A World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900-1970

7. SOL Y SOMBRA: The Limits of Intercultural Activism in Post-Citrus Greater Los Angeles

7 As the grove-owners have relinquished the reins of power and have not been succeeded by their sons, all sorts of civic positions have been filled by outsiders. Occasionally the service clubs of the district, largely made up of this newer element, have asserted themselves, on minor issues, in a manner not sanctioned by the older generation. This tendency is likely to become more pronounced in the future as the grove-owners, already divested of many of the functions ordinarily associated with ownership, are removed by death. Seemingly impervious to social change, Citrus Land has finally begun to respond to new movements of thought and opinion. —Carey McWilliams, Southern California: An Island on the Land SolySombra TheLimitsofInterculturalActivisminPost-CitrusGreaterLosAngeles Although citrus growers and local politicians continued to support policies and employment patterns that separated Mexicans and whites and undercut the economic and social mobility of Mexican Americans, during the 1940s and 1950s some Angelenos began to question discrimination in public spaces. Dance halls, Padua Hills Theatre, schools, and the armed services provided sites for intercultural encounters and inspired limited cooperation among a multicultural populace. In particular, ‘‘spaces of pleasure’’ like Rainbow Gardens and Padua Hills reinforced bonds of fellowship among Mexican Ameri- 224 • SOL Y SOMBRA cans and illuminated the possibilities of coalitions among minorities and progressive whites, even as they revealed the potential conflicts across race, class, and gender lines.1 While their efforts were far from perfect and complete, Mexican American, African American, and white activists separately and collectively organized. Their attempts to transform the idea of ‘‘intercultural understanding ’’ into action on a broad and far-reaching level manifested a sincere desire to address prejudice in Southern California. Their shortcomings, on the other hand, exposed the limits of symbolic integration, the continuation of material inequalities, and the persistence of racial stereotypes. This chapter highlights the efforts of community groups and individuals who struggled to remedy discriminatory conditions for Mexican Americans and African Americans living throughout the Southland. As with other historians researching the period between World War II and the Chicano Movement, my focus will not be comprehensive, but rather will discuss specific organizations and people committed to particular goals.2 Often Mexican Americans involved in these organizations represented an educated and/or middle-class sector of the community, which did not necessarily speak for the entire Mexican American populace. Although their message resonated with most Mexican Americans during this period, their leadership also illuminated class differences that reflected internal divisions among a diverse Mexican American community. The participation of whites in struggles against discrimination and segregation provides a nuanced understanding of intercultural relations during the 1940s and 1950s. Before World War II, many Euroamericans in the citrus belt believed in the racial superiority of whites; however, opinions varied. The Friends of the Mexicans, Su Casa, and other white ‘‘good-doers’’ not formally associated with the citrus industry frequently assisted their Mexican neighbors. Although these organizations at times reinforced stereotypes and often sought to influence Mexicans and Mexican Americans, they also generated greater interest in Mexican culture both at home and abroad. As the history of Padua Hills Theatre illustrated, sometimes these interactions led to unintended consequences . Progressive-minded whites and shrewd Mexican Americans recognized the potential of such interactions and began to use these connections to address the unequal and unfair conditions affecting racial minorities in Southern California. College professors and community and labor organizers often took leadership roles in these struggles for equality. This ‘‘newer element’’ as Carey McWilliams called them, shed public light on the problem of segregation and discrimination through their writings and activism, and engaged in projects that challenged the social order of a previous generation. Among Mexican Ameri- SOL Y SOMBRA • 225 cans, Ignacio ‘‘Nacho’’ López mobilized residents by criticizing government officials and local business owners in the pages of his bilingual newspaper El Espectador. His passionate defense of African American and Mexican American civil rights in the San Bernardino, Pomona, and San Gabriel valleys not only galvanized African Americans and young, second-generation Mexican Americans, but also appealed to whites committed to the goal of social justice. Ruth Tuck, a professor at the University of Redlands and author of the 1946 book Not With the Fist, and Fred Ross, an organizer affiliated with Saul Alinsky ’s Chicago-based organization, the Industrial Areas Foundation (iaf), were two grassroots organizers...