HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 11911
City of Palo Alto (ID # 11911)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Study Session Meeting Date: 1/19/2021
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Summary Title: HRC Report "Black & Brown Palo Alto - History and Current
Experience"
Title: Discuss and Accept the Human Relations Commission's Report "Black
and Brown Palo Alto - History and Current Experience" and Provide Feedback
and Direction on Their Action Plan to Address Equity and Inclusion
From: City Manager
Lead Department: Community Services
Recommendation
Staff recommends that Council accept the Human Relations Commission’s report on Black and
Brown Lives in Palo Alto – History and Current Experience and provide feedback and direction
as to their action plan.
Background
In response to a June 15, 2020 staff report on an initial framework and workplan to address
systemic racism (Staff Report 11441), the Council passed a multi-part motion for next steps
(Minutes from June 15, 2020). The Human Relations Commission (HRC) was directed to address
the following:
Direct the Human Relations Commission to lead the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign and
to produce a report on the Black and Brown History and Current community in
Palo Alto, within 60 days.
The HRC reported back on 8 Can’t Wait at the August 24, 2020 Council meeting. To develop the
report on Black and Brown Lives (Report), an ad hoc subcommittee comprised of HRC Chair
Kaloma Smith and Vice Chair Valerie Stinger was convened to research and write the report. A
draft report was presented to the HRC at their December 17, 2020 meeting, and members of
the public and HRC Commissioners provided feedback. The HRC voted 5-0 to present the
report to City Council along with the action plan below.
Discussion
The HRC is presenting their final report (Attachments A and B) to the Council for their feedback
and direction on their action plan. Their report includes national and local historical markers
City of Palo Alto Page 2
and numerous accounts of the lived experience of individuals who live, work or worship in Palo
Alto.
The HRC believes that the Commission could play a vital role in addressing issues related to
equity and inclusion in the community and has identified the following action plan for the
commission to pursue in the next year:
• The HRC will equip the community for grassroots change and leveraging community
connections for exponential reach
• The HRC will partner with 100 community leaders to lead community circles in the next
12 months
• The HRC will facilitate the formation of 100 community groups to meet and discuss
issues of race and belonging over the next 24 months
• The HRC will compile a report and findings from community conversations over the next
26 months
• The HRC asks the City Council and Community to commit to make this moment a pivot
point and commit to be a model for diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging
Stakeholder Engagement
The draft HRC report on Black and Brown Lives was presented at their December 17, 2020
meeting where public and Commissioner comments were received and considered.
Environmental Review
This action as recommended is not considered a “Project” under the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA).
Attachments:
• Attachment A: Memo to City Council from Human Relations Commission
• Attachment B: HRC Report - Black and Brown Palo Alto - History and Current Experience
To: City of Palo Alto City Council
From: Human Relations Commission
Date: January 6, 2021
Subject: Black and Brown Palo Alto, History and Current Experience, A Response to the
City Council Referral to the Human Relations Commission
I. Background
In early June 2020, the City Council adopted a Resolution affirming that Black Lives
Matter and committed to address systemic racism and bias, and honor the lives of
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others that have fallen victim to
violence at the hands of authorities. These events served as catalysts for leaders at
every level of government to see the need for action to confront systemic racism
and bias.
The City Council further directed the Human Relations Commission (HRC) to produce
a report on the Black and Brown history and current community in Palo Alto. The
attached presentation is the HRC’s response to that referral.
II. Sources
Published and online sources were the basis for many of the historical markers
reported. (See Presentation Appendices I and II). Much of that material came from
the Palo Alto Museum and Stanford University Archives and Office of Community
Engagement. We are grateful for their assistance.
Public and online forums were the basis for much of the lived experiences. These
included @Palo Alto Speaks, an online forum initiated by the City Communication
Office; June 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations; and Youth Rising
Up: Can Gen Z Lead on Social Change, a student panel sponsored by Youth
Community Service and Embarcadero Media. We thank the organizers and
acknowledge with gratitude the individuals who shared their experience.
The HRC held two public forums specific to Council referrals. The first, on July 9th,
addressed Police Reform-8 Can’t Wait with community input and an expert panel.
The second, on August 13th, Bearing Witness to Black and Brown Experiences in Palo
Alto, complemented @Palo Alto Speaks.
The scope of the history and experience presented is not assumed to be complete.
The HRC acknowledges that it could be expanded. With more time, for example,
criminal legislation passed in the 1990’s could be added. Additional foundational
work, while desirable, is unlikely to change the direction of the conclusions reached
in this work.
III. Discussion
From the written and spoken retelling of personal lived experiences, four themes
evolved. These are:
• Persistent
• We have been doing this a long time and we still don’t get it done.
• Consistent aggressions
• It’s the DAILY microaggressions that hurt.
• Positive role models absent
• Young people don’t have positive role models in their curriculum or
around town.
