chavez. I actually wrote an essay
when my dad -- Cesar Chavez. It's kind of
funny. You should read it. And my grandfather
was also part of the bracero program, and
during the '60s these -- After the bracero
program ended, they stayed and they worked
as farm workers still. And my uncles and my
father. So this is part of it. So speaking
of my father, also another good looking guy
here, he looks like somebody I know. Let me
-- I need [inaudible]. As you can see here,
as a [inaudible] he don't mess around. Whenever
he asked me for something, everything was
like [speaking Spanish]. It was never tu,
you know.
[ Speaks Spanish ]
So my mother too, also, good looking woman
there. Look like a Hollywood couple. So they
grew up in the 1930s in [inaudible] in [inaudible].
It's a small rancho about two hours away from
Morelia. And they were like what Marx refers
to as the peasant class. They were farm workers,
and they worked the land. And this is a picture
of them in 1954. So, speaking of even better
looking people, the kid to the left, that's
me. I should have been like a child model
or something. Like that should have been my
-- I don't know what happened. And the guy
to the right, the one to the -- Yeah. The
right, that's my brother Salomon. So I was
born in this country. My mother during the
1960s and my father, my family, they migrated
in Tijuana, to La Colonia Libertad [speaking
Spanish]. And we were pretty much dirty poor.
And it wasn't just my parents. It was like
my grandfather was -- My grandparents [inaudible].
My tio Javier and then tio Lupe, this is like
-- I have like 10 uncles and aunts. And so
they were all -- We all grew up like a little
village. And we all -- When they say dirt
poor, there's a reason why they call it dirt
poor. Because there's nothing but dirt there.
But my mother, she had a work permit, and
my dad had a work permit too. You know, so
when they came to the United States everything
was within the law. It doesn't matter to me,
but that's what it was. But the work permit,
you know, it didn't say you couldn't have
kids here. You know? So my mom was really
smart. She was the smartest woman I've ever
met. And she decided one day when she was
-- When I was conceived she decided, well,
"One day when I'm working San Diego," because
she would go back and forth, "I'll just happen
to have Alvaro there." By coincidence. "Oh.
It's about time to give birth so I'm just
going to be on this side." So because of the
[inaudible] you know, one of my mom's [inaudible]
hooked her up and took her to Sacramento.
That's Sacramento for some of you. I don't
want to make sure what the translation here.
Get confused. So I was born in Sacramento.
And then she decided once I was born, 40 days
later, shipped me back to Tijuana. I was like,
"Hey, we should stay here. There's air conditioning,
mama." But I was little. I didn't have a choice.
So for the first four years of my life I spent
it in Tijuana. And we came back. And now that
I was a citizen, and then you know I have
eight brothers and sisters, because I was
a citizen then they all can legalize their
papers. And back then it wasn't that difficult,
actually. I'd charge them like 20% a year
earnings, you know, because of me. I'm what
republicans call an anchor baby. I don't know
why. I'm kind of thin, you know. I can't be
really an anchor. You know. Maybe I put rocks
in my pocket. I don't know, but that's what
they call me. Whatever. I don't care. Doesn't
matter to me. I don't really care what people
think about me anyway. But my mom -- My whole
family, first they moved to Hollywood, but
like when I say family like all of them lived
like in a three story house. And then my mom
got tired of all the [inaudible] too many
people, blah, blah, blah. And then she decided
to apply for public housing in East L.A. So
this is where we really grew up. Starting
-- My brother, he was eight and I was six.
And we went to -- She applied for public housing
in East Los Angeles in [inaudible] Heights.
It's called Ramona Gardens Housing Projects.
But she was an immigrant. She didn't know
any better. She didn't know that she applied
to the -- to one of the most dangerous housing
projects, also known by the gang Big Hazard
in the west coast. At one point it was like
the headquarters of PCP distribution in Los
Angeles. And, you know, I was being thin all
my life. And when my brother and I first got
there, you know, I wasn't really like gang
material. You know, I tried to apply for a
gang, but my gang application got rejected.
