S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. On this episode , we are talking with people in our community who are making black history. Today we feature Christina Marie green , a UCSD undergrad already taking the lead in labor organizing. I'm Jade Heinemann with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and engaged. For many activists , college campuses are the gateway into community organizing. Christina Marie green is a senior undergraduate at UC San Diego. She's a student organizing intern with the UC labor union AFS , May 32nd 99. She's also an advocate at the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial County's , while this month she is part of an exhibit at the campus library all about labor history and union leadership. Christina joins me now to talk about it. Christina , welcome to Midday Edition. Hello.
S2: Thank you so much for having me.
S1: You're doing your. Thing.
S2: Thing.
S1: I love to see it.
S2: Um , one of the librarians within the Committee of Equity , diversity , inclusion reached out to me through my socials. But the way that they figured out my information was actually through one of my coworkers when we were doing a AFSCME rally in front of the library itself. So we were doing a rally with the workers and trying to get a collective understanding of whether or not our workers wanted to do a strike or not. So we're doing sign ups. We were also making some noise , uh , marching throughout campus. Um , and one of the librarians was like , who's she ? Who's who's the one banging on the drum ? And , um , my coworker gave him his my information , and the rest was history. Oh.
S1: Oh. That's wonderful. Well , talk to me about the exhibit. What can people expect to learn ? Yeah.
S2: So the exhibit is a really small but really cute book exhibit that includes not only my own personal books that I like to read , that includes books like Malcolm X , and you have books like , um , The New Jim Crow. Um , there is also other excerpts from other books that deal with black labor and black history. Within the exhibit itself , we even included a lot of our labor union buttons , whether that be through AFSCME or other unions within the UC or just in the San Diego area. Um , and I'm pretty sure that they have like more information on like , why the theme was chosen for this year.
S1: That's great. And I want to talk more about your journey with labor organizing. Kristina.
S2: As for how I got into organizing and being a little bit more involved on my university campus. I actually was impacted by the student housing crisis in particular during my junior year. I wasn't able to find housing during my spring of my sophomore year and during the summer right before my junior year , and I kept running into instances of people seeing my name. Christina Marie green is a very Eurocentric name , and then DMing online and on Facebook and being like , hey , I think you would be a great candidate for our apartment. And 25 to 30 apartments have I've been in contact with and reached out to and went to the final round of interviews where we meet in person and the same pattern has happened over and over again , where they learn about me , they're like , oh my gosh , you're amazing. And then when they meet me in person , they're like , oh , actually , we decided to go with another candidate. And this is a story that's not just unique to me , but so common to a lot of black students at UC San Diego , and I'm pretty sure all throughout not only San Diego County , but all throughout California in the United States , that there is a systemic issue with housing segregation that still persists. So understanding that and me almost dropping out of UCSD and going back home , I was lucky enough to find a house far in National City and I don't have a car , so I had to take public transportation to and from two hours one way , two hours back. So four hours total and realizing how difficult it was to be involved. At the time , I was doing student government. Um , I was in ironically , I was the chief of staff of our Office of Equity , diversity , inclusion in student government and informing students and informing our administration about how important and significant it is for students to have basic needs within our campus. I ended up being introduced to labor unions as well as like , being involved with the labour movement in particular , and one of their new demands on their contract is housing security. So that was like right up my expertise of like being able to sympathize and understand and empathize with our workers who are also dealing with the housing crisis , having to commute hours on end , either from the border or from far east side of San Diego County , drive all the way onto campus early in the morning because their shifts start six 5 to 6 a.m. in the morning and to find parking , we have a parking issue on our campus. Unfortunately , we are essentially trying to highlight the fact that a lot of our executives are chancellors or executive administration is receiving housing loan benefits for their mansions , for their house to pay off their loans or their mortgage. However , our workers are fighting tooth and nail just to make ends meet with rent or barely making rent , or choosing to choose rent over putting food on the table for their families. And I think there's a lot more of a different stake at hand when you have just a singular student like myself , who I can miss a meal or two and continue with classes to a certain degree. But when you're talking about workers who are who are parents , who are grandparents , who are making sure that their kids are going to school , you have other expenses. You're taking care of your grandparents , for example , if you're a parent yourself , these are other issues that , um , the UC is not taking accountability. We ran them as heroes during Covid , but now our workers , such as our custodians or janitors or patient technicians , are now being undermined with the fact that they don't want to agree to a new contract with our new demands. So that is where I started getting more and more involved. And the more protesting and strike front of the labor movement.
