The Forgotten Occupation Of Catalina Island

August 26, 2020 at 11:14 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 Speaker 2: 00:46 Speaker 1: 01:44 Speaker 2: 01:49 Speaker 1: 02:00 Speaker 2: 02:13 Speaker 1: 02:33 Speaker 2: 02:45 Speaker 1: 02:47 Speaker 2: 02:53 Speaker 1: 03:00 Speaker 2: 03:11 Speaker 1: 03:39 Speaker 2: 03:57 Speaker 1: 04:00 Speaker 2: 04:08 Speaker 1: 05:08 Speaker 2: 05:09 Speaker 1: 05:46 Speaker 2: 05:52 Speaker 1: 06:01 Speaker 2: 06:17 Speaker 3: 06:48 Speaker 2: 07:26 Speaker 1: 07:42 Speaker 2: 07:50 Speaker 1: 08:09 Speaker 2: 08:20 Speaker 1: 08:48 Speaker 2: 09:01 Speaker 4: 09:39 Speaker 2: 09:43 Speaker 4: 10:07 Speaker 2: 10:11 So much of the activism we're seeing right now around racial justice has roots in radical movements that erupted in California, the United farm workers, the black Panther party, the Asian American political Alliance, the native American occupation of Alcatraz in August, 1972. Another occupation kind of flew under the radar here in California. The Chicano activist group called the Brown Berets camped out on Catalina Island for three weeks, demanding that undeveloped land be turned into housing. The California report magazines intern, Ariella Markowitz grew up on Catalina, but she only recently learned about this slice of the Island's history. And she says it feels more relevant now than ever On Catalina. There's this cliff overlooking the ocean enough space to pitch a few tents it's beautiful and a down to earth way with all this sparkly broken glass and carved initials in the breezy, eucalyptus trees, danger, no trespassing falling rocks locals called the spot burrito point. And I heard stories as a kid that there was an occupy movement that happened here in the 1970s. Now I'm back on the Island and I wanted to dig up some stories from home. I Googled it and stumbled upon this radical history that I never learned about in school. Growing up, my town was conservative, defined by tourism, and it still is. It's encouraging visitors during a pandemic. Most residents are Latino, but white people are primarily running the local government businesses and are the land owners, The Mexican American, Oh, those are the people that were short changed more than anybody. And we continued to get short changed. That's dr. David Sanchez, the man behind the occupation for Chicano rights growing up in South central LA. He says he confronted gang violence, police brutality, racism, and discrimination. I don't know how I survived it, but I just survived. And, uh, it just made me aware of that. You know, America was not Disneyland that I thought it was supposed to be. He wanted to create an alternative to joining a gang, an organization that champions cultural pride, unity education, and advocacy, the Brown Berets, The group was born in 1967 and East LA coffee house called libido. Tanya. They started using it as a headquarters. Well, the copy wasn't very good. Sometimes it was two days old sometimes, but nonetheless, our main point was to, to organize a community, you know, and that was our, And a lot of people joined the movement, The Brown Berets out of the movement in the Chicano community for social justice. This audio is from a student film called Chicano moratorium that Chronicle the movement in LA. The Brown Berets Are a community organization that pride and all the people in the Barrio on their social and political, The Brown Berets helped organize mass protests against a disproportionate number of Chicanas dying in the Vietnam war. They were known for taking direct action against police violence showing up outside the police department, whenever a cop killed or brutalized someone one weekend Sanchez decided to hop on the SS Catalina strictly on vacation. We went to the Island and, uh, it was just, it was a very beautiful seemed to be a very beautiful place. Very beautiful spot on the map. You forget the beaches, you had the ocean, you had the Hills, you had the sky, you know, flying fish. And it was really a really, really nice place to go. Something about the Island, stuck with him. He rented an apartment And on the weekends I would go out here and just really got to know the people and the people from Chima Treemont is Catalina's only public housing option. His new friends told them about how hard it was to afford housing on the Island. The city council had just passed a measure that limited household sizes to five people, alongside discrimination and high rents, working class folks struggled to make it work. So he had an idea to occupy the Island. He was inspired by the occupation of Alcatraz that happened just three years earlier and the treaty of Guadalupe [inaudible] it ended the war with Mexico in 1848 and give a huge chunk of land to the U S to Sanchez. The treaty is proof that indigenous and Mexican people were systematically disenfranchised and stripped of their land rights to top it off neither Catalina Island nor the channel islands were explicitly mentioned in the treaty And territories. So Sanchez said, the idea was this land should belong to the people, not the landowners In this archival reenactment video on the Brown breweries YouTube channel around 26 folks in military uniforms, March off the boat