• Housing denied
• Awareness of de jure discrimination limiting access to housing as well as
evidence of de facto discrimination
IV. Recommendations for Further Work
• The HRC will equip the community for grass root change and leveraging community
connections for exponential reach
• The HRC will partner with 100 community leaders to lead community circles in the
next 12 months
• The HRC will facilitate the formation of 100 community groups to meet and discuss
issues of race and belonging over the next 24 months
• The HRC will compile report and findings from community conversations over the
next 26 months
• The HRC asks the Council and Community to commit to make this moment a pivot
point and commit to be a model for diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging
BLA CK AND BR OW N PALO ALTO
HISTORY AND CURRENT EXPERIENCE
A Response to the City Council Referral to
the Human Relations Commission
Januar y 2021
TA BLE OF CONTENTS
•Background
•Contemporar y Lived Experience
•Themes Obser ved
•Recommendations
2
BA CKGROUND
•City Council
•Affirmed that Black Lives Matter (June 8,2020)
•Committed to address systemic racism and bias (June 8,2020)
•Directed the Human Relations Commission to produce a report on the
black and brown histor y and current community in Palo Alto (June 15,2020)
3
SOURCES
•The history and current experience of local racism was sourced from:
•Literature,news reports
•PERSONAL LIVED EXPERIENCES shared on:
•@Palo Alto Speaks (a City online forum)
•June 2020 protests and demonstrations
•Youth Rising Up:Can Gen Z Lead on Social Change? (Panel presented by Embarcadero
Media and Youth Community Service)
•HRC Public Forums
•Police Reform-8 Can’t Wait,with community input and expert panel (July 9,2020)
•Bearing Witness to Black and Brown Experiences in Palo Alto (August 13,2020)
4
PERSONAL LIVED EXPERIENCE
SPOKEN AT JUNETEENTH -2020 EVENT
(FULL TEXT IN APPENDIX IV)
•Good afternoon,everybody.
•Let’s not fool ourselves.There’s not only inequality. There is inequity within our system,and it’s
systemic, and many of you have never really even thought about that. I thank you for the fact that you
are here today.It’s a great first step, but the reality is that’s it’s not enough.It’s only the beginning.
•The fact is that starting back in the 70’s as a kid here in these schools,I experienced many of those
same things,and it’s angering and frustrating to hear …that all that crap still happens today.We say that
this place is special.…,and in many ways it is,but everybody needs to actually, actively acknowledge
and understand the abuse that black people have withstood for years and years,including today.
•You need to be mindful and aware and obser vant of microaggressions and flat out overt discrimination
that you witness. You need to be willing to step in and inter vene and say something,
5
THEMES
•Persistent
•We have been doing this a long time and we still don’t get it done.
•Consistent aggressions
•It’s the DAILY microaggressions that hur t.
•Positive role models absent
•Young people don’t have positive role models in their curriculum or around town.
•Housing denied
•Awareness of de jure discrimination limiting access to housing as well as evidence of de facto
discrimination
6
PERSISTENT :
WE HA VE BEEN AT THIS FOR SOME TIME AND WE STILL DON’T
GET IT DONE .
•There was one Black student in the freshman class in 1891 at Stanford.Jane Stanford
advocated for that student.
•In 1960,there were two in the entr y class.
•Campus activism in the 1960’s changed the status quo on campus and in town.
•In 2019,the entr y class was 8% Black or African American and 17% Hispanic or Latino..
7
% of population
Palo Alto
July 1,2019 est.
% of population
California
July 1,2019 est.
% of population
U.S.
July 1,2019 est.
Black or African
American
1.8 6.5 13.4
Hispanic or Latino 5.6 39.4 18.5
Note:% includes only people reporting one race
PERSISTENT :
CONTINUED .
8
U.S.
Palo Alto0
0.5
1
1600 1865 1890
1960
2020
Lessons from History
U.S.Palo Alto
II
U.S.
1600:Concept of
race created to
justify slavery
1865:Slavery
abolished
1890:Plessy vs.
Ferguson upholds
segregation and
discrimination with
‘separate but equal’
1960:MLK,Civil and
Voting Rights Passed
2020:After George
Floyd’s death,
demonstrations
protest police abuse
and systemic racism
I
Palo ALto
1890:Mayfield
residents urged to buy
property to prevent
Negro influx;
1920:African
Americans excluded
from housing market
KKK chapters exist;
1950:Joseph Eichler
objects to racial
discrimination,sells
homes in his
developments to
‘minorities’.
1960:Stanford comes
through Civil Rights
Era with increased
support for Black
students and faculty;
2020:Escalation of
vandalism and/or hate
crimes
Consistent Aggressions:
It’s the daily microaggressions that hurt.