S1: Well , in that that discrimination that you experienced is something so common for a lot of people in San Diego and across California. Um , but all of that led you to founding the Poverty Project to address the housing crisis at UCSD. Tell me about that. Yeah.
S2: So I actually started the poverty project through my role as the Associated Students campus wide senator , and I wouldn't have been able to get the funding , have the connections if it wasn't for my role in student government. Um , I ran on the idea of , like , making sure students had basic needs specifically in housing , and the students were like , we want you in that position and role. And I'm like , okay , put me , put me there , I'll do it. And I executed the poverty Project , which also had a lot of backlash with the name , because a lot of people in particular felt uncomfortable with the name poverty , surprisingly. But myself and my team at the time , we structured an information database consisting of not only the resources and student government that can help with funding any programs or initiatives that other students have , but also county resources , whether that be other shelters around or the basic needs hub , which a lot of students don't know that exists , let alone the resources that they provide. So having a collective database we built by ourselves from the ground up , from scratch. Um , we also I also structured the $5,000 research scholarship program , which I worked with the Department of Urban Planning and Studies , and having them mentor a scholar selected to focus on the racial lens of the student housing crisis. And actually , our scholar right now has received 60 K in funding from Associated Students to pursue her project and helping undocumented as well as international students who are specifically within the range of low income and making sure that they have food security , which also is a overlapping to housing security. Um , and then lastly we have the backpack drive , which distributes. I know it's more of a short solution or a small solution to the bigger problem , but these resource backpacks will be something that a lot of students still need , whether that be for Hygiene hour pamphlets , letting them know about these resources in the first place physically. Um , we also had feminine hygiene products there as well , as well as like other things that dealt with like academic resources or supplies and those backpacks. And we distributed them. Last year , we distributed 120 backpacks to our UCSD undergraduate student body. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you're making a huge impact there. Congratulations on all that's that's happening.
S2: I started off quite young and experiencing my own racism within my own community. I'm black and Filipino. I'm mixed race , and the community that I grew up in grew up in Daly City , the area. I don't know of all y'all out there , but I represent honestly , I gotcha. But as for the community I grew up in was predominantly Filipino , and I my family was the one of the only black families in the neighborhood. So that came with a lot of stigma and also internalized racism at times and trying to find myself in that moment , um , when I was in high school in particular , I slowly but surely started learning more about racial justice and other intersectionality that overlap that impact me and my family specifically. Um , at that time , it was the Black Lives Matter movement and also the Asian hate crimes that were happening. And I was like a sophomore junior in high school , and I was kind of flung into like the movement itself , because I just simply can't ignore it. For example , the the Asian hate crimes that were happening in the Bay area , I was very worried some about my grandparents. They don't look like me , but they are like Filipino grandparents for my grandparents in particular , for them to go out and , um , walk , do their morning walks. I was scared that they were gonna get like , attacked or to go to the grocery store by themselves and more so on the front of me being multiracial , my I was scared for my father to pick up my mom and night shifts. She was she's a nurse , and she would often pick up night shifts , and he would go out at night to pick her up , and he would hear stories about like , oh , the police officer pulled me over. We had to , like , have a conversation. And I feel like every single time he leaves the house , I am fearful of not only him , but also my brother was also getting his license and my other younger brother too. He's thinking about wanting to drive. So these are overlapping issues that impact me personally , that I simply cannot and will not ignore. And I feel that because of my intersectional experience , I'm able to empathize with a lot of communities and understand a lot of communities.
S1: All right.
S2: Um , also , I highly recommend those who are listening to support your local labor unions , whether they're striking or on the picket lines. Don't cross the picket lines more , so just make sure that you understand that there are people too , and they have struggles just like you. And lastly , I would say that Black History Month is American history , period.
S1: Uh , I've been speaking with Christina Marie green , a senior undergraduate at UC San Diego. She's a student organizing intern with the UC Labor Union FC 3299 , and she's an advocate at the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial County's as well. Cristina , thank you so much for joining us , and congratulations on all that you're doing.
S2: Thank you so much for inviting me and having me.
S1: And you have until Friday to check out UCSD Black Labor History exhibit at the Geisel Library. More information at library dot UCSD Edu. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
