from small fishing villages along the Monterey peninsula, they were the first to really see the value of commercial fishing to the vast farmland of the Salinas Valley. My generation's been able to reap the rewards of the hardworking of of the first generation. The influence of asian culture has deep roots on the central coast. But so does the history of anti asian violence and discrimination. People have tried to exclude us all along the way. Can the lessons from the past and what's happened is a slow a ratio of that history help protect and heal our api communities. Today, KsB W. Presents a project community special asian american and pacific islander history on the central coast. Good evening everyone. I'm dan green and welcome to a special edition of Action News eight Project community are 30 minutes special spotlights asian american pacific islander heritage Month, a time to honor the historic impact that asian americans have had on the U. S. And right here on the central coast, California is home to nearly a third of all asian americans living in the US and are A A. P. I. Population is growing in the last decade. More than half of those immigrating to California were born in Asia for more than a century. Asian and pacific Islanders came to California as economic immigrants but his action, news hate anchor Lawrence Seaver discovered along with opportunity came discrimination, prejudice and violence. This is jerry low Sabado 1/5 generation Monterey peninsula local but says for most of her life she didn't know about her ancestors until a trip to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve in the 19 nineties, we told my mom that hey, we saw a picture in the cabin of a lady who, it looks like she's standing in front of grandma's house. It turns out it is her grandma's house still standing today just off of the Monterey Peninsula Wreck Trail, a block up from Cannery Row and the woman in the picture, her great grandmother. So they arrived uh at the mouth of the Carmel River in 1851. Uh and then they settled here in Point Lobos and built there. The village here, Quantum Oy was born uh here in Point Lobos in 18 59. And she is the first documented chinese female Born in the Monterrey area. She spoke five languages and became known as Spanish Mary because she would translate documents in different languages for various communities. After discovering this remarkable family history, law, Sabado shifted her focus to her great grandfather. He worked on the railroad that came into Monterey and ended the line ended in pacific grove. Now what do they do? So he became a fisherman huang. New in is an asian american studies professor at cal state Monterey bay. He says the chinese started the state's commercial fishing industry on the Monterey peninsula exporting millions of pounds of abalone shrimp and squid. They were the first and they had fishing villages in Carmel Bay, you know, Point Lobos, Point alone's and they were the first to really see the value of commercial fishing And with success came struggle and discrimination. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, blocking immigration from China. Several local ordinances were also passed to ban the drawing of squid, the banning of abalone. There were also ordinances that were passed that we're color blind at their face, but we're very specifically targeted at chinese and other asians. For example, laws that ban particular nets from being used, knowing specifically that only Chinese use those nets. And then in May of 1906, a suspicious fire tore through los solidos great grandfather's community in point alone's destroying almost all of the homes in what was the largest chinese fishing village on the west coast. As a result, Professor Newman says those living there were forced to move elsewhere. But Los Solidos family stayed on the Monterey peninsula. They still continued on. Uh, they made laws that prevented them from fishing the way they had, well, they fished at night. So every time there was an obstacle thrown in their way, they figured out a way to continue to survive. Low. Sabato says she's inspired by her ancestors, perseverance despite injustice and she's determined to keep their legacy alive. I come here and I will stop in the cabin and I tell the story to visitors. That's what's important to me is that people understand uh, our chinese american story here and that it goes on. Her advocacy has led to a plaque at the Now Hopkins Marine Station where her great grandfather's fishing village once stood acknowledging the impact of chinese fishing history on the Monterey peninsula. She's also created the Walk of Remembrance to mark the anniversary of the point. Elena's village being burned down. People have tried to exclude us all along the way that their story still lives on and I'm gonna make sure it lives on to Lawrence Seaver KSTW Action News eight. And while the chinese settled on the Monterey peninsula, others, including japanese in Filipino immigrants sought work in the ag fields of the Salinas of the power of valleys. In the early part of the 20th century, Filipinos were actually US nationals and had a legal right to work here, but many still faced hatred and hostility. January 19th 1930 white mobs attacked filipino workers in Watsonville, starting five days of deadly violence. Actually, News eight reporter lobby looting looks at the legacy of the Watsonville riots. At one point, the dance hall was over here somewhere. The dancehall scene here in archival footage from the pajaro Valley Historical Association shows that once packed with Filipinos dancing mingling with white women so they were dressed to the nines, Try to impress. It's also where white mobs attacked Filipino farmworkers during the Watsonville riots of 1930. They'd head back downtown and you know where everything met Filipinos, I guess they attacked him. It grew into five days of violence from january 19th to the 23rd. It included throwing Filipinos off the pajaro bridge and rioters shooting up a bunkhouse and Murphy's crossing labor camp, killing 22 year old firm and Taubira as he slept. The violence in Watsonville would spark riots in other California cities across the bay area and Central Valley frank model laura came to the Central coast at five years old in 1957 from the Philippines at the time. Filipinos were manual labor workers, mainly in agriculture. They stuck together when others in Watsonville ostracized them. We had parties, we get together on the weekend. Most of the people that we knew were single men, maneuverings, maneuvering in filipino and our filipino dialect means brother. But to them was more