•‘I go to the grocer y store. When I get to the checkout lane, I tr y to perform the part of
a white person so they don’t ask me for my ID. They didn’t ask the white persons in
front of me for their ID.’(5)
•I’m a lawyer. I went to Stanford Law School.I’m doing ever ything I’m supposed to do to
be successful and move forward and at the time it didn’t matter. All they saw were three
Black people.’Two or three cops ordered me, at gun point,to stand against a wall.The
assumption of guilt:‘This is how you’re seen before they find out who you are.’(1)
9
CONSISTENT A GGRESSIONS, CONTINUED
•‘Going to HBCU to be a part of something ‘ (4)
•‘I’m different/It hurts’ (4)
•I was followed around stores at the Stanford mall and racially profiled around
church grounds,being looked at suspiciously whenever I walked around by
myself.When I got into college, I felt I had to wear my school's sweatshirt all
the time in the Menlo Park/Palo Alto area so as to pre-emptively defy any
negative stereotype people would have of me as I moved through a
predominantly white space as a Latina woman.(6)
•Me, too. I spend a lot of money in that store. And they follow me around.
That’s not right.It’s the sum of a lot of macro microaggressions.(6)
10
CONSISTENT A GGRESSIONS, CONTINUED
•It was a pretextual stop. He (my friend) felt deflated,embarrassed,unwelcome, and I want
to know where in that officer’s time sheet that pretextual stop of this person of color was
recorded.Does he have a string of this? Is this a pattern? Because unless we start recording
this kind of thing,unless we start using it in evaluations,it just isn’t going to quit.That’s one
of the questions I would like to understand.(6)
•"Our boys especially were stopped all the time. The first question was always,‘Get out of
the car, where’d you steal the car?” (1)
•”The (police) told them their rule was to stop people who look like they don’t belong, so I
guess we look like we don’t belong.”(1)
•My family has property in this city for almost 100 years but has always felt that Palo Alto
police treat us like invaders who don’t belong. Routinely, Palo Alto police see us driving and
immediately make a U-turn to pull us over. They have searched our vehicles and detained us
for extended periods of time, all without cause. (6)
11
CONSISTENT A GGRESSIONS, CONTINUED
•Repeated assumptions of guilt –‘it just piles up and piles up’ (1)
•‘It’s harder if you’re Black and you live in a city that counts itself as being liberal,mostly
white, where people don’t get it,or are in denial or don’t understand.’ (1)
•‘The police officer was so hostile to him.The assumption is that all Black people carr y
guns,especially Black men.’ (1)
•When I see "Black Lives Matter” signs in people's yards and in their windows in Palo Alto,
it seems like a total contradiction if people do a double take and act as though they are
afraid when they see a man,woman or child of African American descent.(6)
12
CONSISTENT A GGRESSIONS, CONTINUED
•Somehow the image I had of American was of an open minded,liberal people -"the land of immigrants and
opportunities".Then I was faced with an attitude of exclusiveness and prejudice…I just hope that other new-
comers who are joining this community, will not assume that they are excluded because of their personality, but
this is the culture of the society here.Assuming otherwise is damaging their self-esteem,causing depression.If
parents would know of the prejudice and exclusiveness of the American culture,it would avoid all the
disappointments,heart broken and humiliation.(6)
•I wave hello and smile...and folks look directly at me and either keep walking with a blank stare,check their
phones,pretend they can't hear me through their earphones or (even worse, very painful and insulting) cross
the street.I've gotten a lot of suspicious looks,tugging on purse strings in coffee shops,screwed up faces,turned
up noses and shopping carts pushed into the back of my legs.I have been followed when walking or jogging my
neighborhood here in Paly and it has been very scary and unsettling.I notice that this kind of behavior isn't
directed toward certain racial groups but only towards Blacks.(6)
13
CONSISTENT A GGRESSIONS, CONTINUED
•I also hope that when we finish "social distancing"
that people figure out how to stop self-isolating,
stop judging people negatively and learn how to
show more love and kindness overall.I've met a
few folks who have been kind but the experience
of being Black in Palo Alto has been cloaked in a
blanket of racial tension that feels oppressive as
though being Black,quietly isn't really accepted or
valued in this town.I have never felt so
marginalized in my entire life(6)
•Feel I am alone in this…feel criminalized,when I
go outside, when I leave my house, I am just a
black man…no matter how educated I am,no
matter I am a senior in college…(3)
•I worked tirelessly to assimilate into the dominant
culture and downplay my status as a minority, going
into debt to "look the part" and speaking and acting
in a way that minimized the likelihood that people
would scrutinize me for "not belonging.”(6)
•I consider myself a proud brown woman and
mother of a wonderful child.Like everywhere,
implicit bias exist in Palo Alto. I remember going to
…parks,and to drop off my daughter at a friend's
house …where some people, …thought I was the
help. I always brushed it off to ignorance. Since the
#BlackLivesMatter movement,it made me realize
how my whole entire life I felt insignificant and was
never enough (6)
14
POSITIVE ROLE MODELS ABSENT :
YO UNG PEOPLE DON’T HA VE POSITIVE ROLE MODELS IN THEIR
CURRICULUM OR IN THE COMMUNITY .