So like -- So when we first got there I was
a little nervous because we were little and
this group of kids were like waiting for us.
You know, if you go to the white suburbs,
you know, they go and they give you a basket
of -- a gift card to Starbucks and welcome
to the neighborhood. You know? But there the
idea was they were going to jump us in to
the gang or to invite us. Like what kind of
welcoming is that? So my brother and I were
outside. We didn't leave the house for like
a month until we couldn't take it anymore.
And then we had to go outside and so they
made my brother fight with somebody, and I
had a fight with somebody. But luckily when
we were kids our role models were Muhammad
Ali and Bruce Lee. You know, because there
were no Mexican role models back then. And
so my brother started throwing his Bruce Lee
moves. Like so he scared the gang members.
They're like, "Okay. Okay." And I started
copying my brother too because I didn't want
to fight, you know. So that saved me. But
there's a myth. There's a myth out there that
Mexicans, Mexican immigrants, Mexican parents,
don't value education. That's the biggest
myth I've heard in my entire life. I mean
that's even worse than the other ones. And
you all can tell me if you hear it. If your
parents grew up poor, if your parents were
immigrants, if your parents had to drop out
of high school, the first thing they tell
you, and tell me if I'm lying, because sometimes
I don't even know when I lie -- The first
thing that a parent tells you apart from,
you know, "Brush your teeth," is, "I want
you to go to school because I don't want you
to work like me. I don't want you to struggle
like me. I don't want you to have two jobs
like me. I don't want you to be sexually harassed
like me. I don't want you to have those limited
opportunities." Minimum wage. That's why any
immigrant, any rational immigrant, any rational
working class person, whether you're from
Appalachia or you're from Pomona, that parent
is going to tell their kid, "Do well in school.
Stay in school. You don't want to suffer like
I do." And that's what my mom, you know, said
to me and my brother and my other siblings.
And one of her -- In one of her -- The way
she was, one of her ideas was she told my
dad -- Because after a while my dad just kind
of retired and he would watch TV a lot, like
"Bonanza." Used to like, "Bonanza." Because
it reminded him. It's like a western of the
Wild West where he grew up. So one day my
mom told my dad, "Hey, I want you to take
Alvaro and Salomon to work as day laborers
so they know the value of labor." See, that's
the idea of the immigrant. Because my mom
was illiterate. So she's like, "I'm going
to teach them how to work hard." Like, "Thanks
a lot, mom." So she told my dad, and my dad
was a macho. My dad didn't mess around, you
know. He didn't take orders from anybody.
But then my mom said to my dad -- Well, my
mom was better than my dad in terms of like
she was -- Her will was stronger than him.
She goes, "If you don't take them, I'll take
them." And then my dad goes, "Okay. I'll take
them." So one day we wake up. My dad wakes
us up at like five in the morning. And there
we are. Five in the morning he wakes us up
and I'm thinking like, "Al-Qaida is coming
for us." Like why is he waking us up at five
in the morning? Because I was a lazy kid.
I was gifted in math and everything was well.
I was doing fine in school. I don't know why
my mom had this idea. But my dad took us two
hours to Malibu to work as day laborers. And
I didn't even know what a day laborer was
back then so we were [inaudible] a corner.
There's all these Mexicans. And a Mercedes
would come by and then a BMW. And then -- Because
I was good at math, I started to figure out,
"Oh. They're picking up workers to work."
And I kept -- Like I was a Catholic back then.
I was, "Please don't pick me up." I was like
praying, you know. And they picked us up.
And then they took us to work. And then, you
know, I was being thin all my life so like
for me like just doing my bed I would get
tired, you know. Like the blanket was kind
of heavy. So there I am like pulling weeds.