than brothers. They were family. That's the only family they had growing up having to learn English mall, Dolora recalls being harassed, being beaten and excluded, but he says he didn't experience large scale violence like the 1930 riots, let alone learn about it. Yeah, and I don't think there was enough written about it. University of California Santa Cruz is on a mission to change that. A team of professors, graduate and undergraduate students are preserving filipino history through the eyes and voices of central coast Filipinos. The project is called Watsonville is in the heart. I was somewhat surprised at how little there was about the history of asians in the central coast. You know, the local papers are full of mentions of Filipinos and chinese and japanese and seeing and others um, at the time and what's happened is a slow erasure of that history. Third year you CSC PhD candidate Malia Simon Reynolds is part of the project. During her k through 12 education in Santa Cruz. She says she missed out on learning about local filipino history, identifying as a mixed filipino. She says the project matters because she wants to integrate the filipino history of migration and vitality back into the grade school curriculum. There wasn't a lot of room for other stories as far as like santa cruz history goes. So I think if I had learned about, you know, filipino american history in the local area, even other asian american history, other kinds of history's, I would have felt like a little bit more connection here. It would have felt more inclusive. Watsonville is in the heart, will record the stories of the local filipino community. The project team will also photographs artifacts, old pictures that people donate their then uploaded to a digital archive to eventually be a public learning tool plus a learning tool for researchers as well. And you kind of get an insight in their memory and kind of there either struggles, their, their highlights pretty much it's a conversation that really you can see kind of Who they are as people in Santa Cruz County. I'm Melanie Letang KSTW Action News eight 91 years later attacks on Asian American and Pacific Islanders are on the rise across the country. According to the nonprofit Stop A. P. I hate more than 6600 hate incidents have been reported since just March of last year. More than 700 of those were in the bay area alone. And there were also cases reported in santa cruz. Even caramel Chinese Americans reported nearly 44 of hate incidents more than any other race or ethnic group By state, California had the highest number of hate crimes by far, accounting for 40 of that total. Every time were silent. Every time we let hate flourish, you make a lot of who we are as a nation. I mean it literally we cannot let the very foundation of this country continue to be eaten away like it has been and other moments in our history and happening again. President biden speaking just before he signed a new bill to try and tackle the surge in anti asian hate crimes. The Covid 19 hate crimes act was widely supported by both houses of Congress. It makes reporting hate crimes easier at the local state and national levels. Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke at the bill signing. Here is the truth. Racism exists in America. Xenophobia exists in America anti Semitism, islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia. It all exists. And so the work to address injustice wherever it exists remains the work ahead. Harris, whose mother immigrated to California from India made history this year when she was sworn in as the first asian american vice president in US history. Uh huh. Don't come down boy coming up traditions of Tonga alive on the Monterey peninsula, strong customs that bind the tight knit community and why they've chosen to make the peninsula area their home. Mm. Mhm. And it's been described as one of the most shameful periods in U. S. History. The forced internment of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. This action was taken without trial without jury. It was based solely on race When we come back. How that experience shaped the central coast family's journey from survival to success. Yeah. Mhm. KsB W. Presents project community, asian american and pacific islander history on the central coast. When Japan Bombed Pearl Harbor, December 7 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt called it a day that will live in infamy. The surprise attack against US. forces in Hawaii killed more than 2400 Americans. It drew the United States into World War Two and it also set off an unprecedented level of discrimination against japanese americans. Just two months after that attack, President Roosevelt issued an executive order forcing more than 100 and 20,000 Japanese Americans into internment camps. 3500 people from the central coast were sent to the camps including the tandem euro family from Salinas, action news anchor erin Clark has their story. Mhm. For almost a century, the tandem your family has worked the land here in California from Watsonville to castroville aromas to Selena's. The tandem, your family put down roots. My generation's been able to reap the rewards of the hardworking of of the first generation here. The first town um URAS arrived on American soil from Japan back in the 1800s. But it was the five brothers and four sisters of this generation led by big brother George that really forged a future in farming beginning in the 1920s. Yeah, 15, he said that his, his dad had given the responsibility of their small farm to him at 15. So that's when he went to work. But it wasn't easy. In 1913, California enacted the alien land law barring asian immigrants from owning land and then adding restrictions in the 19 twenties, barring american born Children of asian immigrants from even leasing land. My dad and he, his friends, I wanted to grow lettuce in castroville because of a cool weather and and they had to get somebody to sign the lease paper to rent land. So that's how they did it. They worked around the law, partnering with others when they had to, they weather the hard years of the depression and slowly built their farming business. Until World War two, two of the brothers were drafted and fought for this country. The rest of the family shipped off to an internment camp. We were first put away here in the rodeo grounds. There maybe there was 3500 people there stayed there about three months and then 3.5 years at a camp in Arizona. After the war. With no money and few options, the family came back to California. Actually lived in this barn for a time. It was a little tough to come