•Like ever ywhere, implicit bias exist in Palo Alto. I remember going to a local school parent party, parks,and to
drop off my daughter at a friend's house for a play date where some people, including their children,thought I
was the help. I always brushed it off to ignorance. Since the #BlackLivesMatter movement,it made me realize
how my whole entire life I felt insignificant and was never enough due to people's implicit bias and the constant
barrage of white-washing in beauty advertisements and magazines.(6)
•As a Latina woman,…I really do feel like growing up in an area such as MP/PA where most ever yone around me
was white and far wealthier than my family will ever be led me to have a complex about being Latina in a
predominantly white society. I worked tirelessly to assimilate into the dominant culture and downplay my status
as a minority, going into debt to "look the part" and speaking and acting in a way that minimized the likelihood
that people would scrutinize me for "not belonging." It is still something I struggle with (6)
15
POSITIVE ROLE MODELS ABSENT,
CONTINUED
•(Parent) asked where/how would POCs be included on his list of “American”
artists.The teacher responded with anger. (6)
•Representation matters.
•Mentorship programs,like The Big Homie Project,let kids see someone like them.’
Mentors push them and make their dreams come true
•In school only thing I’m being taught about myself is slavery, nothing positive
about myself (4)
16
HOUSING DENIED:
HIST OR Y OF INTENTION AL DISCRIMIN AT ION IN HOUSING
SANCTIONED BY LEGISLATION
•Palo Alto Real Estate Board President:‘Most of the minority groups do not want to
live in sections where they are not wanted…’ 1942 in response to U.S.Supreme
Court ruling against housing covenants
•Ronald Reagan:“If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in
selling or renting his home, it is his right to do so,”1964
•President Lyndon B.Johnson,signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 said,‘Today, what
is perhaps the last of the legal barriers is tumbling.There will be many actions,and
many difficulties,before the rights woven into law are also woven into the fabric
of our Nation, but the struggle for equality must now move toward a different
battlefield.’
•
17
HOUSING DENIED, C ONTINUED
•Exclusionar y zoning is unconstitutional. •Why not start right here in Palo Alto?
And go big with ADUs while we are at it?
Plus change the stor y of housing
segregation in high school textbooks. (6)
18
HOUSING DENIED, CONTINUED
FHA financing and VA loans
discriminated against African
Americans.Blocked Peninsula
Housing Assoc.of PA
development of 260 acres,
1948
Supreme
Court rules
against racial
restrictions
in real estate
CA Fair Housing
Law passed,1963.
Ballot initiative
overturned,1964.
Federal Fair
Housing Act,1968.
1948/49
Joseph Eichler, 1st
local builder to
market homes with
anti-discrimination
policy, 1949
1920s
Although the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act ended most racial
discrimination in housing,it was too late.
Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce
proposed ‘a segregated district’,
1920.Colored Citizens Club of Palo
Alto argued against,1920
Deed restrictions written in
Southgate and Crescent Park
subdivisions,1923
19
RECOMMEND AT ION
REIMA GINE COMMUNITY, BA SED ON
DIVERSITY, E QUITY INCLUSIVE BELONGING
•The HRC will equip the community for grass root change and leveraging
community connections for exponential reach
•The HRC will partner with 100 community leaders to lead community circles
in the next 12 months
•The HRC will facilitate the formation of 100 community groups to meet and
discuss issues of race and belonging over the next 24 months
•The HRC will compile report and findings from community conversations over
the next 26 months
•The HRC asks the Council and Community to commit to make this moment a
pivot point and commit to be a model for diversity, inclusion,equity, and
belonging
20
CLOSING
Slavery I
Abolition
II
Civil
Rights
1900s III
Reconstruction
21
APPENDICES
22
APPENDIX 1
Timelines
Markers of Black and Brown Historical Experience
23
24
I.MARKERS OF BLACK AND BROWN HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE
A.NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
SELECTIVE TIMELINE
Concept of white people first appears in colonial U.K.to distinguish English society from East Indians
Concept of race created by colonists,uniting white colonists,marginalizing native people,and justifying slavery
U.S.outlawed transatlantic slave trade ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination
13th Amendment to U.S.Constitution ratified,Abolished slavery in the U.S.
14th Amendment to U.S.Constitution ratified,Granted citizenship to all persons
15th Amendment to U.S.Constitution ratified,Voting Rights given to Black males
Federal Housing Administration financing requires that deeds prohibit sale,resale,and rental to African Americans.At same
time VA loans biased against African Americans WWII veterans.
Brown vs.Board of Education
U.S.Supreme Court strikes down racial restrictions in real estate.