And I'm pulling weeds, and then my -- Not
the kind you smoke. The other weeds. I'm pulling
weeds. And then like it was like when I used
to go to Catholic church. I was like pulling
weeds, and I used to look at my watch, like,
"When is this going to be over?" I kept looking
over. When is this over? And then my dad goes,
"Okay. Okay." And then I get up and, "Okay.
It's time to go." He goes, "No. It's break
time." Like, "Oh, my god." It's like two hours
went by, and I thought it was like a whole
day went by. And then, okay, I keep doing
-- like pulling weeds. That's all I had to
do, pull weeds. And then two hours later he's
like, "Okay, Alvaro." And then like, "Oh,
yeah. We got to go." I was all happy. I was
excited. The Lakers were playing. He goes,
"No. It's lunch time." And I had like the
burrito that my mom made me, you know. Like
when you're Mexican you have to hide the burrito.
Especially back then, you know, because you
were embarrassed. I had the burrito she made
me, and then I was eating it, and as I was
eating it like tears were coming out of my
eyes. And my hands were like really -- like
weak. And I couldn't hold the burrito. You
know? And then I started like saying to myself
-- I started saying to myself, "I'm too lazy
for this, man. I'm going to go to college."
So that's what I did. So I ended up going
to Occidental College at [inaudible]. It's
a program for high school kids that come from
disadvantaged backgrounds. We were there -- I
applied in 10th grade so from 10th, 11th,
you spend 6 weeks in residential. So they
teach you about going to college. Because
nobody in my family went to college. Nobody
even graduated high school. So my brother
and I graduated elementary school. We were
like on the top of the world. We were like,
"Yeah. We made it, mama. You don't have to
work anymore." So for the first time people
that looked like me were telling me, "You,
too, can go to college." And because of that,
that belief in me, I was always gifted in
math so that made it easy. But the reading
and writing was not up to par because I went
to terrible public schools in East Lost Angeles.
But because of that program, you know, I ended
up getting my bachelors and masters in urban
-- bachelors in history at UCLA, and masters
in urban planning at UCLA. And then a PhD
at UC Berkley considered, you know, the number
one public university in the world. You know,
by many. You know, but for me it's not just
about academics. What I try to do is when
I was at UCLA back in the day I was a student
activist. There I am right there. The guy
-- The handsome one with the serape. You know
when I see that guy, that's a good looking
dude. So I was a student radical. And an activist,
and [inaudible] we had a hunger strike. In
November 19th through the -- November 11th
through the 19th in 1987 to support undocumented
students. The university was taking away their
financial aid. But it's not just about organizing
at the community level, but also organizing
at the campus -- at the -- It's not just about
organizing at the college level, but also
at the community level.. So here I was an
organizer, helped organize gardeners, Latino
gardeners, in Los Angeles with the Association
of Latin American Gardeners in Los Angeles.
And also working as a community organizer
against a power plant in South Gate. And now
as a professor, as a public policy expert,
I advocate for people that are disadvantaged,
for [speaks Spanish]. You know, and for me
it's not just a question about Latinos or
Mexicans. It's about any group, you know.
Any attack on one individual is an attack
on all individuals. We see now today, for
example, how sexual assault is being reported.
I mean it's been reported from day one, but
for the first time we're seeing how the voices
of women are being heard and men are being
held accountable, all those perverts out there.
In terms of sexual assault taking place in
the workplace. But for me it's a question
of defending, you know, the women, the Latinas,
African Americans, and then another group
that's being attacked by this administration,
Muslims. You know, I'm an atheist. I should
not be defending any religious group. I'm
-- It goes against my atheist principles.
I think I'm going to be kicked out of the
club because of this, you know. My membership
club is going to be revoked. But I don't think
it's right, you know, that somebody just because
they believe in something that they should
be, you know, banned from this country. That,
one, is unconstitutional. Two, it's -- That
type of discrimination is unacceptable. So
I believe that everybody has a right to believe
in some -- believe in a higher being. And
also have the right not to believe. And nobody
should be persecuted for either case. So what
should we do? You know, one is you should
buy my book. It's $15, 2 for $30. There's
a special today. And then this book pretty
much solves all your problems. You know, your
life. You'll see enlightenment because of
it. It's like the Dalai Lama reading the Dalai
Lama [inaudible]. And people should resist.