dock displaying huge Mexican flags, past tourists and straw hats, Hawaiian shirts, and bikinis, the Brown Berets camped out on this elevated point, overlooking the ocean, which Sanchez planned out as a strategic location. They always say, take the high line, you know, four to five, you from people who wanted to harm you, They put up the Mexican flag and called the spot. Compalt take a latte. They didn't have the resources to stay long, but David figured he'd wing it. I went over there with $800. You know, that's what that's all I had was they had dogs for the whole operation, right? We bought food and a lot of the Mexican American girls came to our camp. Uh, they would bring us in July as and BS And burritos. That's how burrito point actually got its name. I mentioned earlier that Catalina Island is a small conservative community. I posted about the occupation and a big Facebook community discussion forum, and a lot of people in the statically. Remember bringing them food and hanging out at burrito point. But others plotted against the outsiders from East LA. This is what people He camped out up there with no toilets, water, et cetera, and soon developed strong body odor. It was awful standing anywhere near them in the grocery store line. A bunch of the men in town met up at the golf course with baseball bats, golf clubs, and such, and we're all ready to go up and pound the idiots. It was a big deal in a tiny town. There was no violence. I never felt threatened. I was not at that meeting where local men plotted violence, but I have several friends that were now that part was disturbing. I was bummed at some of our good citizens were armed with handguns intent on reigning, a camp of unwitting, young people That angry white mob never ended up storming. The Hill. One source told me that the local sheriff made them back off before anything happened. But David Sanchez says someone tried to come and take down their Mexican flag. He got stuck in the cactus Bush, You know, so it's just, you know, we were, we were defended by nature. Yeah. After three weeks, LA County policemen arrived to enforce an illegal zoning or to events. The Brown Berets were rooted in principles of nonviolence. They didn't resist. They were escorted off the Island. The occupation didn't end with more housing on Catalina. So I asked David Sanchez, do you see it as a success? I think it was a success. Uh, it was a success because it marked histories. The problem was that the police began to attack the organization on the mainland. Sanchez says the FBI's counter-intelligence program targeted the group, attack their supply lines and caused chaos within the organization. Sanchez disbanded the Brown Berets in 1973 for the members' own protection. Occupying Catalina was their last act for a really long time. So Sanchez switched gears. He got his PhD, became a teacher and a drug and alcohol counselor. I think I've done what I had to do. And I continue to, to stand for the rights of the people. [inaudible] Sanchez actually started the Brown Berets back up again in the mid 1990s. These days, they organized vigils and demand justice for victims of police violence in LA. In fact, every Wednesday, they protest outside the LA district attorney's office, and they're going to be gathering for the 50th anniversary of the Chicano moratorium protests. The huge March against the Vietnam war in East LA later. This August, what Sanchez and the Brown Berets did 50 years ago on Catalina Island lives on an impact it made on people's lives. The story that stuck with me the most was from Ana Odessa. It's an Island. It doesn't belong to anybody you live here. It doesn't belong to you. We talked on the phone and it's a little scratchy on olives in Mendocino County now, but she immigrated to Catalina with her family from is when she was four. She was a teenager when the Brown Berets came to the Island and she remembers her white classmates talking about wanting to quote, kick the Brown Berets off the Hill. Even though Ana called the Island home, she says she felt invisible. It wasn't okay to be Mexican. You know, Mexico was like a dirty word. She recalls meeting one of the members of the Brown Berets and spending the afternoon with her. And that moment stuck with Ana years later, she left the Island and had a long career in organizing farm workers and helping domestic violence survivors. She credits her life trajectory to the seeds that were planted by the Brown Berets for the California report. I'm Ariella Markwoods on Catalina Island.

By KPBS Public Media

So much of the activism we're seeing right now around racial justice has roots in radical movements that erupted in California –– The United Farm Workers, The Black Panther Party, the Asian American Political Alliance, the Native American occupation of Alcatraz. In August 1972, another occupation kind of flew under the radar here in California. A Chicano activist group called the Brown Berets camped out on Catalina Island for three weeks, demanding that undeveloped land be turned into housing. The California Report Magazine's intern Ariella Markowitz grew up on Catalina, but she only recently learned about this slice of the island's history, and says it feels more relevant now than ever.