Rosa Parks refused to ride in the back of a bus in Montgomery,Alabama.
1613
1660’s
1808
1870
1865
1868
1956
1956
1954
1950’s
25
March on Washington,Martin Luther King,Jr.,‘I Have a Dream’speech
California Fair Housing Law passed;Overturned by ballot initiative,Prop.14,in 1964.
Freedom Summer,Voter registration drive in Mississippi
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968
Black Lives Matter founded July 13,2013 to protest police brutality and racially motivated violence against Black people.
George Floyd died after he was handcuffed and brutally pinned to the ground by a police officer in Minneapolis.
Demonstrations and marches,across the U.S.,protested police abuse and systemic racism.
1965
1964
1964
1963
1963
1968
2013
2020
26
Sources:
https://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/
Cutler,Kim-Mai.East of Palo Alto’s Eden:Race and the Formation of Silicon Valley.Tech Crunch,January 10,2015.
https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/10/east-of-palo-altos-eden/
Freedom Summer.History.com Editors.History,https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-summer
Russo,Charles.Un-forgetting the segregationist history of Palo Alto.TheSixFifty.com.June 28,2020.
www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/06/28unforgetting-the-
STANFORD /SPARQ.WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?INSIGHTS FROM SOCIAL SCIENCE
https://sparq.stanford.edu/products/sparq-insights-race-and-policing
Historical Foundations of Race.https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/historical-foundations-race
27
I.MARKERS OF BLACK AND BROWN HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE
B.PALO ALTO
Pop Harris,one of a few Black residents operated a shoeshine stand by the Stanford campus trolley.
Channing School photographs show two or three Black children attending.More Black families arrive by 1925.First major
Migration during World War II.A Palo Altan ‘urged fellow Mayfield residents …to ‘come forward and buy property…in
order to prevent the Negro influx’’(May,1923,Palo Alto Times editorial)
Early example of citizen petition.One hundred people protested “the disgraceful act of shooting down a man [identified as
’the Negro Johnson’]on the streets”at midday and they demanded,unsuccessfully,the Constable’s resignation.
The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce advocated creating ‘a segregated district for the oriental and colored people of the city.’
The Colored Citizens Club of Palo Alto was repulsed by the proposal,stating ’agitation for such an ordinance will only create
race prejudice and cause race friction and strife and discord.’Their response referenced ’more than 80 colored people’;and 10
Black residents who owned property.
Southgate subdivided into 200 residential lots with deed restrictions stating that no persons of African,Japanese,Chinese or
Mongolian descent were to use or occupy the houses.Restrictions also were written for Crescent Park
KKK chapters in city and University.A women’s branch formed in 1924.Klan paraded in town and burned crosses,but faced
resistance and left.
AME Zion Church built on Ramona Street.
Defense jobs,for WWII,nearly double the Black population.In a housing crunch,few houses,10,become available.Racial
covenants persist for ’person(s)not wholly of the white Caucasian race’.U.S.Supreme Court ruled against housing
covenants.Palo Alto Real Estate Board President responded,‘Most of the minority groups do not want to live in sections
where they are not wanted…’
Klan presence returns.KKK insignia painted at intersection of Homer and Ramona,near AME Zion Church.Klan also
responsible for burning down a house of a ‘black man who had moved into an all-white …neighborhood
1897
1942
1923
1920
1892
1897
1925
1924
1946
28
Wallace Stegner,with 150 families,formed the Peninsula Housing Association of Palo Alto.Three families were African
American.The cooperative purchased a 260-acre ranch to develop for housing,recreation,retail and services.The Federal
Housing Authority did not approve the loan for the development,which included the three African American professionals.
Palo Alto Fair Play Council bought 6 acres in South Palo Alto to establish a ‘laboratory for interracial living’.Black,White,
Asian families bought homes in the area near Greer Road and Colorado Avenue
Joseph Eichler began building homes in Barron Park and South Palo Alto.He was the first local builder who favored selling
houses to ‘minorities’,and he was the first national home builder to market homes with an anti-discrimination policy.Eichler
homes were available to buyers of any race,color,or creed.In 1958,he resigned from the Associated Home Builders.He
objected to their racial discrimination policies.
KKK painted by Black Jerusalem Baptist Church.One year later,Palo Alto Fair Play Council report survey results.Nearly
80%of Palo Altans surveyed would rent only to Caucasians.
Roy Clay first Black elected to City Council.
PAUSD and seven San Mateo County districts were charged with racial discrimination.Settlement of the Tinsley case allows
minority students to transfer to PAUSD schools
June Fleming appointed first Black City Manager
Escalation of vandalism and/or hate crimes;University AME Zion Church defiled with hate signs,Black Lives Matter lawn
signs defaced,Black City Council candidate’s lawn sign defaced,and City installation of Black Lives Matter mural defaced.