People should organize. And sometimes students
don't realize that you have more power than
you think you have. Students were the ones
in '64 at Berkley that started the free speech
movement. Students were the ones that stopped
the war in Vietnam. You know, students were
the ones that were critical to end Apartheid
in South Africa which was the racism taking
place. They were -- Students were the ones
that freed Nelson Mandela. Anything that has
taken place throughout history, students,
young people like yourselves, have been the
main engine of change. So in my estimate,
you know, what we face today, my generation
and the one that preceded me pretty much failed
all of you. So not to put any pressure on
you, but the fate of the world depends on
all of you here in this room. I believe in
young people, and I believe in diversity,
and I believe that the young people in this
room and those watching on YouTube -- Just
click once because I get $1 -- Are better.
Are more accepting of differences. Are more
progressive minded. You know, discriminate
less. They don't self segregate based on race,
religion, or class. So I think those characteristics
that young people have today, what they call
like the Millennials, I think those values
are going to take us forward. And that's the
only hope that I have moving forward because
I don't have hope in the current administration
or even in Obama's administration, given his
record of deporting 2.7 million immigrants
and killing people by drones in the Middle
East. So my faith is in young people. My faith
is in people like yourselves. And you need
to resist. You need to organize. Do so peacefully,
and you know make a difference in this world.
So for me, speaking here today in this presentation
I dedicate it -- I dedicate it to my brother
[inaudible] Huerta. Thank you. Muchas gracias.
[ Applause ]
So we have about five minutes of questions.
So if somebody wants to ask a question. Come
on, people. Not all at once. Questions? Comments?
Compliment? Something? Like, "Oh, that was
brilliant." You know, "My world has changed
now. Where can I buy your book?" We have to
do this because we're at Cal Poly. We could
only afford one mic.
>> How long over the years like did you study
immigration to have like this much knowledge
and to like speak up about it?
>> That's a great question. So we're going
to start with that question and we'll end
with that question. I started -- Because this
is a great question. I started -- Actually,
given the [inaudible] ask this question here.
How come you're so smart? Is it genetic? When
I was -- When I -- I studied history at -- First
at UCLA I was a math major. Remember I said
I was gifted in math? Well, that was my thing.
But I wasn't prepared in the reading and writing.
I wasn't at the college level. So when I got
to UCLA, the reading and writing I was not
prepared. So it was like a culture shock for
me because in my high school I only read one
book, "The Pearl." 60 pages. Luckily there
was a lot of books. And I was only assigned
one two page paper. That's it. It was like
quadruple space or something like that. So
after UCLA then I got in to community organizing,
and then I went to urban planning. And then
when I got to Berkley with the PhD I didn't
even want to study immigration. I wanted to
study like social movements. Community organizing.
Things like that. But back then there was
no -- I mean Trump was always around with
his buffoonery, with his dad, you know, in
the '70s. Discriminating against black people
in their housing. So that orange man in the
White House was always around. But there were
other congressmen, other leaders, attacking
Mexicans. Like Sessions, for example, the
attorney general. So when I was doing my PhD
I started to write a -- I started to do research
on immigration. On the side. And then I started
to focus when I was doing -- Instead of organizing,
include immigration in it. And then I started
to look and I started to write like social
commentaries for the "Progressive" [inaudible]
and other groups. And then even some of my
advisors from Berkley, and then some from
UCLA, they just told me. They didn't even
ask. They just kind of gave me advice, unsolicited
advice. What they were saying is like, "Alvaro,
don't focus on that too much. Don't focus
on social commentaries. Don't worry about
what's happening in the world. Just do your
dissertation." But I felt like this moral
imperative. It's like, you know -- Like Neo
in the "Matrix," you know. I felt like I'm
the chosen one because I looked around and
I see nobody's speaking out. When they're
attacking Mexicans, nobody's doing anything.