back to sally is very heavily anti japanese feelings here and soon sold actually. They settled in Gilroy and Gilroy. There was five brothers and and four sisters. So the nine of us, you know, went to go work in the field and slowly they worked their way back, eventually pooling their money to buy a 20 acre ranch in aromas and always worked together. That that was the great beauty of my family's history is that you know, the five brothers, they work very successfully hard working 67 days a week and they kept buying more land in the Salinas Valley just a little bit at a time and caught the attention of the Antal family. My granddad was trimming last in a packing shed and uh, I saw the opportunity that, you know, here's this wonderful group of japanese growers that no one wants to do business with. And he was able to go out and and befriend them and gain the trust. They were the best growers. They tended to their crops really well and he knew how to put up a good pack and uh, it really served Our family well. It worked out well for both families. In the early 80s, they joined forces forming what would become a produce powerhouse. By that time my family had 1500 acres of ground out. We had owned ourselves, you know, and so let's partner up, you have to land base and I have to the skills to sell it. So we decided to form in 1982 Tanimura and antle, you know, so, you know, even though some people were prejudice, you have other people that you know, that treat us teach the family very fairly. That's that's the great thing about America. The tandem euros have always had a deep connection to this land, both literally and figuratively. They have built and nurtured their business on the fertile California soil. They have also always had a deep faith in this country and despite setbacks that may have made others bitter that faith has never wavered. You look at history, you know, you know, you died deep down into it. You know, you see every nationality that first came to America that they had some kind of prejudice and looked down upon, you know, I guess. Well, you try to work harder and overcome them. You know, working together hard work and you know, you can be successful. That's the that's the beauty of America. You know, that is uh You know, you know the land of opportunity. So hopefully that never changes here in America in Salinas. I'm Erin Clark Action News eight. It would take 40 years for the US. government to officially apologize for the internment camps. The Civil Liberties Act, signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 gave each surviving victim of the camps $20,000. So what is most important in this bill has less to do with property than with honor. For here we admit her wrong here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law, The California State Legislature issued its own apology in 2020. Still ahead. Yeah. Despite a rise in anti asian hate crimes, the Tongan community and seaside extends a warm welcome to their neighbors on the central coast. Were very loving people were very friendly. Yeah, they had to well say hi back mm. A Aapi Month also celebrates the heritage of pacific Islanders, including Tonga. Located in the Southwestern Pacific. There has been a steady migration out of Tonga since the 1950s, many Tongans settled here in the U. S. Including a small but a very strong community in seaside. Actually do State reporter Felix Cortez finds out how they keep Tongan traditions alive. Go dumb dumb boy. Oh, mama, who we call that party, you Vietnam. These are the sights and sounds of a small but growing Tongan community on the Monterey peninsula. Our talking community is very tight knit. Everybody knows everybody where basically all family, that's how tight knit we are. That's how small our community is. Everybody knows everybody. If I heard from my own life fucking up. According to Pastor Samuel more Latika who does a church service every sunday in pacific grove in the Tongan language. There are between 304 100 Tongans living on the central coast. The original wave of Tongans came here via the former four door for Kamala Latu. It was an uncle who served at four door. So when he got here, it was beautiful place for England Station. I've been photo so he figured he called the families and get them together out here. And that's how we are. Came out here And many never looked back choosing the peninsula over their native island kingdom. A strand of more than 170 islands in the South, Pacific Ocean in China. We have tropical climate and it's be the same here. So most of the time and chose to stay here. Independence were because we have seen and should remind us home. Four door may have brought the first Tongans but others follow for economic and educational opportunities. We need to move here for for the Children's education and also for my husband. Got a chance to take care of the congregation. So it's a blessing. Religion is a big part of the Tongan culture, attending church in their traditional dress outside of church. Song and dance. Bring families together. Music is a big part in our culture as well, from singing and dancing. And so that plays a lot in our traditions that we hold together and some of those traditions making their way into seaside high football with players doing the haka dance before some of their home games. It's a battle cry to show our other teams that were coming strong. You know to show our team that we're going against that were coming in strong and we're not going to stop until we win. For many parents raising second generation Tongans born in the U. S. Can be a struggle as parents accustomed to life in Tonga struggle to raise Children who are more Americanized kamala Latu grew up in 19 seventies seaside. When we were growing up we were somewhat american I slash tongue and we still have to have that tradition in us. So we were struggling but asian pacific Islanders which include Tongans facing a different challenge today. A wave of hate and attacks on fellow Islanders across the US. We love our own people so dearly and people from our island or people from other islands like all Polynesians. Um as one like we care for other people so much. But to hear stuff like that going on, it's just so sad. It's really heartbreaking. And if there's one thing the Tongan community on the Central coast want you to know they may be a small group but they have big hearts were very loving. People were very friendly. If you see us say hi to us, we'll say hi back On the Monterey Peninsula Felix Cortez KSTW Action News eight. And thank you for joining us for this special project community special. Good night. Mhm mm.