1949
1949
1993
1985
1951
1948
1970
2020
29
Sources:
Gullard,Pamela and Lund,Nancy.History of Palo Alto,The Early Years.San Francisco:Scottwall Associates,1989
Palo Alto Historical Association.Heritage Sharing Our Lives:Black Neighbors of Palo Alto.Video.2002
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XACxt5JVXA
http://www.paloaltohistory.org/kkk-in-palo-alto.php
Rothstein,Richard.The Color of Law.Recorded Books.2017.
Wachhorst,Wyn.Draft Chapter for Forthcoming Book.06/2020
Winslow,Ward and the Palo Alto Historical Association.Palo Alto A Centennial History.Palo Alto:1993
30
I.MARKERS OF BLACK AND BROWN HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE
C.STANFORD UNIVERSITY
The Stanford experience of Black,Latino,and Native Americans is highlighted in the following.Inclusion begins in 1891.Campus
activism continues to force change even now,130 years later.(Note:Activism in support of national/international concerns is not reported here.)
Inclusion Milestones:Black and Latino,Students and Faculty at Stanford University
“Stanford,Black Since 1891.”The first Black student at Stanford was Ernest Johnson who graduated in the pioneer class of
1895.Jane Stanford,of an abolitionist family,may have been a factor in his acceptance to the class.She contacted University
President David Starr Jordan about Ernest.
The first graduate of Native heritage was John Milton Oskison (Cherokee,class of 1898).
The first Latino graduate was Carlos Eliseoe Cortes in 1905.
The first Mexican American student,Helen Gertrude Dominguez,graduated in 1920.
Dr.James Gibbs,Jr.was the first tenured Black professor at Stanford.He led the faculty committee that designed the
Undergraduate Program in African and Afro-American Studies,the first of such programs at a private university.[Note:today
advocates are calling for Stanford to follow its peers and make African and African American Studies,now 50 years old,a department.]
70-80 Latino students were admitted and studied at Stanford in the early 1970s.
Stanford had nine Mexican American faculty.
Arturo Islas became Stanford’s first tenured Chicano faculty member.El Centro Chicano y Latino was established in 1977.
52 Hispanic faculty at Stanford.
477 students identified as Black or African American,non-Hispanic.
1891
1920
1966
1969
1975
1976
2009
2019
1898
1905
31
Rainbow Coalition formed by the Asian American Student Association,Black Student Union,Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
de Aztlán (MEChA),and the Stanford American Indian Association.The “Rainbow Agenda”highlighted shared needs,
including increased recruitment of students and faculty of color,improved curriculum and ethnic studies,a permanent ban on
grapes,and a renewed commitment to discourage Indian mascot fanatics.In 1988,they protested the ethnocentric Western
Culture requirement,and in 1989 took over of the President’s Office.
The use of racial epithets or their equivalent became a violation of the Stanford student code of conduct after residents of
Stanford’s Ujamaa ethnic theme dorm experienced racial attacks by their fellow students.Ujamaa celebrates Black culture and
heritage.
Rainbow Coalition pressured the administration to investigate racial bias,discrimination,and quality of life for students of
color in greater depth.The final report of the University Committee on Minority Issues documented the need for more minority
faculty and staff,and support for minority students.
In May,the night that a jury acquitted the police officers of assault in the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles,more than
300 Stanford students,led by the Black Student Union,and joined by AASA,MEChA,and SAIO,march from campus to the
Palo Alto police station and protest the verdict.
Students of Color Coalition,made up of AASA,BSU,MEChA,and SAIO,launch a campaign against threatened cuts to the
ethnic community centers’budgets.A town hall meeting is held,“Fulfilling Stanford’s mission:the gap between Rhetoric and
Reality;”an extensive report is prepared by the four ethnic community centers.Administration allocates fixed-term funding
for two years to support academic and cultural programs,and graduate student recruitment and retention.
The Chicano Hunger Strike witnessed the frustration of students on many fronts:a Chicanx studies program,a ban on grapes
(as field workers were disproportionately exposed to pesticides),the establishment of a community center in East Palo Alto,
and the rehiring of Cecilia Burciaga,former Provost for Chicano affairs and the highest ranking Latina administrator,who was
laid off that March.The Hunger Strike,along with the disruption of a Faculty Senate meeting by the Concerned Students for
Asian American Studies demanding an Asian American Studies program,led to the founding of the Center for Comparative
Studies in Race and Ethnicity.
Concerned Students for the Community Centers,a coalition including AASA,BSU,MEChA,and SAIO,campaigned for
increased funding and facilities for ethnic community centers.Soft funding was approved by the President and Provost.
1987
1988
1989
1992
1994
1994
2001
32
The Diversity and First-Gen Office (DGen)was created to respond to concerns about the experiences of first-generation (first-
gen)college students,to highlight social class as a part of the diversity equation and to innovate diversity programs in general
and social class in particular.Stanford University was originally founded as a tuition-free institution and has a history of
supporting the education of first-generation and low-income students.The Office of Financial Aid continues need-based
financial aid packages.