Like what good is having a mayor that's Mexican
if they don't speak out on behalf of Mexicans
or a congressman or what have you? So that
was kind of where I was coming from. So I
started to study it more. I started to write
about it more. You know, in -- You know, while
I was doing my dissertation in focusing on
social commentaries that were published, you
know, nationwide and internationally. You
know, even the hill and other ones. So with
that it's been about like -- In terms of studying
it and writing about it, we're looking at
about 10 years. But I think at the end of
the day my strength is not just the academic,
but also like living through it. So when you
live -- When you study something and you also
live it, it gives you that strength. It gives
you like an additional level of understanding.
Right? So like if you're a woman and you're
studying about women's issues, you're going
to have a better understanding of what you're
studying than a man studying about like women's
issues. Right? What do men know? A bunch of
dummies, you know. So having that background,
to me it helped me in my understanding. So
when I read an article or a book, or when
I reviewed books and articles about immigration,
I'd read it and I'd say, "Well, that doesn't
make sense to me because that's not how -- That's
not how I experienced it and that's not how
my family and my neighbors and so on and so
forth." So that kind of gives me that inside
outside perspective. And also when I study
poverty, because I grew up poor, and then
these other aspects. You know, but what I
advocate for young people, and also for other
people like my colleagues wherever they're
at, because they need education too -- Because
I feel obligated to educate them as well because
they didn't go to Berkley. Is that study something
that you're passionate about because that
will make you a better student. It will make
you a better scholar. I don't see students
as like students. I see you as young scholars.
And over time you'll get to wherever you want
to get to. So my brother is a world famous
painter. He's exhibited all over the world.
In New York [inaudible] the world's richest
gallery in Italy, in Germany, in Mexico City.
But he's been doing it for like 20 years.
So at first it's not that good, but over the
years with training and discipline then you're
going to get better. But you have to stick
with it. And you have to be passionate about
it. Whatever you select. So whether it's immigration
or you're looking at housing or you're looking
at anything that has to do with what I consider
the public good, like doing -- Being good
and doing good. Not just as planners, but
as people that study ethnic studies, as architects.
As anybody, you know, to make a difference
in the world. And to give yourself more credit
than sometimes people will give you credit
for. I believe in all of you except for those
of you that missed class yesterday. No. I'm
just kidding. You know, I believe in all of
you. So all you need is two people. You believe
in yourself. And me believing in you because
sometimes you have parents that don't even
believe in you. That's it. That's all you
need. Two people. And you just focus on what
you've got to focus on. And stick to it regardless
of what people say. Unless it's drugs or something
like that. Doctor Huerta says stick to it.
"I like drugs. I'm going to stick to it."
You know? You know, like -- He said, you know.
And you become -- At first you're a novice.
At first you're just kind of like making stuff
up. At first you're making a lot of mistakes.
But over the years you get better and better.
And then, you know, you become an expert.
You know, so for me I think my expertise is
not just about immigration, but it's -- It
has to do with like being there for people
when I didn't have that, you know. Like they
didn't have that somebody to encourage me
at that level. Not like my mom and dad were
always encouraging. Everything I wanted to
do, they let me do. Like if I wanted to join
a gang, "Okay, mi hijo. Go." You know, go
join the gang. They pretty much let me do
-- And my brother. Do whatever we wanted to
do. But when you get to the university it's
different because they don't know how to help
you. So now you need people like professors,
people that have gone through it, to help
you. Right? And that's kind of -- For me that's
more important than anything else. Right?
So I don't want you all, like my parents,
and immigrants, saying to their kids -- I
don't want all of you to suffer like I did.
Muchas gracias.
[ Applause ]
