'Raising the Floor for All'

Editor:

Reading the “Chinese Again in Humboldt, Part Three” column by Alex Service in the May 25 NCJ, it saddened me to hear again an example of organized labor’s racist past. As president of the Humboldt and Del Norte Counties Central Labor Council and a union representative for 20 years, I know things are very different now for organized labor. Gone are the years of unions being segregated and divided by racism, but we have only gotten to this point by acknowledging our failures of the past and addressing them head on. As such, I would like to take the opportunity to apologize to the Asian-American, Pacific Islander community for our reprehensible racist past and to vow that we will never let it happen again.

Immigrant workers have always been exploited and, though things are better than they were, we know exploitation continues in California and beyond. Hmong and Latino immigrant communities continue to feel the exploitation in cannabis cultivation, among other industries, here in Humboldt County. Our strength as a labor movement is dependent on raising the floor for all workers without regard to race, creed, color or sexual orientation. The saying that “an injury to one is an injury to all” is at the core of what makes us a rejuvenated movement with approval ratings at a high not seen for 50 years. So our work is not done, Humboldt County. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that all workers in Humboldt County can raise their families without fear of racism, retaliation or reprisal. I hope all readers will join us in creating that reality for now and the future.

John Frahm, Eureka