The Who’s Teaching Us movement campaigned for faculty diversity and in support of ethnic studies and community centers.
Following pressure by Native students,the Administration formed an advisory group to study the renaming of features of the
university,including buildings,streets,monuments,endowed positions,and prizes,that are “inconsistent with the University’s
integrity or...harmful to its research and teaching missions and inclusiveness.”Among other changes,Serra Mall,named for
Father Junipero Serra,the 18th century founder of the California mission system,was renamed Jane Stanford Way for one of
the University founders.
Source:
Contributed by Stanford University Archives and Office of Community Engagement.August 2020
Cohn,Bob.Who Gets in?Stanford Magazine.September/October 1996.https://stanfordmag.org/contents/who-gets-in
2011
2016
2018
APPENDIX 1I
Additional Sources
33
34
(1) Black in Palo Alto. Palo Alto Weekly. Living Well.July 3,2020.P.21-22
(2) City of Palo Alto Human Relations Commission Public Forum.Bearing Witness to Black and Brown Experiences in Palo Alto.
August 13,2020.
(3) City of Palo Alto Human Relations Commission Public Forum and Expert Panel.Police Reform-8 Can’t Wait,July 9,2020.
(4) Embarcadero Media and Youth Community Ser vice Panel.Youth Rising Up:Can Gen Z Lead on Social Change? August 6,
2020.
(5) Lythcott-Haims, Julie.Real American a memoir. New York:Henr y Holt and Company. 2017.
(6) Palo Alto Speaks:Share Your Stor y. www.cityofpaloalto.org/RaceandEquity
(7) Smithsonian.National Museum of African American Histor y and Culture.Talking About Race.
HTTPS://NMAAHC.SI.EDU/LEARN/TALKING-ABOUT-RACE
(8) Stanford Facts 2020.Stanford University Today.
https://facts.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/02/StanfordFactBook-2020.pdf
(9) U.S.Bureau of the Census.https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/paloaltocitycalifornia,US/PST045219
APPENDIX III
Representative Public Forums
Summer 2020
35
PA LO ALTO
SPEAKS
36
YO UTH RISING UP
37
APPENDIX IV
Transcripts—Lived Experience
Juneteenth 2020
Palo Alto
39
Good afternoon,everybody.
I am Palo Alto High School Class of 1987,born in Columbus,Ohio. My family moved here in 1972.My
father was born in Columbus,Ohio, and left there when he earned his PhD in Education
Administration.That was also with a little bit of a push from my mom,who was raised in West
Virginia,a coal miner’s daughter with a third-grade education.
Now, I will also tell you that I am a reluctant public speaker here today.My mom’s grandmother, whom I
loved ver y much and whose father was my hero,my grandmother was quite a believer in God and felt
that if you did not believe in Him,you would not make it to heaven.My grandfather did not attend
church all that much,but he never yelled,and he never swore. I can’t say that I am the same, so today I
don’t know if you’re going to get a little bit of a sermon,or if you’re going to get a little bit of
Richard Pr yor.
But in all seriousness,one of the reasons why it was important for my mom to
leave the state of West Virginia was because of the deep-rooted,systemic racism that she
experienced there. She does not swim.She has a fear of water, but she was never given the
opportunity to overcome that,because where she lived,blacks were only permitted to swim in
the pool the day before it was closed for the season.
40
It’s things like that that many of you have never experienced or never thought about.We have moved
here, and many of us have lived here in Silicon Valley because of the opportunities in front of us related
to education and jobs and innovation and entrepreneurialism,but let’s not fool ourselves.There’s not
only inequality. There is inequity within our system,and it’s systemic, and many of you have never
really even thought about that. I thank you for the fact that you are here today.It’s a great first step, but
the reality is that’s it’s not enough.It’s only the beginning.
I could give you a long list of things,such as my paternal great,great grandmother being the product of
a rape of her mother at the hands of her master and the fact that she was given to her white sister as
a wedding gift.So my existence is ver y checkered in and of itself.But when we talk about the
perception of opportunity in a place like this,we cannot we fooled.Makayla already ver y eloquently
spoke about what she has experienced,and the fact is that starting back in the 70’s as a kid here in
these schools,I experienced many of those same things,and it’s angering and frustrating to hear and to
know wholeheartedly that all that crap still happens today.We say that this place is special.I’ve said
that this place is special,and in many ways it is,but everybody needs to actually, actively
acknowledge and understand the abuse that black people have withstood for years and years,
including today.It’s unfortunate that it’s taken so many deaths for some people to actually wake
up, but I’m happy that many of you finally have. Do not let a day like today be your only method
41
or action when it comes to truly fighting for our countr y.We are in true crisis,true crisis.
Register to vote. Get out your vote. Talk to people, and get this started.[Applause] My challenge
to you is to do more. Voting is just the beginning,but what are you going to do after today and
tomorrow and the next day with your money, and with your opportunity. You need to be mindful
and aware and obser vant of microaggressions and flat out overt discrimination that you witness.
You need to be willing to step in and inter vene and say something, even if it means that you have
a sacrifice, because ultimately our goal when I talk about equality and true equity is the fact that
those of you who have privilege –and some of you have privilege that’s so far and above that
you don’t recognize it –that you’re going to have to share more of the pie. Your piece of the pie
is actually going to get smaller, but the reason that you need to be willing to give up that piece of
the pie is on principle alone. Otherwise, you’re full of it.Just straight up. So,even with your
internal conversations that you have with yourself today,make a decision. Are you part of the
change? Are you friend,or are you foe? That’s what I want to know. Are you friend? [Applause]
When George Floyd was killed –murdered,thank you –I did not have a strong emotional
reaction.I had an expletive in my head.Oh,here we go again.But the reason that I did not have
a strong emotional reaction is because my people have been through this time and time and time
again,not just a hundred years ago, not just fifty years ago. Last week.Yesterday.Those that we
see, because of these devices that are –I’ll going on a tangent ,messing with our kids’ mind,
42
because kids are too involved on those things.You’ve got to get off of that a little bit.Read a book –the exposure
that people have gotten because of the videos is helpful,but why? I’ve asked myself,why now? Why is it different
now than it was last week,last month,last year, last decade? People have been getting killed for forever, and nobody
has said anything.This is the time to stand up and step forward.[Applause] Thank you.At first I was frustrated when
people would say,“Well,it’s because of COVID, and I finally saw it,” and whatever. That pissed me off.But in the end,
if that’s the case, I accept it,as long as there is a positive result.Is it because it was so nonchalant and so methodical
and so protracted,even with private citizens ver y respectfully coming in,in order to inter vene, yet they were
rebuffed? Ask yourself these questions,because there’s a long list of people that you could name off,even in the last
number of weeks who have been killed.
Ultimately, for those of you have privilege and those of you who have not experienced racism and have actually been
able to take advantage of it,I’m not here to shame you today.I appreciate the fact that you are here, the fact that
there is acknowledgment,but my challenge to you once again is to make sure that this is not just a moment,but
that it is,in fact,a movement and that you,when you get to your final day,can say to your family you
actually did something and helped create positive change, not just here in Palo Alto, but within the world.[Applause]
APPENDIX V
Lythcott-Haims, Julie. Real American a memoir.
New York:Henry Holt and Company.2017.
43
44
White people.
We win some small victories but America behaves as America does, and we experience small slights and enormous
tragedies committed by you.
My nephew is a forty-one-year-old Black man and he was at your house the other day because he and your
husband are old friends and he was in town for a meeting so he stayed with us but came over to your place to
hang out for a long, long while and he left his shoes behind. (How does a man leave a house without his shoes is
the kind of question often left in the wake of my nephew –my nephew who from the airport as he waits for his
flight to New York texted me Can u get my shoes from my friend’s house and mail them to me?)
So I drive over to your house, which is in my neighborhood, and it is evening and it is dark and I park my car at the
curb and make my way along the stepping-stones of your manicured walk and I ring the doorbell and to the left of
the large door is a picture window with drapes only partly drawn against the dark night and from a warm living
room your little blonde girl peers out at me and then turns around and tells you something. Then you answer the
door and say quite sternly, “How can I help you,” and I just want to pick up some fxxx shoes left by my nephew at
the home of his close friend and his wife but instead I perform.
45
“Hi, I’m Michael Lythcott ’s Aunt Julie, I’m here-“
“What?”
“Yes, sorry to bother you, but I’m here to pick up my nephew Michael’s shoes-“
“Your-?“
“Yes, my –Michael, he apparently left his shoes?” I gesture to the pile of shoes visible in the foyer behind
you. “He texted you, told you I’d be coming by to pick up his shoes. Or he called you?”
You hear the name of your close friend, my nephew, now for the third time. Your foreboding facial façade
gradually falls away into a relaxed smile. “Oh yes of course,” you say, stepping back, sweeping your hand
across the vestibule of your doorway as if to invite me in, relief visibly slaking off your once-rigid body, and
you point at a pile of shoes, where my nephew’s lie indistinguishable in the heap of the shoes belonging to
your family. And you make some statement about how you love my nephew and I plaster a false smile on
my face, which you know is false, and my nephew’s shoes are a size twelve and when you hand them to me
they leave behind their absence, an absence you will stare at after I leave and even when you take your toe
to the corner of your husband’s shoe and kick it so it fills the space left by my nephew’s you will remember
my nephew’s shoes.